An irresistible look into more than 300 years of fashion through an exquisite collection of designer dresses What woman can resist imagining herself in a beautiful designer dress? Here, for the first time ever, are 100 fabulous gowns from the permanent collection of the renowned Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, each of which is a reminder of the ways fashion reflects the broader culture that created it.Featuring designs by Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel, Madame Grès, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, and many others, this one-of-a-kind collection presents a stunning variety of garments. Ranging from the buttoned-up gowns of the late 17th century to the cutting-edge designs of the early 21st, the dresses reflect the sensibilities and excesses of each era while providing a vivid picture of how styles have changed—sometimes radically—over the years. A late 1600s wool dress with a surprising splash of silver thread; a large-bustled red satin dress from the 1800s; a short, shimmery 1920s dancing dress; a glamorous 1950s cocktail dress; and a 1960s minidress—each tells a story about its period and serves as a testament... [Read More]

Over time and across cultures, extraordinary manipulations of the body have occurred in a continuing evolution of the concept of beauty. Fashion can be seen as the practice of some of the most extreme strategies to conform to shifting concepts of the physical ideal. Various zones of the body - the neck, the shoulders, the bust, the waist, the hips, and the feet - have been constricted, padded, truncated, or extended through subtle visual adjustments of proportion, less subtle prosthesis, and, often, deliberate physical deformation.This book shows that an undeniable if uncanny beauty abides in the bundled cylindricality of geisha tottering on raised geta, or clogs; the tea-tray supporting bustle of an 1880s French visiting dress; the double-door expanse of eighteenth-century panniered court gowns; the bound feet and caged nails of aristocratic Manchu women; the neck-extending chokers of the Masai, of Edwardian beauties, and John Galliano's designs for Dior; or the waist suppression of the sixteenth-century iron corsets and the cinches of early nineteenth-century dandies. The photographs of fashion are augmented by paintings, prints, and drawings and include caricatures by Gilray, Cr... [Read More]

An exclusive look at one hundred fabulous shoes from the renowned Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art A hundred pairs of shoes, from the 16th to the 21st century, paint a vivid picture of how shoe styles have changed—sometimes radically—over the years. They also reveal how some trends have reappeared throughout the ages. For instance, platform shoes were worn by fashionable Venetian women from the 15th to the 17th century and by Manchu Chinese women in the 1800s. In the late 1930s, Salvatore Ferragamo introduced a modern version of the platform shoe, and updated versions appeared in the 1970s and 1990s. Beautifully designed and produced, this brilliant follow-up to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 100 Dresses presents examples of fashionable footwear in a range of styles, from flats to stilettos and everything in between. Among them are shoes designed by Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin, Roger Vivier, and Vivienne Westwood. Images of the shoes are accompanied by informative text and enhanced by works of art, contemporary photos, and portraits of designers. Sure to spark the imaginations of anyone interested in fashion and design, 100... [Read More]

Language:Chinese.Paperback. Pub Date: 2010 09 Pages: 232 in Publisher: Yale University Press What woman can resist. Imagining herself in a beautiful designer dressHere. for the first time ever. are 100 fabulous gowns from the permanent collection of the renowned Costume Institute at of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. each of which is a reminder of the ways fashion reflectsthe oader culture that created it. Featuring designs by Paul Poiret. Coco Chanel. Madame Grs. Yves Saint Laurent. Gianni Versace. Vivienne Westwood. Alexander McQueen. and many others . this one-of-a-kind collectionpresents astunning variety of garments. Ranging from the buttoned-up gowns of the late 17th century to the cutting-edge designs of the early 21st. the dresses reflect the sensibilities and excesses of each era while providing a vivid picture of how styles have changed-sometimes radically-over the...