The Wearing of Costume: The Changing Techniques of Wearing Clothes and How to Move in Them, from Roman Britain to the Second World War

by Ruth M. Green

Softcover - 1994 - Safira Publications - SIGNED BY AUTHOR w/inscription. Book is in "new" unread condition. Clean and bright inside and out.

Genres: History, Fashion

171 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

Reviews

[Zara West · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is wonderful book that describes how to move in clothing from antiquity to 1900s. If you write historical fiction you will find this book full of useful information.

[margot]

For THE 354
Certainly dated and has its flaws, but this is essential reading. Will absolutely reference it next time I’m working on a period piece.

[Alessandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wearing of Costume by Ruth M. Green is a helpful book for historical costumers because it tells one how to avoid looking like a modern-day person dressing up in historical clothes. Rather than focus on details of costume, hair, and accessories like so many costuming authors do, Ms. Green talks about the posture and movement necessary to gracefully deal with historical clothing.

Every era had its fashionable shapes, but more vitally, it had fashionable movements and ways of holding the body. Just as the shapes of chairs changed depending on what clothes people wore, so did carriages and gestures (For example, before the nineteenth century women regularly sat with their knees splayed wide in order to hold things better in their laps. Only with the short skirts of the 1920s did keeping your knees and ankles firmly clamped together while sitting become considered ladylike.). It's a fascinating way of gaining an understanding of how people lived.

Ms. Green gives clear examples. Regrettably, nearly all of the illustrations are her own drawings, which unfortunately overlays her perceptions over the examples and distorts them. Still, it's a useful book.

Recommended for actors, re-enactors, and historical costumers.