My Book Arrived! Through the Looking Glass

catwalkcreative

catwalkcreative

Alumni
Well I may as well forget any thoughts about listing anything today, or indeed any other form of work. Why, because 1) I can't drag myself away from the VFG forums, and 2) my vintage fashion book arrived!

It's called Through the Looking Glass by Elizabeth Wilson and Lou Taylor. I purchased it following a recommendation by Sarah of Tin Trunk (thank you Sarah)! It's got to be my bargain buy of the year at £0.54p !!!! Bought it 'used' from Amazon.co.uk but it's in great condition with no missing pages.

I've been discussing rayon fabric on the forum today and Sarah (of Tin Trunk) has also posted about Chinese embroidered Mahjongg Suit (pyjamas). Weirdly enough, the first page I opened of my new book shows a photograph of 5 lovely ladies from 1929 wearing rayon clothes (see photos below). In addition, the girl on the left of the photo (with bob) is wearing, what looks like, silky pyjamas. Not exactly the same as the Mahjongg suit but quite Chinese in style. :)

Thread about Chinese embroidered pyjamas:
http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/forums/viewthread.php?tid=63035

Thread about Rayon:
http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/forums/viewthread.php?tid=63036

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:excited: That's brilliant! So pleased that your happy with my recommendation!

I would do very bad things for a pair of 20s 'Chinese' pyjamas, rayon or preferably silk :lol:

And I'm with you on the forum activity! I really must get some lunch, I'm starving!

Sarah
 
That is an excellent book for information. Its too bad the publisher didn't put a bit more into the design and presentation of the book. Some sexy colour photos would have helped a LOT!
 
You'd think the BBC could afford a few more colour plates, wouldn't you?!

Louise - out of loyalty to my former tutor and mentor Lou Taylor, I have to mention some of her other books too - "The Study of Dress History" and "Establishing Dress History." Although they are more geared to academic research, they are very readable and accessible.

Elizabeth Wilson's "Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity" is brilliant too, and probably the first proper academic book I ever read about fashion (years before I ever went to university). Again, its not too challenging for the general reader. I get fed up of those books you need to read with a dictionary beside you :)
 
I'll put them on my Christmas list definitely. Thanks so much Sarah - now STOP IT IMMEDIATELY! I dare not get any more or else I will probably never go out again. :P
 
I've just seen them on Amazon and I'm oh so tempted!!! However, I've removed myself and written them down. These will be great at Christmas. At least I'll get something I actually want this year! :lol:
 
Lou Taylor inspired my interest in fashion during WW2. She gave a lecture to the Ontario Costume Society on the topic back in 1994ish. I had no idea, until her lecture, that Parisian couture continued to progress under occupation and that the 'New Look' developed during the war and wasn't the invention of Dior in 1947. There's an article by her on that topic in 'Chic Thrills - a Fashion Reader' London 1992, edited by Juliet Ash and Elizabeth Wilson.
 
Yess! She is still passionately interested in that subject, and gets quite heated in discussing it! - particularly the way the truth about Parisian couture in the war years is STILL being glossed over, and not just in 'lightweight,' popular fashion history. And don't get her started on Chanel and her wartime capers . . . :o

Lou Taylor was and is a total inspiration to me :adore:
 
Jonathan - another Chanel dissenter, hooray!!

Louise - Chanel spent a very comfortable war in the Paris Ritz hotel, which was used by the Nazis as their headquarters during the occupation, ensconced with her handsome Nazi officer lover. She was a collaborator par excellence, with connections high up in the Nazi ranks, so much so that she even offered herself as an envoy for Hitler to go and negotiate with Churchill.

During the war many Jewish owned businesses were 'Aryanised' because Jews were officially forbidden from owning businesses. Chanel tried to use this to her advantage by trying to seize back the perfume business she had sold to the Jewish businessman Mr Wertheimer, but he foiled her by bringing in an 'Aryan' colleague to front the business.

After the war, she somehow managed to sneak away to Switzerland escaping what might have been horrible consequences had she remained in France where she was well-known for her activities. She remained in exile for eight years before she dared return to Paris. Many French people never forgave her.

Sarah
 
Its a tricky one.

There's lots of Chanel's design work and personal style that I love - the mannish jackets and trousers (have you seen that great picture of her and a friend dressed up in men's tweedy jackets in the 20s?), the extravagant costume jewellery, the simplicity and elegance of her suits.

But there's plenty of reasons to dislike her as a person!

I suppose you should be able to separate the work from the person, but I do think her current status as an untouchable icon of 20th century fashion should take account of her activities and beliefs, and not just brush them under the carpet.

She's really got off very lightly as far as posterity is concerned!
 
She got off partly because she and her company spent much of the remainder of her life buying up any evidence. Most of what is known is pieced together from the few documents that surfaced after her death that showed she had spied for the Nazis - it was mostly passing on information and giving misinformation to the English through her connections.

Her postwar success was due almost entirely to the American market which wasn't aware of, or were more forgiving of her wartime actions. Her first return collections in 1954-55 were commerical and critical failures. It was only when she hit on that suit design in the late 1950s that she regained her prestige as a designer and the French began buying her clothes again.
 
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