Discover the iconic dresses that defined a century of women's fashion and empowerment in this beautifully illustrated social history.
While women's liberation has often been framed by the growing acceptance of pants, the most influential female fashions of the 20th century featured skirts. Skirts traces the shifting roles of women through the era's game-changing styles, from suffragists marching in skirts to Civil Rights heroines taking a stand in them. Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe revolutionized modern art in skirts, while Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes in hers. When NASA put a man on the moon, "the computer wore a skirt," said mathematician Katherine G. Johnson.
As women made strides towards equality, their wardrobes evolved with them. Designers like Mariano Fortuny, Coco Chanel, Jean Patou, and Diane von Furstenberg redefined femininity for a new era with innovations like the little black dress, the Bar Suit, and lesser-known creations like the Taxi dress or Pop-Over dress. These influential garments illuminate the times in which they were first worn—and the women who wore them—while continuing to shape contemporary fashion and even opening the door for a genderfluid future.
At once an authoritative work of history and a delightfully entertaining romp through decades of fashion, Skirts charts the changing fortunes, freedoms, and aspirations of women themselves.
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 6, 2022 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781250275806
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781250275806
- File size: 97401 KB
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Accessibility
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Ways Of Reading
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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June 6, 2022
Journalist Chrisman-Campbell (The Way We Wed) takes an entertaining and insightful look at the evolution of the skirt across the 20th century. Spotlighting 10 groundbreaking styles and their various iterations, she examines each design through the lenses of gender, race, class, and fashion. Highlights include the risqué, body-skimming pleats of designer Mariano Fortuny’s 1909 Delphos gown, which was inspired by a Hellenistic bronze sculpture, and the empowering and form-fitting elasticized bands of Azzedine Alaïa’s 1989 “mummy” dress. Chrisman-Campbell also takes note of controversies surrounding tennis star Suzanne Lenglen’s shedding of the sport’s long skirt and petticoats for the mobility of a calf-length skirt in 1919, Coco Chanel’s liberation of women’s formalwear with her “little black dress” in 1920, and Diane von Furstenburg’s capturing of the feminist and sexual revolutions with the wrap dress she created at her dining table in 1973. Chrisman-Campbell also sketches the history of men in skirts from the late Middle Ages, when bared legs symbolized strength and power, to Harry Styles’s pairing of a black tuxedo jacket and gray evening gown for a 2020 Vogue cover: “There is no more menswear or womenswear, it implied; there is only fashion.” Exquisitely detailed and evocatively written, this stylish history casts an underappreciated garment in a rewarding new light. Illus. -
August 1, 2022
Chrisman-Campbell, a fashion historian, offers a social history that encompasses feminism and women's evolving status in society through the examination of ten signature garments. Coco Chanel, Mary Quant, and Diane Von Furstenberg are featured as the promulgators of such trends as, respectively, the little black dress (LBD), the miniskirt, and the wrap dress. Lesser known influencers include French Wimbledon champion Suzanne Lenglen, who popularized the tennis dress in 1919; its V-neck, short sleeves, and pleated skirt informed the flapper dresses of the ensuing decade. Debutante Brenda Frazier popularized the strapless evening gown when she appeared on a November 1938 cover of Life at age 17. As the author demonstrates, it was rare that a controversial new style (including miniskirts and bodycon dresses) came without backlash. While the scope of this book doesn't focus much on low-income women, Chrisman-Campbell acknowledges that certain styles, including the LBD, were simple and accessible enough to be adapted by anyone. Fans of women's history, as well as Richard T. Ford's recent Dress Codes (2021), will enjoy this book.COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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