The Colour of Fashion: The Story of Clothes in Ten Colors

by Caroline Young

The story of fashion is woven through with colour. Vividly illustrated and compellingly written, The Colour of Fashion uncovers the colourful history of style, through 10 shades and their key moments in the spotlight – including Beyoncé in empowering yellow chiffon, Valentino's signature red gowns, and Audrey Hepburn in that Little Black Dress – and shows that colour means so much more than meets the eye. Black - Purple - Blue - Green - Yellow - Orange - Brown - Red - Pink - White

Genres: Nonfiction, Fashion

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 17, 2022

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

♥️♥️♥️

[Deborah Makarios · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but definitely on the pop history end of the spectrum, not the factually accurate end.
For example, it claims that thousands of women in the reign of James VI & I were "burned alive" for witchcraft (p.22).
In fact, the penalty in England was hanging, and in Scotland those convicted were strangled and then their bodies burned. In England and Scotland combined, there were about 2,000 executions, but that was over the course of centuries, not just the reign of James VI & I. And in Scotland at least, men made up 25% of those accused of witchcraft (and as many as 3/4 of people who were accused were not found guilty).
Were women executed for witchcraft in Britain during the reign of James VI & I? Yes. Were thousands of women burned alive for witchcraft as this book claims? No.
TL;DR: interesting book but don't assume that whatever it says is true.

[Trina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this wee book, really accessible even for those of us that can barely match our socks up, and crammed full with genuinely very interesting facts about colour, branding and the hidden meaning of colours. The chapters set by colour and the ribbon make it really pretty to just carry about with you and look smart too.

[Ruth Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book, beautifully presented with colours down the side of each page and a lovely ribbon -forget kindle, this is what books are all about! Well written and researched too, very interesting.

[Carson Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction- liked the pictures and the mingling of older (Middle Aged) and modern fashion associations. Would have liked more non-European history but do recognize the book had to limit its scope somehow.

[Laura Ghitoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Learned a lot and got so many movie recommendations. Would have loved for every mention of a design/outfit/painting etc to be illustrated with photos in the book but I am aware this would have made the book 10x bigger and more expensive.

[Ella Storey · Rating 3 out of 5]

extremely interesting

[Edie Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of publications on color. I think I’ve read them all! Some are better than others. If you’ve never read anything from this genre, you’ll find this book exceptionally informative and entertaining. I was familiar with many of the old anecdotes, but I still managed to find new ones. This definitely gives the book some points in its favor

The many pictures aren’t terribly large but probably large enough. More would have been appreciated (though probably impossible due to costs)., Whenever she mentioned something not included in the photographs, I needed to run to Google and find the example.

Another downside was that the colors printed weren’t always the most accurate to the originals. I also a few mistakes in the stories which I found annoying.

But on the whole I’d give the book a thumbs up.