Why'd They Wear That?: Fashion as the Mirror of History

by Sarah Albee

Overview

Move over Project Runway. Get ready to chuckle your way through centuries of fashion dos and don'ts! In this humorous and approachable narrative, kids will learn about outrageous, politically-perilous, funky, disgusting, regrettable, and life-threatening creations people have worn throughout the course of human history, all the way up to the present day. From spats and togas to hoop skirts and hair shirts, why people wore what they did is an illuminating way to look at the social, economic, political, and moral climates throughout history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426319198
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/10/2015
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	198,488
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1190L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

SARAH ALBEE is the author of more than 100 children's books. She has had three of her books appear on the New York Times children's bestseller list.  She currently has an upper-middle-grade, nonfiction book published in May, 2010 about the history of toilets and sanitation entitled Poop Happened! A History of the World from the Bottom Up, and a follow-up title under contract due out in 2013 about how insects have affected human history. She blogs daily on a variety of science and social history topics geared toward middle-grade readers (sarahalbeebooks.com/blog). She spent nine years as an editor at Children's Television Workshop, working primarily for Sesame Street and attending both the Bologna and Frankfurt Book Fairs.

TIM GUNN (FORWARD) is a renowned fashion consultant, television personality, actor, and author.  He has served as the chair of fashion design at Parsons New School for Design as well as chief creative officer at Liz Claiborne. He is well-known as the chief mentor to designers on the hit reality television series Project Runway and the headliner of spinoff shows Tim Gunn's Guide to Style and Under the Gunn. He is also the author of A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style as well as Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible: The Fascinating History of Everything in Your Closet.

Editorial Reviews

12/15/2014
Full of period images that show off every bustle, frill, and rivet, this wide-ranging guide to clothing throughout time will fascinate history and fashion buffs alike. Albee gives overviews of Renaissance, Elizabethan, and Baroque fashions (among many others), while highlighting how economic and social changes were often directly reflected in clothing—during the Great Depression, for instance, costume jewelry replaced more expensive accessories. In the 1920s, flapper dresses represented women’s liberation, and the styles of the 1960s and 1970s were sometimes inspired by current events (following the moon landing, the “space age” look became the rage). Albee also highlights the extremes to which individuals will go to conform to fleeting ideals of physical beauty—such as the practice of binding feet in China or the wearing of whalebone corsages and crinolines. An insightful study of how clothing is shaped by—and sometimes helps shape—history. Ages 10–up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Opening with a foreword by style guru Tim Gunn, this lavishly illustrated book presents history as a long and winding runway of fashion. In its brightly adorned pages, readers can gaze and gawk at the strange outfits humans have dreamed up since “casting off their smelly bear-skins” 10,000 years ago." – The Washington Post

"...this is truly an ageless piece of work that does everything a book should do. This book educates, elucidates, and entertains and should be deemed required reading for anyone who is interested in fashion on any level." – New York Journal of Books

"What a good idea for a book. And what a clever way to do it. As the subtitle says, this hefty, extensively illustrated book uses fashion to discuss the ways and whys people dress and how it reflects what’s happening in their civilization." – Booklist

"Now see, the reason I like National Geographic Kids is that they’re reliable.  Take Why’d They Wear That?, for example.  You know what you’re getting here, even if you don’t know the details.  Mind you, the details are where all the good stuff is." – School Library Journal

"Full of period images that show off every bustle, frill, and rivet, this wide-ranging guide to clothing throughout time will fascinate history and fashion buffs alike." - Publisher's Weekly

"A fascinating read for fashion and history aficionados." – The Horn Book 

From the Publisher