OBSESSED BY DRESS

Tobi Tobias

ISBN 10: 0807006068 / ISBN 13: 9780807006061

Published by Beacon Press, Boston, 2005

About this Item

Smallish hardcover book with minor wear, clean and tightly bound; internally clean, bright and unmarked. Dust jacket like new, spine not sunned, not price-clipped. Summary: Self-adornment (or its stern refusal) has been an unquenchable human impulse in all eras and places. From the toga to the little black dress, Tobi Tobias considers no less than the entire history of the human struggle with fashion by juxtaposing observations from philosophers, writers, and designers-from Plato to Coco Chanel--so that the authors speak to each other about the power of fashion. Experienced full-time bookseller since 1994. Images may be added by request. Questions welcome.

Seller Inventory # 23743

Bibliographic Details

• Title: OBSESSED BY DRESS
• Publisher: Beacon Press, Boston
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807006068
• ISBN 13: 9780807006061
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: McLaren, Chesley
• Edition: First Edition, First Printing.
• Condition: Near Fine in NF dust jacket
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Costume & Fashion

About this title

Synopsis

Are you obsessed by dress? Do you wonder if your obsession is a virtue or a vice? The flourish of a creative spirit or a sign of conformity to social norms? If so, you're in good company. Juxtaposing quotations from Virgil to Coco Chanel, Tobi Tobias reassures us that the obsession with clothes is as old as human history itself.

Jane Austen, Mae West, Christian Dior, Virginia Woolf, Andy Warhol, and Mark Twain are among the many who have their say. Arranged with incomparable flair, their comments will help you answer the eternally vexing question, "What shall I wear?" "One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art." -Oscar Wilde

"Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim." --Jane Austen

"Show me the clothes of a country and I can write its history." --Anatole France

"Only God helps the badly dressed." --Spanish proverb

"Probably every new and eagerly expected garment ever put on since clothes came in fell a trifle short of the wearer's expectation." --Charles Dickens

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes." --Henry David Thoreau

"Almost every man looks more so in a belted trench coat." --Sydney J. Harris

"Brevity is the soul of lingerie." --Dorothy Parker

"There is much to support the view that it is clothes that wear us and not we them; we may make them take the mould of arm or breast, but they would mould our hearts, our brains, our tongues to their liking." --Virginia Woolf

About the Author

Tobi Tobias is the intriguingly dressed dance critic for New York magazine. Her essays on fashion and related "food for the eye" have appeared in New York, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and Dance Ink. She is the author of over two dozen books for children, most recently A World of Words and Serendipity.

Chesley McLaren is a well-known fashion illustrator, having worked for Neiman Marcus, Bendel's, Bergdorf Goodman, and other upmarket fashion retailers.