Customer Reviews

Costume, 1066-1990s

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

 

 

Part of the difficulty of this book is that it tries to do so many periods--and does none of them well. The drawings convey the incorrect impression that basic silhouettes changed little over 900 years, and they seem to be based on other costume books, rather than on actual contemporary portrayas of dress, and so compound the errors of these earlier books, sometimes combining elements of dress which were never seen together in actual fact. There is no attempt to site sources for the costumes, so it cannot be used as a springboard for further research. The only real use I can see for it is perhaps for theatre designers wanting an overall impression of how the clothes of a particular period looked, and even then, there are much better books for almost every period in print.

I recently did a design project with the late 1800's as my inspiration. I found that because this book covers so many time periods, that it only really gives a brief overview of the time periods. I used other books and came across details that were repetatively seen, yet not included in this book. This book is good in that it does compile all of the time periods into one book and can give the reader a basic idea on what the styles were, but it shouldn't be relied on as an all-encompassing resource.

This isn't the "all inclusive" book but it does present nice pictures with short essay explainations. I was very tired of reading 5 pages of information to try and visualize what the costume looked like. This book along with a more detailed description was the best tools for my research.

I use this book a lot to give my customers a rough idea of what period costumes look like. If someone wants a costume from me, but don't really know what it is they are looking for I hand them this book so they can scan through the periods and find a general idea of what they want. Good for ideas for LARP costumes( but get a book with patterns too).

I have to disagree with some of the harsher reviews of this book. Well one is of course limited by covering 900 years of clothing history in 130 pages, this book does the job as a starting point and is a great "quick reference" for costumers. It includes a section on "further reading" that contains over 50 books, some of them excellent, and it is annotated so one without a huge collection knows what to expect from some of the included books. Yes, each group of years is limited by including only 4 looks per gender, but it gives a good idea of the look of a particular era without expending too much money on a huge collection of books. Though, if you find yourself enamored of a particular era, you should seek out more complete works on that time. Overall, it's a go to book in my collection when I need to quickly get into a time period for which I don't have a large number of resources.

John Peacock's books are all over the place, and it is such a shame. Any costume design or history class will teach you that for correct research, you need original sources, and unfortunately, this book has none. Personal interpretations carry with them the style of the period within which they were drawn, as well as the artist's own slant, and this is especially true in the works of John Peacock. With the vast amount of bad costuming found in theatres and some films, I hate to see how often this book is lauded as a great source and looked to for advice. Costume and Fashion: A Concise History by James Laver is a much better choice. Take the words of other reviewers and myself into consideration - if you are looking for valuable information, look somewhere else!

I hate to say this about any book, but the lack of cross references, the out of proportion sketches, and the lack of in depth information make this an absolute money waster. There are considerably better books even for the first time enthusiast with little cash.

I have been the costume designer for many of my school's plays, which have ranged from Medieval times to the 1970s to the 1840s in the deep south. And for every single project I have consulted this book. It may not have writing throughout all of it, but I have found that this helps none when you know nothing about the time period. The best thing is to just see how it was all put together. And this book does that wonderfully. I know that when I go off to college, this book will be going with me.

This book has enabled me to combine various elements from familiar patterns I had on hand to create designs that look absolutely authentic, without spending another dime!