1940s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook, by Charlotte Fiell; intro. By Emmanuelle Dirix. Welbeck, 2021

The third (and, hopefully, not the last?) of this series gives us a lot more information than the first or even the second. We’ve got 36 pages of text, and it goes over the many changes the world went through in this decade. The Second World War changed the economy, there were shortages of materials, Paris was invaded, and there were radical changes in gender roles. Women went from needing pretty dresses for visiting and shopping to needing trousers and overalls so they could safely work in factories and in the defense industries (my mother was an arc welder in the shipyards, so I heard tales of this in first person, too). The shape of skirts went from full to narrow to accomadate fabric rationing. Hems went up, although not as far as in the 20s. Designers, unable to change silhouettes as they usually did for new seasons, concentrated on buttons, trims, and fabric manipulation to make dresses look new.

The rest of the book is the usual feast of period photos, clothing catalogs, designer drawings, and other period ephemera. There are more pages devoted to accessories and lingerie than in the previous two volumes. I’ve got to give this one a full five stars! l

1930s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook, by Charlotte Fiell; intro. By Emmanuelle Dirix. Welbeck, 2021

Like her volume on 1920s fashion, this book clocks in at 500 pages, almost all of them photos and drawings from the era. Once again, most of the magazine pages and ads show the back side of the clothing, which I really like as a sewist of old fashioned costume. I found the introduction to be much more interesting than the one in the 20s book; it talks about the newly burgeoning film industry affected women’s dress- French idea and design, slightly changed Hollywood version, home pattern with less details. (oh, how I wish Hollywood had costume designs like those these days!) Hollywood fashion was luxurious and extremely glamourous, despite of the Depression (or, perhaps, because of- huge, beautiful movies and larger than life stars to take people’s minds off their money problems) and women sewed up their own versions of backless evening gowns and fake fur stoles. After ten or so years of a boyish figure being the ideal form, women, while still slim, were expected now to have a bustline and hips. Nail polish arrived on the scene, a by-product of the car enamal industry, and eye makeup was everywhere. Four and a half stars.

 1920s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook, by Charlotte Fiell. Welbeck, 2021

This book presents almost 500 pages of 1920s fashion. It is almost all pictures, though, so calling it a sourcebook is a bit of a misnomer. A visual sourcebook, yes. But with less than a dozen pages of text you don’t learn much about how fashion was changing and how it fit into the changes in life itself during the time. But all the images are either photos or drawn pages of advertisement from the era, so it is a huge resource for modern artists, designers, costumers, and social historians. Many of the images show the clothing from the rear as well as the front shot, which makes them invaluable for costumers. Four and a half stars, because I would have liked to have seen more text.

 Betsey: A Memoir, by Betsey Johnson and Mark Vitulano. Viking 2020

I was thrilled to see this book on the “New Books” shelf at the library. I have a large interest in fashion (despite being completely unfashionable myself) and am a fan of Betsey’s work. I settled in with it, expecting insights into her life and creative process, as well as learning more about how the fashion world worked during her heyday. I read the book over one night.

At the end, I was kind of sad. The book did not live up to my expectations. I figured it would be a really exciting tale. Parts were, of course, but a lot of the story was oddly flat. I don’t know if this was a result of two people telling her story (perhaps her style and that of Vitulano didn’t mesh? I don’t know), or if Johnson was under a time crunch to get the book done, or what. But there were very few places where I felt her emotions, her creative fire.

Her early life at school and home came across well; there is a good deal of detail in that section. The part where she moves to New York and is working for Mademoiselle have a sense of exhilaration; how could it not when things move as fast as her early career did? Her professional life seems to have always been moving fast, leaving the reader to wonder if Johnson can keep up with it. Her private life also moves fast; she admits that she was in love with the idea of love and falls fast- sadly, for the wrong men. Her first three husbands are emotionally abusive (and sometimes physically so), which led me to thinking “RUN NOW” and being amazed at how long she stayed with a couple of them. Given how open she is about it being abused, I think she’s learned her lesson. She’s been with her current husband for 23 years now (she does not mention this man in the book) so things seem calm from the outside.

Her professional life was one of ups and downs; her clothes exploded on the fashion scene, different from what anyone else was doing. Trying to get out from under working for others, she had trouble borrowing money to start her own store- and paid it back in record time. At one point she had 66 retail stores. Then some bad business decisions were made, the economy went down the tubes, and she lucked out when Steve Madden bought her company. She is still creative director, so her fashions still live for yet another generation of girls. Sadly, I can only give the book 3 stars.

 

Fashion Climbing: A Memoir with Photographs, by Bill Cunningham. Penguin Press, 2018

Born during the Depression to an Irish-American family with conservative values, Bill Cunningham’s penchant for fancy clothes and beautiful décor was discouraged- discouraged to the point of receiving a brutal beating when his mother caught four year old Bill wearing his sister’s organdy party dress. His interest- passion- couldn’t be kept down, however, and he devoted his entire life to fashion in one way or another. He worked in boutiques as a teen, became a sought-after hat designer in the 50s (who was put out of business by the fact that, come the 60s, no one was wearing hats anymore), crashed every high-profile party, became an on-the-scene fashion photographer- working for the New York Times at one point, and basically celebrated the beautiful. More than fashion, he was interested in style- the clothes and the hats and the jewels had to be worn with originality and elan.

The manuscript for ‘Fashion Climbing’ was found, neatly typewritten and put away, after his death. The memoir covers the years before he became a photographer. Even though he had his share of starving times he was always cheerful and greeted the world as a place of delight. He wasn’t all sweetness and light, though; parts of the last chapter ‘On Taste’ where he makes it clear that most women don’t have style, and that to carry of wearing high fashion one needs not just great posture and manners but ‘generations of good breeding’; after all, one ‘can’t slipcover a pig and expect it not to grunt’. Oddly, this opinion is in the same paragraph where he tells us that one of the day’s most elegant women was a prostitute not long before!

It’s a short book and a fast read, interesting to someone who loves fashion history. A number of black and white pictures (more would have been great!), of Cunningham and various fashionable women- these are not fashion show shots. Four stars.

I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review. This did not influence my opinions. 

Design for Life, from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Rizzoli International Publications, 1997

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum houses a huge collection of objects, and this book features photos of 500 of them, from typewriters to wallpaper, luggage tags to stage designs, and dinner plates to toilets. Everything humans make has design, be it good, bad, or indifferent, but we don’t normally think about it. Does the design of the object serve its purpose, or is it clumsy to use? Is it beautiful as well as practical? Whether the item is primarily designed by an artist or by an engineer, it’s all designed by the human imagination. I loved looking through this book and seeing examples of jewelry, clothing, furniture, cars, tableware, houses, advertising graphics, and more. Short on text but long on pictures, it’s an easy read as an introduction to design. Five stars. 

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This did not affect my review.

Vintage Details: A Fashion Sourcebook, by Jeffrey Mayer and Basia Szkutnicka. Lawrence King Publishing, 2016

 This is a brilliant sourcebook for anyone doing fashion design, costume design, or is just into vintage styling. There is NO TEXT in this book. It is all photographs of vintage clothing from all angles. It starts with a visual index, with items ranging from 1913 to 1995. Each item has thumbnail pictures of it front and back; then it states what sections of the book detailed photos can be found in. The sections include necklines, collars, sleeves, pockets and many more, including construction details- pictures of the insides of the clothing. It’s great fun to browse through the book and get ideas. The construction of many of the pieces is so much better than what you see in clothing today- today’s clothing seems to be styled for fast production. I see more details in my clothing in the future! 

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This in no way influenced my review.  

Creating the Illusion: A Fashionable History of Hollywood Costume Designers, by Jay Jorgensen & Donald L. Scroggins. Running Press, 2015

 

Fashion, especially Hollywood fashion, can be over the top, and this book about that subject is, fittingly, over the top. An oversized coffee table book of over 400 pages, with photos on every page, it is a treat. Each chapter is a brief biography of a designer, starting with the beginning of movies and coming up to the modern era. I was a little surprised at home many movies inspired clothing trends in real life- including the classic ‘flapper’ look of the 1920! I also learned that not being historically accurate is not a new thing (which I’d been noticing myself, watching TCM a lot), and that there was So. Much. Chiffon. used for decades. This book is a giant treat for the costume lover!

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This in no way influenced my review. 

Audrey and Givenchy: A Fashion Love Affair, by Cindy de la Hoz. Running Press, 2016

This is a tiny book with LOTS of photographs, like a coffee table book that got hit by a shrink ray. While long on photos, it’s short on text, but it says all it needs to. Audrey Hepburn, the irrepressible gamin, was the perfect muse for Hubert de Givenchy. Her face and figure were unlike those of the movie stars of her time; slim, with big eyes and an elegant bone structure, she was boyish yet totally feminine. She had a certain energy that made you unable to look away from her in films.

Givenchy’s fashions fit her style perfectly. In films, they emphasized the traits of the characters she played. He dressed Hepburn in many of her movies, and they were best friends in real life. His clothes inspired her to be the characters in the movies, while she inspired him to create elegant yet modern fashion- including his first perfume.

It’s a fun little book; if you’re into film or vintage fashion you’ll love it. 

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something from Amazon- anything- they will give me a few cents. 

This did not influence my review.