"Alix St. Pierre. An unforgettable name for an unforgettable woman. She grew up surrounded by Hollywood glamor, but, as an orphan, never truly felt part of that world. In 1943, with WWII raging and men headed overseas to fight, she lands a publicity job to recruit women into the workforce. Her skills--persuasion, daring, quick-witted under pressure--catch the attention of the U.S. government and she finds herself with an even bigger assignment: sent...

"As a young working-class German immigrant, Levi Strauss left his family's dry goods business in New York City to journey out west for the California Gold Rush. Only Levi wasn't looking for gold--he wanted to provide the miners with sturdy clothes to wear while they worked in the dusty river beds. His solution? Blue jeans--pants made of strong denim fabric--which have become one of the most beloved and fashionable clothing items in the world"--

Miss Cleopatra Lewis is about to be launched in society by her aristocratic grandfather. But since she has no intention of marrying, she visits a costume emporium specifically to order unflattering dresses guaranteed to put off any prospective suitors. Jacob Astor Addison is in London, acquiring businesses to add to his theatrical holdings in America--as well as buying an emerald for a young lady back in Boston. He's furious when a she-devil masquerading...

In 1847 an eighteen-year-old immigrant arrived in New York. He had little in his pockets and no knowledge of English. However, by 1874, people throughout the United States knew him as the man who made blue jeans with copper rivets. Even now Levi Strauss's name lives on as a mark of quality and style. In Mr. Blue Jeans, Maryann N. Weidt presents the history of this hardworking man, as he struggles through long, grueling days as a peddler and challenging...

"Everything--from societal changes to the progress (or lack thereof) of women's rights to the hidden motivations behind what we choose to wear to align ourselves with a particular social group--can be tracked through clothing. Veronique Hyland examines thought-provoking questions such as: Why has the "French girl" persisted as our most undying archetype? What does "dressing for yourself" really mean for a woman? How should a female politician dress?...

'Given the way we live now,' writes Robyn Annear, 'it would be easy to suppose that newness has always been venerated.' But as this wonderfully entertaining short history makes clear, modern consumerism is an aberration. Mostly, everyday objects-from cast-off cookware to clothing worn down to rags-have enjoyed long lives and the appreciation of serial owners. Nothing New is itself an emporium: a treasure store of anecdotes and little-known facts that...

"In 2005, the author appeared on PBS's Antiques Roadshow with her great-great-grandmother's needlework that was appraised as "a national treasure." This experience of a lifetime led her to ask herself "So who was Jane Dickson LaFramboise anyway?" Here, on the pages of this little book, she documents her search to answer her own question." [The item is referred to as a blanket or dance blanket.] -- Page [4] cover.