Clothes horse. Fashion plate. Trendy. Style watcher.
Words you won’t hear used to describe me.
I’m a classic dresser, a fairly formal sort, with just a touch of whimsy. Unlike many women, I don’t generally take pleasure in clothes shopping and couldn’t care less about the latest styles.
But vintage clothing is one of my weaknesses.
I have dozens of dresses culled from used stores that I proudly wear. A 1940s gown, which I rarely have occasion to wear, not being used to formal dinners. A 1950s housewife’s dress. A 1960s Jackie O sheath. A shirt dress from the fifties or sixties. A maxi (that doesn’t quite make maxi status on me and is therefore slated for conversion to a modest “mini”) from the sixties/seventies. I just adore vintage.
So when I read Bermuda Onion’s review of Dreaming of Dior, I knew I wanted to take a look. Thankfully, my library had a copy and I snatched it right up.
The book contains illustrations of the stunning gowns from Doris Darnell’s collection–along with anecdotes about the former owners of each outfit. The illustrations alone are worth looking at–but the stories only make it better.
The stories feature a jet-setting crowd, traveling the world, meeting foreign dignitaries, dropping names left and right. It’s a world completely foreign to me, but one that I enjoy reading about nonetheless.
Many of the anecdotes reminded me of a favorite memoir of mine–Letitia Baldridge’s A Lady, First. I love those stories of diplomacy and etiquette and dinners that require fancy dress. Dreaming of Dior is just the sort of book for a story-loving, vintage-clothes-obsessed dreamer like myself.
Rating: 4 stars
Category: Fashion History
Synopsis: Charlotte Smith displays the fabulous collection of vintage outfits she inherited from her godmother–and tells the stories that go along with the gowns.
Recommendation: Lovely illustrations of lovely gowns with entertaining anecdotes to go along. This was a beautiful little book.
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I’m so glad you enjoyed this book too! I was just looking through my copy this weekend – it’s fun to look through even after you’ve read it.