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A review by maralyons
Strip Tees: A Memoir of Millennial Los Angeles by Kate Flannery
5.0
Wow, this was so good! Strip Tees is a compulsively readable memoir that reads like a novel. Kate Flannery has such a vibrant voice. She really brought me back to the early aughts, when American Apparel started gaining popularity. As I'm pretty close to the author's age, I could identify with her and the cultural touchstones she mentions. She moves to L.A. at 23 in search of adventure and a new career and is scouted by an American Apparel employee. Flannery immediately becomes enamored with the employees, the clothes, and the energetic company culture.
Flannery starts working at their retail store in Echo Park, but is quickly promoted to be a talent scout and travel. Though she loves the environment, aspects of it give her pause. The enigmatic CEO, Dov Charney, has relationships with multiple much younger female employees which seems to curry favor for their careers. Flannery illustrates so well the thought process so many of us elder Millennials had in our early 20s, women have agency and make their own choices, so is it predatory when they pursue or consent to a relationship with another adult, even if it's someone in power?
I found it fascinating to see how a charismatic leader with a specific vision could execute it and have such devoted followers. Charney sought out young female employees with little professional experience. As a young adult, how do you learn to navigate a career when you have such limited exposure to workplaces? How do you draw personal boundaries when morality seem so malleable by those around you? With the hallmarks of an abusive relationship, American Apparel effectively narrows her social sphere and traps her. An intriguing look into the dark world of an enigmatic clothing brand.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author. Flannery is an excellent narrator bringing life to her memoir.
Thank you Henry Holt & Co. / Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing this ebook / audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.
Flannery starts working at their retail store in Echo Park, but is quickly promoted to be a talent scout and travel. Though she loves the environment, aspects of it give her pause. The enigmatic CEO, Dov Charney, has relationships with multiple much younger female employees which seems to curry favor for their careers. Flannery illustrates so well the thought process so many of us elder Millennials had in our early 20s, women have agency and make their own choices, so is it predatory when they pursue or consent to a relationship with another adult, even if it's someone in power?
I found it fascinating to see how a charismatic leader with a specific vision could execute it and have such devoted followers. Charney sought out young female employees with little professional experience. As a young adult, how do you learn to navigate a career when you have such limited exposure to workplaces? How do you draw personal boundaries when morality seem so malleable by those around you? With the hallmarks of an abusive relationship, American Apparel effectively narrows her social sphere and traps her. An intriguing look into the dark world of an enigmatic clothing brand.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author. Flannery is an excellent narrator bringing life to her memoir.
Thank you Henry Holt & Co. / Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing this ebook / audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.