So Basic Books sent me The Lost Art of Dress: The Women Who Once Made America Stylish
The Lost Art of Dress is a history of (and paean to) the women who invented the field of home economics, and who taught hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of women how to dress beautifully, healthfully, economically, and practically during most of the twentieth century, only falling out of favor during the youthquake movement of the 1960s. Przybyszewski calls them the “Dress Doctors” and outlines how they used principles from art to guide women’s dress choices.
It’s a fascinating read, and whether or not you agree with the premise of the book (that women today are largely not stylish because they have abandoned these classic principles of color harmony, symmetry, and graceful line) it’s certain that you’ll enjoy the vast amount of largely forgotten and entirely charming advice the Dress Doctors gave their “patients.” For instance, women were advised that, when traveling, they should remain efficient and anonymous by choosing “no emotional colors, no revelatory designs, or fabrics, no temperamental hats or shoes.”
The most satisfying theme threaded through The Lost Art of Dress has got to be its debunking of the modern cult of youth fashion. Given that designers were only recently shamed into not letting children under sixteen walk their runways, it can be astonishing to remember that, pre-1960, all the good clothes were intended for mature audiences only. “The French say that all perfectly dressed women are over forty,” reported Women’s Home Companion in 1937. “That is because they know that a smart appearance is the result of study and experience.” Przybyszewski may hammer this point a little too hard for anyone under 30, but those of us past that don’t-trust-anyone-over age will nod and grimace by turns as we read advice on how to wear crepey textures in order to flatter crepey skin.
Przybyszewski does not shy away from strong statements, whether quotes from the Dress Doctors (who pointed out that if you wear fancy clothes for mundane errands, it’s likely those who see you will assume you have “no other place to wear fine clothes”) or her own observations that “the only creature that should be wearing bright yellow-green is a small poisonous tree frog living in the Amazon” and that “if you cannot walk more than a block in your shoes, they are not shoes; they are pretty sculptures that you happen to have attached to your feet.”
If you love the styles of the first half of the last century and wonder why they were so lovely (and why so many modern clothes are not), you should read this book. If you are interested in the history of popular fashion as worn by ordinary people, you should read this book. And if you’re interested in some practical dress advice from the good Doctors, you’ll find that here, too.
Highly recommended!
A Dress A Day 
I LOVE this book! Women today have missed out on so much as the “dress doctors”, home ec classes, etc have all disappeared. In days gone by, women simply looked classier than many do today. I’m pointing fingers at myself also, I wish I had been able to take classes in such subjects back when I was in high school – and that was about 30 years ago! I took a year of home ec, but how to choose appropriate clothing was not in the curriculum. My clothing now is quite sad, but lack of knowledge is a part of the problem.
This same author has pointed out how fashions starting in the 60’s often resembled young girl clothing – shapeless dresses, etc. So true! Now, females of all ages often wear the same clothing styles….
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Will add this to the reading this immediately! Award-winning Hollywood costumer Edith Head has her own book titled “The Dress Doctor,” fyi. Have you read it?
Funny how we “assume” based on our own prejudices and predilections, no? Rather than this negative attitude: “if you wear fancy clothes for mundane errands, it’s likely those who see you will assume you have no other place to wear fine clothes” I tend to assume the nicely dressed woman at the grocery or hardware store is expecting guests at any moment and had to run out for a forgotten item. Or perhaps she’s just better dressed than the rest of us. Not hard to do these days.
But exactly what do they mean by “Fancy” anyway? Is the offending woman wearing with nowhere to go wearing her “good sweats and Crocs” or is she in a ball gown? Everything is relative.
Nowadays, if you appear in public anywhere but a charity ball in anything but t-shirt and jeans, you’re accused of being overdressed. A shame, really.
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Thanks! I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, so I’ll probably enjoy it a lot. We love it when someone agrees with us, especially in print.
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Personally, if i see someone in fine clothes running mundane errands, I assume he is coming from, or on his way to, somewhere very fine indeed. In other words, he has a more interesting life than the rest of us running mundane errands in jeans and sneakers.
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LOVE the shoes quote!!
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I loved this book as well — so much fascinating info, and the bibliography is a gold mine 🙂
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Thanks for the review! I love these types of books and didn’t realize this one had been published. It is now in my shopping cart waiting for the moment when I can justify to The Mister why I need to order more books (I just received two shipments this week…).
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Thanks for the recommendation! I LOVED it and am reading it for the third time.
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