Tag Archives: book review

Book Review: Real Clothes, Real Lives by Kiki Smith

What are “real clothes,” you might ask on encountering this book.  As the preface explains, Smith College costume designer Kiki Smith gave the label “real clothes” to garments that were not designed as costumes but had that had somehow ended … Continue reading

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Book Review: Worn by Sofi Thanhauser

This is a staggeringly ambitious book, evident already in the subtitle.  By “people” Thanhauser means all people, everywhere.  And by “clothing” she considers not only the sewn or knitted garments we use for protection and expression, but also the raw … Continue reading

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Book Review: Dress Codes by Richard Thompson Ford

As usual with academic scholarship, it is the subtitle–“How the Laws of Fashion Made History”–that really tells what this book is about.  In this wide-ranging study, Stanford law professor Richard Thompson Ford examines how dress codes—both formal legal regulations and … Continue reading

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Book Review–The 1950s in Vogue: The Jessica Daves Years by Rebecca C. Tuite

This is what the cover of my copy of The 1950s in Vogue looks like—no book title, no author, and no indication of the fact that the book is actually about Vogue editor, Jessica Daves.  Perhaps this is a new … Continue reading

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The Olive Cycle

Although I have vowed to stop buying books, I couldn’t pass up Elizabeth Strout’s the new novel about Olive Kitteridge. I read it in a flash and then decided to read the two books–Olive Kitteridge and Olive Again–one after another.  … Continue reading

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Book Review—Fear and Clothing: Unbuckling American Style by Cintra Wilson

What happens when a punk-inspired, all-black-wearing Brooklynite undertakes a wide ranging study of American dress?  You end up with a humorous, and often snarky, assessment of Americans’ love of pastels, polyester, and malls.  The book’s big message: break loose from … Continue reading

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Book Review–The Devil’s Cloth: A History of Stripes by Michel Pastoureau

For those of us who love stripes, it is fascinating to learn something of their controversial history.  In this short gem of a book, French historian Michel Pastoureau traces the meaning of stripes from the Middle Ages in Europe to … Continue reading

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Making Clothes for the Older Woman

Imagine how excited I was when I discovered this British title on World Cat—Making Clothes for the Older Woman. As an older woman who sews, it seemed custom designed for me. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t … Continue reading

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Book Review—Dress Like a Woman: Working Women and What They Wore

I was attracted to this book by the two big names on the cover, feminist scholar Roxane Gay and the New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman. Gay wrote the foreword, a brief examination of the many laws and customs … Continue reading

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Book Review: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney

What would you do if you discovered a large stash of material about a once-famous, now-forgotten woman?  Kathleen Rooney wrote a novel.  A librarian friend was one of the first to process a donated archive about the life of poet … Continue reading

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