A Dedicated Follower of Fashion

by Holly Brubach

The clothes and accessories we wear and see every day are far more than just topics for the fashion they provide rich clues to our personal identity and popular culture. This collection of 28 incisive essays by noted critic and 'fashion anthropologist' Holly Brubach looks at clothing and the fashion industry as barometers of cultural and aesthetic change. In essays published over the past two decades in the New York Times Magazine , the New Yorker and the Atlantic , Brubach reflects on a wide range of from famous designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Gianni Versace to designer eyeglasses, from the timeless elegance of a Chanel suit to the decline of elegance in the 1990s, and from formal French style to the advent of casual athletic clothing as a fashion uniform. Brubach's witty commentaries weave thought-provoking connections between fashion and the larger world around us, making this an essential book for fashion insiders as well as anyone who may be allured by popular culture and style.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Raquel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Former New Yorker fashion writer Holly Brubach waxes on Valentino, Karl Lagerfeld, swimsuits, Yves Saint Laurent, models, and tacky wedding gowns. Sounds frivolous, but it's anything but.

[Aran Chandran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of essays / articles presents a beautiful slice of what was going on in the 80s and 90s, a time that interests me as I was a young boy and teenager, coming into being and was personally affected by it all. It goes further however to delve into the past that influenced it and some thoughtful insights of the era.

What’s truly interesting is how the themes and drives explored are still present today and how it has developed into where we currently are at the start of this decade.

- the casualisation of attire
- the start of athleisure
- the flaunting of new money
- the disdain of elitism
- the move away from haute couture towards fast fashion

Are just some takeaways that I can note offhand.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let it first be said that I find this book enjoyable. Like Sex and the City and Project Runway, it's a pleasure that I don't really understand and that doesn't seem to match my self-concept, but that tickles me all the same. However, I cannot FATHOM at whom this book was targeted, to whom it was marketed, or for whom it was successfully pitched. I mean, a book of essays about fashion I can see. Even one author's fashion oeuvre, okay. But. It's an oversized -- almost coffee-table sized -- hardback with thick, expensive-looking pages -- full of, um, prose. Every so often there's a two-page spread: a vaguely related photograph or, hey, just a wacky color (mostly spring tones, if that helps). Visually, it's a showpiece for an expensive and feminine (and spring-toned) living room; content-wise, it's a totally normal New Yorker style vanity anthology.

I couldn't help but wonder,

Wouldn't the person who would pay the $30+ for this book much more likely have spent that $30+ on one-tenth of a pair of shoes?

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of essays about fashion, because of their datedness rather than not. The essays range from the late 80's to the mid 90's. It's a time capsule of how far our language has changed (from fat to plus sized) and how much fashion really hasn't. It was something to note that not one of the essays spoke about diversity/lack of diversity in fashion. Whereas now there are many more people writing about it and cultural appropriation, etc.

Side note, the last two essays in the collection were so bad.

[Marion for a Free Palestine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of essays on fashion written over a period of fifteen years and published in a variety of magazines, from Vogue to The Atlantic. The writing is descriptive and amusing, if somewhat dated (she speaks of Isaac Mizrahi being out of a job), and they paint a great picture of fashion in the 80's an 90's with some very true observations about how fashion affects culture.

[Arwen Downs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I didn't learn much from this book beyond some fun fashion facts, but apparently my mom was in the same dorm with the author at Duke. Small world.

(moral of the story: always pick up books on impulse at the library. this could've been about the kinks or about fashion, I just grabbed it either way.)

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

brubach is a nice writer, and very set in her beliefs. spans a lot of time and a lot of trends, including bits on models, designers, photographers, observations. some great essays in here.