"[The authors] provide a visual snap shot of the courtly elegance and common wear the [medieval] period. Filled with hundreds of sketches taken from original sources, mechanical drawings, and detailed 'layer drawings' demonstrating how the clothing was worn, this entrée both introduces the period and helps newcomers find their way forward in the study of primary and secondary sources."--Back cover.

This captivating book reproduces arguably the most extraordinary primary source documents in fashion history. Providing a revealing window onto the Renaissance, they chronicle how style-conscious accountant Matthäus Schwarz and his son Veit Konrad experienced life through clothes, and climbed the social ladder through fastidious management of self-image. These bourgeois dandies' agenda resonates as powerfully today as it did in the sixteenth century: one has to dress to impress, and dress to impress they did. The Schwarzes recorded their sartorial triumphs as well as failures in life in a series of portraits by illuminists over 60 years, which have been comprehensively reproduced in full color for the first time. These exquisite illustrations are accompanied by the Schwarzes' fashion-focussed yet at times deeply personal captions, which render the pair the world's first fashion bloggers and pioneers of everyday portraiture. The First Book of Fashion demonstrates how dress – seemingly both ephemeral and trivial – is a potent tool in the right hands. Beyond this, it colorfully recaptures the experience of Renaissance life and reveals the importance of clothing to the aesthetics and every day culture of the period. Historians Ulinka Rublack's and Maria Hayward's insightful commentaries create an unparalleled portrait of sixteenth-century dress that is both strikingly modern and thorough in its description of a true Renaissance fashionista's wardrobe. This first English translation also includes a bespoke pattern by TONY award-winning costume designer and dress historian Jenny Tiramani, from which readers can recreate one of Schwarz's most elaborate and politically significant outfits.

Tracing the evolution of fashion-from the early draped fabrics of ancient times to the catwalk couture of today, Fashion: The Definitive History of Costume and Style is a stunningly illustrated guide to more than three thousand years of shifting trends and innovative developments in the world of clothing. With a wealth of breathtaking spreads-from ancient Egyptian dress to Space Age Fashion and Grunge-and information on icons like Marie Antoinette, Clara Bow, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Alexander McQueen, Fashion will captivate anyone interested in style-whether it's the fashion-mad teen in Tokyo, the wannabe designer in college, or the fashionista intrigued by the violent origins of the stiletto and the birth of bling.

You'll find answers to these questions in Fashion Through the Ages. This stylish oversized gift book includes twelve lavish full-color interactive spreads that present fashion's highlights. From the Roman Empire to the 1960s, each of the twelve spreads feature: -- A man, a woman, a boy, and a girl dressed in outfits of the era.-- Lift-up flaps revealing all the layers of clothing beneath (each with a tiny caption).-- A gatefold page with a historical overview and a fashion overview of the era.-- NMargin illustrations showing accessories, such as shoes, hats, hairstyles, and jewelry.Chock-full of fashion history and stunning costumes by an award winning illustrator, Fashion Through the Ages is a "must-have" for every budding trend setter.

Meticulously researched text and nearly 700 illustrations depict wide range of apparel -- from fur-trimmed cloaks and brocaded robes worn by courtiers and the nobility to simpler mantles, tunics, gowns, and more.

Reproduced directly from a rare nineteenth-century publication, these splendid engravings serve as a guide to more than four centuries of high fashion. Full-length portraits of impeccably dressed men and women reveal what the style-conscious were wearing from the late fifteenth century to the mid 1800s. Fur-trimmed robes, brocaded gowns, and beautifully embroidered apparel are on display in adaptations of portraits by Dürer, Titian, Holbein, Rubens, van Dyck. and other celebrated artists. Included are handsome representations of Tudor monarchs, the Doge of Venice, a noble lady of Antwerp, as well as members of the elite — and lower classes — in Poland, Spain, Persia, Turkey, India, China, and other Asian and European countries. A valuable sourcebook for commercial artists, designers, and crafters, this collection will also serve as a handy reference for students of fashion history.

This lively survey of 150 years of fashion covers everything from Haute Couture to the High Street, and developing fabric technology from silk to fleece. From Coco Chanel to Armani and Alexander McQueen, Breward explores fashion as a cultural phenomenon. Breward examines the glamorous world of Vogue and advertising, the relationship between fashion and film, and fashion as a business, and goes beyond the surface to consider our interaction with fashion. How have our ideas about hygiene and comfort influenced the direction of style? How does our dress create our identity and status? Details of dandies, flappers, and punks are contained within a clear overview of the period which will make you look at your clothes in a different light.

A compendium of intrigue, lore, who's who and what's what of fashion.

This exciting book explores fashion not simply from an aesthetic point of view but also as a manifestation of social and cultural change. Focusing on fashion from 1850, noted fashion historians Daniel James Cole and Nancy Deihl consider the evolution of womenswear, menswear, and childrenswear, decade by decade. The book looks at the dissemination of style and the mechanisms of change, at the relationship between fashion and the visual, applied, and performing arts, the intertwined relationship between fashion and popular culture, the impact of new materials and technology, and the growing globalization of style. With photographs of costume from museums and images from the fashion press including editorial photography, illustrations, and advertising, the book will include insights into icons of fashion and the clothes worn by “real people”, providing a valuable visual reference for the reader.

A law professor and cultural critic offers an eye-opening exploration of the laws of fashion throughout history, from the middle ages to the present day, examining the canons, mores and customs of clothing rules that we often take for granted