Foto dell'autore
4 opere 143 membri 4 recensioni

Sull'Autore

Rachelle Bergstein, the author of Women from the Ankle Down, worked in book publishing for more than a decade and is a contributing writer at Forbes.com, with a focus on retail. She lives with her husband and their son in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Opere di Rachelle Bergstein

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Sesso
female
Nazionalità
USA
Luogo di nascita
New Jersey, USA
Luogo di residenza
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Istruzione
Vassar College (BA|English Literature|2003)

Utenti

Recensioni

I enjoyed most of this book. The title is misleading. It is more of a history of the diamond industry than it is a biography. The is no information about how diamonds are formed or why they are only found in certain places. It is good overview of the diamond industry but none of the natural history of the mineral itself. I was surprised to learn how prevalent synthetic diamonds are and how afraid of it many of the traditional gem dealers are. The part about the diamond mines in Australia was also of interest. I had no idea that Australia was such a huge producer of gem quality diamonds.

This is a short book. The book was formatted in a larger than normal type with lots of white space between lines. I think the publisher was trying to make this look like it was a more substantial lengthy book than it really was. The copy of the book Brilliance and Fire I have has 375 pages total in it. However, about 100 pages of it is notes and index. That tells me that the book is documented extensively, and along with the formatting led me to the conclusion that some of this was an attempt to make the book seem like it was a more substantial work than the content contains. I do think that there is value in this book, as the tidbits of information about various diamonds, gem dealers, and jewelry designers was very interesting. In short, this is a good lead-in for those who want to know more about the connections between jewelry, culture, and politics, but this is by no means a comprehensive look at either the material or the industry.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
benitastrnad | Sep 16, 2021 |
O livro faz um bom trabalho em associar as mudanças sociais e econômicas nos EUA com a moda, porém poderia não limitar-se apenas às mulheres na sua apresentação (inclusive, um dos capítulos mais interessantes é sobre Tony Manero e a moda Disco).

Além disso, para um livro sobre moda e visual, tem apenas pequenas ilustrações de sapatos no início de cada capítulo. Vi-me usando o celular para pesquisar as referências citadas mais vezes do que gostaria.

A tradução também prejudica a experiência por nem sempre clarificar termos culturais específicos e por algumas vezes fazer traduções equivocadas de expressões idiomáticas.… (altro)
 
Segnalato
ladyars | Jan 4, 2021 |
One thing I was reminded of while reading this book: I really need a new pair of classic black pumps.

First of all, Women from the Ankle Down: The Story of Shoes and How They Define Us by Rachelle Bergstein is really a book about women’s shoes. There are mentions of men’s shoes, but not many — let’s face it, men’s shoes are boring. Most of this book is about women’s shoes and how they evolved and what influenced them.

There is a lot of interesting information in this book about modern shoes. If you’re looking for ancient shoes, for the history of foot-binding, look somewhere else. This little book starts with “Ferragamo and the Wartime Wedge (1900-1938)” and runs through Sex and the City (“Shoes and the Single Girl (1998-2008)”). Lots of detail about how certain styles evolved and how shoes go in and out of style, along with some interesting bits of shoe lore.

I love shoes! Sadly, my work requires mostly sensible shoes now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t drool over the latest styles (although I cannot wait for the hooker-platform fad to pass — can’t happen soon enough). I enjoyed getting a bit of insight into what was fashionable and what was controversial in different generations (who would have thought of ballet flats as rebellious?). I also didn’t know that shoes were actually rationed during the war:

“As it was, the ration stipulated not only how many shoes consumers could buy but also what kind of shoes the footwear industry was permitted to produce going forward…For women, the shoe ration instantly outlawed flourishes which had become the quintessence of a varied shoe collection.”

The American government even limited the colors that could be used in shoe production to 4 — black, white, town brown and army russet. Heel heights were regulated and so were the height of boots.

Bergstein covers the rise of Birkenstocks, the influence of the movies on shoes (and vice versa) and Girl Power, Saturday Night Fever and the battle between Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo. What she doesn’t do is provide a single photograph! Unless photos were added in the finished version (mine was an uncorrected proof), I think it’s a huge gap.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
LisaLynne | 1 altra recensione | Oct 18, 2012 |
This history of (mainly) women’s shoes pretty much starts in 1900, the point in history when women’s skirts became short enough to show their shoes, and when the making of shoes changed from a craftsman’s job of creating one pair at a time to factories that made hundreds of pairs in a day. This lowered the price of shoes to the point where the average person could afford more than one pair of shoes, and shoe obsessions could begin.

The author intersperses biographies of famous shoemakers- Ferragamo, Choo, Blahnik, Louboutin- with tales of how war time rationing affected shoe designs and materials, how Hollywood influenced shoe design, how changes in society required different shoes, how Jane Fonda made athletic shoes acceptable as everyday wear by adults, and how different subcultures need different footwear. She also connects shoe height with both the economy and the status of the wearer.

It’s a fast, interesting read, combining fashion history with social history. I really enjoyed the book – I just wish the illustrations had been in the advanced reader copy!
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
lauriebrown54 | 1 altra recensione | May 21, 2012 |

Liste

Statistiche

Opere
4
Utenti
143
Popolarità
#144,062
Voto
3.2
Recensioni
4
ISBN
11
Lingue
1

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