Love, Loss, and What I Wore

On its surface this is a memoir of the author’s life told through the clothes she wore from childhood through mature adulthood. There’s a deeper story between the lines, of the mother she lost at puberty, of the father she never saw again after she went to live with her mother’s parents, of a rift with her grandfather who didn’t approve of her first marriage, of the child she lost due to acute illness, of the rift the child’s death created in her marriage. Sadness is tempered by relationships with her best friends and her obviously cherished granddaughter.

If you’ve thought about writing an autobiography for your children and grandchildren but struggled to get started, I think this is a great idea for a writing prompt. Most show more people, especially women, wear special clothes for significant events, and we often have photographs of ourselves at these events. Why not try telling your own story through the clothes you wore? show less

This was a short but enjoyable read. I loved the concept of author Ilene Beckerman describing her life through the outfits she wore from the 1940s through the 1990s. At first glance you could underestimate the content as just a few reminisces accompanying her color sketches of the clothing worn during that time period. But each page is poetry-like in its brief summary of a specific event in her life - she hints at so much more using just a few words. Most pages conveyed her naivete, sadness, yearning and other emotions - as the title implies, she experienced much "love and loss" in her lifetime.

While this was published in 1995, and covers the years from the 1940s through 1990s, this is a timeless commentary on culture from a women's show more point of view. show less

A life told with style. I remember a few outfits from my childhood--mainly because I only had a few--but Beckerman seems to have total recall of nearly every outfit she ever wore and the circumstances in which she wore them. This deceptively small book packs a big punch and brought tears to my eyes.

This inspired me to write down my own history of fashion and it turned out to be more interesting than I ever imagined, at least to me. Ilene Beckerman charted her own course of fashion over five decades and illustrated each pithy event with charming drawings. From rag curls to maternity wear, it will make you think about the events of your life and the influence of your own style. A quick read and much fun.

Yesterday I heard a speech by Delia Ephron. She and her late sister Nora wrote the play “Love, Loss and What I Wore” based on the book by Ilene Beckerman. In the evening, I saw the play and bought the book, which I read before going to sleep.
The book is Beckerman’s story of the clothes she wore during her life. The premise sounds like it might be very boring. The illustrations of all the clothes would never be featured in an ad for clothing. But there are many reasons to read the book and see the play. Basically, it’s a memoir of her life based on what she was wearing at the time.
Beckerman recalls the dresses her mother made her wear and the ones her mother made, partly because it was less expensive than buying ready-made show more clothing.. She remembers that soon after her mother died, her father took her shopping and bought her two expensive navy dresses because she couldn’t decide which she liked better. She recalls the dresses she borrowed from her two best friends and the ones she wore for special occasions, such as a weekend at a college. She talks about the way people reacted to some of her clothing choices.
For me, however, was the way the stories reminded me of some of the clothes I had worn, especially when I was growing up, like the poodle skirt I wore for a month in early 1955 because all my other skirts were plaid with pleated skirts that were hand-me-downs and totally out-of-style. I remembered the fourteen bouffant half slips I received later that year as confirmation presents, especially the stiff, nylon one. I wore all of them at once under very full skirts. I remembered the Capezio’s my mother wouldn’t let me get because they were too expensive, even though everyone else was wearing them. I remembered a summer dress mother made for me in 1958 because I loved the way it looked in a picture. Based on the play, I remembered my first bra, a hand-me-down from a cousin, and how proud I was about wearing it. I remembered all the outfits my former mother-in-law sent me. She worked at Nelly Don, a woman’s fashion house and sent a lot of great items. It’s too bad polyester went out of style.
While the story begins in the 1940s, the situations in LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE are familiar to most women. It was an interesting trip down memory lane.
If you have a chance to see the play, do so. With the Ephron sisters writing it, you can be sure it is smart and funny and timely show less

This is on the list in honor of National Fashion Month. Someone told me it really does exists (this fashion month), so I've added a bunch of books to the April List. Go Figure.
Anyway, back to Love, Loss, and What I Wore. What a freakin' cute book. At first I was a cynic and thought, geeze, if this is writing then anyone can do it! Basically Beckerman's book is small, 139 page, 50% illustrated, all about what she wore throughout major moments of her life. We're only talking about 65 pages of text which only took me 25 minutes to read (twice). But, in all actuality I loved it.

I'm not quite sure what I think of this little book. It was short, lovely, moving, made me smile several times and wonder several more. I would like to see the off-Broadway adaptation to fill in and flesh out more of the back story.