DRESSING THE PART: Television’s Most Stylish Shows

Hal Rubenstein

HarperCollins Publishers, London, UK

Year 2023

Pages 305

This is a lush, full colour, illustrated guide to the most influential fashion on television from the 1950s to today, revealing the surprising ways our favorite shows have significantly reflected and often shaped the way we dress. No other medium has shaped our lives as thoroughly and consistently as television. Our most popular and lasting fashion trends and hallmarks of personal style haven’t come from runways or magazines, but from what’s on TV. For decades television has served as a personal stylist, showing us how others dress and defining what we should be wearing. In this gorgeous compendium, the author identifies the most stylish television shows of the past 70 years, highlighting the ways they have affected and often inspired ordinary Americans’ wardrobes. Combining his decades of fashion expertise and insider knowledge with lush photographs, archival sketches, fascinating interviews with over two dozen of television’s best costume designers, commentary from showrunners and co-stars, and little-known backstories, the author reveals with insight and wit how television has shaped everyday fashion, guiding and often elevating how we dress.