Taschen Fashion History books mini-review
cycjec
a great store even better and larger) I got the 2 vol. Fashion:
A History from the 18th Century to the 20th Century [sic; the
second volume covers the 20th Century from 1900 through the 1900s.]
for about $20 USD with tax. That's 2 volumes, 300 to 350 pages
each with color illustrations on almost every page, in a box.
Published by Taschen. I can look for the ISBN if anyone
really needs it. The costumes illustrated are from the
collections of the Kyoto Costume Institute; the subject is
fashions prevalent in Europe/UK/USA, with some interesting
instances of Japanese influence.
The 19th c. coverage is especially interesting bc various
"ordinary" outfits are illustrated, as well as numerous costumes
by "name" designers. It's interesting to see that NYC had
establishments much like those on the the Upper East Side;
there's several 1880s outfits that are exaggerated examples of
then current trends.
Many of the illustration are of contemporary art; Monet, Ingres
etc. with photos of garments much like those in the paintings.
There's a one-volume book that costs a bit more, and has
a few additional costumes (that I noticed in the 19th period)
The second volume IMO deteriorates after c. 1965, with
items that aren't really clothes as I understand them, but
which admittedly were covered in the fashion press at that
time, but there's not much that would be of use to someone
who needed to find out what ppl actually wore in those years.
This is a failing of many costume history books. I'