This story was well-told and engaging throughout. I think it will definitely find its right audience and continue to inspire.

Dressed in Dreams is Tanisha Ford's memoir through clothes. Each chapter is named for a piece of clothing or hair style, and she discusses what baggy jeans or leather jackets meant to her in a certain time of her life. I really enjoyed this book. Ford talks about growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the 80s, and how stifling it was for a super smart young black woman. Clothes as a framing device really worked for me - we see glimpses of Ford at different times, watching her (and her style) grow up as she goes to an elite boarding school, on to college, and then graduate school. She definitely keeps portions of her life a bit out of sight from the reader - her son, for instance - but she melds cultural and personal history in a really effective way. This book is ultimately a love letter to black culture and also to her mom. Definitely recommended.

“Each time we stand before our closet to pick out our clothes, we make a series of choices about how we want to appear before the world. This is just as true for people who claim not to care about clothes as it is for self-proclaimed fashionistas. It’s because we recognize that the way we adorn ourselves communicates something about who we are and where we come from.”

Dressed in Dreams: a Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion by Tanisha C. Ford has easily been one of my favorite reads so far this year. Part history lesson in style, part coming-of-age tale, Dressed in Dreams lures readers into the world of a Midwestern Black Girl defining herself one wardrobe choice at a time.

The title bearing the words “love letter” is so fitting, as Ford shares an ode to the Jheri Curl, makes honorable mention of the Dopemans, head-nods baggy jeans, and gives three snaps for the beloved bamboo earrings. Each reference of course, is accompanied by a personal story that shaped Ford’s identity as a black woman in some way. And while devouring each story, I was reminded of how much of who we are is observed through our garments.

I enjoyed this book so much. Ford knew how fashion shaped our lives and how we as black people use fashion as a form of self-expression in the most creative ways. I smiled as I read each essay, reminiscing on my own fashion stories and how the thought of my skating rink attire at 15 brought back so many memories. And while the author and I may not have had the exact same experiences, I could relate to many of the sentiments she expressed. Every pair of doorknockers I’ve purchased, every pair of baggy POLO jeans I was passed down, and every hairstyle I tried throughout the years helped me realize the woman I wanted to be and gave me the power to control the version of myself I proudly displayed.

Thank you Tanisha C. Ford for sharing your stories with us. Special thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for a copy of this read in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a sucker for books that view the world through a specific cultural lens. Usually it's food but in this book it's fashion and I am so here for it.

I loved this book and the author is awesome! Weaving her life and fashion in with greater culture. The stories about her mother and the author's personal life. Can wait to read her next book! I especially loved her description of purchasing a leather coat with her mother.

Dressed in Dreams shows how fashion, identity and culture blend. It was also interesting to read about the negative aspects of fashion, such as how society judges black women's fashion and the hypocrisy that no one bats an eye if a white women wears the same piece.

This book is a great immersion into the Afro American culture of the last 40 years though fashion & beauty.

I learned so much from it whether it's about daily challenges that the author faced or even about the Hip Hop culture of the 90's.

I would highly recommend it if you'd like to know more about this culture through a different approach!

From her parents wearing Dashiki's during the Civil Right's movement, to the author wearing Daisy Dukes, the author gives us a glimpse of her life through fashion. The author took me back to my own childhood and teen years and I really enjoyed taking a stroll down memory lane. This was a good read.

***ARC received from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

The title really sums up what this book is all about, a love letter to the power of fashion and how it shapes peoples lives. The author leads us through how it helped to influence and shape her life life but she does a great job of showing how fashion affects culture as a whole. Also cultures affect on fashion, from music to movie and television.

Each chapter for the book is dedicated to a specific piece of fashion and its affect on society at that time. I really liked how the author also spends a good amount of time talking about the history of the fashion. I know all the fashion that she mentioned but to learn its history was really a nice touch, showing how much the author loves fashion and the impact that it has had on her life.

It may be a love letter but it doesn't shy away from the negative aspect of fashion. Not just for how society judges black women's fashion and when white women wear that same fashion but to how the choice of a single piece of clothing that everyone likely has in their closet can be seen as a threat or just a fashion statement, depending on who is wearing it.

I highly recommend Dressed in Dreams.

Dressed in Dreams book review - no spoilers -
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Thank you to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Part memoir, part fashion lesson and all around absolutely engaging: this is a novel I thought about long after closing the cover. Though it's rooted in fashion, Dressed in Dreams deals with all kinds of topics: desire, access, black innovation, appropriation and ultimately fashion's power. Tanisha takes us through her childhood, teen years, college and beyond. You grow with her, feeling not only the pains of adolescence but also her experiences as a black girl coming of age in a Midwestern rust belt city. I appreciate her honesty, her ability to speak so passionately throughout her story and how she's able to tie so much back to fashion. To quote Tanisha, "And I've concluded: clothes are never just garments."
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This book publishes today, June 25, 2019!

Black fashion has made its place in fashion history from Afros and dashikis to baggie jeans and hooped earrings. Dressed in Dreams by Tanisha C. Ford is a book that all black girls should read. In this memoir Ford tells her coming of age story through fashion and pop culture. This book brought back so many memories for me especially the early 90’s. The music, fashion trends and the history behind it all. I absolutely love this book, well written and researched it’s a must read. Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review. 5 out of 5

A fashionistas dream book the author shares through this memoir her life and the iconic styles she wore.She shares the fashion style of the African American community the moments times style that are worn.So interesting a dynamic read a book all women will enjoy. # netgalley #st.martinspress.

This book, a mesh of a coming of age story and fashion history textbook, is a cool way to show how fashion changes and molds us while also defining our roles and class.

Although it was clear in several passages that I am not the target audience for this book, I found that I could relate to at least 75% of the fashion and brands named in the book. I grew up in the same “factory town” as Ford names it - and even went to the same high school. We were a year apart, but the fashion, songs, and sentiments were all the same.

This book spans Ford’s life through the clothes, music, and ideals that were popular at the time (from dashikis to #blacklivesmatter). She describes not only how they affected her life, but also how they came to be and a little bit about how they related to her culture.

I enjoyed the nostalgia I felt through the mention of the designs, labels, and stores I also wore and loved, but I was a bit thrown off by the back-and-forth of timelines. It seemed to want to go chronologically, but would somehow go from present to past, and then back again quite a bit.

Overall, it’s an interesting read.

3.5
Every chapter focuses on a certain piece of clothing, accessory or hairstyle which inspired the author. We get to see how certain fashion and garments reflect her black identity and culture vs white - how it gives her and her friends a sense of belonging and pride, especially when other celebrities are wearing their style loud and proud, and/or help them make a political statement like putting on a hoodie in the Trayvon Martin march.

From Jheri Curls (something which I haven't heard of until now) and Afro Puff, to baggy jeans (it was basically hand-me-down jeans rebranded to Baggy jeans by designer Carl Jones), bamboo earrings (which isn't made of bamboo by the way), and coochie cutters (an amusing, funny story), Ford shared how she navigated herself through the fashion world, finding out what's hot and what's not, if she should blend in or stand out, if she should stick to her roots or just be herself.

Overall, quite an interesting read as I learned new fashion-related terms along the way. Also I got take a glimpse into the vulnerability of fashion - how it can make or break a community. The hoodie, for example, a simple fashionable piece of clothing, had been made the national symbol for racial profiling after Trayvon Martin's murder. 'A black male or masculine-presenting person if any age, wearing a hoodie had to be a thug, and any white person would be justifiably frightened by the sight, the narrative went.' Isn't that absurd? Is this progress?

From the outside, it may seem that fashion unite people - the whites adopting the blacks' style and taste in music and fashion, wanting to be like them. But dig deeper. 'In my black feminism classes in college my black woman professor called it "everything but the burden" - the pain and trauma that came with being a black woman. The author expressed her dissatisfaction of this dynamic that the institutional culture seemed to support: black culture was better on white women, and that it created in her feelings of self doubt and inferiority.

I would've preferred if this book came with pictures, since it's categorized under art and photography. But much to my dismay, there were none. The book would've been so much better if it had them.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Political, personal, and social Tanisha Ford manages to hold onto all the threads while cogently analysing dress with humour. I loved this book - it is my favourite writing on fashion and identity since Women in Clothes. Each autobiographical chapter highlights a piece of clothing or hairstyle, pulling out its significance to the author, to her contemporary black culture and to other American cultures, The writing is concrete, strong and relatable, and at times (Baggy Jeans) devastating. Incredibly informative, I look forward to recommending this book widely.