There is a phrase that nearly every bride<\/a> utters in the weeks following their engagement<\/a>. Amid the cooing over carats and endless retellings of the moment the question was popped, friends or bridal stylists usually ask some version of, \u201cSo, have you thought about a dress yet?\u201d The bride-to-be usually counters with a laughing, slightly overwhelmed, \u201cI have no idea,\u201d followed by a quick caveat, \u201cbut not a mermaid.\u201d<\/p>\n The reaction is so common it almost feels like bridal gospel, though it wasn\u2019t always this way. French couturier Marcel Rochas first brought the mermaid dress into the spotlight in the 1930s. His elegant, subtly sultry creations\u2014donned by movie stars and cover girls alike\u2014are practically unrecognizable when compared to the bedazzled, overdramatized caricatures that have since become synonymous with the silhouette.<\/p>\n Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn photographed in a Rochas mermaid dress for Vogue<\/em> in 1950.<\/p>\n <\/span>Cnp Archives<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n The style\u2019s unfortunate association with mason jars and teal bridesmaid dresses has trapped it within an early-2010s time capsule, alongside skinny jeans, chevron prints, and the Sepia Instagram filter. Come 2020, brides had abandoned the figure-clinging shape for understated slips and anything with a basque or drop waist. But history\u2014especially fashion history\u2014repeats itself. And if the fanfare surrounding 2016 earlier this year is any indication, fashion may be due for a trip down memory lane.<\/p>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/assets.vogue.com\/photos\/69e23d79bf52130927452678\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/0905-VO-WE98.03.jpg\"\/)
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