This is a fascinating historical account of not only the development of skirts/dresses caused by various societal shifts and changing politics but also how that development mirrored the changing roles of women, particularly in the 20th century. It is very well researched and exquisitely written so as to engage the reader completely. I read few non-fiction books, but I am glad that I read this one! I found it immensely interesting and definitely enjoyed it.

Suffragists wore white; female members of Congress wear white when demonstrating solidarity. Throughout the twentieth century women’s clothing has indicated various attitudes. The tennis dress worn by Suzanne Lenglen has evolved into Serena Williams’ boundary-pushing outfits. Certain styles have demonstrated longevity; Grecian Delphos gowns, Chanel little black dresses, Diane Von Furstenberg’s wrap dress and the strapless gown are examples. After World War II fashion looked to Dior for the New Look. Strapless led to the “naked” dress for celebratory occasions. The Mini appeared as a symbol of liberation; the Midi replaced it. The most recent addition, the Bodycon, has been enabled through physical fitness, Spanx and the argument against body-shaming. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell provides the reader with many facts and theories about women’s twentieth century clothing. There is so much to learn. One might wonder what the next decades hold for both women and men.
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Absolutely fascinating history of fashion -
From the evolution of tennis skirts to Chanel’s LBD
- loved this one -
Loved the history

This was a well written book about a subject that I ordinarily probably wouldn't have read, but I really enjoyed it. The history of skirts was fascinating and I learned quite a bit and found it fascinating. I recommend this to anyone interested in fashion or for everyone that is just looking for a great summary of this subject.

This book is for the fashion lovers. Skirts chronicles the history and revolution of skirts as fashion items. The author loves them and that comes through in her writing. I found some of this interesting and other parts a bit dry. I’m not the biggest fashion person and enjoy a skirt every now and then. I’ll definitely be sharing with those that enjoy this niche genre.

When I was a girl I loved my Barbie dolls. I should clarify, I loved my Barbie doll clothes. I loved those New Look inspired fashions with their bouffant skirts. I thought I would grow up and wear clothes like these.

As a girl, I wore dresses with crinolines and white gloves and a hat.

By the time I was entering my teen years, the Mod look and mini skirts were in. Mom bought me Go Go boots. I hated those white boots. I spent my teenage years in shifts and a-line dresses and pleated skirts with blouses, sweaters, and knit tops. The skirts kept getting shorter and I had to keep shortening my skirts. Mom gave me a girdle and garters and stockings when I started seventh grade. I was thrilled when Mom brought home pantyhose and tights to replace them!

As a young adult, I had maxi skirts and midi skirts and sun dresses and business suits with oxford cloth shirts. I don’t remember when I last wore a skirt. I think it was ten years ago at my father-in-law’s funeral.

My step-grandfather told me that when he was a boy, he would hang around at the trolley stop to watch the ladies board. Their hobble skirt showed their ankles, and they had to lift the skirt to go up the steps. I may have not loved mini skirts, but I sure am glad I didn’t have to wear a hobble skirt!

Skirts weaves a history of the Twentieth century’s changing dress styles with the rise of feminism and freeing women from constraints. Shorter skirts, from tennis champ’s Lenglen’s scandalous calf-length tennis skirt to the Mini skirt, allowed women to walk and run uninhibited. Short skirts required panty hose and tights, not girdles and garter belts. Dresses that skimmed the body didn’t need corsets.

Coco Chanel’s famous “little black dress’ was ground breaking not just because it exposed the legs and skimmed the body, but for returning black back to elegance, and by making fashion affordable through the use of less expense, commonly found fabrics. The ‘Taxi’ dress was so easy to put on, you could change in a taxi. The dress wrapped around the body, a precursor to Diane von Furstenberg’s 1970’s wrap dress. The ‘popover dress’ was made in studier fabrics and was inexpensive, at first worn to protect one’s clothing, then as an easy wear dress.

Fashion also responded to world events. WWII rationing resulted in shorter skirts using less fabric and masculine styles, and after the war was over, the New Look incorporated yards of fabric in full skirts, with tighter bodices hugging the waist, a return to femininity. The ‘Bar Suit’ was “designed for drinking cocktails,” its “inner construction that made the Dior shape prevail whatever the shape of the woman.”

Designers forged amazing manipulations of fabrics to create iconic styles. Fortuny’s pleated dresses, a mere tube of several pieces of silk fabric, was inspired by the ancient Greeks. The strapless dress, of which Barbie had many styles, was a ‘marvel of engineering,’ and became an eveningwear staple and deb favorite. Hollywood film stars wore many iconic strapless dresses on film.

Most of these fashions were copied and worn by ordinary woman. But not the ‘Naked Dress’ with “illusion” of nudity. They are more costumes than fashion, worn in the movies and to galas by movie and recording artists looking for publicity; these scandalous dresses garnered notice. They were made possible by the development of synthetic fabrics.

Mini skirts and midi skirts have their chapters, too.

And last, the author addresses the ‘Bodycon Dress,’ apparel that shows off the body, made of skintight, stretchy fabric. I see these dresses on the local news weather girl, but the idea goes back a long way. The ‘Sweater Girl’ of the 40s and 50s showed off her curves while covered up. Sheath dresses and straight skirts fall into this category, too. And, even the designer jeans of the 80s, and the tight fitness clothes that are still hip today. Every superhero has a body suit that shows off their figure.

Since few of us have perfect, prepubescent, or toned bodies, undergarment shapers have returned. But also, there is a push back for body acceptance.

Pantsuits and jeans and jeggings are common daily wear for most women. But now men have embraced the wearing of skirts. “The future of skirts?” the author asks, “It might just be male.”

Skirts is a fascinating, fun read.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Skirts
This was an interesting book. The research involved clearly was extensive. In many ways this book surprised me by the scope of subjects it covered. Some chapters were very nostalgic for me, a few chapters left me cold. But most of the topics included I found worth reading. It covered much of the history of dresses and skirts. It included such things as WW2, the effect the economy had on fashion, Rosie the Riveter’s mannish influence, Walt Disney’s movie Cinderella and other movies that influenced style.
I enjoyed a glimpse into the world of the designer Dior and how fashion models were called mannequins. Memories flooded my thoughts as I read about the beginning of the poodle skirt, they also called them pinwheels skirts. I was surprised that in 1960 a poodle dog was the number one breed. I can remember wanting a felt circle skirt with a jeweled poodle embroidered on it in the 60’s. I did not get that poodle skirt, but in 1964 I settled for being a Barry Goldwater Girl and wearing a uniform that had a bright gold felt pinwheel style skirt.
Moon boots and mini skirts were influenced by the space age, and star trek played a part in changing fashions. Minis to Maxi dresses were influenced by TV programs.
It even delved into politics researching about candidates that became known for wearing pantsuits instead of dresses. Thanks to Net galley and Saint Martin's press for an advance copy.
# Skirts #SaintMartin'sPress #Net Galley

Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century by Kimberly Chrisman-Camo is a refreshing and interesting examination of skirts, the people that wear them, and how they’ve changed through the decades to reflect society.

I loved learning about fashion in tennis. I hadn’t realized that the two were so closely linked and it was fascinating to discover. I deeply appreciated the inclusion of the Williams sisters and their fashion choices in tennis. Especially the highly controversial catsuit from 2018, even though I felt that garment refuted the author’s position that skirts > pants. While I understand the author’s position that skirts allow for more movement in sports, I must disagree that they’re suitable for all sports. I played softball for fifteen years and there is no way I could have played in a skirt. Squatting behind the plate as a catcher in a skirt would have been obscene; sliding into a base in a skirt would have been horribly painful.

However, I appreciate the argument for skirts! It’s a well-done book when I’m thinking about it for days after, analyzing both sides of the argument. Even though I came to a different conclusion than the author, Skirts was a well-researched and written book.

I also enjoyed the well-roundedness of Skirts. It would have been easy for the author to just focus on skirt-wearing women for this book; however, she included important details about women in pants, men in kilts, dresses, and skirts, and a good segment about the transgender community.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and the author, Kimberly Chrisman-Camp for the opportunity to read and review Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Skirts gets a 4/5 for me for being an engaging and well-rounded argument.

Please note that this review is for an advance reading copy that does not include photos, something I consider to be highly important in regards to the content of the book. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell covers the history of skirts (or possibly more accurately outfits that do not enclose the legs individually) over primarily the past 150 years or so. While she does briefly address ancient dress, and styles prior to this period, the emphasis is definitely on the past century or so, and how contemporary events, designers, fashion magazines, the media and celebrities impacted the popularity of different styles. Since many of the styles are also dresses the title is not all encompassing, but the look at changes over the time period is. It is definitely fascinating to see how things like comfort, scarcity during the World Wars, a return to maximizing after World War II is over, and celebrity impacted whole periods of time. Chrisman-Campbell points out dresses driven by designers, like Chanel’s little black dress, and Dior’s post-war dresses. She also focuses on trends driven by celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and the strapless dress and various forms of the naked dress driven by Marilyn Monroe and Jennifer Lopez. She shifts focus towards the end of the book to focus on how men are increasingly wearing clothing defined as dresses or skirts and how society should be cognizant of this (glass stairs and camera phones anyone?) The book does tend towards technical details when describing make, design and cut of different styles; this is where pictures can be worth a thousand words. I come from multiple generations of women who sew, but as someone who doesn’t personally, some of the descriptions are too technical for me. The author also opens the book with a disclosure that she prefers skirts, and there are moments where this feels like it comes through in moments in the book. I’m personally not a big fan of dresses or skirts and I had moments where I almost felt like I was being subtly disparaged for preferring pants or shorts. Readers may not always be able to fully understand the design aspect of the book but just about everyone will be able to appreciate the evolution of the styles themselves. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a very interesting and fascinating read.
I'll be the first to admit I'm not a big fan of non-fiction but Kimberly blew me away with Skirts.

I enjoyed the history and explanations of how fashion changed so much for women and how it inspired so many ladies.
I loved getting to know more about how redefined femininity for a new era came to be in the 1900s.
And what struck me the most was the freedom it gave us! I never really knew how it became and this story opened my eyes to alot!
I leaned so much about the history of twentieth-century womenswear it was truly enjoyable.
Very informative and I truly appreciate the opportunity to read Skirts written by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

St. Martin's Press,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I got an ARC of this book.

As I was attempting to read this book a few things became abundantly clear, the main being the author is a disorganized mess while writing. The same paragraph would jump from the 1700s to 1942 and then 1840s then to another date and back to the 1700s and maybe add in a few more dates for good measure (if that sentence felt long, it was nothing compared to what was happening in the book). By the end of the weirdly long sentences that made everything feel overwritten, I would have lost her point and have to re-read large sections again just to go "oh, she thinks skirts are cool". There was so little that made it feel like this book had much to offer as a microhistory.

I would read parts out loud to my partner. They went "so this is TERFy bullshit" (the author talks about the bottom half being sexual in nature and then calling something a "sexual identity" when the point was about womanhood) and "does the author even know what she just wrote". It didn't take long for me to realize that this book read like second wave feminism and it just wasn't for me, despite this being a topic I really enjoy learning about.

An interesting look at a topic that, like all things sartorial, is often not taken as seriously as it might be. What we wear has a significant effect on how we think about ourselves and whom we consider ourselves to be.

Skirts was a fascinating and well researched enterprise documenting the history of women’s fashion. The author is well versed in so many trends throughout history, I was personally interested in Claire McCardall. She was the designer of the “pop-over” dress in 1942, “which could go from cleaning to cocktails.” She was a designer, at one point, in my husband’s family’s atelier in Manhattan. Many reviews I have read, mentioned it would have been lovely to actually see photos, of some of the designs described in the book. I took the time to goggle them…..which added to my enjoyment of the read. Anyone interested in women’s fashion can use this book as a hand book, as well as an educational tool, Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC.

Disclamer: I received a free digital copy from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
I really enjoyed the book. It was readable, with a well informed author and interesting subject matter and presentation.
The reasons it's not a five star rating is that there were no pictures, no thumbnails of the dresses and skirts described. It was a major oversight, particularly given the subject.

ARC Kindle Copy from Review from Net Galley and St. Martin's Press.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Its all about the skirts and the history of them. It will take you on a journey into the hidden world of them and how they became a part of society.

Fans of them will enjoy looking back at time.

This book details women’s history and fashion throughout the ages. The particular focus is on skirts (one of the author’s favorite articles of clothing). Excellent detail and perspectives. My biggest criticism? This book is lacking visuals! Photos, artwork, and illustrations would add to the descriptions of fashion through the ages. This is a real missed opportunity.

Fashion history is an absolutely fascinating area of study, and I loved Skirts for its investigation into what design meant for women during this period.

This was a fantastic read!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Skirts
By Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell

This is a book about women's fashions – how they changed over time, sometimes looking forward to the new and different; often reaching back and borrowing from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, among others.

The gradual addition of pants in the form of trousers, culottes, split skirts, etc. to female wardrobes developed only slowly, since pants were considered a male prerogative. Women first wore pants in private in casual settings, partly because they did not fit the female form well.

The author is a proponent of skirts (or dresses) not because they are considered a female form of dress, but because, as she claims, skirts are actually more comfortable and more adaptable for almost any occasion.

I must admit to getting bogged down in this book, not having a great interest in the history and development of fashion. I lost interest about half way through and did not finish it. If you are interested in the world of fashion, you will find that the book is well written and may be just right for you.

This book did something I didn't think it could do. It captured my interest and kept me thoroughly entertained by a subject that, quite frankly, I had very little interest in, fashion. Those who know me as a teen know how I couldn't wait to get home and out of my "skirt" and into jeans to go horseback riding or any of the myriad of chores connected to being a horse-crazy girl. Let's face it, skirts don't lend themselves to mucking stalls, tending to fences, or even grooming beyond a tentative pat or two. I'm also the female adult who upon hearing of some hoopla over Kim Kardashian wearing an iconic Marilyn Monroe gown at a gala was bemused. Honestly? My reactions was, well, who cares?

I do love history, however, and this book delivers ample name dropping from the times of ancient Greeks until the uproar over Michelle Obama's bare arms. Did you know sleeveless dresses were still banned in the House of Representatives well into President Obama's term? I think I did hear that but somehow it never clicked. So, fashion and politics do collide, an idea that this book presents in an interesting way. I mean, come on. As late as 2022, the current year, we've heard outrage over the dress of not just Minnie Mouse but a certain colored M&M, so style choices haven't quite become passe.

The book presents its material in an orderly, interesting way. Beginning with the Delphos styling, which harked back to ancient Greece for inspiration, as the 20th century began, it takes us through the many styles, many borrowing or developing in direct conflict to the current style, until the early 21 century. It was great fun to hear historical names such as Josephine Bonaparte and Marie-Antoinette pop up, either from adopting or promoting design by usage. For instance, Isadora Duncan, famed dancer, performed in a Delphos gown and that Susan Sontag was actually buried wearing one.

I won't detail all the sections but they are titled the Delphos, Tennis Dress, Little Black Dress (don't we all own one of those?), Wrap Dress, Strapless Dress, Bar Suit (had no clue what that was until I read this), Naked Dress, Miniskirt, Midi Skirt, and the Bodycon Dress. Each style is described, including variations on it, and you'll probably realize that you have seen each at some point, even if, like me, you had no clue what they were called. Personalities of each time frame, including modern ones influenced by it's styles, are included. I might also note that men in skirts are included in the mix. I guess I was never enough of a Nirvana fan to see the photos of the late Kurt Cobain in skirts, such as on the cover of "The Face". Somehow, I never pictured him in anything but grunge but that is a whole other story.

Bottom line, against all expectations, I found this an intriguing, interesting read. Fashion has both shaped and been shaped by the times, times it has also had an impact on. Kudos to author Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell for doing such an excellent job making this until now uninteresting to me subject quite fascinating. She's even included a long bibliography and notes at the end.

Thanks #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for opening my eyes to a part of history and my world that I've largely ignored.

“Skirts” is a non-fiction book by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell. Ms. Chrisman-Campbell’s fashion history knowledge shines in this book about skirts/dresses. This book is more than “just” about fashion, however - there’s some history woven in, along with some culture notes. The fashions of women just tie them all together. I do hope that the final book has photographic (or even illustrated) examples of the styles discussed because having to look them up online was rather cumbersome (and even some of her references required me to do research, such as Anita Ekberg’s mentioned scene and attire in La Dolce Vita). If this book had illustrations I’d rate it higher as it was informative, if a little dry in some places.