What curious story does the polka dot pattern hide?

Lately, dots or moons have been in fashion, but as always happens in the field of trends, we are hooked on a Ferris wheel that never stops turning on the same axis, condemned to discover the Mediterranean for the umpteenth time. While dots in fashion are very current, we are facing a trend that is centuries old.

While Spain is talked about as stops and in Catalonia of pickets or dots, in English-speaking countries they are called polka dotsThe reason is that this dance was very popular in the 19th century and, consequently, many things of the time were called polka Despite having no relation, it is simply a commercial strategy. In fact, it is a print closely linked to the Industrial Revolution because before then, artisanal methods were not sophisticated enough to achieve perfect, symmetrically distributed circles. The first time the polka dots It was in 1857 in Godey's Lady's Book, a very popular women's magazine in the United States, considered a cultural and aesthetic guide for the North American bourgeoisie, which contributed to this motif becoming one of the most desired of the time.

Fabrics decorated with small irregular circles have been found before the 19th century, but they were merely marginal motifs that never became popular because they were associated with such feared diseases as the plague, smallpox, and leprosy. This is explained by historian Michel Pastoureau in the book The little book of colors (2005), where he describes how polka dot patterns were deliberately avoided in medieval clothing because they were interpreted as bodily signs of ill health, as well as moral and social disorder due to the irregularity of the dots. Only a few marginalized groups, such as the Lindos, street performers, and ethnic minority groups, could wear this pattern without being burdened by the negative connotation. It was not until the mid-18th century that the conception of moons began to change and that the creation of the dotted Swiss, which consisted of high-end, hand-embroidered piquettes that added texture and volume to very light, sheer cotton fabrics. From then on, the production process for both woven and printed piquettes became mechanized, achieving regular and geometric shapes.

The fashion of the polka dots from Europe came to Spain and stops —or in this case moles— became associated with another dance, flamenco: they became part of flamenco dress from 1847 onwards, because they visually intensified the dynamism of the dance and helped to highlight the movement, in addition to the chromatic contrast they generated on stage. Furthermore, in Andalusian folklore it was believed that circular dots had good luck properties and protected against eye pain.

Since then, picos have experienced important revivals, such as in the 1950s as a symbol of joy and recovery after the Second World War. Among the clear promoters were Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot, in parallel with figures such as Cristóbal Balenciaga reinterpreting them and making them transition from traditional folklore to the elitist prestige of haute couture.

Peaks have continued to evolve in their semantics as is the case in the art world, from the pointillism of Georges Seurat to the pop comic references of Roy Lichtenstein, passing through Damien Hirst and Yayoi Kusama. In addition, they have also dressed such popular icons as Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, Princess Diana (followed by Kate Middleton) and singer Prince as a challenge to normative masculinity, which has helped them become one of fashion's most universal ornamental motifs.