American Vogue ran its new grey dress for day across a four-model spread on page 663 of its September 1986 issue. The copy is pleased with itself in the way fashion copy used to be: the dress is back “in a big way”, and it’ll take you to work and out after.

From the left, Lauren Helm wears Mary Ann Restivo, Jo Kelley wears Donna Karan, Lisa Kauffmann wears Bill Blass and Jacquie Page wears Byblos. It’s the same brief four times over, a long skirt and a belted waist, and the prices run from about $230 for the Restivo to $1,100 for the Blass, a wool jersey turtleneck dress with a trumpet skirt. Karan’s comes in two pieces, a bodysuit and a skirt, with a shawl that wraps and belts. Byblos adds a pinstriped shirt collar and otherwise keeps to charcoal, which is restrained for a label known for its colour; two years later it spent a whole Vogue page on a single red.

The grey is the odd part. The text promises “new muted greys” and calls the Restivo charcoal, but on the page the two dresses on the left print as black, or close enough that I can’t tell them apart. Only the Blass and the Byblos read as grey. It could be the paper or the scan, or charcoal under studio light just goes that way. I’m not sure.

Everyone’s in gloves and everyone’s mid-stride, chins up, except Page on the right, who’s laughing with her mouth wide open, the only face on the spread that isn’t arranged. Helm left modelling at 31 and went through Columbia’s postbac premed programme; the college says she now runs a private practice treating eating disorders.

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