Costume and Fashion: A Concise History / Edition 4

by James Laver, Amy de la Haye, Andrew Tucker

Overview

From the momentous invention of the needle some 40,000 years ago to the development of blue denim; from Neolithic weavers to the biggest names in the fashion industry today—this classic guide covers the landmarks of costume history, the forms and materials used through the ages, as well as the underlying motives of fashion and the ways in which clothes have been used to protect, to express identity, and to attract or to influence others. The concluding chapter by Amy de la Haye, covering the second half of the twentieth century, has now been updated by Andrew Tucker. He discusses the reinvention in the 1990s of the luxury label Gucci, the rise of houses such as Prada and Tommy Hilfiger, and the appointments of relatively avant-garde British, American, and European designers to head classic French houses. All the late-twentieth-century and turn-of-the-century style innovations are included, such as the appropriation of utility clothing by designers like Helmut Lang—who spearheaded the predominantly unisex urban sportswear look—and the impact of workplace dressing down on masculine fashion. The phenomenon of the must-have accessory—the pashmina shawl and the Fendi baguette, for example—is also considered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780500203484
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	07/29/2002
Series:	World of Art
Edition description:	Fourth Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

The late James Laver was Keeper of the Departments of Prints and Drawings and of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1938 until 1959.

Amy de la Haye is Senior Research Fellow at the London College of Fashion.

Andrew Tucker is a fashion writer, author of The London Fashion Book and co-author of Costume and Fashion.

Table of Contents

Foreword 6

Chapter 1 How it all Began 9

Chapter 2 Greeks and Romans 27

Chapter 3 Early Europe 50

Chapter 4 The Renaissance and the Sixteenth Century 72

Chapter 5 The Seventeenth Century 100

Chapter 6 The Eighteenth Century 122

Chapter 7 From 1800 to 1850 147

Chapter 8 From 1850 to 1900 171

Chapter 9 From 1900 to 1939 203

Chapter 10 Rationed Fashion to Pluralistic Style 245

Chapter 11 At the Turn of the Millennium 282

Chapter 12 Fashion Since 2010 290

Select Bibliography 305

Picture Credits 307

Index 312

Editorial Reviews

"A standard reference for anyone interested in the history of style and clothes."

Art & Antiques

They don't make paperbacks...more attractive and more colorful than this one.

Philadelphia Inquirer