- 320 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
“Tracy Tynan uses the universal medium of clothing to tell the highly specific story of her bohemian British upbringing, and she does so with wit, candor, and yes—style” (Lena Dunham).
Tracy Peacock Tynan grew up in London in the 1950’s and 60s, privy to her parents’ glamorous parties and famous friends—Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, and Orson Welles. Cecil Beaton and Katharine Hepburn were her godparents. These stylish showbiz people were role models for Tracy, who became a clotheshorse at a young age.
Tracy’s father, Kenneth Tynan, was a powerful theater critic and writer for the Evening Standard, The Observer, and The New Yorker. Her mother was Elaine Dundy, a successful novelist and biographer, whose works have recently been revived by The New York Review of Books. Both of Tracy’s parents, particularly her father, were known as much for what they wore as what they wrote.
In her “moving, candid, and often hilarious” memoir (Wall Street Journal), Tracy recalls her father’s dandy attire and her mother’s Pucci dresses, as well as her parents’ rancorous marriage and divorce, her father’s prodigious talents and celebrity lifestyle, and her mother’s lifelong struggle with addiction. She tackles issues big and small—relationships, marriage, children, stepchildren, blended families, her parent’s decline and deaths, and her work as a costume designer—with humor, insight, and with the special joy that can only come from finding the perfect outfit. “A powerful concoction of famous names, famous fashions, and famous psychiatric disorders…Wear and Tear is just the thing for a weekend in the Hamptons” (New York Post).
Tracy Peacock Tynan grew up in London in the 1950’s and 60s, privy to her parents’ glamorous parties and famous friends—Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, and Orson Welles. Cecil Beaton and Katharine Hepburn were her godparents. These stylish showbiz people were role models for Tracy, who became a clotheshorse at a young age.
Tracy’s father, Kenneth Tynan, was a powerful theater critic and writer for the Evening Standard, The Observer, and The New Yorker. Her mother was Elaine Dundy, a successful novelist and biographer, whose works have recently been revived by The New York Review of Books. Both of Tracy’s parents, particularly her father, were known as much for what they wore as what they wrote.
In her “moving, candid, and often hilarious” memoir (Wall Street Journal), Tracy recalls her father’s dandy attire and her mother’s Pucci dresses, as well as her parents’ rancorous marriage and divorce, her father’s prodigious talents and celebrity lifestyle, and her mother’s lifelong struggle with addiction. She tackles issues big and small—relationships, marriage, children, stepchildren, blended families, her parent’s decline and deaths, and her work as a costume designer—with humor, insight, and with the special joy that can only come from finding the perfect outfit. “A powerful concoction of famous names, famous fashions, and famous psychiatric disorders…Wear and Tear is just the thing for a weekend in the Hamptons” (New York Post).
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Yes, you can access Wear and Tear by Tracy Tynan in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Social Science Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Introduction: Why Clothing?
- Chapter 1: The Lemon-Yellow Underpants
- Chapter 2: My Mother’s Fur Coat
- Chapter 3: The Pearl Necklace
- Chapter 4: The Pale Blue Chemise
- Chapter 5: School Uniforms:Purple, Blue, and None
- Chapter 6: The Brown Wellington Boots
- Chapter 7: Bikinis and Water Skis
- Chapter 8: The Apple-Green Shoes
- Chapter 9: The White Cotton Circle-Stitched Torpedo Bra
- Chapter 10: White Jeans and White Denim Jacket
- Chapter 11: My Mother’s Pucci Dress
- Chapter 12: The Gold Flapper Dress
- Chapter 13: The Silver Chain and the Poncho
- Chapter 14: Sexcapades and the Plaid Pinafores
- Chapter 15: Twenty-One in Ossie Clark
- Chapter 16: The One-Size-Fits-All Clothing That Fits in a Bag
- Chapter 17: Pierrot
- Chapter 18: The Brown Fedora and the Gold Lamé Jeans
- Chapter 19: The Leisure Suit and “Guayabera” Years
- Chapter 20: Black Is Black: Memorials 1, 2, and 3
- Chapter 21: The Diaries and the Gold Watch
- Chapter 22: The “Chitenge”
- Chapter 23: The T-shirt Wedding Dress
- Chapter 24: Breathless Beginnings: The Shirt-jac
- Chapter 25: Freebies, ’50s Glamour, and Funky Smells
- Chapter 26: The Maroon Plaid Dress
- Chapter 27: It Helps to Be Married to the Costume Designer: The Crepe de Chine Wedding Dress
- Chapter 28: “Great Balls of Fire!” The Faux-Leopard-Trim Suit
- Chapter 29: The Pink Knitted Cap
- Chapter 30: The Striped Silk Socks
- Chapter 31: The Pink Quartz Heart
- Chapter 32: The Muji T-shirt
- Chapter 33: The Ultimate Blended Family: More Wedding Attire
- Chapter 34: The Black Trench Coat
- Chapter 35: Glamour Togs
- Chapter 36: Comfort with Style
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Copyright