Customer Reviews

Dreaming of Dior: Every Dress Tells a Story

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From the introduction, in which author Charlotte Smith describes how her godmother Doris Darnell presented her with a priceless collection of couture clothing, to the exquisite illustrations, to the stories behind each ensemble, this book is pure magic.

Now the curator of the Darnell Collection, Smith wrote this book as a tribute to her "fairy" godmother as well as the women who wore the amazing outfits. Every dress (yes, they are mostly all dresses) has a story, whether it's laced with anecdotes about famous people, spiced with humor or infused with poignant recollections of loss.

Inspiring and full of affection, this book is something to be shared, not only among fashionistas, but as a celebration of bonds between women.

My attention is on the illustrations, lovely and creative to aid the imagination when thinking about some of the stories and people. The book will make a wonderful gift to those are love fashion, art, and vintage clothing.

I am almost done w/Dreaming of Dior. It's insightful, alluring, charming and maintains the mystique of bygone times, the adventures of others and the confluence of events experienced by the original owners of these fashion pieces.

I'm moved by many of the stories who owned and wore these outfits,, intrigued by the fashion items themselves and I understand completely the author's and her godmother's, desire to share all of this with us.

Something inside me sighed with relief as I began reading this book. I was relieved to be able to immerse myself in a book that celebrated each woman who adorned herself with these outfits. I was relieved to know that this yearning I've had about fashion, especially vintage fashion, was shared by others with how it relates to the whys, hows and whens of an outfit and its previous owner.

I love the illustrations, too, but I wish there were photos of the actual pieces accompanying each story. I understand why there are not, but checking out the pieces online, worn by models, has helped me picture them better.

I recommend this book for those not just into fashion, but for those who appreciate all aspects of womanliness, whose inner yen wants to be expressed by outer dressing.

I have it by my bed side, i keep looking at the illustations and keep re-reading it! I started bying vintage dresses cause of this book! ))) Enjoy,

My godmother and I lived a 30 minute walk from each other. We rarely saw each other except on my birthday and Christmas where we dutifully exchanged gifts. The year we gave each other the same clutch wallet for Christmas we decided to stop sharing gifts and just send cards (even after I moved to another state.)

Imagine having a godmother who loves fashion as much as you do, and when she goes to fashion heaven leaves you an amazing legacy.

Quaker Doris Darnell collected vintage clothing and accessories (dated 1795-present.) The pieces came from acquaintances and friends who also sent letters, stories and photographs about each piece Doris received.

Charlotte Allen inherited the collection and began chronicling the pieces - especially the dresses and the personal stories that came with them. This first book in the series shows stories on one page in paragraphs and snippets with beautiful illustrations of each dress by Grant Cowan.

What we really get is a view of social history from the stories - how women lived in different centuries and decades and what they endured to keep fashionable with their times.

Whether you are a fashion historian, fashion designer or a fashionista, Dreaming of Dior and the follow up book Dreaming of Chanel belong in your fashion library.

I admit I haven't done much reading through the book outside of the introductory. The dressers, the designs, the looks are just so stunning, I can't stop flipping through and looking at all these different designs through the ages.
I wish that the gowns had been better organized in years from old to new, but not every single one has a date listed so maybe some were unknown. Every single one comes with a story and the few that I read are pretty inspirational. I'm not sure if all the dresses are merely Dior, the title would suggest it, but it states in the cover flap that it includes pieces from Dior and Chanel originals. The book won't really tell you which designer the gown came from, just the story of who had it.

The illustrations are very inspiring and I've had a few friends who are artists become easily inspired for clothing when they looked through this.

I really love this book and it will wear out soon from my constant shuffling through the pages.

This is a beautifully crafted book and I loved every page.
It has inspired me to continue to create and make my own outfits in the hope of one day having some collectables as featured within these covers.
Wonderful

The book is a charming fairytale- only it's real. The author is restrained and meticulous.

It's hard to believe that quality inherent in this type of clothing have gone the way of rotary dial.

Charlotte Smith inherited a collection of beautiful vintage clothing from her godmother, Doris Darnell. Her godmother collected not only the clothing but the stories of the people who wore them. At first, Charlotte was overwhelmed and didn't know what to do with all of the clothing (over 3,000 pieces), but once she read the stories, she knew she had to share the collection somehow. She couldn't bear the thought of it being broken up, so she didn't want to donate it to museums. Luckily for us, she has created a beautiful book.

Dreaming of Dior by Charlotte Smith is an absolutely gorgeous book - from the flocked dust jacket to the beautiful endpapers to the heavy weight paper to the stunning illustrations. Because of the high quality paper used, this book has some heft to it. After a short introduction, approximately 140 items of the collection are shown off in the pages of the book. The left hand page tells a story about someone who wore the dress and the right hand page features a frame-worthy illustration by Grant Cowan. These garments date from the 1800s to the modern day. The stories tell about the person who wore them and when I read them, I felt like I was living vicariously through them. I particularly enjoyed the stories that featured the author or her family.

I've never been much of a "girly-girl," but I adored this fabulous book! First of all, the illustrations are just amazing - bright and vibrant on vivid backgrounds - and they were so much fun to study. It's hard for me to describe just how beautiful they are. The stories are wonderful too - they made me dream of times past. I'm sure I'll continue to flip through this book for years! This is a must have for every fashion lover out there.