Fashioning Fashion – European Dress in Detail 1700-1915

 

Fashioning Fashion – European Dress in Detail 1700-1915 – Sharon Sadako Takeda and Kaye Durland Spilker   (ISBN 9-783791-350622)

This book is a must for anyone interested in historical fashion, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s exhibition of the same name is well documented here in glorious detail. 

The abundance of photographs, many in extreme close-up, is just amazing!  Not only are some of  the beautiful embroideries and appliques shown in wonderful detail, but also the very fibres of the garment!

The chapters take us through a Timeline, showing us the changing shape of fashions for women and men, Textiles, Tailoring, and Trim, and explain why and how certain fashions came into being, whether it was practical,  political, economic, artistic, or just plain old one-upmanship!  

This book is informative, inspirational, and downright priceless!