Friday, September 30, 2011

Book Review- Fashion in Detail

One word; stunning. This book's images literally left me breathless. For the costume historian there is a wealth of highly-detailed imagery of pleats, embroidery, buttons, spangles, lace, and whole items like gloves, stomachers, and vests. If the book has a fault, in fact, it is that there are too few photos of the whole garments from which these close-ups are taken, but the reader is given line-drawings to compare.

For those more interested in techniques, prepare to drool. There is a wealth of information here about stitching techniques, seam placement, boning, quilting, cording, slashing, pinking, stamping, knitting, blackwork, and more.

Woman's smock, English 1620s-1630s
Clearly I cannot fail to recommend "Historical Fashion in Detail: The 17th and 18th Centuries" to all lovers of historical costume as well as decorative techniques, and should you doubt my reasons for enthusiasm here are a few more photos just to tantalize you.

Stomachers, early 1700s
Detail of glove beading, Engish 1603-1625

No comments:

Post a Comment

For Your Chateau

  With another successful Fetes Galante complete at the Chateau de Versailles, I thought we'd have a Versailles-themed FYC. Enjoy this d...