No comments about Lingerie (Slipcase).

1 comments about Visionaire No. 47: Taste (Visionaire).

1. At Art Basel Miami, Visionaire had a tasting bar featuring their newest edition. I had a chance to experience all of the tastes and they do enhance the experience of the related art. Some tastes are appealing and others require a bit of bravery on your part.
   
   You could easily base a small party on this edition and enjoy the taste/art experience with some friends.
   
   Visionaire had another hit with #47.

No comments about Compacts and Smoking Accessories.

3 comments about Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls, and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s.

1. I got this book and I have to say that I read the introduction off of Amazon and wanted to read more stories such as that of the author's Grandmother. The book was WAY too dry and academic which is not necessarily a problem but the author seems to have lost focus. By the closing of the book, the author seemed not to be sure just how to tie up the book. While some aspects of the book were interesting with very good illustrations within, other aspects such as the end chapters dealing with the bathing suit controversies and the chorus girl criticism seemed overwrought with angry feminist analysis from the author. It seemed as if one was trying to figure out if this was the author's own personal opinion or one based off of careful research into the topic. The author was trying to make the case that the 1920s was not an age of hedonistic freedom that is sometimes presented in other books on that time the fact is that from much of her illustrations and footnotes it can clearly be seen that in contrast to the age previous (the Edwardian) age the 20s was in fact an age of Hedonism which has of course been exposited in other books only to come to an end with the economic crash of the 30s. The author failed also to actually analyze the biographies of actual "flappers", chorus girls and others to actually posit her thesis which really failed miserably. Her analysis was simplistic.



2. This book reads like a dissertation. It's a great topic, and the cover and title promise much more than it delivers. I strongly suspect this was the author's dissertation project. That's fine because it's well-researched, and the author definitely is an expert on women in the 1920s. But it's a wet subject, and the auther serves it up dry. There's good information in here, but it'll be slow going. On the positive side, there are many great black-and-white illustrations.



3. The author's basic premise is that in the 1920s, women used display to resist, while at times seeming to conform to, those who would have squeezed them into the molds of how society would have them appear. In the first few chapters, she does a good job of this. Especially insightful is the example of her own grandmother, who as a young woman in this time period, disguised both her bobbed hair and her married state so that she could continue in her chosen profession as teacher.
   
   However, in the latter two chapters of the book, the author seems to focus more on the exploitation of women by the theatre industry and it's effects. In this, she seems to stray too far from her theme. It would have been better if she had had more examples like that of her grandmother which supported her theme, rather than diverging off of the topic.
   
   I really do recommend this book at least for the initial chapters, which are an interesting look at the attitudes of an era that has been very much stereotyped. It gives you an idea of the some of the restrictions that would have been felt by a woman who was, not a Gretta Garbo or Clara Bow, but an average person trying to live from day to day....

No comments about National costumes from East Europe, Africa and Asia.

No comments about London in the Sixties.

No comments about Make-Up Artist AND Fashion Design Sketch Book Set (Fashion Angels, Retail $24.95).

No comments about The Complete Guide to Practical Cutting (1853/2 Volumes in 1) (1853/2 Volumes in 1) (1853/2 Volumes in 1).

1 comments about Peter Lindbergh: Selected Work 1996-1998 for my friend Franca Sozzani.

1. You think this book is such a small format? Wait until you see the inside of it. The actual photos of each page are only 4x6. For some strange reason there are these thick black borders on every single page. The photos are not impressive, either. They are not the best works of Peter Lindbergh. The hardcover edition of this book is not better, only heavier, thicker with bigger black borders of 3 inches wide on each page. What a waste! I would not recommend this book to anyone. As a matter of fact, I regret that ever bought this one.

No comments about English Costume of the Early Middle Ages.