The Collars of RBG: A Portrait of Justice by Elinor Carucci and Sara Bader (Clarkson Potter Publishers, November 2023) is a lovely coffee table book celebrating the unique personality and strong political influence of Ruth Bader Ginsburg with detailed photographs of her legendary collars.
The text of the book highlights the origin of each collar (when known) as well as the meaning behind it for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, such as when she wore it in order to make her trademark statements about the decisions of the Supreme Court. Some of the informational pages for the collars also has a photo from Ginsburg’s life, either featuring a time she wore the collar, or another significant time in her life, such as a family or personal photo. Each collar has an overview photo as well as detail photos to highlight the unique and gorgeous features. In between the instructional pages and the photographical pages are pages with a quote from Ginsburg in the center, some of which feature an all-black background to match the black background of the collar photographs.
I read a digital review copy of this book and so I did not get the full impact of the gorgeous contrast between the white and bright collars and the black backgrounds. Yet even without the physical copy and the double-page spread layout, I could feel the gravity as well as significance of this book and can imagine the heft it would add to a coffee table as a discussion starter or simply as an artistic book to browse. It’s gorgeous as well as highly relevant for anyone who admires RBG and would like a lasting physical memorial for display and to read to remember her life and legacy.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance review copy of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
