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 
The Hundred Dresses that Made History?(or fashion, glamour history)
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The Hundred Dresses and How to Wear Them, or The Hundred Dresses and Why Every Woman Needs Them.
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Here are a couple suggestions:
Asymmetrical Proficiency
Asymmetrical Aptitude
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The Hundred Dresses:
the most iconic dresses of our times, and how you can (still) wear them today.
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Oh…are you looking for a subtitle for the book, rather than the Airship Hostess dress? Sorry! I haven’t had coffee yet. Let’s see…how about:
Symbols of Our Time
(may sound too soap-opera-ish…wish I could help more; gotta run to work! The best of luck to you!!)
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iconic frocks and why to wear them now
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or rethink the whole thing
Iconic Frocks – 100 dresses to wear now
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How about:
Iconic Fashion Archetypes
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The Hundred Dresses
Shaped and Worn by Culture and History
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I love that the title is The Hundred Dresses, it makes of the girl and all her drawings in Eleanor Estes book of the same title.
The Hundred Dresses
iconic dresses
The Hundred Dresses
influential dress styles of our times
The Hundred Dresses
dresses to dream about
The Hundred Dresses
style, flair, and glamor
The Hundred Dresses
a trip through dress style
I don’t really like any of those entirely but maybe they will spark an idea for you.
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How about:
1) …And the women who wear them
2) …That make time stand still
3) …That changed a century
4) …Forever classic, forever modern
That’s all I’ve got!
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-a field guide of fashionable frocks
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I really like Natalie’s
The Hundred Dresses; A Field Guide of Fashionable Frocks
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Vote number 2 for Natalie’s. Like.
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“The Hundred Dresses” is already an iconic children’s book, written by Eleanor Estes in 1944. It is a Newbery Honor book. You could call your book “The 100 Dresses” perhaps.
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yep! That was my inspiration … I love that book!
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Oh, I know! It is one of my favorites. I am so glad that your tribute to that old book will lead readers who have never seen it to seek it out! The story is inspiring, the drawings amazing.
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I think the subtitle should have silhouettes or shapes in it. Something like this?
Iconic Silhouettes That Shape What We Wear
Congrats!
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Maybe make it a bit more punchier and say
Iconic Silhouettes For You To Wear
I like the silhouette idea – afterall, the shape of the dress is what we recognize, more so than the components of fabric, thread or notions.
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From gowns to pinafores: dresses that defined the cultural zeitgeist.
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How about “Revealing the Modern Goddess”?
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I really like this one, I would buy that title
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The Hundred Dresses: Mood, Magic and Meaning
or
The Hundred Dresses: Mood, Magic and Metaphor
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One Hundred Dresses: from Airship Hostess to Warrior Princess, from “Breakfast at Tiffanies” to “American Idol”, how iconic dress styles hardly ever change yet never stay the same.
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The Hundred Dresses; Fashion and the World it Lives in
The Hundred Dresses; Iconic Styles Across the Years
The Hundred Dresses; How Fashion Shapes History and Vise Versa
The Hundred Dresses; or Why You Need a Bigger Closet
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Love that last one!
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100 Reasons to Wear a Dress Every Day
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The One Hundred Dreeses
The forms, the styles, and the little details of our age
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I think you already have the subtitle yourself..
“and how and why to wear them” but the “the” on the title needs to be bold, stand out make the statement of “THE” hundred dresses.
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“and their women”
(given your dresses are often given a life of their own)
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The frocks that rocked our times
A look into the mirror that reflects our times
The dresses that were successes
Clothes that express, repress and transgress
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“Express, repress & transgress” is very good. And reminds me that women are not the only people who wear dresses…
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The Hundred Dresses:
The Modern History/encyclopedia of Woman’s Wear
Who They Are and What They Have to Say
Or, the Dance of Fashion and History
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The Hundred Dresses:
…Timeless classics in our closets
…Iconic styles for work and play
…What to wear for espionage, play dates, and everything in between
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it´s “Hindenburg” – not …berg ! tss
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Thank you! Title help *and* proofreading! 🙂
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The Hundred Dresses …
and how they wore
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One Hundred Dresses: the good, the bad, and the just plain hideous
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I’m not reading through all the comments to see if anyone has already suggested this…I hope not… 😉
The Hundred Dresses that Dress the World
Not exactly a subtitle, I know…
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The Hundred Dresses – Striking Fashions of Our Age
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The Hundred Dresses
and How They Changed My Life
I like that title because it’s true! You are all about Dresses! I love it and your blog. I also like it because it’s a personal touch and it would make me want to pick up the book to see them and read why!
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The Hundred Dress: Archetypes of Couture
I am so excited you have a new book coming out. Gives me something to look forward to. X
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Hi, how about , The Hundred Dresses and The Tales They Tell ?
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The Hundred Dresses: Icons of Style that Belong in Your Wardrobe
or
The Hundred Dresses: How to Wear [the] Icons of Style
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Wo, fantastic, Erin, BRAVO. i didn’t know about your interest in dresses until I wordnikked you today re scare quotes. Good luck with the book launch in 2013. BLOOMSbury is of course a BLOOM-endorsed publisher, and i say this as Leopold and Molly’s long lost Bloom in Taiwan! Mayor Bloomberg would approve to. BTW, question, since i have been outta the USa for 20 years, you begin your post with “So…..
Is this use of SO a new thing. I never said this before and still don’t. When did this SO thing start becoming and popular? I hate it. SIGH
SMILE
danny bloom, 1949-2032
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The Hundred Dresses: Trend leader, trend follower, and get out of the way!
The Hundred Dresses: You need more coathangers
The Hundred Dresses: One For Each of Your Personalities!
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The Hundred Dresses . . . From Fantasy to Pop Culture
that’s all i can come up with
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What you said was good;
“the most iconic dress styles of our age”
How about;
“iconic styles that shaped our age”
“fabric, fashion, and fantasy” or
“form, fashion, and fantasy”
“defining shapes of history”
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Oh, you need what an old lit professor of mine used to call the post-colonic surge! Hmm, any of these work?
The Hundred Dresses:
A Walk through 20th Century Womanhood
The Wardrobe of Womanhood
A Guide to the Silhouettes that Shaped Our Time
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Perhaps a bit cryptic, but I’ll throw it out there…
The Hundred Dresses: Who, What, Where, When, and Why
Best of luck with the search!
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My 2p worth – “The Modes and their Models” (or “The Modes and the Models”. I don’t know which I prefer). It sounds like a great read, anyway, whatever you end up subtitling it!
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The Hundred Dresses: Styles That Shaped the Icons
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For when a camel toe just won’t do
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hiya a wee bit late but i thought id get my thoughts in!
The 100 Dresses – Their out of the closet now
The 100 Dresses – The Secret Closet of an Icon/ The Secret Closet to Make an Icon/ The Secret of the Icon’s
or maybe you could miss out the secret as they werent the best kept secret in history!
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100 Dresses: The Good, The Bad, and the Frilly
The Hundred Dresses: dresses that changed how we look at women
The Hundred Dresses: A Walk through the last century
The Hundred Dresses: What we wore, and why we wore them
The Hundred Dresses: A look at femininity through the last century
The Hundred Dresses: Aren’t You Glad You’re A Woman
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The Hundred Dresses: From Guinevere to Jennifer and every dress in between.
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The Hundred Dresses
– fashioning society
or The Hundred Dresses
– shaping the fabric of society
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I know I am really late to the party, but how about:
A Hundred Dresses,
A Thousand Ways to Wear them
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How about being totally self-referential?
The Hundred Dresses: Weird to Wonderful
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