Synopsis
Rachelle Bergstein brings readers along on a unique and delightful romp through the history of shoes, the women who wear them, and the profound impact they have on our lives.
Women from the Ankle Down includes interviews and cameos with influential figures ranging from Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava to Oscar Award–winning costume designer Patrizia van Brandenstein, from Doc Martens historian Martin Roach to Fashion Institute of Technology museum director Valerie Steele; from Marilyn Monroe and Jane Fonda to Salvador Ferragamo and Christian Dior; from Judy Garland to Wonder Woman.
About Rachelle Bergstein
See more books from this AuthorAn illuminating study of the history of women's shoes in the 20th century.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle Down | See more reviews from KirkusThe temptation of the exquisite shoe, Ms. Bergstein shows, is as irresistible as it is irrational: to stand apart from everyone else, as soon as your toes hit the ground.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle Down | See more reviews from NY Times...is most enjoyable when the author stops straining to write an authoritative social history and just indulges her inner shoe nut.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle Down | See more reviews from WSJ onlineIt ranges from Judy Garland's ruby slippers to Princess Diana's Jimmy Choo shoes, to Christian Louboutin's red-soled stilettos, towering in height and cost.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle DownBut Bergstein spends too much time rehashing the pricey-pump-as-girl-power argument familiar to even casual consumers of recent pop culture.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle DownBut Women From the Ankle Down freshens up the genre with its chatty yet authoritative tone.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle DownBergstein tracks the birth of the stiletto in the early 1950s, the popularity of Vans and Chuck Taylors in the late 1980s, Mary Janes in the 1990s.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle DownBergstein explores what shoes—in real life and in popular culture—have to say about status, sexuality, values and aspirations.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle DownIf you enjoy fashion, Sex and the City or simply love shoes, then you will get a kick out of Rachelle Bergstein’s fun, breezy new book...
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle DownWomen From the Ankle Down is a fun way to look at modern womanhood, even if the author reaches a bit the closer she gets to modern America.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle DownAll in all, an interesting and enjoyable book, if not too deep into history.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle DownWomen From the Ankle Down is a great starting point for anyone who wants to know a little bit more about what adorns her feet.
Read Full Review of Women from the Ankle DownAn aggregated and normalized score based on 76 user ratings from iDreamBooks & iTunes