3 comments about Costume Jewelry for Haute Couture.

1. I haven't finished reading this book but the images of jewelry are beautiful and inspiring.



2. I've been keeping an eye on 'high fashion' for 25+ years as my own one-of-a-kind bead & jewelry business evolved. I could never figure out why some of the very unusual and creative jewelry I saw in couture and pret-a-porte' runway shows was rarely covered in detail in the fashion books or magazines. Finally this book was created to begin answering my prayers! Bravo - I love it, get lost in it!
   While I love all kinds of jewelry, I'd gotten my fill of the books featuring more traditional gold/diamond-type jewelry! If you like the more unusual side of the universe, then you will treasure this book.... and I say all of this before I've even studied the text!
   I hope publishers will pay attention and give us more, more, more! This is the tip of the iceberg and I'm delighted.



3. Expertly co-authored by fashion historian and consultant Florence Muller and haute couture costume jewelry collector Patrick Sigal, "Costume Jewelry For Haute Couture" is a profusely illustrated compendium showcasing dazzling, one-of-a-kind jewelry designed by skilled artisans to complement and adorn individual couture pieces for fashion shows and photo shoots. Representing outstanding examples from Coco Chanle in the 1920s to Yves Saint Laurent in the 1970s, to the creation of Lanvin today, "Costume Jewelry For Haute Couture" highlights some of the greatest jewelry creations by some of the greatest artists the fashion industry has every known, including examples by Balenciaga, Diro, Schiaparelli, Givench, Vionnet, and so many others. Beautiful and informative, "Costume Jewelry For Haute Couture" is enthusiastically recommended for personal, professional, academic, and community library Art History, Fashion History, and Jewelry reference collections.

3 comments about Fashions of the Thirties: 476 Authentic Copyright-Free Illustrations (Dover Pictorial Archive Series).

1. I design and sew costumes for our local theatre company and this book has been a huge help in designing the proper look for a particular time period. It is a fun book to peruse to compare prices and styles with today's clothes.



2. This book has wonderful pen and ink drawings of womens, mens, children and accessories fashions. A great book for fashion drawing students as well as giving a good feel for that era.



3. This is a very good reference book. It does not show you the little details that photo books of fashion can provide, but the illustrations give you a good feel for the attitude of 1930s fashion. It is full of pen&ink style renderings of men,women and children's clothing. The drawings are also copyright free....

5 comments about Period Costume for Stage & Screen: Patterns for Women's Dress, 1800-1909.

1. This is an excellent book for the THEATRICAL costumer. It has scaled down patterns. Suggestions on how to design for and work with a production director or producer. Recommendations on how to "fake" a look for a period so that it will appear correct AND be easy to get in and out of. Notations on points to consider.... i.e.: is this a stage production where the garment will only be seen at a distance? is this a screen production where certain portions of a garment will be super sized on a movie screen?...those sort of scenarios are played out and hashed over. For the historian, interested in period accuracy, this will probably not be of any practical use. This does however give insight into how to get modern fabrics and trims to look convincing. For the intermediate or advanced seamstress. For the daring beginner who isn't afraid of a challenge.



2. This and all the other Jean Hunnisett Period Costume titles can be ordered directly from the publisher, Players Press, Inc., Studio City, CA for ONLY $59.00 each.



3. I found this book educational and stimulating. Perhaps it's best feature was the combination of historical detail with instructions for practical application. The patterns can be a bit confusing, as can some of her terminology. Both of those hurdles can be overcome with a little patience. This is not a book for the beginning costumer, but I was able to utilize it very well at an intermediate level. For anyone interested in stage costuming technique I'd say this book is a must. It also contains detailed and illustrated instructions for fitting a bodice. WaHey!



4. i just recieved this book and i love it. I noticed that a couple of things were different because it was an english print but i thought it is one of the most resourcful books to have. i love to make period clothing from the victorian age and this book was a good source for me on clothing from that period.



5. I believe that Jean Hunnisett has some of the best resources available to the modern dressmaker. I have been trying to find ways of making dresses of certain periods and this book takes a person step-by-step through how to make clothing; from corsets to crinolines to the actual dresses themselves. She shows how to make a variety of styles from one pattern and actually has scaled models of the patterns that are needed to make the articles of clothing. The only information that is not provided in the book is how and where to modify the pattern to make is fit someone that does not have her size. But with common sense and a little patience a person can figure it out. This book is a must for any costume designer or even the intrigued dressmaker looking for a challenge

4 comments about Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from "La Mode Illustree".

1. Fashions are compiled chronologically and the fashion plates are very detailed. Many plates don't just show the front of the models, but they also show the same posed women from the back. One of the main things I like about this book is that it's not just all formal wear. There's also a lot of day wear being featured which helps in understanding the lifestyles of Victorian and Edwardian ladies (albeit the privileged class). This book is simply a beautiful resource and should be included in every Victorian/Edwardian fashion-lover's library.



2. "La Mode Illustree" was to 19th-century fashion mavens what "Vogue" and "Elle" are today, with its gorgeous color and B&W line illustrations of the latest in fashions for men, women and children. Joanne Olian, former curator of the costume collection at the Museum of the City of New York, has painstakingly assembled a huge collection of the finest illustrations showing beautiful ladies' fashions from 1860 to 1912, with almost every year getting at least one page (though, as another reviewer mentions, some years unfortunately aren't examined in much detail). Every illustration is full-page and accompanied by a paragraph or two of text, generally taken directly from the original description of the item in LMI. Nobody who is at all interested in fashions of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods should be without this book!



3. This book is one of the most comprehensive, well-done and complete guide to both Victorian and Edwardian fashion I've ever seen. Although the illustrations are black and white, they are surprisingly well done (most costume design books don't detail hair styles, patterns, etc, but this one does.) I recommend this book as a very accurate guide to the period for researchers, costumers or fashion enthusiasts. The book, along with fantastic illustrations, includes a summary of the times and fashions and a very helpful glossary. Also it is much more than any other book I've seen--- it included SEVERAL fashions for each year and several different occasional wear layouts. If you are curious about this period, you must buy this book. I only wish they had a similar book for every period!



4. I was leery of ordering this book, because most of the books that claim to illustrate both the Victorian and Edwardian eras merely skim over the Edwardian. But I was pleasantly surprised.

   The book covers the years 1860-1914 and gives equal (or slightly superior) coverage to the Edwardian and pre-WWI years. The illustrations are large and detailed, allowing for very good views of the trimmings of the garments, and the smaller rear views of many garments are invaluable to the recreationist. Also included are period captions describing the intended uses of the garments (tea or opera, for young girls or women "of a certain age"); these are both interesting and very helpful for the self-educated costumer. The selection of dresses, coiffures, hats, parasols, coats, lingerie, nightdresses, and children's clothing is well chosen and the garments are lovely.

   My only complaint is that a few years are either entirely skipped, or skimmed over: 1866, 1872, 1875, 1878, 1883, 1893, 1899, and 1911. However, the existing material is excellent and very useful--I wholeheartedly recommend it.

1 comments about Patterns in Design, Art and Architecture.

1. I bought it to be stimulated with erotic patterns like the ones you see on the cover and a few pictures shown here, and I got more than what I asked for. I get dizzy going through this book. I think it would ease my confusion if the book were organized in the order other than the names of artists/designers/architects. As for the ornaments in architecture, it seems to be short of rigor to read it as a continuation on the line of discussion. However, being introduced to artists/designers I did not know about was something I needed, and the captions in the back of the book are quite good. I would recommend it if you were interested in it as a reference catalogue for these reasons.

1 comments about Breaking the Mode.

1. Wonderful book full of fabulous photos. Haven't been able to put it down. Great reference for deconstruction clothing ideas.

5 comments about Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques.

1. As others have stated this book is more Edwardian period fashions and not Victorian, although one must remember that many of the same sewing techniques where used since not many people could afford to own a sewing machine. It shows how to sew even stitching by HAND which would be period correct for victorian or Edwardian sewing. Having studied and made civil war period clothing I found this book invaluable to recreate hemms, hand sewn plackards on skirts with hook and eye closures and how to finish the bottom of a boned bodice with NO lining in it. I would have been lost trying to figure all this out on my own. This book has wonderful illistrations of hand sewing and photographs from the early 1900's.



2. I've had it a year and the binding is unraveling. The information in this book is very useful. Some improvements to the text, illustrations and binding in the book and it would've made it a 5 star book.



3. I make reproductions costumes for our NYS Historic Preservation Costume Department. I have been trying without success to find an authentic 1885 Norfolk Suit and knickerbockers to replicate for a boy aged 8 years old. This wonderful sewing manual had a detailed description of both. Although it was written in 1905, the sewing techniques have been the same for many, many years. This manual is my most treasured for authentic techniques of the Victorian/Edwardian era.



4. Victoria was queen from 1837-1901.
   A reprinted dressmaking book from 1905 should not have it's title changed to include the word "Victorian". It's very misleading.
   This book is for the S front pidgeon breasted style of Edwardian clothing only.
   It does not even mention bustles, hoopskirts, fitted bodices, or any of the other key elements that defined Victorian costume.

   This book does not include any patterns, but it does tell you how to alter and sew garments from existing patterns, and might be useful if you have some vintage patterns that you'd like to adjust and use.

   I am highly disappointed and I plan to return this book.




5. This book should say that it only covers techniques from the late Victorian era through the turn of the century. Earlier techniques are not covered, otherwise it is a good book. If you are looking for dressmaking techniques prior to near the turn of the century, look elsewhere...

No comments about The Basics of Corset Building: A Handbook for Beginners.

4 comments about Memory on Cloth: Shibori Now.

1. I just took a workshop with Yoshiko Wada, the author of this book, and she used it extensively as a reference. Much of what we did in the class is detailed in the book and I am going to use it to keep working on many of the techniques on my own. I feel that the instructions are clear and the illustrations helpful. There is a wealth of information in the book, and I enjoyed how Yoshiko Wada applies the techniques and concepts of traditional Japanese shibori to contemporary materials and new methods. If you are interested in textile design, shibori, dyeing, or fashion, you will enjoy this reference.



2. I was hoping for more instructions on how to create shibori pieces...this is not the book for that.



3. This is some book. This goes beyond your normal techniques. It was mindblowing with the endless possibilities for manipulation of all sorts of fabrics.



4. Shibori is the Japanese word for resist-dyeing. There are three shibori techniques: tie-dye (those Sixties hallucinoform tee-shirts); clamp-resist (being pressed between two boards or tied tightly around a pole), and wax-resist (batik). It is an extremely old technique, perhaps the first to impose upon cloth a pattern that wasn't woven there.

   Fragments of shibori-like textiles found in Africa date from as far back as 700 BCE. Purely Japanese textiles date from the Yayoi period (200 BCE-250 ACE). Yayoi people wove garments on portable looms. The making of cloth depended not so much on the mass of the wearer's body as on how the movement of the wearer's body will determine what the loom must do. In Yayoi times weavers used portable loom that could be easily set up by tying one set of warp ends around the waist and the other to a tree. The weaver's body width fixed the width of the fabric. That most Yayoi textiles were about twelve inches wide says much about the size of the Yayois.

   Japan did not embrace clothing as an expression of social delineation until the Asuka period (552-645), an era when Chinese crafts, and customs were eagerly imported. Over the centuries, surface designs became steadily more complex as garment silhouettes became steadily more simple. These tendencies merged into the kimono and have stayed there ever since. With the xenophobic policies of the Tokugawa Shogunate, all things foreign were shunned. The Japanese turned inward to their own tastes and aesthetics.

   By the Edo period (1600-1868), complex layerings of color, patterns, and resist dyes all contributed to a great culmination of textile design. Into the canons of design came surface complexity ranging from colors so saturated they dazzle the eye to so subtle they are almost indistinguishable. Japanese textile art embraced a dozen or more dyeing techniques, embroidery and appliqué, painted pictures, hammered gold and silver patterns, calligraphy. Out of these chirped an aviary of decor-plum blossoms, pine boughs, flowers on trellises, rice sheaves, snowflakes, paired shells, swallowtail butterflies, quince flowers, waves, interlocked squares, medallions of chrysanthemum and wisteria and gentian, cranes, lightning, hemp leaves, scrolls of peony, woven circles, basket work, fish scales, mountains, clouds, flowing water, waves, checkerboards, circles.

   In the wrong hands such a tumultuous vocabulary would end in chaos. But from the great costumes of the Noh to the hundreds of treatises on kimono design to be found in Japanese bookstores and libraries today, there always existed in the Japanese garment imagination a more fundamental quality: drama. It is no surprise to find that the garment's greatest period of elaboration came after it was adopted as the principle costume by groups of itinerant entertainers who evolved into the most enduring of Japanese theatrical styles, the Noh.

   The Memory on Cloth story begins after World War II. Before the War, textiles and garments were major engines of Japan's economy-the equivalent of transistor products and autos today. The quaint, consuming, painstaking art of shibori was nearly extinct by the 1960s. Modernity-craving Japanese put their old kimonos into the tansu and bought Missoni and Prada and The Gap. Shibori's spiritual home, in Arimatsu and Narumi on Honshu island, was ignored even by the railways, which built no sidings there. Too few fabric dyers were left to fill a boxcar with goods.

   But valiant was the tenacity of the industry. Arimatsu-Narumi's response was to invent. When the market for kimonos dwindled, they made neckties. Even so, by 1972, one of Japan's oldest industries had dwindled to two elderly practitioners. Then along came people like Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, one of so many artists who bootstrapped ancient crafts out of extinction by globalizing them in the same positive way that world fusion music has globalized innumerable melody forms. Shibori was turned around. Today it is an internationally recognized art form.

   It also can be a vibrant modern art form. Memory on Cloth features work by artists from Africa, South America, Europe, India, Japan, China, Korea, the USA, and Australia. It encompasses fabric design, wearable art and fashion, and textile art or various sculptural forms. Described are works by more than seventy innovative designers, including Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Jurgen Lehl, Jun'ichi Arai, Helene Soubeyran, Genevieve Dion, Asha Sarabhai, Junco Sato Pollack, Ana Lisa Hedstrom, Marian Clayden, and Carter Smith. Each artist shares details on the processes they have created, making this an invaluable source of inspiration for artists in fields outside of textile design.

   Japan never made a distinction between craft and art. Indeed, even in the West that demarcation arose only over the last few hundred years as a manifestation of the post-Renaissance preoccupation with individuality. In Japan the unity of art and craft was not because Japanese textile makers shunned egocentrism, but because of their tendency to focus on process more than product. The Japanese Zen garden of raked stones is Exhibit A in contemplative surrender to process.

   Like so many arts that globalization salvaged at the edge of extinction, shibori inspired a modern revival laden with legend and freighted with technique. The progress of Japanese textiles is stuttery, sitting in place one moment, leaping forward the next, the artists either appropriating or inventing as chance comes calling. The result is a continually evolving collaboration between past and future. Today's mingling of synthetic and natural fibers, organics and metals, hand and machine, are in keeping with the try-anything heritage of the country's garments.

   Yoshiko Wada is an endearingly good writer: lucid, logical, tight, to the point. She teaches shibori aesthetics and techniques in her home city of Berkeley, California, and around the world. Thanks to her, shibori was transported to Africa and inspired a vibrant local industry in Mali and other Sahel countries. Of her it can truly be said that the word `shibori' is now an international currency.

1 comments about Veil: Veiling, Representation, and Contemporary Art.

1. From the hair and face coverings common in the Middle East to bridal costumes and nuns' habits in the West, the veil is "an item of clothing dramatically overburdened with symbolism ... [and] fought over by adherents and opponents," observes Reina Lewis in her introduction to this book, which is drawn from the Institute of Interna-tional Visual Arts exhibition of the same name. Summarizing the work of 20 artists, and incorporating essays and several dozen literary excerpts from a kaleidoscope of view-points, the book offers insight into questions such as: Where did "the veil" come from? What are its meanings, in the East, in the West, and in that growing, often exciting cul-tural space that is neither one nor the other? The editors challenge several notions com-mon in the West: the veil as exclusively Middle Eastern; the veil as "Islamic," the veil as a barrier to social rights for women, and the interpretation of choosing to veil or not as equivalent to choosing "oppression" on the one hand or "freedom" on the other. DD