The Lost Art of Dress
Aug. 1st, 2021 04:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliThe Lost Art of Dress: The Women Who Once Made America Stylish by Linda Przybyszewski
A book about advice in dressing from the late 19th century to now -- the later part being chiefly the fall of the excellent advice they got earlier, from the author's point of view. (The history and her arguments had a few points of roughness, but not many.)
Interesting stuff from the advice that pure primary and secondary colors are generally unwise; a woman need the proper coloring herself, and the personality to not be overwhelmed, so that people notice the woman rather than the dress, to the view that toddler clothing should be easy for the child to put on to give the children practice with their fingers and their focus, and also to teach them the self-reliance to be good citizens. Extension work from universities to teach new things in sewing. (Extension workers that worked with blacks had to be black themselves, because you would go into a woman's house and had to talk to her as a social equal. Advice for the great numbers of clothes you need for all sorts of situations -- women in college towns should wear different clothes from those in city colleges, and they even told you what to wear as a spectator at sports -- and more advice about how to use your limited wardrobe and accessories to fit all your situations.
I found the rules particularly interesting.
A book about advice in dressing from the late 19th century to now -- the later part being chiefly the fall of the excellent advice they got earlier, from the author's point of view. (The history and her arguments had a few points of roughness, but not many.)
Interesting stuff from the advice that pure primary and secondary colors are generally unwise; a woman need the proper coloring herself, and the personality to not be overwhelmed, so that people notice the woman rather than the dress, to the view that toddler clothing should be easy for the child to put on to give the children practice with their fingers and their focus, and also to teach them the self-reliance to be good citizens. Extension work from universities to teach new things in sewing. (Extension workers that worked with blacks had to be black themselves, because you would go into a woman's house and had to talk to her as a social equal. Advice for the great numbers of clothes you need for all sorts of situations -- women in college towns should wear different clothes from those in city colleges, and they even told you what to wear as a spectator at sports -- and more advice about how to use your limited wardrobe and accessories to fit all your situations.
I found the rules particularly interesting.