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Groundbreaking Fashion: 100 Iconic Moments
A celebration of fashion’s most adventurous, outrageous moments.
The modern history of fashion has always had significant turning points that altered everything that came afterward—from the first outing of Chanel’s little black dress and the scandal of the first miniskirt to Alexander McQueen’s armadillo shoes and Jean Paul Gaultier’s cone bra for Madonna. This book honors and celebrates these ground- breaking fashion moments.
Each of the one hundred fashion turning points is illustrated and put into its historical context—how and why it was ahead of the curve. The emphasis is on the designer who created it, the celebrity or personality who wore it, and why it was groundbreaking in terms of the social and cultural shift it created.
The modern history of fashion has always had significant turning points that altered everything that came afterward—from the first outing of Chanel’s little black dress and the scandal of the first miniskirt to Alexander McQueen’s armadillo shoes and Jean Paul Gaultier’s cone bra for Madonna. This book honors and celebrates these ground- breaking fashion moments.
Each of the one hundred fashion turning points is illustrated and put into its historical context—how and why it was ahead of the curve. The emphasis is on the designer who created it, the celebrity or personality who wore it, and why it was groundbreaking in terms of the social and cultural shift it created.
- GenresNonfiction
216 pages, Hardcover
Published April 11, 2017
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 8, 2022
This was stunningly mediocre, and the grammar is really poor - I'm not sure this was edited. I also take issue with the content itself.
For example:
"Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Style" - the last sentence reads "whichever way you look at it, Stefan was paying tribute (or in her words, a compliment) to the scene and copped flak for it, as she was criticized for cultural appropriation"
The author's biases are clear here, that she doesn't think Stefani was culturally appropriating. Stefani used Japanese women as accessories and they contractually weren't allowed to talk freely. Perhaps the author doesn't believe in cultural appropriation? In which case, she should have left that part out entirely.
This book also states that it is 100 iconic moments from the past century. It's actually maybe 40 iconic moments, then a bunch of iconic trends not attached to people. It's also very American centric, but a very specific kind of American centric. It's like if you googled "top fashion trends" and didn't include more depth than the first two sentences from a Wikipedia article.
I'm also disappointed with the entry on corsets. First of all, why is it included as an "iconic moment in the past century" when the page itself acknowledges corsets as undergarments from the 16th century? The entry also conflates corsets with stays, and with waist trainers.
There are quite a few more entries I take issue with, these were just the most egregious.
Overall, I was disappointed. I thought I would see some genuinely iconic fashion moments, but it's just boring and poorly written.
For example:
"Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Style" - the last sentence reads "whichever way you look at it, Stefan was paying tribute (or in her words, a compliment) to the scene and copped flak for it, as she was criticized for cultural appropriation"
The author's biases are clear here, that she doesn't think Stefani was culturally appropriating. Stefani used Japanese women as accessories and they contractually weren't allowed to talk freely. Perhaps the author doesn't believe in cultural appropriation? In which case, she should have left that part out entirely.
This book also states that it is 100 iconic moments from the past century. It's actually maybe 40 iconic moments, then a bunch of iconic trends not attached to people. It's also very American centric, but a very specific kind of American centric. It's like if you googled "top fashion trends" and didn't include more depth than the first two sentences from a Wikipedia article.
I'm also disappointed with the entry on corsets. First of all, why is it included as an "iconic moment in the past century" when the page itself acknowledges corsets as undergarments from the 16th century? The entry also conflates corsets with stays, and with waist trainers.
There are quite a few more entries I take issue with, these were just the most egregious.
Overall, I was disappointed. I thought I would see some genuinely iconic fashion moments, but it's just boring and poorly written.
June 30, 2017
This is an illustrated summary of 100 iconic moments in fashion. Although I have read quite a few books like this before, I am always happy to read another one! This one cover moments like the impact of high fashion, the high street, and celebrity influence. An enjoyable read, although there were some typos towards the end, and the illustrations accompanying each moment were a little basic for my taste.
March 4, 2019
I love this book which is full of tidbit gems on fashion history.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews