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An item of clothes doesn't usually go viral. But when a polka dot maxi gown from Zara becomes so popular that it generates its own Instagram deal with and obtains a definitive label (" the dress"), it's on par with cat memes and tweets about Trump.

This humble "printed dress", as it's contacted the seller's website, costs just ₤ 39.99 and has actually been found in myriad settings, from dance floors and beer gardens to lecture halls and wedding receptions.

One quick look at the gown's devoted Instagram account, @hot4thespot, and it's clear that this is a gown liked by ladies of all ages. What is it about this dress in particular that has made it so universally popular?

Practically no one has discussed its print, which might simply be the most important component of all.

Polka dots have actually been steadily rising on the trend circuit because March, with online searches for the print having actually increased by 120 percent according to international style search platform Lyst.

It is, nevertheless, an ageless print with a rich sartorial history, one that is essential to its appeal today.

The significance behind dotted material patterns has developed throughout the years, with the really first ones emerging in medieval Europe-- though at the time, dots on clothes were seen as a symbol of the bubonic afflict. Not precisely a fashion declaration.

" Negative associations with dotted patterns advised people of contagious and deadly illness," describes fashion historian Edite Parute.

Such connotations persisted throughout the Renaissance, Parute tells The Independent, explaining that it wasn't until the mid-19th century, when polka dancing was having its minute in central Europe, that the pattern began to collect a cult following among the style set.

" The polka dance craze of the 1840s prompted makers to produce polka-themed clothing to capitalise on the appeal of the dance, leading them to produce hats, jackets and numerous more items with the pattern," Parute explains.

But it remained in the 1920s when the polka dot as we know it entered into its own, making its way onto a swimsuit used by Miss America, Norma Smallwood, in 1926. And, of course, Disney's leading lady: Minnie Mouse, whose red polka dot gown and matching bow stay a staple in children's costume boxes.

Given that then, the pattern has remained in and out of style for years, notes Emily Gordon-Smith, director of customer product at patterns intelligence business Stylus. In the 1940s, it can be found in understated sombre tones before becoming extra-large and spirited in the 1950s and being reimagined in garish multicolour versions during the 1980s.

There have actually been numerous considerable cultural milestones that have actually assisted immortalise the print over the years too, keeps in mind Padute. In 1940, for example, Frank Sinatra's ballad "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" moved the pattern into a period of appeal.

The print then reached the upper tiers of fashion in 1954, when Dior's couture collection featured a classy, structured black gown with white dots. And who could forget Brian Hyland's 1960 hit "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"? The jubilant jingle convinced every lady around she need to be wearing polka dots.

Another noteworthy polka dot popular culture entry was available in 1990 via Julia Roberts' character, Vivian Ward, in the hit romantic comedy Pretty Woman. In the film's race day scene, when Vivian attends the polo, the former sex employee caps her design trajectory with a brown silk polka dot dress total with a boater hat and matching patterned ribbon.

Given its historical significance, polka dots have an extremely strong link to the vintage visual, notes Pardute, who argues that this is the reason that they remain so popular today.

Designer trade in nostalgia, with designers continuously revamping and reviving patterns and trends from a bygone period. Consider Marc Jacobs' recent resurgence of his 1992 Perry Ellis grunge collection, or hot British brand names such as Kitri and Shrimps that produce dresses with clear 1950s influences.

Which brings us back to that Zara gown, or, "the dress".

" There's a particular classic appeal to the Zara dress," keeps in mind Dr Harriet Atkinson, senior lecturer in style history at the University of Brighton, mentioning that its cut is more modest than its earlier, cinched-in equivalents, considered that it is smocked, with long sleeves and loose fitting to mid-length.

While the shape is essential to its appeal, Laura Yiannakou, senior womenswear editor at worldwide trends anticipating business WGSN, describes that thanks to the long history of polka dots, they are practically era-less.

" The polka dot print resurfaces every season," she informs The Independent. "It's likewise not lined up with any particular duration in history, unlike the current trend rise in tie-dye in the youth market, which WGSN has been tracking for a while. Polka dots are era-neutral, whereas many ladies won't be fans of tie-dye because it reminds them of when they try out it the very first time round, in the 1960s and 1970s."

But polka dots stand the test of time thanks to their versatility. "They likewise make a declaration without being too standout," she discusses, noting that "the gown" is the ideal example of a elegant and lovely product of clothes that can be worn throughout both casual and formal events, which is extremely preferable to buyers at the moment.

Do you prefer midiskirts that cover your knees to minis nowadays? When you use a slip gown, do you in some cases layer a polo neck below it? On a lunchtime browse, do you discover yourself drawn to a voluminous sleeve? The response is most likely yes if you are reading this. The look of 2017 is especially more demure than that of a decade earlier. Hemlines have actually dipped a crucial couple of inches, from simply above the knee to just listed below it. A collar up to your chin is the standard. Celebration dresses have sweeping sleeves, instead of plunging neck lines. Or, to put it another way: for the simple factor that you are engaged with style, you have become a modest dresser.

When Victoria Beckham introduced her style house a decade back, her design had already left the Wag days behind. Cleavage and Daisy Dukes had actually been changed by neat knee-length dresses whose necklines exposed just the clavicles.

At Paris fashion week, the signature Valentino look has exerted a powerful slow-burn influence on fashion in the 5 years it has specified the house. Long, fluid, with a slender shape that hints at the body however does not cling, it is a romantic silhouette-- part Brontë heroine, part Renaissance principessa-- that has actually proved catnip to modern-day party women bored of LBDs.

" I've seen a steady modification in shape over the 5 years I've been at Harper's Bazaar," states editor-in-chief Justine Picardie. "I see it on the catwalk, and I see it in the office. It's very often a long-sleeved dress, and there's a sort of gracefulness to it. This season, there are a lot of below-the-knee and full-length looks in the collections, and that's filtered down to the high street."

It is intriguing that this mainstream shift toward modesty has taken location at the exact same time as fashion explicitly intended at women who dress modestly for spiritual or cultural reasons has ended up being big organisation. The Modist made a splash in e-commerce when it launched on International Women's Day this year with luxury fashion curated for females who cover up. At almost every global fashion week, the dominant fashion aesthetic has tilted towards longer hemlines, higher neck lines and more abundant fabric.

At a time of heightened stress around how a multicultural society can live in consistency, style is exploring with the visual of covered woman, which has itself become a kind of visual shorthand for Islam. "I think there is a link," says Reina Lewis, teacher of cultural studies at the London College of Fashion, who has actually written extensively about modesty and fashion.

Style shows the world around it, and ladies who dress decently are extremely noticeable both on the streets of modern-day cities and in media imagery. What's more, the economics of the style market put covered-up clothes front of mind. Valentino is owned by Mayhoola for Investments, the emir of Qatar's mutual fund. Middle Eastern clients are a substantial market for numerous brand names revealing in Paris or Milan. Alexandra Shulman, now a writer at the Business of Fashion after 25 years as editor of Vogue, has actually observed a shift in the styling of catwalk style. Short dresses may be used over trousers, for instance, rather than alone. "In a Chanel show, state, a great offer of the looks will have been styled in a way that fits modest dressing," she states. While there is absolutely nothing to stop a client purchasing the short gown without the trousers used below, "the subliminal effect is to make a covered appearance feel present".

Ian Griffiths, imaginative director of Max Mara, saw the casting of hijab-wearing Halima Aden in his most current show as keeping in action with the times. "If you stroll down a top-end shopping street in any significant city, you would not be amazed to see a Max Mara coat used with a hijab," he told Vogue. "So why should not our runway show that, too?"

So is the modest mainstream a significant trend, or a red herring tossed up by the cyclical nature of style? "Bodycon has been the norm for so long that covering up has a specific novelty worth for young women," Shulman explains. And while style can work as social commentary, it can likewise be a sort of Rorschach test: we see what is currently in our head, as much as what remains in front of us. "When the style crowd worn fantastic swathes of Comme des Garçons back in the 80s, people broached black crows, not about being modest," Lewis states. "Covering up has ended up being politicised."