That little black dress....

TITLE: THE BLACK DRESS
AUTHOR: VALERIE STEELE
PUBLISHER: COLLINS DESIGN
ISBN: 0-06-120904-X

Fancy.


That the first word that came into my head when I saw this book on my favorite bookstore, KINOKUNIYA. And yet, I still put that on my shopping chart, so here I am, wrote the review of the book.

From the title, I know the book will tell only one subject: black dress. But it's interesting to read the history of the color itself on first part. For many years, black was associated with negative connotations. The bible has responsibility to linked black with sin, death, and the devil. Black also associated with nights, because at that time, before the invention of electricity, nights were so much darker and more dangerous than they are today.

However, in addition to the negative connotations, black color also has a big impact in fashion. The idea of black as a symbol of luxury and chic makes this color a fashion color options during nobility on Renaissance period. You see, the black dye at that time was so expensive, that only the elite could afford to wear black clothes, whether for mourning or as a symbol of authority or piety.


The black comes in-and-out in fashion. For example on 18th century, the aristocrats tends to wear light colors (even pink) while the poor will wear the darker colour or black clothes.


Well, the history of black color was the only part of this book which contains writings to read. The rest of this book contains a collection of photographs and illustrations of women wearing black dresses in various styles, with the quotes from famous people like fashion designer and artists. (I told you, this book is fancy).

I warned you, there is no table of contents, so that we will have a little difficult when looking for a page or topic destination. Since most of the book contains photographs and illustrations, it can be done by seeking from the credits page at the end of the book.

This book isn't bad at all, I have a new perspective about black color and its fashion. Sadly, in my opinion this book was more like photobook rather than the book itself.