While I was off on my camping adventures I finally got to have a good read of a book I’d had my eye on for a while an which was gifted to me by a friend as a thanks for embellishing a hen’s dress for her final night of freedom.
Fifty dresses that Changed the World promises a lot and on the most part it delivers.
Maybe I’m just more attuned to vintage clothes and therefore don’t see that Julia Roberts Oscars dress from 2011 (a 1982 original) really was a dress that changed the world.
People had been wearing vintage for some time by that point and while I accept it thrust vintage into the limelight and made it more acceptable for people to look to the past when considering what to wear, I don’t think it changed the world.
It is however a really nice little coffee table book and is full of treasures such as the Delphos gown, the Chanel suit, Mary Quant’s mini-dress, the Paco Rabanne disc dress (I really REALLY wanted to wear this in the 90s – even in my teenage years, highly inappropriate) and of course the devastatingly beautiful creations of Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell.
We can all learn a little by looking at the beautiful lines of these garments for inspiration and this book it great for a little pick me up to think outside the box when considering where to go next, or when comparing currently lines of fashion houses and which era they may be looking back to.
A great book to flick through, read through and even to learn a few new names to research.
Oh and special mention for them putting Cher in with her 80s Moonstruck Oscars dress (Bob Mackie). The showgirl in me LOVES IT.
Stacey Stitch 