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A review by pomegranate_muse
A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty by Mimi Matthews
slow-paced
2.0
As a lover of Victorian history and fashion, I had high hopes for this book. With promises of historical context and answered questions, I found myself dissatisfied.
First, the good:
~ There was a breakdown on trends and fashion for each decade within the Victorian Era. I found that quite pleasing and helpful.
~ The fashion of sleeves and skirts, as well as accessories and hair, were quite detailed.
~ It was short and compact.
The bad:
~ There were barely any illustrations. I find that it would have been immensely helpful to show the reader what exactly made a skirt gored and so forth.
~ There were not many explanations given for the different styles or terminologies used within the book. Either a glossary or in-chapter explanations would have been immensely helpful.
~ While the book was thorough with describing the way a lady may have styled herself in any given decade, the material was presented in a dull, list-like manner. I understand that it is a monumental task to cover all the material needed for such a book on fashion, but I do believe there could have been a more riveting, passionate way to present the material.
~ Though there are many citations of vintage magazines and manuals, there was a severe lacking in the promised historical context of why certain styles were popular, why certain materials were used, ect. When there were explanations given, such as with cashmere shawls, they sorely lacked depth or further explanation. In the section speaking about the Japanese influence on fashion during the latter part of the Era, I do wish we had gotten more history. Were people generally accepting of the trends or did they oppose them? Did they also eat Japanese food in lieu of their fashion obsession? What did they think of the Japanese as a whole? Did they pick up any Japanese related hobbies? How is the Victorian fashion craze similar or different to our modern day fondness for Japanese culture and style? Such questions might be difficult to answer or fully verify, but those are the sorts of details that really bring a history to life.
~ The writing was quite repetitive.
~ A personal irk: when the author opened the sections with wording along the lines of "no longer content to be delicate ornaments in the ballroom, these women became more active/changed fashion." The reason this irks me is twofold. Firstly, because it implies that women, no matter what era, were ever content to be merely ornamental. Women, for the most part, have always been relegated to the ornamental, to the invisible hand that runs the household, and to be nothing more than what men deem them acceptable to be. Women of all eras had dreams, ambitions, hobbies, and things they took pride in. The limitation to the mind and role of a woman and the hobbies she engages in is primarily due to society.
Secondly, women were not always able to change or sway fashion.
This statement paints the scene to imply or at least not question the stance in which women throughout history, especially in the Victorian Era, were delicate, dullminded, and easily breakable.
Since this is a fashion book, I would have loved to see the ways in which women adorned themselves in silent protest, how they used the tools they had to empower themselves and others, and how they struggled with the infinite struggle that is being a woman. I would have loved to see the way that as the fashion changed, women were given more opportunities to grow alongside them. The book tries to do this, but it is handled very poorly.
Unfortunately, I cannot really recommend this book.
First, the good:
~ There was a breakdown on trends and fashion for each decade within the Victorian Era. I found that quite pleasing and helpful.
~ The fashion of sleeves and skirts, as well as accessories and hair, were quite detailed.
~ It was short and compact.
The bad:
~ There were barely any illustrations. I find that it would have been immensely helpful to show the reader what exactly made a skirt gored and so forth.
~ There were not many explanations given for the different styles or terminologies used within the book. Either a glossary or in-chapter explanations would have been immensely helpful.
~ While the book was thorough with describing the way a lady may have styled herself in any given decade, the material was presented in a dull, list-like manner. I understand that it is a monumental task to cover all the material needed for such a book on fashion, but I do believe there could have been a more riveting, passionate way to present the material.
~ Though there are many citations of vintage magazines and manuals, there was a severe lacking in the promised historical context of why certain styles were popular, why certain materials were used, ect. When there were explanations given, such as with cashmere shawls, they sorely lacked depth or further explanation. In the section speaking about the Japanese influence on fashion during the latter part of the Era, I do wish we had gotten more history. Were people generally accepting of the trends or did they oppose them? Did they also eat Japanese food in lieu of their fashion obsession? What did they think of the Japanese as a whole? Did they pick up any Japanese related hobbies? How is the Victorian fashion craze similar or different to our modern day fondness for Japanese culture and style? Such questions might be difficult to answer or fully verify, but those are the sorts of details that really bring a history to life.
~ The writing was quite repetitive.
~ A personal irk: when the author opened the sections with wording along the lines of "no longer content to be delicate ornaments in the ballroom, these women became more active/changed fashion." The reason this irks me is twofold. Firstly, because it implies that women, no matter what era, were ever content to be merely ornamental. Women, for the most part, have always been relegated to the ornamental, to the invisible hand that runs the household, and to be nothing more than what men deem them acceptable to be. Women of all eras had dreams, ambitions, hobbies, and things they took pride in. The limitation to the mind and role of a woman and the hobbies she engages in is primarily due to society.
Secondly, women were not always able to change or sway fashion.
This statement paints the scene to imply or at least not question the stance in which women throughout history, especially in the Victorian Era, were delicate, dullminded, and easily breakable.
Since this is a fashion book, I would have loved to see the ways in which women adorned themselves in silent protest, how they used the tools they had to empower themselves and others, and how they struggled with the infinite struggle that is being a woman. I would have loved to see the way that as the fashion changed, women were given more opportunities to grow alongside them. The book tries to do this, but it is handled very poorly.
Unfortunately, I cannot really recommend this book.