The Development of Costume (Heritage: Care-Preservation-Management) [Paperback]

Naomi Tarrant (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415080193 | ISBN-13: 978-0415080194 | Publication Date: May 24, 1996 | Edition: New edition

Clothing is the outward and visible sign of taste, discrimination, social attitude and status. In every culture, men and women pay enormous attention to the minutiae of dress and appearance.
This authoritative study looks at both the social and physical aspects of clothes. It traces the history and development of clothing from the earliest times to the machine age, showing how fabrics, decoration, shape and structure, reflect and are affected by culture and technology.
Drawing on first-hand experience of the exhibition of costume, this volume also covers the concepts, methods and practicalities of putting clothing on display and making it relevant and accessible to the general public.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Naomi Tarrant is Curator of Costume and Textiles in the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; New edition edition (May 24, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415080193
• ISBN-13: 978-0415080194
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,885,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I really enjoyed this book., November 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Development of Costume (Heritage: Care-Preservation-Management) (Paperback)

Very few books can be useful to more than one time period or region of historical costuming research. This volume is one that is. The book starts out with a short discussion of skin garments, works through early peplos or bog-style dresses, and continues through the various centuries to modern clothing. It touches upon fabric weaving styles, various types of material, stitches and alternative fastenings, pattern layout and cutting methods, differences between male and female clothing, ect. There is no in-depth coverage of any one particular topic, but the information is useful to many different re-enactors based in general European or Early American cultures. I would suggest this book as an invaluable starting place for new costume makers. In particular, it collects information from many singularly useful sources into one place (an early Anglo-Saxon garment, the Greenland gown, when machine-sewn garments became widespread, examples of stitch types, short discussions on natural dyes, fiber and weave types, etc).

I bought this book because I heard about it on one of the re-enacting mailing lists, and was curious about it. I fell in love with in after a few minutes of reading it. I want to stress again that it's greatest strength is the range of topics it covers - it would be of equal use to a Medieval or a Regency or a Victorian re-enactor/costumer. If you are very new to costuming, or have friends who are, I highly recommend this book to start out a personal library.