Title: Nevertheless, She Wore It
Author: Ann Shen
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Pub Date: 01 Sep 2020
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Thank you Chronicle Books for providing me with an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my impartial review.
Five stars to this amazing book. It was so fun and powerful at the same time. I loved how the author was able to touch on so many facets of the female appearance – clothes, beauty, makeup, body hair and hairstyles. It was an incredibly feminist read and I enjoyed every bit of it.
It was so jarring to read about how many (basically almost all) of our modern everyday wear was subject to scrutiny and debate by the male gaze. There might never ever be a book like this written about general male fashion because men wear and do whatever they want – no questions asked, no debate sparked. Each item in this book came with so much history and research it was so eye opening and enlightening. I could tell that the author did a lot of research before going on this journey.
Ann Shen covered general clothing items like jeans and crop tops; specific moments in fashion like Lady Gaga’s meat dress and Nancy Pelosi’s fire coat; she also covered hairstyles that the pixie cut and the afro; and also makeup and beauty entries like the red lip and the unibrow.
The title of this book is so powerful and it resonated in every entry as the woman in question or women everywhere wore that s*** anyway.
The illustrations were such an integral part of the book and each one was amazing. Ann Shen is a genius and I’ll be checking out her 2 other works – “Bad Girls Throughout History” and “Legendary Ladies” .
Blurb
Clothes can speak louder than words.
Since the Industrial Revolution and the democratization of fashion, people have been using personal style to express themselves—their identities, gender, and politics.
Whether we choose to stand out or stand together, caring about fashion is a way of reclaiming our power.
Fashion is freedom; personal style is currency. And you have an endless supply of it, baby.
Oyinda Loves Books 