3 comments about Shopping Bag Secrets: The Most Irresistible Bags from the World's Most Unique Stores (Universe of Fashion).

1. I received this book as a gift from a friend and liked it so much I ordered it as a gift for my close friend, who is going to read it after finishing her studies for the law bar exam. We both love to collect shopping bags, especially on vacations as a way to remember the trip.



2. I'm an avid bag collector, and while I was hoping for more information about the bags themselves, this book is an incredible resource of some of the best places in the world to shop. I can't afford most of the things in these shops, but looking is always free!



3. I'm an avid bag collector, and while I was hoping for more information about the bags themselves, this book is an incredible resource of some of the best places in the world to shop. I can't afford most of the things in these shops, but looking is always free!

5 comments about A Dedicated Follower of Fashion.

1. I ordered the books for my boss, so I didn't actually read it. I did however meet the author!



2. Brubach's reporting on fashion is cultural as well as critical, making it some of the most intriguing writing in either the New Yorker, Atlantic, or New York Times in the last decade or more. This elegantly designed but engrossingly readable book is witty, scholarly and insightful, but still the best reason for buying this book is that it's a grand read if if you don't care about fashion as a daily fan. Like all additions to a home library, this illuminates a world from an intelligent, learned perspective. It will become a classic collection of essays.



3. Brubach does little to convince me that fashion is not, in fact, shallow and dismissable. She comes close to an epiphany of meaning in an essay about the French and the social reading of personal appearance, then loses her ground totally in an article about large size fashions, exposing her own biases without self-awareness. I only struggled my way through this because I'd both looked forward to it based on advance press (fished in!) and spent good money on it. I don't think I'll keep it; off to Half-Price Books for Holly.



4. Reader beware: if you buy this book expecting to find a fun, entertaining read about clothes, you'll be disappointed. However, if what you want is a book that provides insight into how fashion is a business, and the factors that influence the success of that business, then this may be the book for you. Another caution: although the print date is listed as 1999, the articles and examples were written much earlier.



5. Holly Brubach writes with intelligence and wit about a subject that most people dismiss. She understands the thoughtful, artistic aspect of fashion design as well as its more ludicrous side. Designers themselves should be happy with her writing because she takes them seriously, distinguishing art from hype. But it seems that some of them have banned her from their shows for not regurgitating their self-valuations. Brubach's writing compares very favorably to current art criticism and social commentary. But the best thing of all is that she is funny and entertaining, and you don't need to be a fashion insider to enjoy this book.

3 comments about Mardi Gras Treasures: Costume Designs of the Golden Age.

1. I DESIGN MARDI GRAS COSTUMES. THIS BOOK HAS BEEN EVERY USEFUL FOR IDEAS



2. If you wish to view the real New Orleans carnival celebration, take a look through this window opened by its legendary artist/historian, Henri Schindler. Schindler is a local icon, the touchstone of this unique cultural expression. Students of cultural and social history as well as art lovers and designers will share delight in Schindler's masterful recreation, through well-researched and entertaining text and beautiful color plates, of the "golden age" of the celebration--an oeuvre to which Schindler adds annually through his own designs for several of the old-line carnival organizations, thus keeping alive the artistic and cultural tradition of which he writes in this and his previous books. The reader comes to know, through the insights of a true "insider", the meaning and spirit of the "real" Carnival.



3. This book is exquisite.
   In New Orleans, Mardi Gras as practiced by the faithfull is the high holy event of the year. Mr. Schindler has documented the aesthetic traditions of the rites in a series of beautiful books- this is the lastest and focuses on costume designs from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The plates are all original drawings by the great designers of Carnivals' past (Mr. Schindler is the great designer of Carnivals present). New Orleans Mardi Gras is rooted in the aesthetic of 19th century Italian opera and this book has some truly surreal illustrations. Any Carnival faithfull, opera fan, theatre designer or just folks who love costume parties should love this book. It also stands as a serious work of art history- the talent and effort that go into mounting parades and tableaux balls in New Orleans get overlooked and all of Mr. Schindlers books on the subject document a rich history of artists and artisans who worked in the city and built its most revered tradition.

1 comments about Daniel Swarovski.

1. For anyone interested in Austrian crystal jewelry, this book is a must have. The photos are just as artistic as the jewelry!! Love it!!

No comments about Basics Fashion Design: Textiles and Fashion (Basics Fashion Design).

No comments about WOVEN BY GRANDMOTHERS PB.

No comments about Authentic Costumes & Characters of the Wild West.

No comments about Pantaloons and Power: A Nineteenth-Century Dress Reform in the United States.

5 comments about Roaring '20s Fashions: Deco (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. Roaring '20's Fashions by Susan Langley is just wonderful. She has gone the extra mile by showing the advertisement or sketch and then showing an actual item that is as close to if not identical to the ad. I always looked at the magazine ads and wondered what the actual garment or accessory really looked like. Now I know. I will gleefully await her next book! The photographs are done well (good angles and lighting)and her commentary is lively. I would recommend to one and all! And I have.



2. Another wonderful walk through fashion history. "Deco" is a very worthy sucessor to Sue Langley's "Jazz", continuing through the second half of the twenties. Pictures were wonderful, and the text bubbled with delicious historical commentary. This book was even more special as I attended a show and signing in Manhattan where I could see the clothes closeup and hear all kinds of tidbits of the fashion trade. Wonderful - I look forward to whatever Sue Langley's next book!



3. I agree with the comments of a reviewer of the author's companion book, "Roaring '20s Fashions: Jazz." Buy this book for the photos, which are excellent. Unfortunately, the text has been poorly edited, with an overabundance of exclamation marks and capital letters rendering the content and captions somewhat amateurish and even silly at times. The use of period photos and fashion illustrations, in addition to the great photos of the vintage clothing, make this book a worthy purchase.



4. The Roaring '20s Fashions Deco is a delightful book. A step into the world of Fitzgerald. Well written & researched and great photography



5. I loved Ms. Langley's vintage hat book so well I was amost afraid to be disappointed by her new books on the Roaring 20s - I shouldn't have been. She truly surpassed herself with books that transcend the category of collecter's books. Yes, this book is organized and comprehensive. The clothes are fabulous and the photos of them due them justice. The fashion plates and advertisements are beautiful and greatly entertaining enhancements placing the clothing in context of the times. I must admit my favorite part of the book is the vintage photographs which along with the loving and witty narrative breathe a life and tenderness into this book that raises it far above a collector's guide.

4 comments about Paris Fashions of the 1890s: A Picture Sourcebook with 350 Designs, Including 24 in Full Color (Dover Books on Costume).

1. This book is a good source for 1890's women's fashion embellishment. It gives excellent examples of the wide use of lace, ribbon, buttons, embroidery, feathers, and flowers. It is not, however, a useful resource for studying the structure of the garments. The period illustrations will not give a clear idea of the construction of the clothing to anyone who is not already familiar with the fashions of the period.



2. That pretty much sums it up about Stella Blum's slender paperbound volume Paris Fashions of the 1890s: A Picture Sourcebook with 350 Designs, Including 24 in Full Color. The good side is that the presentation is up to Dover's usual high standard and the illustrations, originally from a British fashion journal of the period, are spectacular, mostly in black-and-white but with some lovely full-color plates. The bad is that aside from the introductory essay, and brief descriptions at the bottom of each page, there's not much in the way of text explaining the outfits the reader is viewing. That makes the book somewhat problematic for people who are trying to reconstruct period fashions for, say, a play or reenactment, but it's still quite a valuable document for people with a general interest in Victorian/Edwardian fashion. It really works best in conjunction with Dover's other books on the subject edited by Ms. Blum and Joanne Olian.



3. it would be best to describe what kind of fashion like dresses, shirts,pants and is it just woman clothing or is it mens too? Please tell me more next time



4. From the days of John Adams, his wife, Abigail, commented in David McCullough's book about those times, how impressed she was with the fashions of the day in Paris and England at the time, but would never have worn such fashion here in America. The reasons she gave in her letters were that 1)America was mostly "puritans," and/or 2) poor so that much of the European fashion industry was alien to this country where women had to make do with simpler garments. Over the years, it's possible we have not had a clear vision of what constitutes female fashion to its fussiest and frilliest advantage. What little there was in the 1920's 1940's gave way to the men's wear fashions of today where women are taught to compete with men by wearing similar styles, sadly. The ability to manufacture more cheaply now could encourage a revival of designs that challenged Americans throughout her history that the times now may be right for, though not necessarily a return to Victorian times. "Play clothes," especially for women could be much more imaginative and fun, and perhaps women deserve that privilege without having to dress like men even while competing with them in business. Should femininity be so restrained as to make women anomalous and obscure in 2002 as to be nearly a uniform?