Bad Girls of Fashion: Style Rebels from Cleopatra to Lady Gaga

by Jennifer Croll, Ada Buchholc (Illustrator)

Overview

The title says it all: Bad Girls of Fashion explores the lives of ten famous women who have used clothing to make a statement, change perceptions, break rules, attract power, or express their individuality. Included are Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich, Madonna, and Lady Gaga. Sidebar subjects include: Elizabeth I, Marilyn Monroe, Rihanna, and Vivienne Westwood.

Photos illuminate the text, while edgy, vividly colored illustrations depict the subjects with interpretive flair. Readers will learn not only about changing fashion styles through history, but about changing historical attitudes toward women, and the links between fashion and art, film, music, politics, and feminism. With an energetic, appealing writing style, Croll demonstrates how through the ages, women — often without other means of power — have used fashion as a tool, and how their influence continues to shape how women present themselves today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554517855
Publisher:	Annick Press, Limited
Publication date:	10/11/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	1130L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Jennifer Croll is the author of Fashion That Changed the World and has written for magazines including NYLON, Adbusters, and Dazed and Confused. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Ada Buchholc is a Polish illustrator whose clients around the world include New Republic, Little White Lies, and enRoute. She lives in Poznań, Poland.

Table of Contents

Introduction 2

1 Cleopatra Fashion Leader 4

Empress Dowager Cixi 12

Elizabeth 13

Angela Davis 23

2 Marie Antoinette Fashion Decadent 26

Imelda Marcos 36

Rose Bertin 37

Wallis Simpson 43

3 Coco Chanel Fashion Modernizer 46

Josephine Baker 51

Amelia Bloomer 57

Louise Brooks 63

4 Frida Kahlo Fashion Artist 66

Miuccia Prada 75

M.I.A. 82

Elsa Schiaparelli 83

5 Marlene Dietrich Fashion Gender-Bender 86

George Sand 93

Diane Keaton 100

Twiggy 101

6 Diana Vreeland Fashion Instigator 104

Anna Wintour 113

Grace Coddington 118

Tavi Gevinson 119

7 Madonna Fashion Chameleon 122

Grace Jones 127

Marilyn Monroe 131

Rihanna 139

8 Rei Kawakubo Anti-Fashion 142

Cindy Sherman 149

Yoko Ono 155

Björk 157

9 Kathleen Hanna Fashion Radical 160

Vivienne Westwood 168

Beth Ditto 169

Pussy Riot 175

10 Lady Gaga Fashion Freak 178

Nicki Minaj 184

Cher 185

Isabella Blow and Daphne Guinness 194

Conclusion 198

Selected References 199

Further Reading 201

Acknowledgments 202

Image Credits 203

Index 204

About the Author and Illustrator 206

Editorial Reviews

★ 2016-05-18
A probing look at influential women in fashion history.In her follow-up to Fashion That Changed the World (2014), Croll chronicles more than 40 women throughout history who, either by vocation or influence, have proven "fashion is anything but frivolous." With the aid of archival photos and Buchholc's spirited illustrations, Croll unveils rounded portraits of 10 fashion "bad girls" and spotlights a few dozen more who learned—many at a young age—"how tactical fashion can be" in "shaping opinion" and "challenging the status quo." Croll's "style rebels" range from present-day pop icons Lady Gaga and Madonna, legendary fashion editors Diana Vreeland and Anna Wintour, and Black Panther radical Angela Davis all the way back to Cleopatra, who became pharaoh at the tender age of 16 and carefully styled herself in the likeness of the goddess Isis. To show how fashion can be used to one's advantage, Croll points to gender-bending Marlene Dietrich, clad in suit and tie, as well as Marilyn Monroe, who had a cobbler shorten one of her heels to exaggerate the swing of her hips. Overall, the scope and variety of Croll's subjects compellingly present women as powerful arbiters of—rather than slaves to—fashion. Richly detailed and engagingly written, Croll's captivating study is sure both to enlighten and embolden fashion-minded youth. (index, bibliography, further reading) (Nonfiction. 10-17)

Kirkus Reviews

08/01/2016
Gr 7 Up—The 40-plus "style rebels" past and present run the gamut from cheeky to outrageous to murderous, but the book's focus is on how these women used fashion to defy society and make their mark on the world. Queens (Cleopatra, Elizabeth I, Marie Antoinette), designers (Coco Chanel, Rei Kawakubo, Rose Bertin), artists (Cindy Sherman, Frida Kahlo), performers (Lady Gaga, Kathleen Hanna, Rihanna), writers and editors (George Sand, Anna Wintour), and even political dissenters (Pussy Riot) enter the spotlight for a few pages, then cede to the next "bad girl." The layouts are somewhat confusing; "Fashion Spotlights" featuring other bad girls are interspersed among the pages covering the main subjects, and sidebars about social and cultural events pop up in odd spots. While Buchholc's hand-drawn illustrations are charming, other art verges on clip art territory. An interesting choice in this mostly chronological presentation is the omission of death dates for its subjects, comical in the case of long-dead rulers and would-be monarchs such as Wallis Simpson, but more serious in other instances, such as the case of fashion stylist Isabella Blow, who took her own life in 2007. The ensuing narratives do mention the women's deaths, but having that information up front would be more accessible. "Iconic Look" sidebars about the subject or her era give author and illustrator a chance to shine. VERDICT This is a good, if somewhat scattered, launching pad for beginner rebels and women's history buffs.—Liz French, Library Journal

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