Dress Code

This book was pitched to me as a book of essays about the fashion world and its history, “from the new look to millennial pink.” And it is about that, but it’s way more than that. It’s one of the smartest books I’ve read in ages, all about things I am super interested in. It’s thought provoking, feminist, and absolutely unputdownable. The author, Véronique, is currently the Fashion Features Director at ELLE but has spent 15 years writing for New York magazine, W, The New York Times, and Harper’s Bazaar. She rather accidentally coined the term “millennial pink” back when that was a thing, only to deeply regret it as she watched it explode into a consumerist term to sell more stuff. I don’t think I’ve simultaneously enjoyed/learned so much from a non-fiction book since reading Cultish (another favorite) a few months ago. Funny enough, Amanda Montell, the author of Cultish blurbed this, describing it as “a sharp, of-the-moment, and curiously profound contextualization of fashion that answers questions I didn’t even realize I had.” She talks about everything from body standards and “empowertising” to scammer fashion and the double standards of fashion and appearances in politics. I loved this book so much! Order on Bookshop.org or Amazon!