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Dreaming of Dior: Every Dress Tells a Story
by
Charlotte Smith (Goodreads Author),
Grant Cowan
Charlotte Smith had already had more than her fair share of fabulous dresses and adventures. She lived life to the fullest in London, Paris and New York before falling in love with Australia and making it her home. Then she discovered that she had inherited a priceless vintage clothing collection from her American Quaker godmother, Doris Darnell.
When the boxes started arri...more
When the boxes started arri...more
Hardcover, 296 pages
Published
April 13th 2010
by Atria Books
(first published 2010)
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This delightful little book takes readers on a tour of fabulous dresses through the ages, as collected by the socialite Doris Darnell. Her collections contains dresses spanning a 200-year range, and contains examples of every major style influence from ready to wear to couture over the modern and pre-modern time periods. Each dress is accompanied by a short story that tells of a memory about the dress by the previous owner, which gives the book a nostalgic and fairytale quality.
Instead of havin...more
Instead of havin...more
Depicting beautifully illustrated gowns ranging from the mid 1800's to the 1990's, Dreaming of Dior, proves the old saying that while somethings change, some things always stay the same. In this case, that thing that never changes is a love of all things material. If you love clothes, beauty and fashion, you will love this book. It would be especially appealing to those who have a keen interest in vintage fashion, or, those like me, who combine their interest in history with their of clothes. As...more
I wish I could give this two and a half stars. It's a little like Love, Loss, and What I Wore only less personal and a lot more designer obsessed. It's an illustrated catalog of priceless vintage clothing given to the author by her godmother (an eccentric fashion historian/socialite who sounds like a great candidate for a biography). I was thrilled to find this in the book bins at Ollie's Bargain Outlet but found the writing to be really forced, like the author was trying too hard to be witty an...more
Dreaming of Dior, by Charlotte Smith is a book comprised of stories that each have a dress that the main character in the short story wore. The dresses and their stories are from a variety of moments in history. I really loved this book because of the really pretty illustrations that go along with the interesting stories. Each story gives you a little insight into the time period as well as the life of the woman who wore the dress. Each dress is very different varying from ball gowns to bathing...more
I really liked the concept for this book...Truly unique. That being said, sometimes the author forgot to put the era of the design into the story. It would have been more intimate if Doris' photos of the actual individuals,in their particular gowns, were used instead of the illustrations. My favorite were the gowns of the 1930s. The authors dresses were all very comical, because they all looked alike...all very short micro-minis from the '80s and '90s. Her stories were funny too after awhile..ho...more
Charlotte Smith inherited a collection of beautiful vintage clothing from her godmother, Doris Darnell. Her godmother collected not only the clothing but the stories of the people who wore them. At first, Charlotte was overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do with all of the clothing (over 3,000 pieces), but once she read the stories, she knew she had to share the collection somehow. She couldn’t bear the thought of it being broken up, so she didn’t want to donate it to museums. Luckily for us, sh...more
The book cover attracted me, then I flipped through the book and it seems interesting. Each dress in this book has a mini story with it. just like a picture has it's own story, but in this book, it's each dress has it's own story. I liked every mini story of each dress. They even have illustration of each dress and the dresses are PRETTY! I also noticed that the designs on the dresses back then reflect on the styles and themes used in today's fashion. Bringing back the old.
I don't care much what I put on my body as long as it's clean, comfortable, and covers the parts of my body I want to keep covered. (The Mother Superior of a convent where I was staying once confiscated some of my clothing for cleaning rags, and she was right to do so.) I am, therefore, probably not the intended audience for this book. It's going back to the friend who lent it to me; she thinks it's wonderful. I'm sure that, if you're at all interested in fashion, it is.
Well, this was definitely not what I expected. It wasn't bad, just different. From blurbs I had seen before reading, I thought this would be a narrative about the dresses in the collection and the woman/women who wore them, and would involve photographs, personal tidbits, etc. Instead every page features a very rough/loosely-drawn rendering and a super short bit of random information. Sometimes the info/text IS a short story or personal snippet about the dress and/or its former mistress, but mos...more
This is a sweet read. It's written by a woman who inherited hundreds of dresses both couture and off the rack, with little tales about the lives of those who wore the dresses. Loved the illustrations and mini stories, loved the name dropping. I'm lending my library copy to a girlfriend before returning it given it's so beautiful. Lovely to dip in and out of. I hope I get to see an exhibition of the clothes one day.
As I love vintage fashion, and vintage fashion drawings, this was right up my alley. Charming stories about the outfits and owners. Very, very quick read; much like a magazine; but just beautiful
Gorgeous book about gorgeous gowns and the women who wore them. The Australian edition's velvet cover can be seen here: http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books...
I absolutly love this book!!!! Ever single dress featured in here is vintage and has story connected with each garment. Read only if you're a fashion geek.
Reminds me very much of a cool traveling exhibit called "From Purse to Person," currently showing at the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport, LA.
Very colourful (colorful-for my American friends!) and detailed illustrations. Some stories are better than others, but all in all a fun read.
I did enjoy all the little stories of the women and their dresses. It reminded me of a J. Peterman catalog, although those are better written. I would have liked this one a lot better if the author didn't name drop and toot her own horn so often.
Just loved this book for the pictures and stories surrounding them a lovely book to sit and read with a glass of champers.
I loved this book. It is delightful, I enjoyed the stories about the different outfits and how they came about!
I have always loved reading about clothes and especially the stories behind them. This book was amazing! My only complaint is that there were no photographs of the clothes, only drawings, but the illustrations were still gorgeous. I coveted most of the items in here.
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Amazing dress and illustrations!!! Some of the stories were interesting, but it was mainly for the dresses.
Want to read this again and follow up some of the dress owner's stories ... Beautiful !
Feb 03, 2013
Ella Monaghan
added it
I love it how- in this book - every dress tells a story.
Fantastic, loved the personal stories and dress illustrations.
The illustrations in this book have blown me away. I couldn't imagine seeing these in person, let alone owning all of these beautiful gowns.
I love vintage clothing and carrying a little piece of an old story. This wonderful collection gives the reader a snapshot of an album most of us can only dream up.
Fun and interesting!
Beautiful!
fun
I idea of this book is wonderful...wish it was either larger (ie - coffee table size) so that the illustrations could really be the featured, or included more detail in the stories. I'd LOVE to see these dresses in person!
I want every dress in this book! To-die-for illustrations of each dress and witty, interesting, sometimes sad and fascinating stories to go with each dress...
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