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Dreaming of Dior: Every Dress Tells a Story Hardcover – 13 April 2010
Then she discovered that she had inherited a priceless vintage clothing collection from her American Quaker godmother, Doris Darnell.
When the boxes started arriving, they were filled with more than three thousand pieces dating from 1790 to 1995, from Dior and Chanel originals to a dainty pioneer dress.
But when she unearthed her godmother’s book of stories, the true value of what she had been given hit home. This wasn’t merely a collection of beautiful things; it was a collection of lives. Women’s lives. Tiny snapshots of our joys and disappointments, our entrances and exits, triumphant and tragic.
This is a book for any woman who knows a dress can hold a lifetime of memories.
Charlotte Smith is Curator of The Fashion and Textile Gallery in Sydney which is also home to The Darnell Collection, the 5000 piece vintage collection Charlotte inherited from her godmother, Doris Darnell. Born in Hong Kong and raised in the United States, Charlotte has a degree from Hollins College in Art History and has lived and worked in America, England, and France for Impressionist art dealers. She moved to Australia in 1998 and opened a shop selling French country antiques. Charlotte has one daughter.
Grant Cowan has worked as an illustrator on magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour and Red magazine. He studied fashion design and lived in London before moving to Australia to teach fashion illustration . Grant is a freelance fashion illustrator and works with fashion schools in Sydney.
- Print length292 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication date13 April 2010
- Dimensions14.45 x 2.54 x 19.69 cm
- ISBN-10143918755X
- ISBN-13978-1439187555
Product description
About the Author
Charlotte's fascination with fashion began with a special vintage dress at the age of three. Since inheriting her godmother's vast vintage clothing collection, her passion for fashion has grown to include the history of fashion and its significant impact on society. Charlotte is involved with exhibitions of her collection around the country, gives lectures and talks, works with fashion and design students and is featured on television and radio.
Grant Cowan has worked as an illustrator on magazines like Harper's Bazaar, Glamour and Red magazine. He studied fashion design and lived in London before moving to Australia to teach fashion illustration. Grant is a freelance fashion illustrator and works with fashion schools in Sydney.
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster (13 April 2010)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 292 pages
- ISBN-10 : 143918755X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1439187555
- Dimensions : 14.45 x 2.54 x 19.69 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 3,847,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 49,417 in Women's Biographies
- 132,442 in Hobbies & Crafts
- 487,657 in Arts & Photography (Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author
Charlotte Smith is Curator of The Darnell Collection. She was born in Hong Kong to an English mother and an American father. She grew up with her brother and sister on the east coast of America and graduated with a degree in Art History from Hollins College in Virginia. Charlotte has worked for art dealers, ran her own business manufacturing decorative lampshades and was the proprietor of a French country antiques shop. Her interests include horse riding, interior decorating, writing and gardening. She has lived and worked in America, England, France and and now resides in Australia, in the Blue Mountains with her daughter.
Charlotte's fascination with fashion began with a special vintage dress at the age of three. Since inheriting her godmother's vast vintage clothing collection, her passion for fashion has grown to include the history of fashion and its significant impact on society. Charlotte is involved with exhibitions of her collection around the country, gives lectures and talks, works with fashion and design students and is featured on television and radio.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 June 2010This book is a delight. Many of the dresses brought back wonderful memories for me of days and evenings in the late 1950's and early sixties in Edinburgh . Memories of a Ball in the Assembly rooms where the Georgian ballroom was lit with the most beautiful chandeliers,huge log fires and a live band playing dance music for women dressed in wonderful evening gowns and their partners in formal evening suits or Highland dress.For me this brought memories of an exquisite pale grey strapless Lace dress with matching wrap. It had been bought in a very expensive fashion shop. All the more poignant as I was with a wonderful partner with whom I was very much in love and later married. He tragically died 6 years later but there were many happy memories which live on. I shall visit the museum in Sydney this November which exhibits this amazing collection. My daughter and three granddaughters live in Sydney and I visit every year.
Thank you Charlotte for this wonderful book.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 July 2013This is a really unique and interesting book looking on the history of beautiful clothing rather than just its Brand name, Charlotte Smith provides really enchanting stories that make the dresses a hundred times more special, and the illustrations are divine.
My only complaint is that throughout the book Smith does perhaps a little too much name dropping and bragging that somewhat distances you from her as a narrator.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2013A sweet book but really disappointed that the dresses being reviewed were just rather naff illustrations. I'd have gone round to the authors with my box brownie if they'd called me!
Top reviews from other countries
- JTReviewed in the United States on 22 October 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Bought as a gift, but so cute I had to buy one for Myself
I’m only a hundred pages in, but this book is delightful! I bought one originally for a friend who is a fashionista, but I enjoyed it so much I bought a second for myself. I simply love the idea of every garment having a story about the owner or an event the piece is most remembered for. It makes me wish I still had an outfit or 2 I gave away.
The woman who started this collection sounds extraordinary. The older I get the more I appreciate history, and this woman did an amazing job of truly treasuring the gifts she was given by recording the stories behind them.
I learned about this collection from the TV show, “Strange Inheritance” (on Fox Business), but the book takes this incredible story to the next level.
I bought both my copies used, but both were in very good condition!
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Cliente AmazonReviewed in Spain on 2 March 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Original
Libro original. La portada trae una cubierta de papel con terciopelo. En el interior ilustraciones de mujeres con ropa de diferentes épocas y con un breve texto contando la historia de cada personaje. El libro está en inglés, pero lo mejor son las ilustraciones. Recomendado si te gusta la moda y la ilustración.
Cliente Amazon
Reviewed in Spain on 2 March 2020
Images in this review - Diane LandeReviewed in Canada on 12 August 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars If you love classic designers from the 20th century, this book is for you
The stories of the dresses and how the author came into this treasure is quite interesting and the pictures are beautiful
- TVDIVAReviewed in the United States on 3 May 2011
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fashion Fairy Tale worth reading
My godmother and I lived a 30 minute walk from each other. We rarely saw each other except on my birthday and Christmas where we dutifully exchanged gifts. The year we gave each other the same clutch wallet for Christmas we decided to stop sharing gifts and just send cards (even after I moved to another state.)
Imagine having a godmother who loves fashion as much as you do, and when she goes to fashion heaven leaves you an amazing legacy.
Quaker Doris Darnell collected vintage clothing and accessories (dated 1795-present.) The pieces came from acquaintances and friends who also sent letters, stories and photographs about each piece Doris received.
Charlotte Allen inherited the collection and began chronicling the pieces - especially the dresses and the personal stories that came with them. This first book in the series shows stories on one page in paragraphs and snippets with beautiful illustrations of each dress by Grant Cowan.
What we really get is a view of social history from the stories - how women lived in different centuries and decades and what they endured to keep fashionable with their times.
Whether you are a fashion historian, fashion designer or a fashionista, Dreaming of Dior and the follow up book Dreaming of Chanel belong in your fashion library.
- EBMReviewed in the United States on 7 February 2011
4.0 out of 5 stars Can't put this book down
I admit I haven't done much reading through the book outside of the introductory. The dressers, the designs, the looks are just so stunning, I can't stop flipping through and looking at all these different designs through the ages.
I wish that the gowns had been better organized in years from old to new, but not every single one has a date listed so maybe some were unknown. Every single one comes with a story and the few that I read are pretty inspirational. I'm not sure if all the dresses are merely Dior, the title would suggest it, but it states in the cover flap that it includes pieces from Dior and Chanel originals. The book won't really tell you which designer the gown came from, just the story of who had it.
The illustrations are very inspiring and I've had a few friends who are artists become easily inspired for clothing when they looked through this.
I really love this book and it will wear out soon from my constant shuffling through the pages.