Icons of Style: In 100 Garments

Although this book is broken into chapters about types of garments and the classics that fall under those categories as iconic and enduring wardrobe staples, it also demonstrates how and why these pieces retain their appeal, despite the shifting cycles of revolution and consolidation that define fashion trends. Freelance fashion writer Sims (Rock/Fashion) provides a history of iconic garments, with photos of the actors and models who helped make them into what people know—and wear—today. He deploys magazine covers, movie stills, photos of labels over the years, catalogue ads, paintings, and other archival documents to show the subtle (or not-so-subtle) changes in style. For example, the jeans miners wore morphed into Marilyn Monroe’s 501s in 1961 and Kate Moss’s 2023 catwalk denim. Sweatsuits, T-shirts, and pajamas are the fabric legacies of this fashion history; one can comfortably read this book in leisure wear, knowing that Naomi Campbell, Ryan Gosling, Audrey Hepburn, and Mick Jagger have worn them well too.