I love seeing Shen's art & reading her creative women-empowered stories.
"Nevertheless, She Wore It" was a fun look into the statements women had made with their outfits throughout history. I wish it was longer, I was surprised to reach the end; it was so interesting!

Some great outfits she chose to highlight.

A few things I wish were different: I wish it was in chronological order - switching from bob cuts to nipple pasties then back to "pants" in a few pages was a tad jarring. Chronologically, I think there's a pattern that would emerge to tell another story.

Overall, really gorgeous (as always with Shen) and a great, enjoyable read!

Light, fun read. The articles were short and the history-geek in me would have liked them to be a bit more informative. And, I'm not sure some of the choices were quite as iconic as they could have been, while some other, arguably better, choices were left out. I loved the illustrations, though!

Title: Nevertheless, She Wore It
Author: Ann Shen
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Pub Date: 01 Sep 2020

Thank you Chronicle Books for providing me with an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my impartial review.

Five stars to this amazing book. It was so fun and powerful at the same time. I loved how the author was able to touch on so many facets of the female appearance - clothes, beauty, makeup, body hair and hairstyles. It was an incredibly feminist read and I enjoyed every bit of it.

It was so jarring to read about how many (basically almost all) of our modern everyday wear was subject to scrutiny and debate by the male gaze. There might never ever be a book like this written about general male fashion because men wear and do whatever they want - no questions asked, no debate sparked. Each item in this book came with so much history and research it was so eye opening and enlightening. I could tell that the author did a lot of research before going on this journey.

Ann Shen covered general clothing items like jeans and crop tops; specific moments in fashion like Lady Gaga's meat dress and Nancy Pelosi's fire coat; she also covered hairstyles that the pixie cut and the afro; and also makeup and beauty entries like the red lip and the unibrow.

The title of this book is so powerful and it resonated in every entry as the woman in question or women everywhere wore that s*** anyway.

The illustrations were such an integral part of the book and each one was amazing. Ann Shen is a genius and I'll be checking out her 2 other works - "Bad Girls Throughout History" and "Legendary Ladies" . This book is out on the 1st of September, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone.

Nevertheless, She Wore It is a fun look at fashion and the politics behind it. The cutesy illustrations are adorable and perfectly capture the scope of each chapter. I only wish the author had been able to delve more deeply into more specific stories. I strongly preferred chapters where focus was on an individual, note the dissent collar and the fire coat, where the author could talk about fashion and add significant commentary over the more general chapters, but the book itself is an overall delight.

I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK!
Sorry to shout, but this is important.
This book beautifully combines two of my passions: fashion and feminism. It makes a powerful argument about how fashion trends can reflect, represent, or sometimes begin a feminist movement. The fashions it explains include the Afro, the Cone Bra (Madonna!), the bikini, the Dissent Collar (RBG for life!), the Pachuca, the Pantsuit (Hillary!), the Shift Dress (Michelle O!) the Unibrow (Frida!) and, of course, PANTS. And so much more This book perfectly blends modern trends with older ones, and I learned a whole lot both about fashion and significant moments in the feminist movement.

Did I also mention the illustrations? They are beautiful, as is so often the case in books put out by Chronicle Books. They have whimsy and style and color. They perfectly capture each trend in full color in an affectionate way.

I thought this book did a great job of representing the diversity of the feminist movement and also some of the funnier or more wacky trends (e.g. Lady Gaga's meat dress), giving them extra thought and significance in our culture that I might never have considered.

Though I fully enjoyed this book in digital form, I have decided I need a physical copy of it for my bookshelf, so I will be purchasing it as soon as possible. I know it will be a popular coffee table/ living room addition to my library.

If you are a self-identified lady or a friend of ladies, or someone who just loves fashion, culture, politics, outright fun, please treat yourself to this book.

Five fashionable, flashing, feminist stars to Ann Shen for this delightful and colorful tribute to women and their warrior wares. Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the chance to read this wonderful book early!

Thank you to NetGalley for a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. This book will be a great coffee table and perfect for gift giving for those who love feminism, politics, and fashion. It shows the power of fashion and how it can communicate messages and agendas. Fashion is so much more than what we wear and it's apparent the author feels the exact same way! The illustrations are nicely done and I'm sure it's even better in a hard copy! 4/5 stars.

I had a lot of fun with this book, I'm not the biggest fashion person but this gave me a lot of interesting information about trends that have helped changed people's views and therefore society. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and I would love to hang some of them on may walls. I loved that the book included clothes from different cultures and backgrounds and that it includes people from LGTBQ+ communities. I would have preferred if the book followed a chronological timeline and didn't jump ahead and back constantly, regardless it's a book that I'd recommend if you have an interest in Women's History or fashion.



I read this book as a free ebook from NetGalley. Thank you to the publisher. All opinions are my own.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3478434391

I adored this book. It brings about how controversial yet iconic fashion can be. It is more a surface level discussion which I wish it went more in-depth.

really cute illustrations paired with iconic fashion moments from even more iconic and incredible women from throught time. I really appreciated this deep dive into these moments and fashion statements.

A fun and short book about the history of fashion. I enjoyed the wide spectrum of clothing and time periods.

Nevertheless, She Wore It by Ann Shen takes a look at 50 of the biggest fashion moments and staples in history. This book does an excellent job of showing how fashion plays such a pivotal role in history. This book is also so empowering to all female out there and highlights women of all shapes, orientation, styles, sizes, and colors. This book discusses fashion items such as the Gaulle adorned by Marie-Antoinette to the plunging green Versace dress worn by Jennifer Lopez at the 42nd Grammy Awards.

The illustrations done by Ann Shen are so whimsical and a great take on the real life fashion staples. I highly recommend this book to all the fashion and history lovers out there!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a girl who loves fashion, and has spent enough on magazines in her lifetime to have been able to afford a Channel suit, PLUS accessories, I knew I had to read this book. This book briefly touches on some of fashions iconic trends, moments in fashion history, and fashion events that changed the way we as women dress today.

From mini skirts, to pants, bloomers to short hair, there is history in here that perhaps a lot of us don’t know. Besides trying to break free from the patriarchal chains that bound us, there are also social and cultural histories here, like the durag, the pachuca, and the cheongsam to name a few. What’s the meaning behind red lipstick? Where did Coco Channel come up with her design for tweed? Did you know pants weren’t allowed on the floor of Congress until 1993???

There are also some style icons and how they changed the way we dress, Katherine Hepburn and pants, Audrey Hepburn and short hair, Michelle Obama and sleeveless shirts and dresses....the list goes on. The author also points out women who have protested by what they were wearing, like Lady Gaga and her famous meat dress, Serena Williams on the tennis court, and the Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad and her hijab to name a few.

We often think we are dressing for ourselves, but as the author points out, as long as our bodies are governed by others, the way we dress is a political statement, and women have used the opportunity for generations to make statements with their fashion.

The articles are accompanied by drawings of the fashions, and this is probably the one thing I would like to see different. I would have liked to have seen photos of the fashion in action so to speak. The suffragettes marching, the flappers on the dance floor, Josephine Baker in her Banana Skirt, RBG in her decent collar!

This would be a great book for anyone interested in fashion. I would also recommend this for teenaged girls finding their fashion sense...show them their history and how choosing that shade of lipstick or that length of skirt came from something.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is as pretty as it is informative! I loved the illustration style which is bright and colorful and simple, but not generic or Instagram-baiting.
And I genuinely learned some interesting things about fashion history that I hadn't known; both categorically about historic/cultural pieces and about specific pop-culture inundated outfits. Shen provides context for historically zeitgeist-y outfits that really makes them much more interesting than I had anticipated!

My thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the arc to review.

I am not someone very fashionable. It was so interesting to read about how fashion has impacted different areas of history and where it has impacted and who. Such a quick and beautifully illustrated read. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I LOVED this book. This book contained great content about social and political expression and empowerment of women through fashion, which I really appreciated. The sections were really well written and easily understandable. The graphics were purposefully chosen and follow the theme of the book well.

This is a great book for educating yourself on the how fashion reflects (and influences) history in a super enjoyable format. What I learned from this book changed how I view some trends, for example, looking at the bikini as a form of empowerment and self-love for your body.

My only piece of feedback is that I would have taken value in the fashion trends being organized by the date of emergence (like a timeline of fashion history), rather than alphabetically. This would have made the trends more cohesive for me.

Thank you Netgalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

This was a delightful book, and it's a great companion to Ann Shen's previous book "Bad Girls Throughout History". I loved learning about how fashion has been used as feminist statements as well as a forms of expression. It's the perfect length for an afternoon read when you want to learn about feminist history but don't have the attention span for a heavy book (perfect for the pandemic world that we are now living in). Fashion is a big part of a lot of people's lives. It was interesting to learn how fashion has been used to help and better the lives of women while also making them look and feel wonderful.

If you love fashion, this book is for you. If you're a feminist, this book is for you. If you love history, this book is for you. Quick summation - this book is for you!

"Nevertheless She Wore It: 50 Iconic Fashion Moments" starts off by explaining "Clothes can speak louder than words. This book details many fashion moments that became fashion statements." Through gorgeous illustrations and detailed essays, Shen walks the reader through everything from hairstyles (the Afro and the Bob) and outfits (the Annie Hall and the Pachuca) to accessories (the Black Beret and the Dissent Collar ) and other components of women's looks (the Breast Pump and the Unibrow), showing how each one expressed a message and defined the wearer at that time. Some entries are celebrity-based (the Meat Dress) while others are more universal (the Jeans) but they all have one thing in common - they changed the way women who wore them were viewed by the world.

Shen explains that "Whether we choose to stand out or stand together, caring about fashion is a way of reclaiming our power." Here's to strong women and the statements they make with the outfits they wear!

Wow wow wow. I am not the most "hip" on fashion but I do love some good pop-culture history. This book does a great job diving into the societal importance and impact of these styles and women who wore them. It was fascinating to see the statement behind many of these looks. On top of the great writing and well-researched content, the artwork was beautiful! - I wouldn't be mad to have a few of them as prints in my home.

This is a powerful book full of empowerment and feminism!

I'm not a big fan of fashion-- I love to read about the societal changes a piece of clothing brought into the game, or how the women from X country made X clothes theirs during certain time, though I'm not a huge fashionista. But this book is perfect for both fashionistas and behind-the-scenes readers of fashion-- even better if you're both!

We read and see (because it has beautiful drawings of every piece of clothing or looks that you read in the book) a lot of fashion, in the every sense of the word. You read about how a haircut changed the way black women saw themselves and their own no-white-washed beauty in the society, how wearing anything remotely "masculine" made men anxious and angry, and how Marsha P. Johnson made the flower crown her trademark and the meaning behind it.

I loved how the dates are mixed so we don't have a boring timeline, but at the same time it seemed kind of messy in a couple of parts, where the author mentioned a piece of clothing before she talked about it. For example, she's talking about shorts and she says something like "after the success of the miniskirts..." (don't quote me on that), and the miniskirts don't come until 20 pages after that. The same thing happened to me when reading about the pantsuits and the tuxedos.

But yeah, that's a little detail that don't really matter in the bigger picture. I loved to not only read about the clothes per se (the jeans, the "manly" clothes, the durag) but also about historical events, like Kiran Gandhi's 2015 marathon and her period, how the adelitas made the rebozos their trademark and the pink pussyhats regarding Tr*mp's misogynistic and horrible words.

Again, I think it's a great book both for fashionistas and every person that wants to know more about fashion in an historical and societal way.

Wow. Between the beautiful illustrations and the quick history of fashion statements throughout the years, this book was amazing. Perfect for a coffee table or your most fashionable of friends. I learned quite a bit about fashion statements and the amazing women and reasons behind them. My favorite will always be Princess Diana’s Revenge Dress.