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 | | The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafes, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour by Joan DeJean ISBN-10: 9780743264136 ISBN-10: 0-7432-6413-4 ISBN-13: 9780743264136 ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-6413-6 Hardcover 2005-07-05 Free Press Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description What makes fashionistas willing to pay a small fortune for a particular designer accessory? Why does a special occasion only become really special when a champagne cork pops? Why are diamonds the status symbol gemstone, instantly signifying wealth, power, and even emotional commitment? Writing with great élan, one of the foremost authorities on seventeenth-century French culture provides the answer to these and other fascinating questions in her account of how, at one glittering moment in history, the French under Louis XIV set the standards of sophistication, style, and glamour that still rule our lives today. Joan DeJean takes us back to the birth of haute cuisine, the first appearance of celebrity hairdressers, chic cafés, nightlife, and fashion in elegant dress that extended well beyond the limited confines of court circles. And Paris was the magical center -- the destination of travelers all across Europe. Full of wit, dash, and verve, The Essence of Style will delight fans of history and everybody who wonders about the elusive definition of good taste. | ||
Reviews | ||
Style Nice book. Gives us an indepth knowledge of how fashion took place and evolved. Nice to read how the many common articles of fashion we see today were styled and how the entire process of style took place | ||
A Treasure Fantastique! As entertaining as it is enlightening! Authoress Joan DeJean's delightful and witty style of writing will make you feel as if you too are partaking of all the lavish indulgences and gossip of King Louis the Fourteenth's court! | ||
The Origin Of Our Modern Concept Of Style This is not really a book, but more of a collection of essays examining the origin of various modern concepts of style: hair, culture, fashion, marketing/tourism, footwear, fine dining, coffee, champagne, diamonds, mirrors, nightlife, umbrellas, shopping, perfumes, and entertaining. As a scholar of French history and culture, the unifying theme of Joan DeJean's work is that the origins of these parts of our modern society came in the reign of Loius XIV of France, and fairly amazing are largly unchanged since their implementation. By this I mean not the specifics of style, but in the way they function in the greater culture. DeJean speaks well to the technology being developed at the time as well as the reasons that the late 1600's were the first time these aspects of life could be mass consumed, instead of say, the 1200's. | ||
Frivolous I wasted an hour searching for something of substantive interest in this work. It was time spent in vain. A frivolous book about frivolous things. | ||
A good read, but lacks depth Topic Selection: B+ Although the book may seem a little all over the place to some, focusing on such diverse aspects of culture as food, clothing, champagne, perfume, parties, and even umbrellas, DeJean does a good job of relating the different parts of the book to one another. She ties them all to a very specific period of history and especially to Louis XIV. Scholarship: C- DeJean seems to rely fairly heavily on a rather small number of sources, despite the fact that the total number of sources is pretty good. Also, at least some footnotes would help the book. Readability: A- This book was obviously written to be consumed by a general audience. DeJean's style is very easy to read, although some of the chapters seem repetitive, as she often comes to the same conclusion. Impartiality: C I detected a definite "France is great" tone to this book that could sometimes be a little distracting. One also gets the impression that DeJean thinks that the move towards rapidly changing fashions was inevitably a good thing, for which she does not give a reason. She was not biased in an overbearing way, but there is definitely a bias there. Overall: B- I really enjoyed the book and for beginners to this area of history, I think it is ideal. You learn a lot of those little things that you always wondered about, such as where the concept of dessert comes from. DeJean's style is readable and she is obviously passionate about the subject. Serious scholars should stay away, as the book does not always adequately cite it's sources and does not prove its argument as adequately as it could. | ||