Ask yourself, are you a Jackie or a Twiggy? When it comes to the wardrobe staple - the shift dress - there are two clear camps. Both feature the style's trademark qualities - loose fit, angular aesthetic and often androgynous style. But oh boy, the shift has changed a lot since its original flapper incarnation of the roaring twenties. It got super short in the fifties, classic and black in the early sixties (hello, Jackie O) and popped with colour and prints during the swinging sixties and seventies. Nowadays it can be all of the above – with sleeves or without – and rocked by pretty much all ages (thanks for proving that last one, Twiggy).

The good old roaring twenties (women could drink, smoke and dance - wahey!) ushered in the first incarnation of the shift, in the decade’s iconic flapper style. The silhouette was straight with a dropped waist, and the fabric was layered in tassels or heavily embellished. Just add a string of pearls and shake it, baby.

It all went north of the knee from the mid-50s, when British designer Mary Quant introduced mini skirts to London, and the world. Hemlines were on the rise, and the faithful shift was no exception. 

The 60s epitomised a shift in styles. Inspired by the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy over in the USA, was the classic, statement shift – on the knee, with a higher, rounded neckline – and worn with pearls, gloves and those Jackie O sunglasses.

As the decade progressed, the mini-shift made a fighting comeback, with the pastel, colour-blocked dress - made famous by our very own Brit super Twiggy - becoming an equally defining style of the era. Three cheers for the shorter shift!

While Jackie and Audrey may have defined the classic, longer hemmed shift of the sixties, London totally dominated the floral and psychedelic-print shifts at the end of the decade, and well into the seventies. Think sleeveless, shorter hemlines – as seen on English actress Judy Geeson - and a printed silk hippie-vibe, like the mini-shift worn by model Stevie Norbury on London’s trendy King's Road. Flower power all the way.

Today the beloved shift is cropping up in a variety of all its previous incarnations - from short to long hemlines, sleeveless to capped, block colour to monochrome and embellished to floral prints. It is still worn by pioneer Twiggy (in loose-fit, long-sleeved form paired with dark tights) and by the likes of actress Anne Hathaway (block colour J Mendel) and teen star of Mad Men Kiernan Shipka (patterned Oscar de la Renta). Now if that's not a versatile list for you, what is?!

Keeping it less formal and more playful is actress Lauren Conrad, whose psychedelic-print Nanette Lepore dress is a big nod to original seventies style.

The monochrome crepe Jaeger shift worn by the Duchess of Cambridge on a recent visit to the National Maritime Museum, flew off shelves within hours of her debut... 

The future of the shift dress, you ask? Why look no further than clothes horse Keira Knightley. Her monochrome Chanel dress, with a corseted optical illusion waist and bow detailing on the neckline, is a perfect example of a modern deviation on the classic silhouette. The only downside of the corset midriff? Keira reports that eating spag bol whilst wearing it can be problematic.