The Classic Ten

I've just finished book #8, which was Nancy MacDonell Smith's The Classic Ten: The True Story of the Little Black Dress and Nine Other Fashion Favorites. It is a really sweet little book, breezily recounting a light history of each of the ten items she picks as quintessential fashion items - and she has interesting facts and history lessons on each item. I thought I would post my favorite quotes, anecdotes, or stories from each chapter:

The little black dress: This was the least interesting chapter. But my favorite tidbit was learning about the movie Intern, which is apparently a spoof of the fashion industry.

The suit: "As late as the 1930s, a woman in pants could be arrested for transvestitism," which is interesting both because pants could induce being arrested, and that transvestitism was an arrestable offense.

Jeans: A little fashion history I didn't realize: "By the mid-80s, designer jeans were rejected as cheesy. ... Consumers wanted authenticity, not flash. Vintage denim was in demand, the rarer the better, with perfectly faded 501s the Holy Grail of the flea market pilgrim." To be fair, most of the reason that I didn't find anything more interesting from this chapter than that passage is that my book Blue went into pretty good detail on the topic...

The cashmere sweater: Cashmere is produced by only one type of goat, which lives in the mountains of China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and Iran. The goats have a thick outer fleece of longer hair and then a downy underbelly, which is the cashmere. You can only get about 2.6 to 3.4 ounces from each goat, and it takes 8.8 ounces of cashmere to make a woman's sweater.

The white shirt: "A white-shirt woman is a busy, inspired person ... I think of Kate Hepburn as a white-shirt woman. I think of Audrey Hepburn. Mrs. Vreeland and Jackie O., definitely. Marilyn Monroe, definitely not." Issac Mizrahi

The high heel: The high heel has often been associated with exalted status, because high heels are anti-utilitarian. "...The defining characteristic of the high heel is not its appearance but its astonishing lack of practical purpose. ... You can't do much else except look good. ... Traditionally, the only people who get away with doing nothing are those who enjoy a priveledged social position, that is, the wealthy. To wear a high heel is to suggest that you are above even moderately demanding tasks." The first high heels were the platform shoes worn by actors in ancient Greece, where the higher the status of the character, the higher the shoe they wore. Later, in Venice, they were associated with courtesans and could reach heights of 18 inches.

Pearls: 99.5% of pearls available today are cultured pearls, not natural. Culturing pearls was a process developed by Mikimoto in Japan, who worked for years developing the process and then additional years to make the cultured pearls acceptable alternatives to naturally occurring pearls in the fashion and jewelry worlds.

The trench coat: The trench coat was first developed for the British military and all the various elements of the trench coat (originally developed and manufactured for the British army by Burberry's) were developed for a utilitarian purpose: The coat was cut generously enough to double as a blanket for men in trenches, the double breasted fastenings provided extra coverage, the wool lining was removable to make the coat wearable year round, the epaulets unbuttoned to secure a rifle strap, the belt loops were equipped with brass D-rings that could be used as grenade hooks, the separate shoulder yoke and gun flap functioned like the rain fly on a tent (deflecting water and keeping the under-lying layer of fabric dry), and the voluminous pockets were large enough to hold maps, provisions, and ammunition.

Lipstick: In the 1950s a survey done by Life magazine found that 99.7% of college girls owned a lipstick, 98% of American women wore lipstick - compared to only 96% of women who brushed their teeth every day. Eew. Even in 1946, lipstick was a $30Million dollar industry.

Sneakers: In 1968 Adidas and Puma (as companies) were run by rival brothers.