FASHION IS SPINACH By Elizabeth Hawes
RATING: 3.5 STARS
Elizabeth Hawes gives the reader an insider’s look at the fashion industry from the 1920’s through 1970’s. After graduating from Vassar College and Parsons School of Design, she worked in a Paris fashion copy house, and wrote about fashion for The New Yorker. In 1928, the public’s interest in French fashion began to fade, so she opened her design house, Hawes Inc., which originally made expensive custom designs for affluent women. The outspoken and independent Hawes criticized the New York Fashion industry for creating poorly made, expensive clothing and marketing them as trendy. Designers couldn’t complain about the Fashion industry, for fear of losing business. Yet, Hawes had the luxury to be outspoken, as she came from a wealthy family. She worked with retailers to produce and sell well made, affordable clothes. Hawes believed in designing classic, well made clothes, instead of caving into designing the latest fashion trends. Although the book was written seventy years ago, the fashion industry operates the same way today, by continuing to lure the public with the latest “must have” fashions every season.
A copy of the book was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
MJ Reads 