Polka dot fabric is not an unknown pattern. It is commonly used in fashion. It consists of dots that aren’t necessarily equally spaced and sized, nor equally colored. Polka dots aren’t meant to be used for formal clothing. They were made to be more towards children’s clothing, toys… Or for example they are used in creation of bathing suits and lingerie. In more formal context, you can see equally spaced white on black polka dots.
The polka dot name comes from polka music. During late nineteenth century in Britain, polka music was popular, and at the same time dots were popular as well. Even though there is no relation between those two subjects, polka dots were named after polka music.
Polka dots pattern and color combination can only be limited by imagination. As such, you can find them in numerous places on various occasions. For example, gift wrap, clothing, foot wear, home decor items… Large polka dots are often used on funny occasion and we associate them with children and children’s decor. We can also use them as pattern when we paint Easter eggs. Polka dot fabric can be used for clown costumes or for Halloween. Contrary to that, polka dot fabric with smaller dots is usually used for men’s neckties, women dresses… For more formal events.
Since I’ve already mentioned men’s neckties, I’ll talk about that a little bit more. Polka dot fabric can be used by professionals. It can provide the non-distracting, understated and conservative look. Polka dots must very small, so small that we refer to them as a “pin dots”. Those ties are very good for the work place. Also, colors should be black and white.
For more playful occasions and situations, you can also use polka dot fabric as well. If you take bigger dots, and choose some crazy colors, you will look so much younger. But don’t go too far with that because you won’t look fun but stupid. After all, I suggest you to experiment and see what happens. You can go so far and put images inside your polka dots.
In order to support the statement that polka dot fabric is very popular, I’d like to point out that Marilyn Monroe wore polka dots on some of her dresses. Minnie mouse as well. Bob Dylan wore polka dots on his neckties and on his shirt for years. A lot of famous celebrities wore polka dots. There were also songs written about polka dots during the second half of the nineteenth century.
In conclusion, polka dot fabric was very popular during the past. By changing the pattern, the size and the colors, it can be worn on virtually every occasion. In fact, you could have a full wardrobe of polka dot fabric clothes, and never run out of combination!