Clothes define people. A person’s attire, whether it’s a sari, kimono, or business suit, is an essential code to his or her culture, class, personality, even faith. Founded in 1978, the Kyoto Costume Institute recognizes the importance of understanding clothes from sociological, historical, and artistic perspectives. With one of the world’s most extensive clothing collections, the KCI has amassed a wide range of historical garments, underwear, shoes, and fashion accessories dating from the 18th century to the present day.Showcasing the Institute’s vast collection, Fashion History is a fascinating excursion through the last three centuries of clothing trends. Featuring impeccable photography of clothing expertly displayed and arranged on custom-made mannequins, it is a testimony to attire as “an essential manifestation of our very being” and to the Institute's passion for fashion as a complex and intricate art form.The book's authors include some of the smartest minds and sharpest eyes in fashion studies: Akiko Fukai (Chief Curator of The Kyoto Costume Institute), Tamami Suoh (Curator of The Kyoto Costume Institute), Miki Iwagami (Lecturer of fashion history at Sugino Fa... [Read More]

From the Dutch Golden Age to Saint Laurent: four centuries of costume from the unrivaled collection of the RijksmuseumThis richly illustrated book presents 80 exceptional garments from the Rijksmuseum’s substantial costume collection, the oldest in the Netherlands. From the clothes of the Frisian branch of the Orange dynasty in the Dutch Golden Age, through dresses of colorful French silk and glittering velvet men’s suits from the 18th century to the classic empire of the fin de siècle to 20th-century haute couture by Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.This selection highlights the international character of Dutch fashion throughout the centuries, while simultaneously illustrating the developments that took place within the country itself. Experts in the field of costume and fashion tell the stories of the costumes and the people that wore them.Edited by Bianca du Mortier, Costume Curator at the Rijksmuseum, with many details of fabrics and focusing on a variety of materials and techniques, this gorgeous book provides an ample source of both information and inspiration.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute exhibition is the most spectacular event of its kind. With subjects that both reflect the zeitgeist and contribute to its creation, each exhibi­tion—from 2005’s Chanel, to 2011’s Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty and 2013’s Punk—creates a provocative and engaging narrative attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. The show’s opening-night gala, produced in collaboration with Vogue magazine and attended by the likes of Beyoncé, George Clooney, and Hillary Clinton, is regularly referred to as the Party of the Year.Covering the Costume Institute’s history and highlighting exhibitions of the 21st century curated by Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton, this book offers insider access of the first order. Anchored by photo­graphs from the exhibitions themselves in tandem with the Vogue fashion shoots they inspired, it also includes images of exhibited objects and party photos from the galas. Drawn from the extensive Vogue archives, the featured stories showcase the photographs of icons such as Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel, and Craig McDean; the vision of legendary Vogue editors like Grace Coddington... [Read More]

An unprecedented look behind the scenes of two of New York's premier cultural events, THE FIRST MONDAY IN MAY follows the creation of "China: Through The Looking Glass," the most attended fashion exhibition in the history of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the 2015 Met Gala, the star-studded fundraiser. Follow Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine and Met Gala chair, and Andrew Bolton, the curator who conceived the groundbreaking show, as they prepare for an unforgettable evening.

For thousands of women across America, hard hit when the frivolity of the twenties ended so resoundingly with the Crash of '29, the pages of the Sears catalog became an essential resource in maintaining a wardrobe. An ambitious marketing operation, it could not afford to take chances on haute couture; its fashions were geared as closely as possible to the prevailing tastes of the American people. For this historically accurate sampling of authentic 1930s fashion, Stella Blum, former Curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, selected for reproduction 133 representative pages from rare Sears catalogs of the period (fall and spring catalog for each year from 1930 to 1939). Hundreds of illustrations record what men, women, and children were actually wearing in the 1930s when, as a copyline from the Fall 1930 catalog proclaimed: "Thrift is the spirit of the day. Reckless spending is a thing of the past."You'll see here how simpler women's fashion designs — of more traditional, affordable material — recaptured the feminine form with a more natural waistline and lower hemlines than seen in the twenties. For evening wear, longer dresses replaced fl... [Read More]

Survey of Historic Costume, 6th Edition, is the best-selling introduction to Western dress from the ancient world through the twenty-first century. Each chapter presents social, cross-cultural, environmental, geographic, and artistic influences on clothing. With visuals, illustrated tables, and in-depth discussions, readers come to recognize recurring themes and concepts and understand the role of dress from a diverse, global perspective. The new edition features more than 1,000 full-color photographs and illustrations, a new feature that examines global dress, and a fully updated chapter on the twenty-first century. New Student Resources~ Survey of Historic Costume STUDIO features digital study tools such as visual flashcards, self-quizzes, videos, and assignments and activities and includes a free Student Study Guide eBook to help students master concepts and improve grades.New to this Edition~ Chapter Timelines present an overview and images of historic events in each chapter focusing on fashion and textiles, politics and conflicts, decorative and fine arts, economics and trade, technology, and religion~ New Global Connections boxed highlights dress and textiles from around the ... [Read More]

As the practice of fashion curation extends into commercial galleries, public and retail spaces, and even to the individual self, professional concepts of 'curating' are undergoing rapid change. Today, everyone is seemingly able to 'curate', but where does this leave the traditional understanding of curation as clothing collected and displayed in a museum? This thought-provoking volume explores the practice of fashion curating in the 21st century, bridging the gap between methods of display and notions of 'the curatorial' in fashion exhibitions, commercial settings, and the virtual world.From fashion's earliest forays into the museum to creative collaborations between luxury fashion brands and artists, this book challenges understandings of fashion curation by drawing on the palpably new spaces, places, and actors in today's curating scene. Exploring poetic and performative museum displays in venues such as the V&A, Somerset House, MoMu and the Royal Ontario Museum, alongside the ways that brands such as Dior, Chanel and Louis Vuitton have made use of 'the curatorial' in their own commercial strategies, Fashion Curating asks pressing questions about controversial funding and collab... [Read More]

The clothes we wear tell stories about us—and are often imbued with cultural meanings specific to our ethnic heritage. This concise A-to-Z encyclopedia explores 150 different and distinct items of ethnic dress, their history, and their cultural significance within the United States.The clothing artifacts documented here have been or are now regularly worn by Americans as everyday clothing, fashion, ethnic or religious identifiers, or style statements. They embody the cultural history of the United States and its peoples, from Native Americans, white Anglo colonists, and forcibly relocated black slaves to the influx of immigrants from around the world. Entries consider