The Hundred Dresses: The Most Iconic Styles of Our Time

Like any 100-best list, a book of iconic dresses invites potential quibbles with its selection criteria. Yet McKean and illustrator Mehalko have created a book so charming that any critic is completely disarmed. One of the dresses has to be the infamous curtain dress worn by Scarlett O’Hara, but McKean insightfully notes that “[t]he defining characteristic of the Scarlett O’Hara is not the fabric of the dress but the determination of the wearer.” Mehalko’s illustrations, which have an equal partnership with the text, evoke the whimsy of a Cher headdress that reminds us of the Oscar moment without being too specific. McKean defines some clear categories: single-moment dresses (The Mondrian, The J-Lo), universal dress shapes (The Sack, the Baby Doll Dress, dress “types”), and fashion moments that have become categories: “The Dorothy Dress is any dress in which you find yourself having an unexpected adventure.” “The Pretty Woman dress is any dress that serves both to hide one’s origins and to bring out some essential truth of character.” In all its delightful chattiness, the book has something intelligent to say about fashion as representation and nostalgia. As McKean writes: “You can use this book … to help you decide what stories you want to embody…” 4-color illus. throughout. Agent: Lisa Bankoff, ICM. (June)