The Way She Looks Tonight: Five Women of Style

Pauline Carey is the author of Magic and What’s in a Name?

This book consists of brief biographies of five women who had a passion
for self-decoration. Three were married to political figures: Eugénie
Bonaparte was the wife of the French Emperor Louis Napoléon and shared
his exile in England after he was deposed; the Duchess of Windsor shared
her husband’s exile after he had renounced his throne in order to
marry her; and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was thrust into widowhood when
her husband was killed in Dallas. Two were actresses: Elinor Glyn was
also a writer of sensational novels who in her 50s worked in silent
movies as a scriptwriter and producer; Marlene Dietrich acted in the
talkies but retreated into self-absorption at the end of her life.

All five were leaders of style who were also possessed of iron
determination, ferocious discipline, and a meticulous attention to
detail. In a man, these qualities could make for a political leader.
Constrained by their times, these women found other ways to lead.
Marlene almost single-handedly put women in trousers; Jacqueline
introduced simplicity of style to the American public; Eugénie made the
crinoline the rage of Europe (her collaboration with Charles Worth
turned him into the first modern-day couturier).

Marian Fowler clearly lays out the historical context in which each
woman made the choices she did. What is every bit as intriguing is what
each woman revealed about herself through her clothes. Marlene in her
masculine trousers, Wallis with her cold jewels, Jacqueline in her
brightly colored suits that attracted attention but revealed nothing,
Elinor with her tiger skins and veils of mystery, Eugénie in the
crinolines that allowed her legs an unprecedented but hidden freedom of
movement—Fowler suggests that these images strongly reflect the
personality within the clothes.