This carefully researched volume offers lovers of both costume and the medieval period a meticulously researched and accurately detailed study of the clothing of the Middle Ages. Following an illuminating discussion of the style and construction of costumes worn in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, noted costume historian Mary G. Houston provides detailed descriptions and illustrations of actual apparel worn by all classes and sectors of society. Included are elaborate royal, academic, and legal costumes; Eucharistic vestments and garments of religious orders; working class apparel; civilian dress; and more. Also examined is a wide variety of accessories and ornaments, jewelry, armor, textiles, embroidery, coiffures, and other items.The clear, succinct text is splendidly documented by 350 black-and-white line illustrations based on contemporary books and manuscripts as well as representations in paintings and sculpture. Indispensable for students of costume history, medievalists, illustrators, and fashion historians, Medieval Costume in England and France will delight anyone interested in the medieval period and its dress.

In the period between 500 and 1500 CE, dress and textiles varied greatly from one part of the world to another, from one region to another, even from one village to another. In many parts of the world, costume was regulated by law or decree. In the medieval period, fashion varied from the practical and threadbare to the rich and luxurious—with little in between.Specific coverage includes the rise of technology and trade, church and state, lords and ladies, working people, keeping warm, dressing for war, courtly fashion, freemen and merchants, palaces and popes, armor and heraldry, imperial China, and a brief look at other societies of the time.

What People Wore When combines the studies of two classic nineteenth-century illustrators Auguste Racinet and Friedrich Hottenroth for the first time. Their works are presented first by chronology and then by subject, so that illustrators, historians, and students alike can choose to follow the path of fashion through the centuries, or study in detail the contrasting styles of individual clothing and accessories. Silhouettes reveal the shape of style through the ages, detailed cross-references draw attention to recurring motifs, and navigation bars help the researcher to travel the complex chronology of costume.With authoritative narrative from leading experts in the history of costume, extraordinary contemporary quotes that reveal the impact of style in its day, detailed annotation, and an extensive glossary, the book provides a magnificent study of the rich vocabulary of style through the ages.

From headdresses to sandals, from warrior's armor to priestess's robes, the authentic costumes of people from all walks of life in the Roman and Greek civilizations are here pictured comprehensively and clearly. Three hundred finely drawn, detailed engravings (containing over 700 illustrations) show just what was worn by the poets, philosophers, priests and priestesses, peasants, Bacchanalians, emperors, generals, Amazons, and virgins of a bygone age.Carefully copied from ancient vases and statuary by Thomas Hope (1770–1831), a British collector and designer, these engravings combine an unusual clarity of style with unquestioned authenticity. Their range, too, is unusually great, for besides the many plates on the costumes of the Greeks and Romans, there are representative illustrations of the typical dress of such other civilizations as the Phrygian, Egyptian, Parthian, Etruscan, and Persian.In addition, scores of engravings are devoted to such now-forgotten objects as ancient musical instruments (the lyre, double flute, pipes of Pan, etc.), Bacchanalian implements, articles of furniture, women's trinkets and jewelry, sarcophagi, altars, and other adjuncts to ancient life.Such c... [Read More]

Brooches, rings, buckles, pendants, buttons, purses and other accessories were part of everyday dress in the middle ages. Over two thousand such items dating from the period 1150-1450 are described and discussed here, all found in recent archaeological excavations in London - then as now one of western Europe's most cosmopolitan cities, its social and economic activity compounded by the waterside bustle of the Thames. These finds constitute the most extensive and varied group of such accessories yet recovered in Britain, and their close dating and the scientific analysis carried out on them have been highly revealing. Important results published here for the first time show, for example, the popularity of shoddy, mass-produced items in base metals during the high middle ages and enable researchers to identify the varied products of rival traditions of manufacture mentioned in historical sources. Anyone needing accurate information on period costume will welcome this book, which will appeal to the general reader interested in costume and design, as well as to archaeologists and historians. THE AUTHORS are members of staff of the Museum of London.

This coloring book panorama of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century French fashions offers a fascinating survey of the changes in clothing style worn during and after the Revolution, and of clothing of the Napoleonic era in general.Forty-five plates of detailed, accurate illustrations include representative of claw-hammer frock, coats and vests for the well-dressed man, loose pantaloons and shorter skirts for the working classes, high-waisted promenade gowns for fashionable ladies, the coronation gown worn by Empress Josephine of France, and other examples of period dress. Footwear, walking sticks, reticules (purses), top hats, turbans, a "poke" bonnet, and dozens of other period accessories are included, along with hairdos for men and women.A highly informative Introduction and detailed captions complete this new addition to Dover's popular coloring book series on the history of costume.

"The definitive guide to the history of western costume."―Antiques Info Here, in more than one thousand full-color illustrations, is the history of Western fashion, from ancient Egypt to twentieth-century Paris. John Peacock’s meticulous drawings are organized in chronological sections and accompanied by detailed descriptions of each figure, including the individual items of costume shown and the many types of fabric, cut, pattern, and color that have been used over the centuries. This unrivaled reference work on how people have dressed in the western world throughout history includes an illustrated glossary with additional information on technical terms. 1000+ color illustrations

From the humble garb of peasants to the elaborate styles of the nobility, this meticulously researched coloring book offers expertly rendered illustrations of medieval costumes. Both colorists and fashion devotees will adore these lovingly detailed images of lords and ladies decked in regal attire, pilgrims dressed for weeks of rough riding, crusader knights in chain mail armor, and much more.European fashions from the ninth through the fifteenth century appear in this comprehensive fashion retrospective. Forty-five ready-to-color illustrations portray people from every class of society, from farmers in plain tunics, aprons, and kirtles to courtiers in embroidered mantles and brocaded silk robes with fur-trimmed sleeves.Complete, fact-filled captions, in addition to an informative introduction, help make this volume an excellent resource for fashion historians and costume designers as well as a distinctive and entertaining coloring book.

Volume 2 from a set of 3 large volumes. This is a fabulous book, elegantly printed, large format (Size: 8.50” x 11”) containing hundreds upon hundreds of photos in color, and rare/vintage illustrations, sketches, maps and pictures. The author who is an internationally respected scholar and linguist, discusses all the aspects and facets of the history, culture and arts of Armenia from 7,000 B.C. to the present day, such as: Armenia archaic art, iconography, metallurgy, weaponry, architecture, invention, astronomy, art of war, religion, paintings, frescoes, calligraphy, dress-making, the Katchars, the Kingdom of Urartu, the Kingdom of Cilicia, and HOW THE ARMENIANS CREATED THE FIRST civilization on Earth, and brought it to Mesopotamia.This volume contains:Armenian dress-makingThe trousseau as tradition and a status symbolFearing for their lives, Anatolian Christians had to dress like non-Armenians and non- Christians!.Armenian women’s dresses (Moda) throughout the agesThe costumes of Armenian womenDid the Muslim Persians, Turks and Arabs influence women clothing style and the art of dress-making in Armenia, and Christian Asia Minor?Women covering their faces with a veil long ti... [Read More]

The fourth volume of this landmark series features a special focus on headdress, with papers analysing women's turbans in fifteenth-century French manuscript paintings; the changing meaning of the term cuff; the spread of wimple from England to Southern Italy; and a surviving embroidered linen cap attributed to Saint Birgitta of Sweden. Northern European dress and textiles are further explored in papers on archaeological textiles from medieval towns in Finland, Norway, and Sweden; the construction of gowns excavated at Herjolfsnes, Greenland; and references to scarlet clothing in Icelandic sagas. Other papers focus on linen production in medieval Russia and an enigmatic quilt of Henry VIII's that almost certainly arrived in England as part of the dowry of Catherine of Aragon. Also included are reviews of recent books on clothing and textiles. ROBIN NETHERTON is a professional editor and a researcher/lecturer on the interpretation of medieval European dress; GALE R. OWEN-CROCKER is Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at the University of Manchester. Contributors: MARK CHAMBERS, CAMILLA LUISE DAHL, LISA EVANS, JOHN BLOCK FRIEDMAN, LENA HAMMARLUND, HEINI KIRJAVAINEN, ALEXANDRA M. LESTER,... [Read More]

Tracing the evolution of fashion--from the early draped fabrics of ancient times to the catwalk couture of today--a stunning guide illustrates more than 3,000 years of shifting trends and innovative developments in the world of

From the momentous invention of the needle some 40,000 years ago to the development of blue denim, this classic guide covers the landmarks of costume history, the forms and materials used through the ages, as well as the ways in which clothes have been used to protect, to express identity, and to attract or influence others. For the fifth edition, Amy de la Haye, former Curator of Twentieth-Century Dress at the Victoria and Albert Museum, has revised the final chapter and included a new section addressing the fashion industry in the twenty-first century. She discusses the expansion of the Asian

Take an excursion through the last three centuries of trend. This spectacular collection from the Kyoto Costume Institute, one of the world's most extensive clothing collections, features the outerwear, underwear, footwear, and accessories that have defined self across time and