Veronique Hyland's Dress Code explores the complex relationship between fashion and society. While the premise is intriguing, the execution falls short. While offering a careful analysis of fashion's impact on culture, the book lacks the depth and insight to captivate.
The narrative often feels derivative, echoing the themes explored in popular culture, particularly the iconic film The Devil Wears Prada. While the film offered a satirical and entertaining look at the fashion industry, Dress Code lacked the same level of wit and humor. Instead, it adopts a more serious and academic tone, which can be off-putting.
Hyland's writing style is dry and lacks the engaging quality necessary to sustain interest. The book's central thesis—that fashion is a powerful tool of self-expression and social commentary—is sound, but the supporting arguments often feel repetitive and underdeveloped.
While the author touches on important topics such as gender, class, and cultural identity, the analysis is often superficial. A deeper exploration of these themes could have elevated the book to a more insightful and thought-provoking level.

This was a fun read for me. Not one to gravitate to essays, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading chapter after chapter. This book is for fashionistas and those who just love looking through the glossy pages of fashion magazines.

In a sea of mediocre books about fashion nowadays, this one was compelling. Authentic insights, richly researched backgrounds and a point of view — everything that someone who loves fashion needs to experience!

For someone that has a single fashion bone in her entire body - a tiny one while we're at it - I had way too much fun reading this book. "Dress Code" covers different themes in the fashion world with both a history lens and a provocative writing style, much as a longer editorial in a magazine, which is the author's background.

Even needing to google most of the names of the people mentioned, the particular pieces of clothing and the fashion shows in Paris/London with their couture masters, I really enjoyed getting a new perspective into the fashion world and industry. For me, the concept of fashion as central is someone's life is foreign, but reading this book it not only made perfect sense but also gave me interesting insights on how we can use clothing to our own advantage.

My favorite chapters were the one about work clothes and their impacts on people's perceptions of success and status, the one on attires for trials and the expectations they try to convey, and the one on the evolution of women's clothes and the suffering they can bring to the wearer. Some common themes throughout the chapters were also super interesting, such as comprehending why fashion holds a different value for men and woman, based on their role of creator & muse/consumer. One discussion of "doing it for oneself" while at the same time meeting the world's expectations was very eye-opening.

Hyland managed to write a book perfect for the curious but unfashionable people, the ones that just blindly follow (or try to to follow) the trends. For the initiated on the theme, it might read as too obvious, but for me it was fun, interesting and certainly full of content that I wouldn't have consumed otherwise.

Thanks a lot NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“Fashion is often referred to figuratively as “armor,” but what if we thought of it as something more akin to a defensive adaptation?” Dress Code by Veronique Hyland

3.5 stars. Sometimes I enjoy the non-fiction book about look and fashion. And this was informative and so very interesting.

Spanning decades, the author covers the origins and philosophy so to speak, of various trends, look or articles of clothing. It’s a good read for a student of fashion and anyone really who’s just curious about the clothes you wear.

And who enjoys The Devil Wears Prada references.

Thanks so much to @harpercollins @harperperennial for the arc of this book. Really enjoyed it.

Dress Code is a collection of essays centered on fashion - the history, why it matters, and the power it holds. Covering a wide range of topics from millennial pink to female politicians, this book examines how no one can escape fashion and that the clothing we wear sends a message.

I love clothes but I wouldn’t say I really follow fashion closely. So this book really got me thinking about how the clothing I wear came to be and what it might say to others. I loved all of the cultural references and how they were used to provide context to fashion trends. This book was informative while still being funny. Overall, I found it to be fascinating!

Thanks to Harper Perennial for the advanced copy!

💭 ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
Following the introduction I was expecting a somewhat lighter read with lovely insights as to why we wear what we wear. But that’s not at all what this book is about. It is full of quite serious, deep and lengthy essays. That drift a little bit of fashion as well. Although I did find the later chapters quite fascinating, especially the one were scammers used their way of dressing to their advantage. This book just wasn’t for me.
⭐️⭐️

🤓 ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
A look inside the fashion industry
Essays

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ:
𝘈 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺--𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴--𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘌𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳.

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘴? 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘚𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯-𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰. 𝘉𝘢𝘥 𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨--𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 (𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘧) 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱--𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

This book was a mix of history, fashion commentary, and social dissection of fashion and how it has served or represented us as humans through the ages. I came away with a better understanding of what dress codes mean, who it shapes, and what it defines. It is not just about what you wear and how it fits your identity at the moment, but also how you and your clothing evolve as you enter each stage of your life.

I highly, highly recommend this book with a serious interest in fashion and its history.

As someone who studied fashion media communication for my undergrad, this book immediately had me intrigued. I have heard all about the ugly side of fashion and especially fast fashion and I enjoyed the essay style of the book.

The book is very cute and simple. Best for a younger mid range children's audience. Lots of good examples. Wish there was some coloring guides or tutorials as well but cute overall

This book reads like the longest Vogue magazine article that's not a celebrity interview. I'm a fashion girl who gets all of the in-depth references. If this book isn't for me, not sure who's the audience. The author focuses on how fashion affects current events. It's frustrating to hear her argue both sides of every point. Overall it's not bad, mostly stale.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

They say not to judge a book by it’s cover, but maybe that’s what I did when picking Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from New Look to Millennial Pink by Veronique Hyland for my next read. With that subtitle, I assumed it was going to be a historical fashion throughline. I was happily surprised when it turned out to be a collection of fashion related essays instead. With a healthy dose of historical fashion, to scratch my history nerd itch.
As with any book of essays, some hit better than others. My personal favorite essays are the one about different “it” colors throughout the decades (especially coming from the author who coined the term Millennial Pink!), and as well as the one about the history of fashionable “it” girls. The one about uniforms was less successful, especially when the author brings up the Stanford Prison Experiment, since I’ve become skeptical about any references after listening to the “You’re Wrong About” podcast on that topic.
Fans of Jia Tolentino or Amanda Mull’s writing, fashion, pop culture, and history will enjoy this book.
While I received an ARC of Dress Code for free, this had no bearing on my rating and review. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial!