Vintage handkerchiefs receive new life as couture fashion for dolls.
Now that the handkerchief has gone the way of the leisure suit, vintage handkerchiefs can be found in abundance at garage sales and thrift stores. Such a windfall of brightly colored, retro-chic patterns led fashion designer Greenberg to create hundreds of miniature dresses out of them. Designed for Barbie dolls—literally—these dresses are at times clever, romantic and whimsical, and Greenberg is obviously a talented and patient seamstress. But what was the author to do with so many dresses lining her sewing room on their tiny hangers? Sell them on eBay, of course. Hankie Couture, as her line of dresses is now known, is apparently popular among collectors. Impressive as they are, creating a book based on them presents more of a challenge. Each page features a doll dressed in a particular Hankie Couture fashion, set in a tableau featuring furniture (also crafted by Greenberg) and other accessories. These tableaux are accompanied by short platitudes describing the Southern Belle-ish “Hankie Couture Woman”—e.g., “A Hankie Couture woman goes to bed each night with a smile in her heart.” The book may have kitsch appeal, but it's not ironic enough to be marketed as such, nor is it written for children, who might want to learn to sew doll clothes. Limited appeal for serious crafters.
Pub Date: April 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7624-4017-7
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Running Press
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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