COCKTAIL DRESS

A 'cocktail dress' or 'cocktail gown' is a shorter-length lady's gown worn at cocktail parties and other semi-formal and black tie occasions. Less elaborate versions may be worn at semi-formal occasions when gentlemen are in dark suits. Prior to the mid 20th. century this type of apparel was known as 'late afternoon'. (When gentlemen are in business suits, ladies also wear dress suits or "good" afternoon skirt and dresses). A longer, full-skirted cocktail dress may accompany black tie (although in the late 1960s and early 1970s short cocktail dresses were acceptable black tie attire). By the 1980's a dress was considered to be cocktail less by where the hem fell, but more by the level of sumptuousness the garment attained.
In the mid-20th Century, some ''couturiers'' began describing full-skirted cocktail gowns as "dancing costumes". These are suitable for formal dances but not for balls, or other white tie affairs, where ball gowns must be worn.
The length of cocktail dresses varies depending on fashion and local custom; it ranges from just above the knee to ''tea length'' (about two inches above the ankle) and sometimes ''ballerina length'' (almost touching the ankle), although ballerina length dresses usually fall into the ''evening gown'' category.