The Lost Art of Dress bookcover

The Lost Art of Dress

The Women Who Once Made America Stylish
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Description

"A tribute to a time when style -- and maybe even life -- felt more straightforward, and however arbitrary, there were definitive answers." -- Sadie Stein, Paris Review

As a glance down any street in America quickly reveals, American women have forgotten how to dress. We lack the fashion know-how we need to dress professionally and beautifully. In The Lost Art of Dress, historian and dressmaker Linda Przybyszewski reveals that this wasn't always true.
In the first half of the twentieth century, a remarkable group of women -- the so-called Dress Doctors -- taught American women that knowledge, not money, was key to a beautiful wardrobe. They empowered women to design, make, and choose clothing for both the workplace and the home. Armed with the Dress Doctors' simple design principles -- harmony, proportion, balance, rhythm, emphasis -- modern American women from all classes learned to dress for all occasions in ways that made them confident, engaged members of society.

A captivating and beautifully illustrated look at the world of the Dress Doctors, The Lost Art of Dress introduces a new audience to their timeless rules of fashion and beauty -- rules which, with a little help, we can certainly learn again.

Product Details

PublisherBasic Books
Publish DateApril 29, 2014
Pages400
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconHardback
EAN/UPC9780465036714
Dimensions9.5 X 6.6 X 1.3 inches | 1.5 pounds

About the Author

Linda Przybyszewski is an associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. The author of The Republic According to John Marshall Harlan, the editor of Some Memories of a Long Life, 1854-1911, as well as a prize-winning dressmaker, she lives in South Bend, Indiana.

Reviews

"[Przybyszewski's] wit and intelligence make this book as entertaining as it is informative."--Shop the Garment District blog
"A fascinating and valuable book."--Boston Globe
"A fascinating read.... Highly recommended!"--A Dress A Day
"A witty look at well-dressed women and a defense of the classic home-economics course."--Columbus Dispatch
"An important, even revolutionary book."--Acculturated
"If you love history as much as sewing, or are fascinated by the sewing the style manuals of the past, pick up a copy of The Lost Art of Dress."--Threads Magazine
"Like another forgotten artifact, the hope chest, her...book is most delightfully and fragrantly packed."--New York Times Book Review
"Linda Przybyszewski's remarkable, enchanting, well-researched history of America at its most stylish reminds us that once upon a time we were classy and fabulous."--Karen Karbo, author of The Gospel According to Coco Chanel
"The writing is sharp; the research thorough; and the book's illustrations a lone are worth the price of entry."--Books & Culture

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