"Fashion" Book Review

There are few things I love more than walking into a museum and admiring well-crafted, unique clothing from past years.  However, it doesn't get to happen very often because of my location in southern Missouri.

That's why when I was given this book as a gift, I was elated!  It's like having the huge clothing collection from the Kyoto Costume Institute right in my hands, available for me to peruse and reference any time I want!

Truly, I sat for a couple hours straight and looked through every single page.  It begins with clothing from the 1700s and ends in the year 2000, spanning the gamut from panniers and hoopskirts to Chanel and modern rubber band dresses.  There are a few pages of menswear as well, but the book is largely focused on women's wear.  It's a comprehensive overview of Western female fashion throughout the centuries, and it is over 650 pages of delectable fashion eye candy!

And you know what else is great?  It not only has pictures of garments, but it has full-out, styled ensembles that include jewelry, fans, shoes, etc.  It gives a great idea of actual outfits instead of seeing isolated pieces.  The book also highlights undergarments!  Corsets, bustles, all sorts of things!

I also appreciate that the book is not simply a picture book.  It has captions for each of the photos naming designers, years, collections, etc. and also includes photographs/paintings from the era that illustrate real people wearing the fashion styles pictured.  There are also 1-5 page information sections that pop up between fashion periods that describe influences on the fashion of the day, including sections like "The Influence of haute couture" and "The Shift from Rococo to Revolution."  I really enjoyed these sections because it brought more meaning to the following ensembles pictured in the following pages.  I understand better why natural motifs were so popular in Revolution-era French fashions, or the influence of Japanese art on early 1900s styles.  I'm not just looking at pictures of pretty clothes; I'm looking at significant pieces of history that had a context, a purpose, and a reason for being.

This book is must-have for vintage and historical fashion lovers.  Besides being full of good historical information, I personally use it for a lot of my own wardrobe inspiration.  It's a fabulous reference for creating accurate historical and vintage clothing, and it also gives great inspiration and ideas for fabric choices, embellishments, accessories, and styling for ensembles based on decades past.  The pictures and descriptions  of undergarments is also hugely helpful in understanding how clothing is constructed and how a silhouette is created.

I think the only thing I was disappointed with in this book is not really the book's fault.  After looking at decadent and incredibly crafted  pieces from the 1700s, 1800s, and early 1900s, the later modern pieces seemed an anticlimactic end to an incredible fashion saga.  A white, sheer, 90s slip dress compared to a natural form ball gown?  It's a bit of disappointment.  Thus, I suggest that if you read this book you go from back to front and end on a high note!

As this somewhat gushing post has expressed, I highly recommend this book for vintage and historical enthusiasts, anyone looking for fashion inspiration, sewing fans, and pretty much anyone that finds older fashion trends even remotely interesting.  But be careful when you start reading; you may be sucked in for a couple hours!

It may be a bit of a pricey buy if you get the book new (which makes sense because it's a hardcover book full of hundreds of full page color photos!), but you can find cheaper used ones in other places.  Here's a link to the Amazon page you can find lots of options on.

There are also a couple other versions of the book that are out (one is a two-book, 25 year anniversary set), but after looking at a couple previews of others, I don't think they have exactly the same content as this one.  However, if it has similar content and layout, it could easily be worth the money!

For an update on my Knit for Victory cardigan project, check out the Knit for Victory Flickr group (my username is emileighmimim)!

I did not collaborate with the author or publisher of this book for this post.  All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own!