Customer Reviews

Anglomania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was one of the most beautiful and innovative special exhibitions I have ever seen at the Met in the 25 years I've been going there. I bought the book on Amazon, sight unseen, because it was published after the show closed. What a shame - the book doesn't approach the quality of the show, simply because the Met obviously did not hire a photographer up to this level of aesthetic. It is not a book of photography depicting the show so much as a _catlogue_ of the show, a reference book using technically able but sterile lighting. Oddly too harsh and too flat at the same time. Disappointing.

If you were lucky enough to see this show you know what a wonderful, edgy but beautiful exhibit it was. I was so happy there would be a book and anticipated it for many many months. I know that no book can recreate the actual expereince of being there so just having the visual representations in the photographs, which by the way I found to be very good, it looked just the way it looked when you were there more or less. Of course I felt there could have been more, but it does cover the entire exhibit. The quality if the book is great. I love the cover and under the dust jacket is nice too. Very glad I purchased this after waiting so long after the show. If you loved AngloMania, or just fashion and costume you need this book.

Since I saw the Anglomania show at the Met last spring, I anxiously awaited the publication of this book! It gives a good overview explaining the role of the fashions shown in the exhibit and is filled with photographs highlighting some of the most interesting aspects of the designers' work. I really enjoyed being able to see some of the accessories in greater detail than was possible in person. One caveat is that the photos are a bit dark, as would be expected to those who viewed the works in the dim gallery spaces, perhaps setting a somber tone to a show that was full of life. I really wish that Anglomania would have been available during the run of the exhibit!

I'm always dissapointed in the book after every breathtaking and inspiring Costume Exhibit I've seen. But this journal of the MET's Anglomania show was a thrill! It has ALL the pictures of ALL the pieces in the exhibit and so worth having whether you were lucky enough to be there or not.

Apart from the STUNNING arrangement, I was first struck by the shear QUALITY of the paper it is printed on. Not something that I am in the habit of noticing or raving about.....but the pages are THICK, HEAVY, nearly card-stock quality!
The fashion shots are BREATHTAKING!!! There was veritable torrent of wicked cool juxtaposition on EVERY page! The background is staged by very fine, English interior design and architecture. The scenes that are staged remind me of a REALLY yummy high fashion, photo shoot or edgy rock music video. Delicate 18th century gowns, appropriately displayed on featureless white mannequins, with straggly, windswept hot pink or purple wigs. Gutter punk, hard core, street freaks with mowhawks made out of cigarettes, barbed wire, tampons, newspaper or severed barbie doll legs....posed out in a proper looking gentlemans' room. Complete with white mannequin dog wearing torn black fishnets. Couture designer representations of period fashion, paired with wigs that would give Detroit Motor City's "Hair Wars" a run for it's money. A poignant scene with a plaid clad punk, a skulls jaw the only visible thing on his face, dying in a gothic bed. A woman at his side wearing a skinny black dress and a silver 3-D spinal cord and rib cage. And a nursemaid in prim black and gray, civil war era fashion attending to the right of his deathbed.....
A FEAST for the artistic senses! This would have been a FANTABULOUS exhibit to visit! I'm just glad I get to own the book as a consolation prize!
The only downside, was the lack of page to page description of what is featured in each picture. There seems to be an index of descriptions in the back, but it's a bit hard to follow. Or my attention span keeps getting too distracted with looking back and forth, from description to picture plate.

I realize this book serves as a catalog of the Met exhibit, but it looks like the pictures were taken by a tourist with a pocket digital camera. The angles are all slightly off and none of the clothing details are easily identified. The clothes on display are stunning and the whole of the exhibit looks well developed; I just wish they had done more staged photography rather than a realtor's walk through point of view.