Few books of costume design will prove more useful to artists, students, stage designers, and scholars than this volume. Presenting detailed drawings in a continuous chronological format, it provides a history of costume design through the ages, from the first century A.D. to 1930.Culled from sculpture, lithographs, paintings, illuminated manuscripts, engravings, caricatures, fashion plates, photographs, and magazines, these illustrations have been carefully redrawn to bring out essential lines as well as all the details. Men, women, and children are shown in authentic dress, in characteristic period postures, and coiffed in contemporary hairstyles — even their gestures and bearing offer the reader insight into the attitudes and manners of their times. Due to the acceleration of change in styles, the book moves from single pages representing entire centuries to one-page-per-year depictions of fashion development. In all, more than 1,400 illustrations chronicle the full sweep of two millennia of Western garb, from Roman noble to Victorian dandy, from Elizabethan lady to Jazz Age schoolboy — all in easily accessible form.Painstakingly researched and meticulously detailed, this bo... [Read More]

This profusely illustrated study focuses on more than 500 years of clothing styles worn by people of the Americas — from animal hides in the 9th century to suits for both sexes in the mid-20th century. A brief, introductory chapter describes and depicts the everyday wear of Vikings, Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, and principal North American Indian tribes. Subsequent sections are devoted to the many and varied costumes of the Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, German, and Scandinavians who came after them. Military uniforms from the 16th to the mid-20th century are also portrayed, and civilian dress for men, women and children is reviewed during the same five centuries.

In this beautifully illustrated book, Victoria L. Rovine explores the revival of a traditional African textiles known variously as bogolanfini, bogolan, or mudcloth. Over the last decade, artists of the West African nation of Mali have adapted this cloth, featuring black- or brown-and-white geometric patterns, to create a variety of new wares, including intricately detailed paintings, elaborate high-fashion clothing, and a wide range of other products aimed at both domestic and foreign consumers.

Arranged by region of the world, illustrates contemporary native folk costume, from the complex embroidery found on Scandinavian decorative dresses to the various styles of face veils worn by Middle Eastern women

For centuries, the ruling dynasties of India promoted the skills of spinners, weavers, dyers, printers and embroiderers, commissioning textiles from renowned centres of excellence across the subcontinent. Delicate muslins from Dacca, fine silk brocades from Varanasi, complex woollen weaves from Kashmir, intricate gold embroideries from Lahore - all were transformed into costumes fit for kings and courtiers. After years spent searching for the last surviving examples of traditional court clothing, designer Ritu Kumar has uncovered a wealth of costumes. Her book is a celebration of thousands of years of craft tradition and a testimony to the survival of the world's richest textile repertoire.

The chief nurse of the Union Hospital in Washington, D.C., describes life and stress in the hospital and comments on notable persons of power. Her heretofore unpublished diary and letters comprise a fresh, hightly significan document concerning the medical history of the Civil War and the contributions of women nurses in the Northern military hospitals.

"The book is an invaluable guide to all things fashion." — Collectors' CornerSpanning nearly 5,000 years of clothing styles, this splendid sourcebook presents a fascinating panorama of wearing apparel, beginning with the ancient Egyptians and continuing through the early decades of the twentieth century.Over 1,800 drawings — meticulously researched and accurately rendered by the author — depict garments ranging from diaphanous gowns of Egyptian royalty, ornate robes of Byzantine dignitaries, and elegant dresses worn by eighteenth-century Parisians, to picturesque outfits of American frontiersmen and the revolutionary 1930s wardrobe of the American flapper.Here also are informal portraits of Byzantine commoners and religious figures, Elizabethans in lace collars and ruffs, upper-class Venetians, English dandies, and French gentlemen of the mid-eighteenth century as well as detailed illustrations of nineteenth-century New York farmers, western fur trappers, cowboys, mountain men, and lumberjacks, Klondike prospectors, Mississippi rivermen, and many more. A brief historical survey precedes the chronologically grouped illustrations of each period, and an overall list supplies the... [Read More]

Luxurious, beautiful, and portable, tapestry was the pre-eminent art form of the Tudor court. Henry VIII amassed an unrivaled collection over the course of his reign, and the author weaves the history of this magnificent collection into the life of its owner with an engaging narrative style. Now largely dispersed or destroyed, Henry’s extensive inventory is here reassembled and reveals how, through tapestry, Henry identified himself with historic, religious, and mythological figures, putting England in dialogue―and competition―with the leading courts of Early Modern Europe while promoting his own religious and political agendas at home. Campbell’s original account sheds new light on Tudor political and artistic culture and the court’s response to Renaissance aesthetic ideals. Sumptuously illustrated with newly commissioned photographs, this stunning re-creation of Europe’s greatest tapestry collection challenges the predominantly text-driven histories of the period and offers a fascinating new perspective on the life of Henry VIII.

Foreword by Dr. Joyce F. Brown, president of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) In 1977 Judith Ripka launched her first 18-karat gold collection. With her organic eye ... Using only the finest diamonds, colored precious gemstones, and pearls, Judith Ripka Companies, Inc., has evolved into a megamillion-dollar business with ... Oprah is a fan, so is Hillary Clinton, and it's rare not to spot a Ripka piece at a red-carpet ...