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53 reviews for:
How to Read a Dress: A Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 20th Century
Lydia Edwards
3.88 AVERAGE
53 reviews for:
How to Read a Dress: A Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 20th Century
Lydia Edwards
3.88 AVERAGE
This book reads like a textbook, but that's okay. This Is great for someone just starting out or for historical costumers.
Oh, this book! I liked it and I really did not. The things I liked was the wide historical range of garments and the explanations of the details in historical context.
The reasons not to like: the small font, few to no close-up pictures of details that they talk about, one dress per page and the image is only about 8 inches tall. How can you see all of the detailing, drapery, and craftmanship of an ensemble like that? The captions can be a bit confusing to a non-costume archivist regardless of the glossary in the back.
The reasons not to like: the small font, few to no close-up pictures of details that they talk about, one dress per page and the image is only about 8 inches tall. How can you see all of the detailing, drapery, and craftmanship of an ensemble like that? The captions can be a bit confusing to a non-costume archivist regardless of the glossary in the back.
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
A really informative book that can either be read to learn but also to reference quickly to identify the key silhouettes of each decade. The amount of detail is perfect for digesting information without feeling overwhelmed by complex terms whilst still providing an in-depth analysis of each dress. My only criticisms are that some of the longer written segments don't hold my interest and I would like more context for the occasion of each dress, but I think this is personal preference more than an issue with the book.
Interesting pictorial overview of changes in women's fashion over time. I loved how the long view allowed us to see trends cycle through again and again, accentuating different parts of a dress or standards of beauty. I would have liked to see the fronts and backs of some of the gowns, and captions and headings could have used more careful copy editing. I was a little confused by the geographic jumps and think the book could have better focused on a few areas instead of trying to cover all of Europe, the US, and Australia. Overall very informative.
I read this because I read a lot of historical fiction but often struggle to picture the people in the story (I'm not very visual in my thinking). I thought this book might help. I really enjoyed seeing the dresses laid out in chronological order, and noticing the changes in silhouette, as well as the colours, textures, and details.
informative
slow-paced
informative
fast-paced
informative
medium-paced