Costumes Books

There are other books out there that provide more complete information but they lack good resources with portraits, sculpture and quotes from the people of that time period - finding a book this good is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. This is the book that has many good historic references for you to see and read and it provided me with valuable historical evidence for a course I taught on Italian Renaissance hair taping. I also study french braiding and historical haircare from the same time frame and there are good resources for that as well. I do not know if this would be helpful for the costume designer but for the historian and recreators out there, I highly recommend it!

This is the ONLY book I've ever seen devoed to whole to the history of Jewish dress. And with the possible exacption of The Jews of Ethiopia it cover nearly every mager Jewish settmet from the ealry biblac arro to the early 1700's. I must have cheeked it out from my school libray at leat three times. The only detator is that the pitures arn't in color. But the infomation involed is remakable. The aruther uses mide-evil mauusepes , 17 centery engeqaves, Talmic refaces and rabbic and palpal ornces, theres even an Apendic of sevel Rebbincal Synods.

As a reanctor I haven't found any other aouther who bother given more then cusrtoy mention of Jewish dress. This is a must read for anyone who studys costuming, or Jewish history.

I only wish I owned a coppy.

This is a picture reference from a fashoinable old pattern catalog, but what makes it especially interesting and different is that it includes actual articles...how to sew particular styles, how to do your hair, how to choose a corset, etc.

I was given this by a friend for my 4 year old and she loves it (yes it is a good girl toy too). the story is fun and the dress up kit is pretty durable. Nice gift for any child (girl or boy) who has caught pirate fever.

My 4 kids and I LOVE Alison Lester. This book is really fun and amusing and has a surprising end. Lester uses wonderful language and a little rhyme with each page..."I'm Green and I'm grumpy, I'm huge and I roar. I'm a thudering, rumbling...(turn the page)...DINOSAUR! Lester' illustrations are always very sweet and amusing with lots going on. I would recommend anything written by her.

This book not only defines hundreds of types of lace - including close-up photographs, drawings, and diagrams of many of them - it also discusses terms dealing with the history and manufacture of these amazing works of art. It is a concise and comprehensive book that I have found incredibly helpful. It also has a wonderful bibliography for those who are looking for more detailed, in depth information regarding particular styles of lace.

This is a magazine style book of 64 pages. It is light on text, but every page is illustrated with a beautiful colour photo of costumes for the Costume Institue from the Met Museum of Art in NY. The costumes range from a lovely embroidered 17th century dress to the beautiful evening dresses produced by the leading designers of the 1950's.

This book is worth every cent for the photo content. Many a more expensive book has less to offer.

"Victorian rooms were cluttered with objects, some handcrafted and others manufactured. There were ornaments and potted plants, such as aspidistras, and stuffed animals and birds in glass cases."

The Victorian Age was named for Queen Victoria who ruled Britain and Ireland from 1837 to 1901. During this time period, industry changed much of the traditional life in Britain. Machines replaced the human hand in crafts and people soon realized that mass production did not give the quality of the earlier handmade goods.

In this book you can learn about:

Victorian Crafts
Clothes and Fashion
Festivals and Holidays

Shows pictures of old sewing machines, details of tapestry, dollhouses, decorated books, Paris fashions and paintings.

You can also learn to make Victorian valentine's cards, Victorian silhouettes, decoupage and puppets.

There is also a glossary and a list of further reading.

Also look for Clothes and Crafts in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Aztec Times, Middle Ages and Roman Times.

~The Rebecca Review

This is a great book if you collect artifacts and want to see what they are presently going for.

The costumes are facinating. All the different idea's of the people from the dog world. The photographer caught the perfect pictures of everyone's creativity when it comes to there beloved furbaby ......... including the photographer's creativity of capturing the perfect spooky Shots. The coloration and boldness brings out the SNAP SHOT in all these photo's. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK .... KAREN.

Maggie