Expressing yourself through your personal style can be fun, and learning about the style and fashion of other people (real or fictional) can be just as interesting! This week we are looking at books about fashion.

Each week we look at a collection of a few books on a topic. You can explore the books on your own, or use them as a foundation for building a display in your library! You can use this flyer to get started, or another one you build for your library. (Click here: Book Bouquet about fashion)

Chanel: A Woman of her Own by Axel Madsen This book “brings to life Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, the queen of fashion who revolutionized women’s styles forever.” It’s very interesting and detailed and includes lots of old photographs.

Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman. I really enjoyed this little book, it’s a quick read but offers a glimpse into the author’s life events through her outfits. The book “features Beckerman’s brightly colored drawings of the vestments she wore at different times in her life, accompanied by diarylike entries. She grew up in Manhattan in the 1940s and ’50s, and we see her elementary school outfit, ballet costume, prom dress, etc.”

Alligators, Old Mink and New Money: One Woman’s Adventures in Vintage Clothing by Alison Houtte and Melissa Houtte. If you like New York and vintage clothing, this book is for you! “A celebration of the clothes that capture our memories and imaginations; that leave their indelible stamp on each of our lives. Narrated by Alison Houtte, a former fashion model who runs the beloved Brooklyn, New York, boutique Hooti Couture — a shop that Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times has toasted as a premier spot for vintage finds — this book is not only the story of one woman’s life in fashion, but also a vintage-shopper’s guide that helps readers embrace the idea of seeking out fashion finds from past decades to accent their current wardrobe.”

Dress Like a Woman: Working Women and What They Wore by Vanessa Friedman, Roxane Gay. This book “includes more than 240 incredible photographs that illustrate how women’s roles have changed over the last century. The women pictured in this book inhabit a fascinating intersection of gender, fashion, politics, culture, class, nationality, and race. Dress Like a Woman offers a comprehensive look at the role of gender and clothing in the workplace—and proves that there’s no single way to dress like a woman.”

Audrey Style by Pamela Keogh. I’m definitely an Audrey fan, and this book is great! “Audrey Hepburn was also one of the most admired and emulated women of the twentieth century, who encouraged women to discover and highlight their own strength. By example, she not only changed the way women dress–she forever altered the way they viewed themselves. For the first time, this style biography reveals the details–fashion and otherwise–that contributed so greatly to Audrey’s appeal.”

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. This book is the first in a fun series about the exploits of  Becky Bloomwood. She “has a fabulous flat in London’s trendiest neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming with the season’s must-haves. The only trouble is, she can’t actually afford it—not any of it. Her job writing at Successful Saving magazine not only bores her to tears, it doesn’t pay much at all. And lately Becky’s been chased by dismal letters from the bank—letters with large red sums she can’t bear to read. She tries cutting back. But none of her efforts succeeds. Her only consolation is to buy herself something . . . just a little something.”

Thanks for reading with us this week! We will have another bouquet of books next week.

You can also always get book suggestions by joining our book group podcast: Reading With Libraries. Join us! Read books, drink themed beverages and have fun with us!!