When you think about upbeat figure , the polka dot is one of the first that comes to mind . On celebrities rank fromLucille BalltoPrincess Diana , polka dots have become a huge part of fashion ’s vocabulary . Even when Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss have n’t been talk about yellow bikinis with the circular design , the Lucy in the sky with diamonds have had a major influence on acculturation . But why are they calledpolkadots ?
The story of polka Transportation begins with the polka euphony craze — or more specifically , polka dancing . The dance , which come frompůlka , the Czech word for “ half ” ( referring to the half footfall used in the dance ) , began to sweep up social dancer throughout Europe and the United States in the mid-1800s . In 1857,Godey ’s Lady ’s Bookmade the earliest knownmentionof the termpolka dot . Before then , stud patterns were sometimes calledquiconceor dotted Swiss .
What do dots have to do with dancing ? It ’s not totally exculpated . In her bookPatternalia , Jude Stewart explains that the connector is murky , and most likely had to do with products being marketed as polka - related when the furore was at its height . Before then , the wearing of polka Lucy in the sky with diamonds was somewhat of atabooin Europe . hired man - stitchery was inexact and most found it impossible to sew together dead rounded , evenly spaced circles , which make a blotchy pattern more closely associated with diseases like the plague and variola . ( In African countries , on the other hand , window pane typify legerdemain and hunting , concord toSlate . )
Sewing machine made the circle pattern potential . This allowed manufacturers to put the dots on everything , from pall to dresses and other products — any item they thought would sell considerably if it was plug in to the polka craze . And the pattern stuck , growing in popularity throughout the years , despite the polka fading from popularity .
In 1926 , the first Native American woman to be crown Miss America , Norma Smallwood , wore a polka Lucy in the sky with diamonds swimsuit , bringing the style into the modernistic epoch . In the 1940s , Walt Disneyredesigned Minnie Mouse ’s dress with polka dots , andThe Los Angeles Timeswrote , “ you may bless your manner liveliness off on the polka - dotted line , and you ’ll never regret it . ”
