My Mother S Wedding Dress

Beginning with the story of her mother's wedding dress, a perfect black French cocktail dress bought in 1960, writer and former Vogue editor Justine Picardie affirms what all of us may have suspected: that the real value of our wardrobes lies in the history and associations woven into our clothes. Combining tales of her own family and friends, intimate stories from the fashion business, and reflections on clothes in literature and pop culture, Picardie uncovers the truths that lie underneath what we wear. She reflects on the strange disappearance of garments we love; the allure of uniforms; the house that Chanel built; the bridal and ghostly qualities of women in white; the fate of a ring belonging to Charlotte Brontë; the power of scarlet clothing; how Donatella Versace, Karl Lagerfeld, and Claude Montana dress themselves; and how the clothes we inherit from loved ones link us to the departed. Rich with fascinating stories from the public and private worlds of fashion, My Mother's Wedding Dress is a gorgeously written book about what clothes cover up, and what they reveal. Justine Picardie is a journalist, novelist, and editor who lives in London. She is the author of If the Spirit Moves You: Life and Love After Death and the novel Wish I May, and the cowriter or editor of several other books. She was formerly the features editor of British Vogue and editor of the Observer magazine.

Never mind the Real Housewives of Orange County—Marla Jo Fisher is the woman everyone can relate to, complete with bad parenting, rotten dogs, ill health, and fashion faux pas. For nearly two decades, in the Orange County Register and many syndicated papers, readers have delighted in Marla Jo’s subversive humor, cranky intellect, and huge heart on her journey through broke, single, after-40 motherhood, when she adopted Cheetah Boy and Curly Girl, to her oddball adventures around the globe, to the sublime ridiculousness of life next door. Even while facing a devastating diagnosis, Fisher teaches us that humor is the balm that eases and the very thing that binds us together.

In a poignant memoir of the mother-daughter relationship, a woman who has seen three daughters marry shares her insights into the entire bittersweet process, from engagement rings to "here comes the bride." Reprint.

Meeting Dr. Roele van Dyke was a blessing for Emma Dawson. He always seemed to go out of his way to make her happy, and she couldn't imagine life without him…. When the time came for Roele to return to Amsterdam permanently, he knew he couldn't leave Emma behind. So he offered her a job at his surgery. Emma was in love and simply couldn't refuse. But did Roele want Emma to be his secretary or his wife?

Justine Picardie tells a sequence of stories that reveal the fabric of the past, and how a family has fashioned itself through the clothes that they have worn: from her mother's black wedding dress to her first party frock.

“Exactly the type of book I love: charming, smart, and brimming with heart.”—EMILY GIFFIN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of All We Ever Wanted “Fast paced and entertaining from beginning to end.”—KRISTIN HANNAH, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale Two years after Grace Kelly’s royal wedding, her iconic dress is still all the rage in Paris—and one replica, and the secrets it carries, will inspire three generations of women to forge their own paths in life and in love. Paris, 1958: Rose, a seamstress at a fashionable atelier, has been entrusted with sewing a Grace Kelly—look-alike gown for a wealthy bride-to-be. But when, against better judgment, she finds herself falling in love with the bride’s handsome brother, Rose must make an impossible choice, one that could put all she’s worked for at risk: love, security and of course, the dress. Sixty years later, tech CEO Rachel, who goes by the childhood nickname “Rocky,” has inherited the dress for her upcoming wedding in New York City. But there’s just one problem: Rocky doesn’t want to wear it. A family heirloom dating back to the 1950s, the dress just isn’t her. Rocky knows this admission will break her mother Joan’s heart. But what she doesn’t know is why Joan insists on the dress—or the heartbreaking secret that changed her mother’s life decades before, as she herself prepared to wear it. As the lives of these three women come together in surprising ways, the revelation of the dress’s history collides with long-buried family heartaches. And in the lead-up to Rocky’s wedding, they’ll have to confront the past before they can embrace the beautiful possibilities of the future. *Don't miss The Liz Taylor Ring, Brenda Janowitz's next novel. Available now!

In the tradition of beloved anthologies of women's essay writing, this collection offers twenty-six true stories from well-known writers and fresh new literary voices writing about a touchstone garment in a women’s lives--the wedding dress. These are intimate stories about relationships; not just those between men and women, but between women and their mothers, friends and children. And, of course, with their wedding attire – a relationship that is sometimes simple, sometimes complex, but always fascinating in what it tells us about individual lives and aspirations. Some of the tales are humorous – the bride whose skin turns fuchsia on her wedding night or the woman whose shopping-savvy aunt takes her to New York’s garment district. Some are romantic – the woman who puts on her dress eight years after her wedding only to be caught by her husband when he comes home early from work or the quickie immigration wedding that turned into the real thing. Some are devastating – the bride who loses her mother to illness only days before her wedding or the woman whose mother tells of being kidnapped by her future husband. And some are revealing – the woman who wears her first wedding dress for her initiation ceremony into a convent and her second to marry her beloved; the dress that waited patiently in a shop window and then hidden in a box on a closet shelf; the same-sex wedding at age eighty; the thrift shop wedding dress that gets used for everything but a wedding. All are honest, personal and profoundly moving. “Something Old” looks at how traditions like honouring one’s ancestors affected wedding dress choices, from a grandmother’s gift to a father’s old leather jacket, but also at how such traditions can play a role in ways you least expect. The pieces in “Something New” focus on dreams for the future, whether that means breaking away from the expectations of one’s family or choosing/creating a wedding dress (and a future) on your own. In “Something Borrowed,” writers tell of all the reasons behind borrowing (or trying to borrow!) dresses, for whatever reason, and “Something Blue . . . Or Peach . . . Or Striped . . . Or Floral . . .” looks at exactly that–the non-traditional choices women have made, and why. These stories run the gamut of experiences connected to the iconic dress and day. If we work away at the seams, even the simplest of wedding outfits reveals all manner of memories and meanings. And whether you’ve ever worn a wedding dress or not, the stories in this collection will have you looking with new eyes on your own life, and exploring what the words “wedding dress” mean to you. Contributors: Joanne Arnott Anita Rau Badami Adwoa Badoe Amy Cameron Stevie Cameron Sandra Campbell Anne Laurel Carter Lorna Crozier Rebecca Cunningham Laurie Elmquist Alisa Gordaneer Jessica Ruth Harris Kathleen Boyle Hatcher Rosemary Hood Michele Landsberg Mary T. Malone Jenny Manzer Ami McKay Jane Munro Margaret Goudie Parsons Gianna Patriarca Elyse Pomeranz Edeet Ravel Kerri Sakamoto Ilana Stanger-Ross Darla Tenold Susan Whelehan Jamie Zeppa

A memoir in essays that expands on the viral sensation “The Crane Wife” with a frank and funny look at love, intimacy, and self in the twenty-first century. From friends and lovers to blood family and chosen family, this “elegant masterpiece” (Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Hunger) asks what more expansive definitions of love might offer ​us all. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: TIME, THE GUARDIAN, GARDEN & GUN "Hauser builds their life's inventory out of deconstructed personal narratives, resulting in a reading experience that's rich like a complicated dessert—not for wolfing down but for savoring in small bites." —The New York Times “Clever, heartfelt, and wrenching.” —Time “Brilliant.” —Oprah Daily Ten days after calling off their wedding, CJ Hauser went on an expedition to Texas to study the whooping crane. After a week wading through the gulf, they realized they'd almost signed up to live someone else's life. What if you released yourself from traditional narratives of happiness? What if you looked for ways to leave room for the unexpected? In Hauser’s case, this meant dissecting pop culture touchstone, from The Philadelphia Story to The X Files, to learn how not to lose yourself in a relationship. They attended a robot convention, contemplated grief at John Belushi’s gravesite, and officiated a wedding. Most importantly, they mapped the difference between the stories we’re asked to hold versus those we choose to carry. Told with the late-night barstool directness of your wisest, most bighearted friend, The Crane Wife is a book for everyone whose path doesn't look the way they thought it would; for everyone learning to find joy in the not-knowing and to build a new sort of life story, a new sort of family, a new sort of home to live in.