Brat—the album, the word, the green color—has become the defining feature of the summer of 2024, but a look in the Vogue archive revealed that there is a precedent for the Brat palette. This 1968 editorial, “Beauty and the Little Green Dress,” starring Veruschka, is a celebration of viridescent dresses not unlike the cookie-cutter/“Jackie” sheaths that fashion has once again greenlighted.
—Laird Borrelli-Persson
“Beauty and the Little Green Dress,” photographed on Veruschka by Irving Penn, was first published in the April 1, 1968 issue of Vogue.
Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, April 1, 1968
Green. Grass green. Fastest growing color for spring and summer. Fresh little shoots of it, shooting up everywhere. Bright and clean—and not a second to let the grass grow under your feet. Pick-now. Wear-now. Just as soon as you see each little green dress crop up … on these and the next ten greening pages. Green grow the ruffles—vivid voile fluttering down an open-throated shirtdress, all in one breeze-rippled row. And sure to stir quite a ripple of its own with such a bright and light beach air. Sheer shirtdress by Rikki for Sport Trio, in Dacron and cotton (Avila voile). Gold-and-gleaming grows the skin—making up to the little green dress, warming the skin, and playing color for all it’s worth about the eyes and on the lips. The word Revlon springs to mind: that’s where the shining natural looks on these twelve pages have sprung from . . . starting, as you can easily see here, with the wide-eyed innocence of their powdered Demi Blue shadow blended wide to each side of the eye.