Review; Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl's Love Letter to the Power of Fashion by Tanisha C. Ford

Last year I was fortunate enough to recieve an ARC of the non-fiction book Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl's Love Letter to the Power of Fashion by Tanisha C. Ford through Netgalley. I read it shortly afterwards, but I haven't published my review until now.

Description from Goodreads
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.

My Thoughts on the Book
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.

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