Costumes Books

This is a WONDERFUL book. It is detailed, well-written, and the photographs are gorgeous. It is A MUST for anyone interested in the roots of American fashion.

This is a well-written and beautifully produced book. It is a combination biography/retrospective on the work of Claire McCardell, a fashion designer popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She is virtually forgotten today, which is a shame--her work was unique and truly American. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in fashion design.

One of the best books for any speech-impaired reader. This is one of the few books that had helped to resolve my speech defects. For over 30 years, I had very severe speech impediments. Over the next 10 years, most speech defects were only mild and eventually dissolved. Today, I can speak with absolute fluency and more surprisingly I can sing too. My hard-worked pronunciation is now perfect.

If you're deaf, I most recommend a pronouncing dictionary (the most ideal gift for any deaf-born child). If you have some degree of hearing, then do buy yourself a pronouncing dictionary with the CD-ROM. All the pronunciations are cryptically written in IPA alphabets, each alphabet representing a certain sound, which you make with just a certain lip position and a tongue position.

A PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY IS MOST VITAL TO ANY DEAF READER - and SHOULD be introduced in every deaf school in the country. I myself went to a deaf school where the outmoded speech therapy was dreadful and abstruse. I'd never really learned any good speech there, only the approximate sounds. Only in my twenties did I really learn the basics of correct/proper pronunciations. Firstly, I learned the pronunciation of each letter - by graphic/visual descriptions of shaping lips and tongue when making sounds. It took me years to rebuild my pronouncing vocabulary - with the help of a pronouncing dictionary.
Pronouncing dictionaries help you distinguish any confusing, sound-alike pronunciations such as "such" and "search," "caught" and "cot," "sword" and "sawed," etc. And learn to rhyme words such as "beautiful" and "dutiful," "feather" and "leather," etc.
Once you have mastered IPA alphabets and speech, you can too learn foreign languages - and you CAN. I have learned oral German and French and can speak with such absolute fluency that parents have asked me to give grinds to their kids.

Your second book should be "English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course" by Peter Roach. This one teaches you phonetics - the IPA alphabets, lip positions, tongue positions, etc.
Your third and subsequent books should contain exercises for your vocal cords, tongue, lungs, etc.

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This slim book, by theatre director and former college speech and drama director, Malcolm Morrison, is a VERY practical book for speech correction and voice improvement. It is written in an easily accessible form and has tried and tested exercises. The arrangement of the material in this book with clear illustrations makes it easy for anyone to understand and work from effectively.

This book is concerned with helping to correct mismanagement of a healthy speech and voice mechanism. Emphasis is on the readjustment of habits, a readjustment anyone can make through practice.

This book is divided into three parts:

(1) Essentials of Speech and Voice.

(i) Speech as a habit (ii) The nature and analysis of faults (iii) Relaxation (iv) Posture

(2) Problems of Voice Production.

(i) Faulty breathing (ii) Inadequate pitch range in the voice (iii) Faulty tone (iv) Routines for establishment of forward placing of the voice

(3) Speech Faults

(i) "R" sound (ii) "S" sound (iii) "L" sound (iv) "TH" sound (v) The glottal stop (vi) Indistinct speech

Finally, I'll repeat: besides the excellent instruction, this book (as compared to others) has the virtue of directness and economy. In other words, if you like sifting through reams and reams of theory, then this is NOT the book for you. This is, instead, a book that will get you practicing right away.

In conclusion, this is a very practical book that cuts through the jargon and aims at helping you improve your speech and voice right away!

(first published 1989; preface; using this book; 3 parts or 14 chapters; main narrative 75 pages; note to teachers)

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Surely one of the most educational books for young readers, this informative volume traces the evolution of clothing from prehistoric times to the present day.

Glowingly illustrated in sun-washed pastels by author/artist Ventura, the book includes a glossary of relevant terms.

For a nice gift package, pair it with "Houses" by the same artist/author.

An excellent summary of the history of clothing and styles aimed at a younger reader. It covers the full spectrum of human history and contains stunning and often humorous illustrations by the author. A good overview for an older child or a preteen; but when buying it for a child be warned that there are some drawings of topless women in the ancient and medieval sections.

This is an excellent panorama of costumes representing Colonial and Early American Fashions, including nobility, servant, officer, pirate and more. The detail is beautiful, and careful research is obvious here. Tom Tierney can do no wrong!

For classroom use, homeschoolers, or adults fascinated with the everyday details of people's lives throughout history, I strongly recommend this book. Beautiful!

This book is great, not only for the detail of the dresses and costumes, but for the variety of outfits portrayed. I was expecting a lot of dresses, like you would see in Colonial Williamsburg, perhaps. Dress in the English style. But there are quite a few pictures of other colonial dress. There is a Scottish couple, Dutch fashions, and a drawing of Swiss immigrants. Very educational, as we tend to think only of English colonists during this time period.

Simply Seminole : Techniques & Designs in Quilt MakingThe Complete Book of Seminole Patchwork (Dover Needlework Series)
Both books are easy to understand and the patterns are colorful!

While the construction methods given are old-fashioned, this book is full of marvleous examples and ideas for creating your own Seminole Patchwork designs. Beverly Rush gives easy-to-understand instructions, plenty of background material, and a super foundation for taking this technique in many different directions. The photos of her work are very inspiring - I bought it because of the inside back cover illustrations, but now it's my favorite book on the subject. Definitely a must-have for anyone interested in the topic.

Inspirational, detailed, visually pleasing, good for research, and refrence. A must have if you are in the fashion industry

This is a great resource for costume designers and anyone else wanting to capture the look of a particular period. The drawings are detailed and include men's and women's styles for each year from the 1920s to the 1980s. Examples include evening wear, daywear, sportswear, and even underwear and wedding fashions. Accessories (hats, shoes, handbags) are also pictured. Plenty can be learned just from looking at the pictures, although the descriptions that follow help to summarize the particulars of line, fabrics, etc. Very easy to use. I LOVE this book and will refer to it often in my work. I wish Peacock would do one for earlier fashions.

I have used this book as the text in my Costume Design class for years and find it is the only one to my knowledge that covers both the conceptual aspects of costuming for the theatre as well the craft of rendering and construct. It even addresses historical information briefly. I was saddened to hear that the book was out of print. I am hoping a new edition will be out soon

I have Cletus as my design teacher at Carnegie Mellon University this year. I have looked at the book, and it is definitely worth using and referring to regularly. The main thing to know is that Cletus has done everything, knows everything and really, he is the end all source of theatre, costume and artistic information and advice. He got through Yale School of Drama Grad program without ever turning in anything late... think about that. Now why would you choose another book?

This book gives you everything you need for in-home costuming and working in a costume shop. Covers fabric, drafting and draping for patterns, how-to's on costume accessories, including shoes and wigs. Even covers armor. This book is 100% fabulous.

For intermediate level constume construction, but highly inspiring to the novice. Helpful for cosplay as well as stage.

This book goes into great detail concerning tools and technical sewing, materials and dyeing, drafting and creating patterns, measuring and fitting bodies, improvising props, and creating illusions. There is a helpful section about hair and hats, skipped over in other books. Many suggestions and ideas to make your own fake armour, jewelry, and shoes.

Pricey, but worth it. This book will bring out creativity you didn't know you had.

Tony Bently an auther who writes in great detail ( she also wrote the indepth Winter Season, and Susanne Farrells Biography.)
Tony once again is very successful with this magical book. When one reads Costumes by Karinska you never want to put it down. This book is also very rich in photos. a great combination. One does not have to be a dancer to read this book.
It is a rare treat. Buy it, you won't be dissapointed

If you have ever seen a ballet by George Balanchine, then you are familiar with the name Karinska. In the foreward to this magnificently produced book, the great Balanchine is quoted as saying to the Ford Foundation that what he needed most for his work was "Karinska." Truth or overstatement, it is an obvious tribute to the woman who designed the costumes for more than 75 ballets by one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century.

The author, Toni Bentley was not only a dancer with Balanchine's New York City Ballet, she also wrote the best book on ballet I've ever read: WINTER SEASON, A DANCER'S JOURNAL.

In COSTUMES BY KARINSKA Bentley traces Barbara Karinska's life and work in Russia and then, after becoming one of the numerous emigrees to the West, in Paris, Monte Carlo, London, Hollywood and, finally, Manhattan in 1949. Karinska worked with many other famous creative people in her long and varied career including Agnes De Mille, Jerome Robbins, Franco Zeffirelli and George Cukor to name just a few.

This oversized book contains scores of wonderful photographs and sketches in color and in black and white including, to me, the most interesting part of the book: descriptions of how Karinska took "raw" sketches by artists such as Noguchi, Dali, Chagall, etc. and, literally, turned them into costumes.

Bentley writes gracefully and wittily and, most importantly, she doesn't only write for dance professionals.

Treat yourself to this relatively expensive but very much worthwhile history of costume in the last century and the personal and professional life of the woman who "dressed" so many major stars from Gypsy Rose Lee to Laurence Olivier. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

This book was my constant companion throughout my childhood and I had many hours of fun with the suggestions from it.

This book teaches how to make costumes from houshold items, old clothes and the ever popular old sheets instead of from expensive materials.

The book is well written, well illustrated and thoroughly enjoyable. Though I am an adult now, I still enjoy thumbing through it.

I think every imaginative child (and what child isn't imaginative?) should have a book of this type to inspire their creativity. A shame it went out of print.

Costumes For Plays And Playing by author, illustrator, puppeteer and storyteller Gail E. Haley is a very practical "how-to" guide to the art of crafting effective stage costumes from everyday materials, with a minimum of fuss and bother. Featuring an easy to follow text which covers a wide variety of possible needs ranging from wild animals to soldiers out of ancient history, Costumes For Plays And Playing is a first-rate and "user friendly" guide which is very highly recommended, especially for school and community theater reference shelves.