From sneakers to leather jackets, a bold, witty, and deeply personal
dive into Black America's closet In this highly engaging book,
fashionista and pop culture expert Tanisha C. Ford investigates Afros
and dashikis, go-go boots and hotpants of the sixties, hip hop's
baggy jeans and bamboo earrings, and the #BlackLivesMatter-inspired
hoodies of today.
The history of these
garments is deeply intertwined with Ford’s story as a black girl
coming of age in a Midwestern rust belt city. She experimented with
the Jheri curl; discovered how wearing the wrong color tennis shoes
at the roller rink during the drug and gang wars of the 1980s could
get you beaten; and rocked oversized, brightly colored jeans and
Timberlands at an elite boarding school where the white upper crust
wore conservative wool shift dresses.
Dressed in Dreams
is a story of desire, access, conformity, and black innovation that
explains things like the importance of knockoff culture; the role of
“ghetto fabulous” full-length furs and colorful leather in the
1990s; how black girls make magic out of a dollar store t-shirt,
rhinestones, and airbrushed paint; and black parents' emphasis on
dressing nice. Ford talks about the pain of seeing black style
appropriated by the mainstream fashion industry and fashion’s
power, especially in middle America. In this richly evocative
narrative, she shares her lifelong fashion revolution—from figuring
out her own personal style to discovering what makes Midwestern
fashion a real thing too.