Tag: fashion

50 Ways to Wear a Scarf

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Friedman, Lauren. New York: Chronicle Books, 2014.

Reason read: a cute book.

In actuality, I was looking for a book that would teach me how to wear ONE scarf 50 different ways. That was not the case with this book despite its claim of many style possibilities held within a “single scarf.” To use this book appropriately you would need a square scarf, a long rectangular scarf and a tiny scarf (something small enough to fit in a breast pocket). You would not be able to tie an Amelia Earhart with a pocket scarf, for example.
However, the illustrations were super cute as well as the names of each style. No scarf tying for men. Mike Gordon, you are out of luck.

Sex and Suits

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Hollander, Anne. Sex and Suits: the Evolution of Modern Dress. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1994.

Let’s clear up one thing right away. Fashion is not just the clothes you wear. Since I was none the wiser before reading this book, I am truly one of the unfashionable. I would never cut it on Rodeo Drive.
Anne Hollander takes the history of fashion, and more specifically, the history of the tailored suit, thread by thread. In the beginning clothes for men and women were equally elaborate and meaningful. It wasn’t until the late eighteenth century when a divide between the sexes started to emerge. Fashion for men became simpler while women’s wear got more complicated. Styles for women boasted of sexuality while men were more subtle and subdued. Women took advantage of male fashion and twisted it to suit their statements. As with anything, the lines are being blurred again as men find inspiration in styles designed for women. One of the most fascinating points Hollander makes about dress for man and women is the phenomenon of identical identity. She argues that if men are dressed in identical tuxedos their unique faces would stand out in relief, just as women dressed in a variety of styles would all have the same face.

Quotes I liked, “Fashion in dress is committed to risk, subversion and irregular forward movement” (p 14), and “It corresponds to one very tenacious myth about women, the same one that gave rise to the image of the mermaid, the perniciously divided female monster, a creature inherited by the gods only down to the girdle” (p 61).

Reason: The Mercedes Benz Fashion Week takes place in May

Author fact: Hollander is an art historian. Makes sense that she would write about fashion. Fashion = art sometimes.

Book trivia: Sex and Suits has great illustrations and photographs of fashion. My favorite is the back cover; a woman leaping in the air with a raised umbrella over her head and pointed toes.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter “Do the Clothes Make the Man (or the Woman)? (p 75).

Love, Loss, and What I Wore

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Mr. StylishBeckerman, Ilene. Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 1995.

This is on the list in honor of National Fashion Month. Someone told me it really does exists (this fashion month), so I’ve added a bunch of books to the April List. Go Figure.
Anyway, back to Love, Loss, and What I Wore. What a freakin’ cute book. At first I was a cynic and thought, geeze, if this is writing then anyone can do it! Basically Beckerman’s book is small, 139 page, 50% illustrated, all about what she wore throughout major moments of her life. We’re only talking about 65 pages of text which only took me 25 minutes to read (twice). But, in all actuality I loved it. Here are a few reasons why:
I have a lot in common with Beckerman despite the fact she grew up in New York City in the 1940’s and 50’s. For example:

  • Her sister had a significant other who didn’t like her name and insisted on calling her something completely different (ahem)
  • She sometimes wore clothing backwards because it suited her better that way ( 🙂 )
  • She went to Simmon College (yup)
  • She has a fur coat from Bonwit Teller (don’t hate me)
  • She has shopped at the Short Hills Mall (you have too, RT!)
  • She prefers black (duh)

Quotes that caused me to think:
“After I went to love with my grandparents, I never saw my father again” (p 40).
“In another drawer she kept a long, thick, auburn braid of hair that my mother had saved from when she was young and had cut her hair. It was about fourteen inches in length, and sometimes I wore it as a chignon” (p 86). Does anyone else find this a little funky?

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter “Do Clothes Make the Man (or Woman)?” (p 75).