Not Your Mother's Muumuu

July 11, 2007 — -- Most women in the United States are not pregnant — they just look that way.

You've probably seen it: The latest trend this summer is shapeless blobs of fabric gracing the frames of women from petite to plus size. These dresses are the fashion industry's latest hit trend — the baby doll dress.

The baby doll dress is nothing new, but the resurging popularity of the trend is. Cristóbal Balenciaga is one designer credited with creating the free-flowing fashion. He unveiled the high-waisted baby doll dress back in 1957.

Sasha Morrison, fashion director for US Weekly, says designers were inspired by old hits like Balenciaga's motifs to create this season's newest must-have, 50 years after it made its debut.

"This trend evolved from a fascination with the 1920s, when there was no waist and also the 1960s, with the whole baby doll thing," Morrison said. "You have all that history."

They say history, fashion history included, repeats itself, but not every trend has made a successful comeback — think bell bottoms and go-go boots. So what has shaped the success story of the shapeless baby doll dress?

It seems as if the fashion industry is on a roller coaster ride, moving from one extreme to another. This summer's baby doll dress is a far departure from last year's skinny jeans. But unlike skinny jeans, the baby doll dress is accessible to all shapes and sizes of women, something fashion insiders say adds to its appeal.

Sari Sloane, vice president of fashion merchandising at Intermix, a hip New York retailer, says the dress looks good on just about everyone.

"Baby doll dresses are extremely forgiving," Sloane said. "It's a very easy, comfortable style that can be adapted to just about every body type."

Comfort doesn't typically top the list of must-haves in fashion design. So adapting to the everyday woman is not something typical of an industry that uses pencil-thin models to promote its products. High fashion has historically been reserved for the runway, staying out of reach of the everyday woman. But the baby doll dress may be breaking that stiff stereotype.