3.0
The Thoughtful Dresser
ByPublisher Description
“You can’t have depths without surfaces,” says Linda Grant in her lively and provocative new book, The thoughtful Dresser, a thinking woman’s guide to what we wear. For centuries, an interest in clothes has been dismissed as the trivial pursuit of vain, empty-headed women. Yet, clothes matter, whether you are interested in fashion or not, because how we choose to dress defines who we are. How we look and what we wear tells a story. Some stories are simple, like the teenager trying to fit in, or the woman turning fifty renouncing invisibility. Some are profound, like that of the immigrant who arrives in a new country and works to blend in by changing the way she dresses, or of the woman whose hat saved her life in Nazi Germany.
The Thoughtful Dresser celebrates the pleasure of adornment and is an elegant meditation on our relationship with what we wear and the significance of clothes as the most intimate but also public expressions of our identity.
The Thoughtful Dresser celebrates the pleasure of adornment and is an elegant meditation on our relationship with what we wear and the significance of clothes as the most intimate but also public expressions of our identity.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Thoughtful Dresser Reviews
3.0
“An intelligent look at fashion, how it makes us feel and what it contributes to our lives.
"You can’t have depths without surfaces. It’s impossible. And sometimes surfaces are all we have to go by."
"Clothes were more than what you put on; they were the means by which you situated yourself in the present tense, and perhaps more important, at the time, the way you could be guaranteed to annoy or even horrify your parents. For we understood that we were the generation that had been born young and would stay young forever;"
"For we understood that we were the generation that had been born young and would stay young forever; growing old, as one’s parents did, was a bizarre, mysterious lifestyle choice they had once fatally made—as if it had been their intention to have wrinkled skin and gray hair and spreading flesh, undiscussed illnesses and old-people’s Crimplene skirts."
"When I try to look back at my life, when I try intensely to remember, and to understand who I once was, I find myself thinking about what I wore. Because these outer forms were a means of expressing something about what I wanted to be."
"the rest of us find that what we wear is like a light switch. It turns on and brilliantly illuminates what lies beneath."
"Fashion has a life and laws of its own which are difficult for the ordinary intelligence to grasp. Personally, I know exactly what I must give to my designs: care, trouble and enthusiasm. They must be the reflection of my everyday existence, showing the same feelings, the same joys, the same tenderness."
"Fashion is all tied up with modernity, for fashion is always about what is now, of the moment."
"Fashion is about the constant motion of time, and a defense against time."
"Washing your clothes, choosing them carefully are the first steps back to having a place in the world."
"Young girls did not carry powder and paint around with them, we fresh-faced innocent darlings. The frame bag had about it poise, certainty, and the possession of a wallet with sufficient amounts of cash, and possibly that new and frighteningly adult possession, the credit card."
"have learned to only buy what I love and what is life enhancing, regardless of its cost."
"Take pleasure, I thought, take it while you can."”
“I have no idea how this book ended up on my TBR, but I'm here for it.
It had a slower, but stead rhythm, written like essays about particular themes in fashion. As expected, lots of names of labels that I didn’t know, designers that I have no clue even on what they make - is it bags?, or shoes?, or clothes?...
"The thoughtful dresser" had some controversial phrases and ideas - for example, the “sexy” chapter had a few connotations on skin showing vs feeling sexy, pointing that showing skin is a thing for teenagers who don’t understand what being sexy means. Although I partially agree, it was written with a bit of venom, in my opinion.
This was a 60s, 70s and 80s heavy book, written with lots and lots of nostalgia. The author writes multiple times of how her clothes at those times could be called vintage, but for her they were just second-handed. There is a lot of personal history throughout the book, and I liked the tidbits on how the author felt fashion change in the decades of her adulthood.
I could have gone without the 9/11 chapter, but it made sense in the grand scheme of things. On the other spectrum, I really liked Catherine Hill’s holocaust story and how it changed her life after leaving the concentration camps. The chapter that mentions how beauty was something to be stripped from women on the camps to further impact their self-esteem was equal parts sad and interesting.
Overall great read, even if slower at times. Do recommend if you’re interested in fashion and clothes in general.”
“With both entertainment and depth the author talks about why we want to shop. It’s written in a nice conversational tone so it’s pleasurable to read.”
About Linda Grant
Linda Grant is a novelist and journalist. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000 and the Lettre Ulysses Prize for the Art of Reportage in 2006. Her most recent novel, The Clothes on Their Backs, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008. She writes for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and Vogue.
Other books by Linda Grant
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