Who made the shift dress?

No single designer made the shift dress. Instead, the style evolved over time. Many fashion historians credit Coco Chanel's little black dress as an important precursor to the modern-day shift dress and Mary Quant for popularizing the style in the 1960s. Designer Lilly Pulitzer reinvented it with colorful, bold prints, while Yves Saint Laurent elevated it with a color block motif inspired by the painting Composition with Yellow, Red, Black, Blue, and Gray by Piet Mondrian. Explore a diverse assortment of shift dresses on 1stDibs.