The Prince and the Dressmaker

Art: Delightful. The dresses full of detail, color, and imagination. The Prince: Adorable. Anxious. Hearts in the right place, he just has to listen to it and get there. The Dressmaker: Sweet. Fierce. Creative. Love her standing up for herself, other young women, and living her dream. The story is a roller coaster of family drama, fashion, and finding yourself during turn of the century France. The time period is important as so far as there are royals, the fashion sense, and the opening of the first department store. Only two points detract from the loveliness of The Prince and The Dressmaker and they are both admittedly on the nitpickey side. The awesome and adorable climax just…a tad unbelievable given the constraints, measurements, and timing. And it’s never explicit said that The Prince is gender fluid. That’s what it sounds and feels like from his dialogue and actions, but I can’t help but wish something more concrete language was used. I’m all for representation, but you can’t make it wishy-washy maybe-so. Of course, I could just be hypersensitive given the numerous fails of other media. Like it’s perfect but my mind won’t let the devil in the details go. After the totes adorbs happily ever after, there’s about 12-15 pages of behind the scenes drawings and information that is fascinating. I love that kind of information!

It was well told, and everything was great. The characters were personal and expressive and human, and I would have loved to see more of this story, even if by the end there didn't seem to be any left to tell. I have rarely seen stuff of this sort be told in a book, and that it was told so well, and with so much empathy for the people involved and their individual beings and needs is nothing short of commendable. It was lovely. I saw myself in these kids, and that spoke most to me as rarely do I get to see these parts of myself at all. It was real and lovely and it can help people understand those things of being for which there are not words. If we had a thousand books as good as this, the world would be definitively and forever a better thing. It's great that we have, at very least, this one.

When I first heard of this book, I knew I had to read it first chance I got. I've never pre-ordered a book in my entire life. And it was worth it... This is the kind of story I wish I could've read as a kid. 5/5 And oh God, those dresses were gorgeous!!! 😍😍😍