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FASHION REBELS by Carlyn Cerniglia Beccia

FASHION REBELS

Style Icons Who Changed the World Through Fashion

by Carlyn Cerniglia Beccia ; illustrated by Carlyn Cerniglia Beccia

Pub Date: Sept. 6th, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58270-488-3
Publisher: Beyond Words/Aladdin

Beccia spotlights influential women from 69 B.C.E. to today who “didn’t just change the world of fashion,” but “used fashion to change the world.”

Hoping to enlighten young readers to the fact that women weren’t always as free as Lady Gaga to “wear slabs of meat or Kermit the Frogs” and “call it a dress,” Beccia looks to women who changed the course of history by what they famously chose—or refused—to wear. What sets Beccia’s inspirational annals of fashion apart from similar biographical collections is the interactive nature of her account, which includes a lighthearted quiz to determine what style icon one most identifies with (say, Ellen DeGeneres or Audrey Hepburn), DIY instructions on how to craft an 18th-century choker à la Marie Antoinette, and directions to re-create famous hairstyles like those of Josephine Baker or Marilyn Monroe. Add in fascinating illustrated histories of iconic garments, such as pants or the little black dress, and riveting, take-no-prisoners fashion tales, such as how Katharine Hepburn walked out of her dressing room in only her silk underwear after studio executives stole her pants in a vain effort to make her wear a skirt, for an exceptionally engaging experience.

From Cleopatra to Brittney Griner, Beccia’s empowering snapshots show how women from all walks of life can and have used fashion to command; not to be missed.

(notes, bibliography, glossary) (Nonfiction. 8-14)