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It's All About The Dress: What I Learned In Forty Years About Men, Women, Sex, And Fashion (2000)

by Vicky Tiel(Favorite Author)

3.46 of 5 Votes: 4

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English

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review 1: I had no idea who Vicky Tiel was when I picked this up. I like dresses. I missed the sub-title that explains that the book was also about sex. This is not hyperbole to sell books. Ms. Tiel came of age during the 70s and was unencumbered by any sort of sexual restraint. Turns out that Vicky Tiel designed the Pretty Woman dress. Her work was also popular on shoes like Dynasty and Dallas. Tons of draping and pleats but with equal amounts of structure. Not a look that remains very popular but it has its place and for sure the gowns were flattering to the celebrated body type of the day. She claims to be responsible for the miniskirt and the jumpsuit and to have had the wrap dress in her portfolio before Diane Von Furstenberg (though she does not claim to have invented it). Dun... moreno. You can decide that for yourself. It isn't a great book but it is readable and not horribly written. She name drops a lot and I was interested in that. If you can get past the debauchery and stupidity there are some gems here. LIke her description of raiding the most epic wine cellar when an angry soon-to-be ex-wife opened her husband's vault and let everyone take what they could drink on the premises. She knows her wine. I can't seem to read anything decent these days so I'm plowing through some things that have caught my eye that I'd normally ignore. This was perfect for that.
review 2: As much as I disliked "Devil Wears Prada," I cannot explain what made me pick up this book next. Fact is, I never heard of Vicky Tiel, but she invented the mini dress among other things. A delight from start to finish, Tiel takes us on a journey from Greenwich Village in the midsixties when she nearly flunked out of Pratt School of Design to owning her own boutique in Paris by age 19. By 23, she is dressing Elizabeth Taylor, Ursula Andress, Sophia Loren, and Raquel Welch; and was giving then unheard-of door-to-door tie salesman Ralph Lauren advice on how to make it in courture. Even though it's chockful of Hollywood Insider stuff, which I normally loathe, Vicky tells the stories as someone who is truly fascinated by life and the people in it--and she pays attention. A perfect book for a woman who is too busy to care about fashion, but dreams of living on the Left Bank in Paris! An expat dream! less

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