It doesn't matter how much it cost or which designer was involved — if you can't remember how an article of clothing makes you feel when you're wearing it, then it doesn't matter if it's Louis Vuitton or Forever 21.

That philosophy is at the heart of a new book by Charlotte Smith titled "Dreaming of Dior: Every Dress Tells a Story."

Six years ago, Smith, curator of the Fashion and Textile Gallery in Sydney, Australia, received the ultimate gift: A collection of more than 3,000 pieces of women's clothing dating from 1790 to 1995 complete with notes on the history of the items and the women who loved them. The collection, much of it donated, had been assembled over the course of a lifetime by Smith's American godmother, Doris Darnell, who, after she retired from her job as personnel director of the American Friends Service Committee, started a second career of sorts, staging fashion shows on cruise ships and at museums and college halls, donating her speaking fees to charity.

Smith, working with fashion illustrator Grant Cowan to capture poses that are appropriate to a garment's time period, has chronicled her godmother's collection in a picture book for grown-up girls.

Although the real-life articles of clothing are on display in her gallery, Smith, 49, says she opted for drawings in the book "because the stories behind the dresses are as much of a feature as the dresses themselves … [and] we felt a beautiful, romantic, evocative illustration would allow the reader to interpret the story personally."

While the names of the women wearing the dresses might not be recognizable, the 142 anecdotes in the book offer a glimpse into a history of various styles and customs that might otherwise have passed into obscurity. And despite the Dior reference in the title, not every item mentioned has a designer label — or at least Smith doesn't name-check them all.

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