The latest "fashionable" reads

Recently, the connection between fashion and literature has taken on an increasingly prominent role. Events such as Marc Jacobs' "reading hours," where the designer was seen reading on social media, and collections like Anna Sui’s, inspired by literary figures such as Miss Marple and Virginia Woolf, demonstrate how literature heavily influences contemporary fashion. Anna Sui's Fall/Winter 2024 show, held at the iconic The Strand bookstore in New York, and Valentino's Spring/Summer 2024 collection, with phrases from Hanya Yanagihara's novel A Little Life printed on the garments, highlight the rich relationship between these two creative worlds, where one becomes a tool for visually expressing the other's thoughts. Inevitably, this dialogue has sparked a curiosity towards the study of fashion as a cultural and historical phenomenon. Among the texts that have recently reached the shelves of bookstores, three new books explore the American fashion industry, analyzing historical events and key figures that have helped shape the cultural identity of the United States.

In American Fashion (published by Bloomsbury) Natalie Nudell examines the famous Fashion Calendar, an agenda created in 1941 by Ruth Finley to document all events in the fashion industry. Finley is credited with the origin of the New York Fashion Week. Before the Council of Fashion Designers of America acquired the calendar in 2014, Finley was solely responsible for managing the collections presented to the American public. In her book, Nudell continues a research journey that began with her previous documentary, Ruth Finley’s Fashion Calendar, where Finley’s meticulous care became a true historical archive of American fashion. As Nudell explains, «in popular culture, "fashion week" is known as a time when the next season’s proposals are presented, the future of fashion.» Through her work, Finley documented and accompanied innovations and changes in the industry with an openness that allowed for the inclusion of designers from all backgrounds. It was this democratic attitude that contributed to the preservation of the diversity inherent to American culture for over 70 years. Recently, Finley's curated calendars have been digitized, offering the public decades of historical archives accessible for free. In American Fashion, Nudell explores the added value that the digitalization of this resource brings to the fashion world, contributing to a historical dialogue on American fashion.

Empresses of Seventh Avenue (published by St. Martin’s Publishing Group) by Nancy MacDonell, a book that celebrates the pioneering women of American fashion who helped shape the American Look. The analysis begins with World War II, a pivotal moment when American fashion broke away from European standards due to the embargo that blocked the arrival of styles from Parisian circles. MacDonell traces the origins of American clothing as we know it today, rediscovering the first signs of sportswear and the introduction of softer shapes, with a particular focus on their functionality. Among the women highlighted by the author is Claire McCardell, a young designer employed by the Townley Frocks manufacturing company on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. McCardell admired the pragmatism of men’s clothing and criticized women’s corsets, which made even breathing difficult. In an interview with writer Beryl Williams, McCardell wondered, «why women's clothes had to be delicate; why they couldn’t be practical and sturdy as well as feminine.» Among her innovations are the introduction of pockets in women's clothing and the creation of the famous Monastic dress—a loose, bias-cut dress that offered more stretch and softness. In Empresses of Seventh Avenue, McCardell is joined by other influential women such as fashion editor Diana Vreeland, Vogue’s editor-in-chief in the first half of the 20th century Edna Woolman Chase, the first fashion editor at The New York Times Virginia Pope, and Dorothy Shaver, the first woman to head a multimillion-dollar manufacturing company. MacDonell paints an all-female portrait, highlighting the determination and foresight of a group of women without whom today’s $500 billion American fashion industry would not exist.