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Victorian costume and costume accessories
Victorian dress, the dress of more than 60 years, is not a single fashion but a sequence of styles, each evolving gradually from the preceding style, catching and reflecting changes in art and society.
- GenresFashionFashion History
215 pages, Unknown Binding
First published October 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 10, 2018
Victorian Costume and Costume Accessories contains a wealth of information on women’s, men’s and children’s clothing and accessories. For over 40 years author Anne Buck was Keeper of the Gallery of English Costume at Platt Hall in Manchester, so she has plenty of costuming knowledge. However, the writing lacks logical organization and tends to jump back and forth between Victorian sub-eras rather than focusing on each era and its characteristics individually. Even though I took notes, the text was rather confusing and repetitive. Technical clothing terms were used without being defined, so a bit of costuming/sewing background or cross-reference is needed to fully understand the text.
The illustrations are all in black and white, mostly photographs of clothing from the Gallery of English Costume. Visualizing the bright colors noted in the captions is difficult, especially on garments embroidered in several colors. Additional illustrations show Victorian era paintings, poorly reproduced, and it is difficult to correlate the captions with the images. Text references to the illustrations fail to cite page numbers, so the reader must flip through pages constantly. The index is minimal.
I understand that in 1984, when this volume was published, analog color reproductions were extremely expensive. A new digital image edition with color images would have improved the book enormously. However, I imagine that a new edition was not printed because of the lack of clarity and organization of the text.
Though I was disappointed in this book, it might still be useful to patient and organized researchers and costumers. The women’s accessory chapters are particularly useful and well illustrated with line drawings.
The illustrations are all in black and white, mostly photographs of clothing from the Gallery of English Costume. Visualizing the bright colors noted in the captions is difficult, especially on garments embroidered in several colors. Additional illustrations show Victorian era paintings, poorly reproduced, and it is difficult to correlate the captions with the images. Text references to the illustrations fail to cite page numbers, so the reader must flip through pages constantly. The index is minimal.
I understand that in 1984, when this volume was published, analog color reproductions were extremely expensive. A new digital image edition with color images would have improved the book enormously. However, I imagine that a new edition was not printed because of the lack of clarity and organization of the text.
Though I was disappointed in this book, it might still be useful to patient and organized researchers and costumers. The women’s accessory chapters are particularly useful and well illustrated with line drawings.
February 20, 2008
needs more figures and plates. needed to try to find examples of things online a lot, not to mention look up definitions.
GT737 .B78 1984
GT737 .B78 1984
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews