A Kitty Foyle is a dress style of the 1940s characterized by a dark fabric and contrasting light collar

Collar (clothing)

In clothing, a collar is the part of a shirt, dress, coat or blouse that fastens around or frames the neck. Among clothing construction professionals, a collar is differentiated from other necklines such as revers and lapels, by being made from a separate piece of fabric, rather than a folded or...

 and cuff

Cuff

A cuff is an extra layer of fabric at the lower edge of the sleeve of a garment covering the arms. In US usage the word may also refer to the end of the leg of a pair of trousers...

s, typically of navy blue and white. The shape of the dress is a shirtwaist with short or elbow-length sleeves. The buttons of the shirtwaist are in the same contrast colour used for the collar.

It is named after a dress worn by Ginger Rogers

Ginger Rogers

Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....

' character in the 1940 film of the same name

Kitty Foyle (film)

Kitty Foyle, subtitled The Natural History of a Woman, is a 1940 film starring Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Ernest Cossart and Gladys Cooper.-Plot:...

, designed by Renié. The style has been explained as being deliberately intended for films, the large amount of white around the face reflecting the key light

Key light

The key light is the first and usually most important light that a photographer, cinematographer, lighting cameraman, or other scene composer will use in a lighting setup. The purpose of the key light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject. The key light is not a rigid requirement;...

 onto the face, giving a well-defined and flattering profile. As a modest and practical style that was easily copied at home, or could even be used to update an old shirtwaist dress to a new fashion by applying a new collar, it became popular during the wartime austerity

Austerity

In economics, austerity is a policy of deficit-cutting, lower spending, and a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided. Austerity policies are often used by governments to reduce their deficit spending while sometimes coupled with increases in taxes to pay back creditors to...

 period.

The style has returned to fashion at times since. The designer Jill Richards, herself a Hollywood actress of around the same era, favoured it in her collections of the 1970s, attracting a clientele of names such as Nancy Reagan

Nancy Reagan

Nancy Davis Reagan is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989....

.

This dress has also been adopted more recently as an adaption of the gothic lolita style. It takes the usual gothic lolita themes of modesty, tradition and monochrome colours of a dark base with a light contrast, but applies them to a later period with simpler lines, rather than the more usual antebellum fussy bows and flounces. This style is typified by characters such as Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl

Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl

Created for Sony's website ScreenBlast, these are viewable at the official website under the comics section. Any website distributing these is doing so without Sony's permission, although Dirge has given permission for people to distribute them as they see fit....

 and Wednesday Addams

Wednesday Addams

Wednesday Friday Addams is a member of the fictional Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams for The New Yorker.-Wednesday:In Charles Addams's cartoons, Wednesday and other members of the family had no names...

.