History

Originally published in 1932, this is part of the Artistic Crafts Series of Technical Handbooks. Contains many period photographs and illustrations. Contents Include: Prehistoric Dress Female and Male The Development of Costume to the Tenth Century Female and Male Tenth to the Fifteenth Century Male and Female Fifteenth Century Male and Female Sixteenth Century Character of Trimmings The Character of Trimmings Through the Seventeenth Century The Character of Decoration and Trimmings of the Eighteenth Century Character of Trimmings of the Nineteenth Century Patterns of Various Reigns from Antique Costume Patterns to Scale Detailed List

Fashion in the 1940s divides into two parts: pre and post New Look. The first period was dominated by World War II, when rationing affected the design of clothes for men and women. In 1947 Christian Dior's New Look brought a romantic revival: narrow, rounded shoulders, lightly padded hips and voluminous, billowing skirts introduced a new era of feminity and extravagence. This book is part of a series charting the development of women's and men's clothing from 1900 onwards. It includes complete descriptions of each garment and accessories, itemizing colour, cut, necklines, lapels, sleeves, pockets, fastenings, buttons and belts. The year-by-year format progresses through day wear, evening wear, sportswear, leisurewear, underwear, negligee and wedding wear. The text is accompanied by costume drawings by John Peacock, and includes a chart summarizing the evolution of fashion, garment shapes, and biographies of the outstanding designers of the decade.

Following the format of "The Art Book", this volume looks at the fashion world and the people who created and inspired it. The book contains an A-Z guide to the 500 most important names in fashion since the 1860s, including clothes and accessory designers, photographers, models and iconic individuals who instigated or symbolize a fashion movement. Designers represented include Paul Poiret, Christian Dior, Balenciaga, John Galliano, Coco Chanel, Pierre Balmain, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Jeanne Lanvin and Issey Miyake. The book provides a survey of fashion photography with work from Cecil Beaton, David Bailey, Guy Bourdin, Irving Penn, Steven Meisel, Nan Goldin, Eve Arnold, Craig McDean, Richard Avedon and Helmut Newton. The book is arranged alphabetically, and a cross-reference system and glossary explain collaborations and techniques used in fashion.

James Abbe, a 1920s fashion photographer, and Zoran, the designer whose simple, monochromatic clothes were extremely popular in the 1970s, anchor the 500 entries in this massive encyclopedia of fashion. Each designer, photographer, model, or icon gets a page with a large photo and informative but short caption. This has the wonderful effect of weighting each entry equally, thereby devoting the same amount of space to Charles Revson, creator of the Revlon cosmetics empire and relative makeup newcomer François Nars, pioneering clothing designer Mariano Fortuny and contemporary favorite Tom Ford.

Clearly, a good set of eyes edited this book. It's a tall order to choose just one image to define the many facets of a designer, model, or photographer. The choices made here are excellent and often surprising. The indomitable Coco Chanel demonstrates the ease of movement her designs afforded women by briskly swinging her arm out to one side, while Kate Moss is shown at the height of her waifdom, likely the mode in which she will best be remembered. Model Linda Evangelista is pictured with curly locks of hair. It's obvious, too, that the editors employed the haphazard juxtaposition created by the alphabetical organization. Facing entries, no matter how seemingly incongruous, are united by a visual theme, to spectacular effect. The ovals made by the either screaming or yawning mouths of Kurt Cobain and his infant daughter are mirrored in a 1937 Jean Cocteau illustration of an Elsa Schiaparelli design. A model in a 1930s outfit by John-Frederics faces a portrait of post-punk design queen Betsey Johnson, whose floral outfit echoes the flowery silhouette behind the model. A troika of Robert Lee Morris bracelets matches the arcs of a bombed-out London building in a 1941 Beaton photo of a Digby Morton design. The vibrant prints of Emilio Pucci and Lilly Pulitzer fall together naturally.

The reams of fabulous images and the inventive design alone make The Fashion Book a treat at any cost, but the low price-to-size ratio (like its cousins The Art Book and The Photography Book) makes it a real steal.

A superb reference book and an ideal instructional textbook for classroom use, this beautifully illustrated guide is organized into units that reflect required courses at leading design colleges. Twenty step-by-step exercises cover methods of finding inspiration, developing observation techniques, and creating fashion drawings in both color and black-and-white media. Separate sections are devoted to getting started and understanding figure proportions, planning and designing garments, and creating and assessing flat specification drawings. The book also features cross-references to its various art instruction techniques, a designer's glossary, and a helpful index. This book guides students through their first steps in fashion illustration, covering everything that is presented in the best college-level courses. It makes a fine starting point for all students of fashion, introducing them to fashion drawing as a first step toward a career as a creative costumier. More than 250 illustrations in color and black and white.