So … I have a new book coming out next year. It’s called The Hundred Dresses, and it’s about the most iconic dress styles of our age, and how and why to wear them. What do I mean by “iconic dress styles”? Well, it’s everything from fashion classics like the Fortuny column and the Chanel jersey dress, to folklore styles like the wench and the “Guinevere,” ethnic styles like the flamenco, the cheongsam and the sari, as well as pop-culture icons like the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and the “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria” dirndl, and modern touchpoints like the J-Lo (yeah, you know the one I’m talking about) and the Mouret Galaxy. Whew!
Here’s a quick excerpt from the current draft — a dress archetype familiar to regular readers of this blog, the Airship Hostess.
The Airship Hostess dress is not for present-day flight attendants or even stewardesses: it is a purely notional dress for an alternate history where giant cruise-ship-like dirigibles float through the skies, doing the New York to still-exotic San Francisco run at a leisurely 135 mph.
The Airship Hostess dress is vaguely 1930s; vaguely 1940s, but with a distinctly official air. There are useful pockets (usually asymmetrical); there are buttons (usually asymmetrical); there’s a long, narrow skirt and a little collar, and definitely something pointy and art-deco-y going on. It’s worn bare-headed, or with a jaunty little hat, and purses or bags are not carried while on duty (that’s what the pockets are for). Dickies and gloves? Optional.
The women in the Airship Hostess dresses are the heroines of screwball comedies: they’re heiresses running away from their inheritances, grifters on the make (with hearts of gold), dames both dizzy and hard-bitten. They have secrets; they have repartee; they do their safety briefing before takeoff as a patter song. They always fall in love on their voyages, either with the poor boy in steerage (who is a prince in disguise) or with the older, world-weary war correspondent, or (occasionally) with the semi-sloshed and semi-louche lounge piano player.
Even though modern airships are limited to thrill rides and hovering over major sporting events (yawn) the Airship Hostess dress is not. It’s amazing how competent a trim, tailored, functional dress — one that isn’t trying to be a man’s suit — can make you feel. The Airship Hostess is prepared for any disaster on the ground or in the skies (short of a full-on Hindenberg), and you can be too.
So here’s where I could use your help — I need a subtitle, and I need it *now*. The usual publishing practice of just adding “… and how they CHANGED the WORLD” as a subtitle isn’t really working for this one, sadly. Any suggestions? I will pick my favorite from any comments left on this post today, and send the winner a copy of my last book (signed, if you like!) and also a random piece of fabric or pattern from my stash! (How’s that for incentive?)
I’m also looking for some “who wore it best” type links to pictures of famousish people wearing the archetypes. I’ve set up a Pinterest Board and tried to put up pictures of all the types … if you know where to find a picture of, say, Cameron Diaz wearing the Airship Hostess (oh, if only she WOULD) or Zooey Deschanel wearing a “Face” dress … or Drew Barrymore wearing the Flower Child Bride … and so on, Pinterest lets you leave comments on the pins. Which would be awesome.
What else can I tell you? It’s being published by Bloomsbury (they’re wonderful). It’s illustrated — every dress! — by Donna Mehalko, who is super-wonderful. It will be out in 2013 sometime, available wherever books are sold.
A Dress A Day 
How about:
The Hundred Dresses: From A-line to Vreeland
-or-
The Hundred Dresses and the thousands of stories they tell
-or-
The Hundred Dresses: Not (just) your grandmother’s fashion
-or-
The Hundred Dresses: From Barely There to Ballroom
-or-
The Hundred Dresses: Our wardrobes, Ourselves
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Erin….no suggestions for the subtitle but wanted to de-lurk to say many congrats and I’m looking forward to reading with pleasure!
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Okay, so I will suggest a subtitle…Not Eleanor Estes Hundred Dresses…as in Not your grandma’s sewing circle…..but maybe I’m dating myself too much with that reference.
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Here today, gown tomorrow!
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He he!
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The Hundred Dresses: Clothes that Made the Age
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Buildign on the inspiration of others:
The Hundred Dresses: A walk through the wardrobe of time.
The Hundred Dresses: A walk though the wardrobe of history.
Good luck with the book!
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The Hundred Dresses: Adventures in Arresting Apparel
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The Hundred Dresses: And Why They Matter
The Hundred Dresses: And How to Pick the Perfect One for You
The Hundred Dresses: And Why you Need at least One in Your Wardrobe Now
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The 100 Dresses
Fashionable moments, from culture to couture
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I posed this problem to my husband and he came up with a good one: Unforgetable looks for an Unforgetable You
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Or Unforgetable Fashions for an Unforgetable You (his latest iteration).
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The 100 Dresses
that women love to wear
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The Hundred Dresses
Loved Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
History that every women can/should wear.
History you can/should wear
Iconic dresses form the past for women today.
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The hundred dresses:
The Essential Iconic Dresses, Who They Are, and Why Women Wear Them
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I’m thinking Helen of Troy here…The Hundred Dresses that Launched a Thousand ….here’s where I lose it….maybe launched a thousand stitches or maybe The Hundred Dresses that Launched a Million Stitches….OK, that’s it….THE HUNDRED DRESSES THAT LAUNCED A MILLION STITCHES. Or something like that! Anyway, congrats on the new book, whatever it’s called.
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[…] Thank you all so much for all the fantastic subtitle suggestions last week! I totally believe that “wisdom of crowds” thing […]
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The Hundred Dresses: What [what] you wear says about you
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Congratulations!
The Hundred Dresses: Profiles of Our Favorite Silhouettes
?
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Hey Erin, I haven’t got a subtitle suggestion. I have got a dress that’s not on your pinterest board though. What about Princess Diana’s wedding dress? It defined eighties dresses for those of us who lived then. Maybe she didn’t have as much impact in the USA as she did in Commonwealth countries. I suppose the local equivalent is the Ladies of Dallas.
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Oh, that dress is definitely in the book! I don’t think I put up a picture, though — I will.
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I looked at the pinteest board & didn’t see the one my mom wore through the 50’s and 60’s: the shirtdress with the fitted bodice and gathered skirt. She sewed each one; always in a print. (The shirtdress I saw had a straight skirt.)
I love this concept and can’t wait for the book!
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Thanks so much! I have that dress in the book as the “June Cleaver”. 🙂
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I have no suggestions for your book title because you already have soo many good ones listed above!
I just wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU for your last book – The Secret Lives of Dresses – I LOVED every page & would read it again & again; the book made me want to be Dora
Much love 🙂 xxx
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I just want to second Mish’s sentiment. I LOVE ‘The Secret Lives of Dresses’. Please write a follow up. I want to know more about Dora, but I REALLY want to know more about Meaux!
I’ll order a copy of The Hundred Dresses as soon as it is available.
Thanks, Kathy
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