25 Authors and their Favorite Decades in Fashion History
25 Authors and their Favorite Decades in Fashion History in Celebration of New York Fashion Week
Melissa de la Cruz
changes every time. But I like current trends, so whatever is really hot right now, I like it, but for me the defining style was early 2000s Marc Jacobs
Katherine Center
Probably the 1940s. I love all those big collars and jaunty hats! I actually love pretty much everything about how the 1940s looked, and I will watch any BBC show set in that decade. Not sure I would want to actually live in that time period, but it sure had great style.
Natasha Lester
I’m currently writing a book set around the advent of Christian Dior’s New Look so I have a very soft spot for his late 1940s gowns. They’re extravagant, and ultra-feminine and the architecture of each piece is truly amazing.
Abby Jimenez
I think I have to go way back for this one. Maybe 1850? I want to dress like Scarlett O’Hara and go to a dance at the Wilkes’. But only once. Then I want to come back to present day where it’s acceptable to go to Target in yoga pants, a baggy sweatshirt and no bra.
Jennifer Chiaverini
To admire on actors or to wear on a special occasion like a costume ball, I’d choose the Victorian era. For a style I’d have to wear every day, I’d pick the far more practical 1940s.
Hazel Gaynor
The 1920s without a doubt. Flappers. Gatsby. Downton Abbey. So much elegance and sophistication.
Heather Webb
I hate to be a copycat, but there’s a reason Hazel and I write books together. Ha! Edwardian era into the roaring 20s, hands-down.
Karen Kelly
40s, 50s, & 60s – Dior, Chanel, Balenciaga, Balmain—all that elegance and glamor. Think Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn.
Jennifer Estep
The 1980s just because the clothes, colors, etc. were so outrageous and over the top.
Lauren Mechling
New York in the 1920s. The banged bob would be hard to pull off, though.
Jeanne Mackin
Definitely the twenties, with those straight, boyish lines and sequins and sparkles. I hate constrictive clothing and tight waists. Day costumes in the 20’s and 30’s were easy and practical and the evening gowns were luscious and vampish.
Laura Purcell
WHAT a brilliant question. Also massively difficult to answer. I’m a big fan of the 1780s and 1790s for female fashion. I love how the dresses started changing towards the Romantic silhouette but still retained the theatricality of the earlier Georgian era.
Natalie Murray
Sixteenth century court fashions, of course! I can’t get enough of the embroidery, the motifs, the slashed sleeves, the mix-and-match pieces and layering, and the tricks used in clothing to make one appear wealthier. Let’s not even go there with the codpiece *snickers*. However, I’m also partial to a 1960s beehive with heavy fake lashes. I guess subtle is not really my thing?
Roselle Lim
The 60s with Mary Quant’s mini skirt. The freedom and experimentation of that decade in fashion is astounding.
Michelle Gable
60s--but the later part of the decade...think shift dresses and Mary Tyler Moore Show
Suzy Krause
Late 70s. When I was a teenager, my grandma let me have a bunch of my aunt’s old clothes from when she was in high school, so I now have this weird nostalgia for an era I never lived through.
Camille di Maio
I love the 1940s. Women were feminine, but not too fancy. And they wore hats!
Wendy Wax
I don’t have a decade. I just hope the cold shoulder thing never goes out of style. My shoulders have become my best feature.
Melanie Benjamin
Late 1940s, beginning with Christian Dior’s “New Look,” until the mid-1960s (ending with Mary Quant).
Jamie Brenner
The 1950s. I love that full skirt, the tea-length dress. So elegant!
Renee Rosen
Hmmm, I would have to say it’s a toss-up between the Gilded Age (oh those Worth gowns and the ridiculous swimming costumes!) and the Roaring Twenties. I love those sassy frocks and cloche hats.
Tembi Locke
I love the 1940’s. An idea for my next book focused on a generation of women in my family who navigated that era in the Jim Crow South. I’ve been looking at old family photographs. I am struck by the craftsmanship and silhouette of the clothes my grandmothers and their sisters wore. Many of the garments were handmade by their own mothers or sisters because they were not allowed to shop in the white-owned stores in their towns. So it’s even more fascinating. Their clothes are simple, structured and with gorgeously flattering lines.
Martha Hall Kelly
The fifties. The jewelry and clothes in the movie Carol are just the best.
Sofia Segovia
The 1920's, because women got free from corsets and long skirts, and dared to wear pants. A veritable fashion revolution!
Edith Maxwell
The 1920s. After the Great War, women tossed their corsets, loosened their gowns, brought up their hems, and generally enjoyed themselves. Who doesn’t love a flapper dress?
