5 comments about Everyday Fashions of the Twenties as Pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs (Sears Catalogs).

1. This is a great book if you're looking for an overview of fashions from 1909 to 1930, concentrating on clothes available from Sears catalogs of the period. The book includes women's, men's, children's, and infant's clothing. The text is entertaining to read. I was a little disappointed that there were not more examples of fashion in the 20's. Nevertheless, it is an informative and fun book to refer to if you have an interest in period fashion



2. A great source of information on the cloths worn by ordinary people of this time period.
   
   Pity people don't dress like this anymore.



3. This is a very useful source book for every day clothing, particularly things like men's clothes,kid's outfits, maid uniforms, and other things that aren't the high fashion clothing that many books feature. I design theater costumes, and have found this very helpful.



4. Great book. I used it to come up with a 20's custume for a party. Loved the book. Great graphics.



5. If you love fashion from the 1920's or just saw "Chicago" and would like more background on it,this is a worthwhile book to flip through. Some the pics are not the best quality and childrens clothes are only on one page. However, You really do,get an idea of what the average person wore back then,which may surprise some readers.All in all, A decent book for fashion history buffs.

1 comments about 49 Sensational Skirts: Creative Embellishment Ideas for One-of-a-Kind Designs.

1. I was actually a bit shocked at how very, um, "creative" these skirts are. You will definitely get attention if you wear one of these creations! I bought it because I enjoy beaded embellishments and because I was so enjoying this book:
   
   Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make with Fabulous Fabrics
   
   ...that I thought I would look for more of the same. This is NOT the same or even in the same universe.

2 comments about Face of Fashion.

1. The contemporary fashion portrait is the focus in FACE OF FASHION, which brings together paintings made for the fine arts yet embodying fashion styles, standards, and art. The array of photographers whose works appear here all have a distinct, unique style within fashion photography, making FACE OF FASHION an excellent juxtaposition of varying approaches and styles and a top pick for any college-level art or fashion library. Full-page color images blend with essays and writings about the photographer's approach and the fashion and art worlds.



2. If you think of fashion photography as being the pictures of clothes draped across beautiful bodies to be shown in advertisements, you will find only a small percentage of the pictures in this book to meet that expectation. Instead here you will find photographs that are striking, that don't really fit with the idea of selling a dress. Indeed if 'fashion' implies clothes, some of the pictures here don't show any clothes at all, just the form of the model.
   
   The result is a collection of photographs that show what the best of the best of photographers are doing today. Striking, yes. Disturbing, sometimes. Beautiful, often. Sexy, usually. Each page brings something to the eye that's usually a surprise.

4 comments about Medieval Celebrations: How to Plan for Holidays, Weddings, and Reenactments With Recipes, Customs, Costumes, Decorations, Songs, Dances, and Games.

1. A nice little book covering a multitude of subjects. Was more interested in recipes and costumes, but found the other information fascinating. the costume side of things was good.
   
   Pity its so hard to order from overseas



2. This book is full of great ideas, recipes, clothing, dances and more.I used this as a guide to plan a medieval birthday party and it was fantastic! I would highly recommend this book.



3. If you are planning a Medieval Celebration of any kind this is a great book to buy. My Fiancee and I have been looking for medieval books to plan our wedding by and I stumbled across this one its been very helpful and I'm sure it will get alot of use. It has many tradations recipes and lots of fun games a must have.



4. My fiance and I purchased this book as we are planning a medieval wedding. The title and description of this book implied that we would find lots of valuable information on that topic. Well, we found lots of valuable information for feast planning, or putting on a re-enactment (a la Society for Creative Anachronism), and very little concerning period wedding traditions. The most interesting parts were the recipes/redactions and the instructions for medieval dance steps. There are also several pages that contain sheet music for period songs. If you are looking to put on a reenactment or feast, this is the book for you. If you are looking for anything else, I suggest you look elsewhere.

1 comments about Fabric Painting and Dyeing for the Theatre.

1. The name turned me away at first, as I am not dyeing for the theater. That was a mistake. While I don't need the chapters on how to set up a dye shop for a theatre, other information provided in this book is hard to come by elsewhere. Covers fiber reactive dyes, acid dyes, 1:2 metal complex dyes, direct dyes, basic dyes for acrylics, disperse dyes, metallics, textile paints, screen printing, 4 different discharge dyeing pastes, batik, blue printing and brown printing on fabric (or whole garments) using light, marbling, airbrush. Much more thorough treatment of potential hazards than any other dyeing book I've seen. Lists of carcinogenic dyes to avoid. Actual test results of fabric feel and fastness of many different textile paints, each on six different fibers. Good index.

1 comments about Tapestry Handbook: The Next Generation.

1. I have several instructional books on tapestry weaving but this book beats them all by far. It clearly describes yarns to use for warp and weft. It also gives guidance in beginning setts, Both of these points are unfortunately glossed over in other books leaving the beginner both wondering what to use and open to making costly mistakes. The practice weaving "sampler" is outlined which each step containing new techniques that allow the beginner weaver to develop the skills necesary to venture forth on their own upon completion of this book. A must have for the beginner!

5 comments about Wilhelmina Guide to Modeling.

1. Had the modeling industry edited this book it never would have gone to press as it is. It reveals the truth about agencies, the little ones, the big ones--and the obvious and not so obvious aspects of an industry that thrives off of young men and women with big dreams. The coverage of modeling in Italy is especially true to life. This book was used as evidence in a court case that changed the way agencies are allowed to treat models, what they are permitted to charge them for inclusion in agency books, for model cards, and even how much of a cut they are allowed to take from a model's earnings. Some agencies went under because of the secrets so innocently revealed in these pages. Lots of excellent practical advice too. Easily the best book in the business even if it is not so recent as some other books on the subject.



2. I am impressed with the amount of information this book gave. It really guides you step by step & made me realize that even though I'm short(5'2), I can still make it in beauty, print, petite & junior/teen modeling.



3. This book had no real advice. Most of it was just common sense advice any person shold know. Seemed geared for 15 year old girls only.



4. Essentially this book, with its large fonts and generous helpings of superfluous pictures, contained scant information about the modeling industry. The pages are just filled with very shallow and unsubstantiated statements such as, "Your agent will navigate your career, setting in motion a business and promotional plan geared to market fully your unique looks and talent", with no further elaboration. Take for example its chapter on "Ethinic Modeling". It glazes over the subject on how its such a promising area of the industry and tops it off with two short interviews with 2 female black models - 7 pages in all, with plenty of pictures might I add. The interviews themselves were just as disappointing with superficial statements of little substance that only glamorizes the modelling industry. Above all, the author insults the reader's intelligence by shamelessly pitching the Wilhelmina modeling agency almost every other page. In fact, the entire book's message boils down to - try to sign up with an model agency (no less the Wilhelmina) and expect a 20% commission rate. Those who have rated this book 5 stars are obviously the author or Wilhemlmina employees.



5. Like many models getting started in the business, I didn't know which way to turn. The hardest part is to qualify clients and to only work with those that will keep the image of you that you would like to promote in the market place. This book really doesn't outline this aspect of the industry. Good management is what got me a blossoming career in this business. Thanks to Digital White Boy Management, http://www.digitalwhiteboy.com , I've made it in this industry.

No comments about Felted Wool Fashions: Making New Styles from Old Knits.

No comments about Apparel Merchandising: The Line Starts Here.

5 comments about White Squall : The Last Voyage Of Albatross.

1. Having watched parts of "White Squall" on TV several times, I didn't really understand the intensity of the movie until I watched it completely. Since it was a true story I did some internet research and ran into this book written by one of the crew on that voyage. So I thought I would read it.
   
   Overall, I wasn't impressed. It does exactly what it says it will which is give you a general overview of the cruise and what happened on it. But the most critical event, the tragedy at sea, is covered in just a few pages. Basically, "we got close to a storm and the next thing you know, we sank." Now, obviously I'm generalizing. But that's how it felt. And previous to that, there is really nothing compelling to report. There are mentions of a diversity of age of students and maybe that was a mistake as they had to let some immature passengers off early. Also, I was disappointed that there wasn't a more significant update of the remainder of the captain's life. Overall, I thought the movie was fine but this book was not worth the read. You be the judge.



2. I know that sounds harsh, but it's accurate. "White Squall" is an interesting movie, but the book by Mr. Langford is dull. It's 103 small pages (117 minus 14 pages of bland photos), so there's nothing to reading it, but it's almost boring to read. This is by no means a novel, it's a story where you're dropped into the time and place and then everything proceeds from there, all described at a shallow level. There's no background information on the boys (or the skipper and his wife, for that matter), nothing that really makes you care what happens, nothing that points to why the people behave, or events transpire, as they do.
   
   Details on the mechanics of sailing are almost totally absent, as are details about the Albatross itself. I sail, and I enjoy reading about sailing; I also enjoy coming-of-age stories where people are thrown together and, through shared experiences, form a bond; you get none of that with this story. It's all along the lines of "This happened, we saw that, we moved on, two weeks later we were here, and we saw this and that."
   
   The book has the attribute of being true (where the movie is apparently only loosely based on the actual events, and most everything else is fictionalized): that's about all it has going for it. All of the beauty of bluewater sailing, the hard and often dangerous work of crewing a boat, the day-to-day interaction of the boat's crew, all of that's missing.
   
   If you want to say, "I read the book, I know the real story" (not that there's much difference in the sequence of events between the book and the movie), then have at it. If you want to enjoy the story, buy/rent/view the movie. The Amazon description promises "Readers of this volume will acquire a more realistic understanding of the people and events involved." Readers of this "volume" (ahem) will be disappointed, whether or not they've viewed the "Hollywood parody". This is the first occasion where I've seen both a movie and a book and the movie's better (by far).



3. This is a great book for any reader that likes to hear of the sea or just a great adventure. The one thing I notice in the listing is it says sprial bound but I received a paperback copy of the book. I called the publisher (to get their catalog - the number is in the back of the book) and they said it has not been sprial bound for two years or more. Enjoy this read from a very good but only once published author. He and the book are real sleepers that need to be awakened.



4. The reviewers leave the impression that the movie White Squall was based on this book. In fact it was based on the 1962 book _The Last Voyage of the Albatross_ by Charles (Chuck) Gieg and Felix Sutton. It is a shame the book wasn't reprinted as it is a great account. If you can find a used copy it is a great coming of age adventure story.



5. After watching the movie 'White Squall' I was fasinated by the concept that a sailing provided. It sounded like the best of all worlds. That to explore the world, life and attempt the music and rythum of the sea.

   Mr. Langford writes about a ship that spoke of all that with a lively narrative of places that we call ports of call. Quite frankly I wish it had been a longer book. For 8 months of sailing he leaves so much out. In my mind I already knew the sad out come but I wanted more. Even the mundane.

   I recommend this book for those who watched the movie or even those who did not. It adds depth. I would hope at some point that Captain Sheldon would also write one.