t_neoma 's review for:

What Artists Wear by Charlie Porter

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I enjoyed the book, it was a fun and easy read. It seemed "off" in some ways as far as editing goes. It had an almost self published vibe to it. (not in a good way unfortunately.) I wish that the author would have explored some artists a little deeper than they did others. For example, when discussing Louise Bourgeois, a mention that her mother was a weaver may have been an interesting note. This played a role in her work and I don't see why it wouldn't be mentioned in the context of a book about cloth(ing). Georgia O'Keeffe seemed like an artist who we would spend some time with in a book like this. She has a clear style evolution that was unique for her time. She was mentioned too briefly in my opinion. She made many of her own clothes, including hand smocking! This wasn't really discussed or pictured which felt odd to me. My favorite images in the book were the shoes of Lee Krasner and her husband Jackson Pollock. Although I wish there was more text about it. If you don't have at least some basic knowledge of the discussed artists you won't get much out of the book. When it came to the artists that I had an awareness of, the information was mildly interesting but I didn't learn anything I wouldn't have known already from reading about them and viewing their work previously. And for the few artists I did not know much about, again, interesting but without the prior knowledge of their work... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I don't know, it disappointed me a little bit. Maybe I was too excited because this book is about my two loves. Art and personal style! I love art, art history, and I am an artist. I collect vintage clothing and love the expression and joy of getting dressed. I love to read! What more could I want out of a book that combines all the things that bring me joy?! But it left me feeling like more could have been shared about many of the artists. The reason for this feeling was because I kept remembering clothing-related facts about several of the artists that were not shared here.