While the story of women's liberation has often been framed by the growing acceptance of pants over the twentieth century, the most important and influential female fashions of the era featured skirts. Suffragists and soldiers marched in skirts; the heroines of the Civil Rights Movement took a stand in skirts. Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe revolutionized modern art and Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes in skirts. When NASA put a man on the moon, "the computer wore a skirt," in the words of one of those 'computers', mathematician Katherine G. Johnson. As women made strides towards equality in the voting booth, the workforce, and the world at large, their wardrobes evolved with them. They did not need to 'wear the pants' to be powerful or progressive; the dress itself became modern as designers like Mariano Fortuny, Coco Chanel, Jean Patou, and Diane von Furstenberg redefined femininity for a new era. Skirts looks at the history of twentieth-century womenswear through the lens of game-changing styles like the Little Black Dress and the Bar Suit, as well as more obscure innovations like the Taxi dress or the Popover dress, which came with a matching potholder. These influential garments illuminate the times in which they were first worn - and the women who wore them - while continuing to shape contemporary fashion and even opening the door for a genderfluid future of skirts. At once an authoritative work of history and a delightfully entertaining romp through decades of fashion, Skirts charts the changing fortunes, freedoms, and aspirations of women themselves.

The Way We Wed: A History of Wedding Fashion presents styles and stories from the Renaissance to the present day, chronicling evolving fashions as well as changing customs, lifestyles, and values. And because all wedding attire has a tale to tell, The Way We Wed also reveals fascinating personal stories of those who wore it. While the book is a visually and thematically rich source of bridal inspiration for all seasons, it's far from a monotonous parade of white gowns. The long white wedding dress is a relatively recent innovation popularized by Queen Victoria; it has traditionally been reserved for the upper classes, and abandoned in times of war, economic hardship, or mourning. The Way We Wed showcases wedding gowns of all colors and styles from around the world, as well as going-away dresses, accessories (shoes, veils, hats, fans, and tiaras), and clothes worn by flower girls, bridesmaids, mothers of the bride, and grooms. Same-sex weddings are represented, and the book features celebrity brides (Angelina Jolie, Frida Kahlo, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Diana, Martha Washington, Solange Knowles, Ellen DeGeneres, Meghan Markle) as well as everyday anonymous couples. Illustrated with 100 gorgeous photos, The Way We Wed is a rich celebration of the art of wedding fashion across time and cultures, and those whose style and circumstances made a statement.