Fashion is ephemeral. It is the flavor of the day, and useful for refueling your style inspiration when you feel you’ve run out of gas. Fashion is easy to apply because it’s all surface.
Style on the other hand, is an effective way to carve out your individuality. Style is content. A person with true style is displaying a fertile and thinking mind.
– Isabel Toledo, American fashion designer.
This quote is from Ms. Toledo’s autobiography, Roots of Style: Weaving Together Life, Love, and Fashion (Celebra, 2012). I enjoyed her story starting out in Cuba and moving to America with her family when she was young enough to see it as a big adventure. I also appreciate her positive attitude and of course her amazing talent, which began with desire to see how machines work and soon shifted to how clothing is constructed.
A unique voice in fashion, Ms. Toledo started out in the 1980s and is one of the few who has remained independent, not selling out to big corporations. She gave up Fashion Week back in the 90s, seeing where it was headed. Her husband Ruben (they met in high school) is a fashion illustrator and her business partner. His illustrations are throughout the book helping to expand the narrative. Love his style … hers too.
Great book! Read it!
Looks interesting. I am going to find this book. Thanks!
I got the book at the library and I am really enjoying it. Thank you for the recommendation!
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