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dray's review
5.0
Excellent book on a little researched and mostly unconscious subject. Alison gave good insight into our current sartorial choices, where they came from and what they mean. Well worth reading.
msjenne's review
2.0
It was interesting in spots, but it's (obviously, since it was written in 1981) outdated.
A lot of her assertions were dubious at best, like her theory that the widely-set stripes on baseball uniforms symbolize the long periods of inaction in the game. Um, what?
Also, a lot of it just seemed to be personal opinions, e.g. wearing a Tyrolean hat makes you look like a "ninny". (Which, okay, is kind of true in most cases.)
A lot of her assertions were dubious at best, like her theory that the widely-set stripes on baseball uniforms symbolize the long periods of inaction in the game. Um, what?
Also, a lot of it just seemed to be personal opinions, e.g. wearing a Tyrolean hat makes you look like a "ninny". (Which, okay, is kind of true in most cases.)
andreairashea's review
4.0
A bit out of date, but for the historical and anthropological perspective, quite entertaining!
jenne's review
2.0
It was interesting in spots, but it's (obviously, since it was written in 1981) outdated.
A lot of her assertions were dubious at best, like her theory that the widely-set stripes on baseball uniforms symbolize the long periods of inaction in the game. Um, what?
Also, a lot of it just seemed to be personal opinions, e.g. wearing a Tyrolean hat makes you look like a "ninny". (Which, okay, is kind of true in most cases.)
A lot of her assertions were dubious at best, like her theory that the widely-set stripes on baseball uniforms symbolize the long periods of inaction in the game. Um, what?
Also, a lot of it just seemed to be personal opinions, e.g. wearing a Tyrolean hat makes you look like a "ninny". (Which, okay, is kind of true in most cases.)
raehink's review
3.0
We pay close attention to how other people dress and it is part of what we use to form a first impression of someone. This was an intriguing book...although I think other people pay way more attention to clothing than I do.
lieslindi's review
Right after I finished The Lost Art of Dress: The Women Who Once Made America Stylish* I saw someone reading this and thought Alison Lurie might have interesting things to say on the topic. So she might, if she could back away from the stereotypes. I mean, okay, without stereotyping, clothing couldn't be such a dense forest of meaning, but Lurie is reductionist as well as prescriptivist and she ranks cultures on a ladder rather than arraying them around a clock, say.
It's funny: when I read Lurie's Foreign Affairs, it felt dated with business being conducted across the Atlantic Ocean by letter -- in the 1980s, not the 1880s. This nonfiction book came out at about the same time -- during Reagan's first term -- but it is dated in more egregious ways. People come in more colors than blonde red and brunette. I didn't learn anything factual (I skimmed the second half) and I didn't like her judgments.
* How did I happen across this? Was it source material for Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion?
It's funny: when I read Lurie's Foreign Affairs, it felt dated with business being conducted across the Atlantic Ocean by letter -- in the 1980s, not the 1880s. This nonfiction book came out at about the same time -- during Reagan's first term -- but it is dated in more egregious ways. People come in more colors than blonde red and brunette. I didn't learn anything factual (I skimmed the second half) and I didn't like her judgments.
* How did I happen across this? Was it source material for Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion?
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