Celebrating 'World Book Day' with a magnificent trilogy on fashion history.
One that is as entertaining as it is a true and meticulous teacher of the ancient and the modern.
Who was the Cinderella of Ancient Egypt? Why would the French cover their faces behind masks? Was there ever a tax in order to pay for the queen's hair pins?
Let me tell you all about it!
"From simple barbettes worn in Anglo-Saxon times to the pillbox hat popularized by Jackie Kennedy in the mid-twentieth century, hats and headdresses have – for centuries – played an important part of a lady's wardrobe."
"Sitting so prominently on the head and in such close proximity to the face, the hat can mesh with its wearer and his or her identity in an extraordinary way. [...] It is perhaps this same vividness ( together with the cult of informality, of course ) that partly explains the decline of the fashion hat in the years after the World War II.
The hat attracts too much attention; it can say too much about the wearer."
"I must admit that clothes are my whole life [...] They haunt me perpetually, until they are ready to pass from the world of my dreams into the world of practical utility.
They preoccupy me, they occupy me and finally they 'post-occupy' me, if I can risk the word.
This half vicious, half ecstatic circle, makes my life at the same time heaven and hell."
"Working 24/7 – your business becomes a full-time venture even when you're not at the studio. Switching off can be very difficult when there is so much to do."
Do you think you're ready to give most things up in order to build your own little world, in the form of a fashion label? Follow me.
Edith Head ( 1897 – 1981 ) dressed stars from Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor to Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn. Undoubtelly Hollywood's most famous and influential costume designer, Head designed clothes for over a thousand movies.
"Managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly, you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it."
Being a good boss is tricky. Even the best need a coach in order to gracefully juggle with everything thrown at them. And that's what Robert I. Sutton is trying to help with.
"Taste cannot be tought, but can be acquired. You must be born with the good taste of wishing to aquire good taste."
Hardy Amies, London fashion designer and royal dressmaker – 1954
This week's book is a quotationary!
Alphabetically ordered, hundreds of witty, audacious and sometimes shocking statements that date from post 1850, which define fashion as it relates to women.
"Artists [...] tend to have a horror of the mechanics of business. Terms like 'cashflow forecasts', 'spreadsheets', and ' VAT returns' stir up feelings of, at best, boredom, and at worst, pure terror."
I must tell you, I can't remember the last time I laughed this much while reading a book!
If you're an entrepreneur yourself, you will most certainly feel the same way.
And if you're thinking of starting a business, believe these stories to be universally true and memorize these pieces of advice, as they are genuinely useful.
Never judge a book by its cover. Literally.
Behind this book's supposed shallow title hide plenty of facts from the dark side of the 1 trillion dollar industry. Which might just make you question your own actions more...
Warning! This is a must read for anyone that aspires to be an aware and responsible fashion consumer!
The Boater? The Trilby? The Deerstalker? How about 'The Pork Pie'...?
No idea what those mean? In that case, you should indeed read this book! :)
"There are so many hats out there in the big, wide world, that it's hard to know where to start. In case you're feeling utterly bamboozled at the prospect of beginning the search on your own, here are a few pointers to help you in your choice."
No, this is not a resolution!
It would've been called that if I had just said I would like to read more this upcoming year.
But actually buying 52 books and stating right here and now that for an entire year I will be posting a book review each Friday, that most certainly makes it a plan! :)
