Antique Dress Dresses

The difference between a dress and a cocktail dress is mainly the specificity of the term. A dress is any garment that has a bodice attached to a skirt. The term cocktail dress refers to a dress designed for events in the late afternoon and early evening. Many feature hemlines that fall between the knee and calf. On 1stDibs, shop a collection of cocktail dresses from some of the world's top boutiques.

Chiffon is a light and sheer material that's typically made of silk, nylon or rayon. It's often used for lingerie and formalwear.

A couture dress is hand-sewn using the best materials and designed specifically for the wearer so that the piece is one-of-a-kind. Because these dresses use such high quality materials and take hundreds of hours to complete, they can be expensive. Find a variety of couture dresses on 1stDibs.

A mod dress is a style of dress that originated along with the mod subculture in London — a culture with roots in 1950s' bohemian-style coffee bars where jazz and blues were played on jukeboxes. Later, during the 1960s, mods were generally fashion-conscious teenagers living in London and south England who listened to these types of music as well as R&B. Mod dresses were among the garments worn by mods, and they were colorful and were embellished by interesting patterns and designs. Mod dresses were made with a short hem. A range of mod dresses by Mary Quant, Pierre Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent and others can be found on 1stDibs.

A swing dress is a dress with an a-line shape that tends to flow as one moves. Swing dresses hit peak popularity in the 1950s.