Customer Reviews

Fashion: A History from the 18th to the 20th Century (Taschen, No. 25) (Midi S.) (2 Volumes)

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This is the EXACT same book as the huge meaty tome Fashion, just broken into 2-user friendly volumes and slipcased. Don't do what I did and buy it twice by mistake.....still, not a loss; I gave the slipcovered one as a Christmas present!

It's an amazing book, a true reference for fashion enthusiasts, historical recreators, and costume designers. It is the cornerstone of my collection. I also had to wait a year for it to ship from Germany; glad Amazon finally has it reliably stocked!

Books on costume history generally come in two varieties: either illustrated with contemporary works of art featuring people in particualr costumes, or with custom-made drawings. The solution offered in this book is unique, and preferable by far. It showcases the collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute in sumptuous photographs. The colours, textures and shapes of costumes come across in their full splendour, exhibited on stylish, white dummies. Seeing the weird contraptions women once strapped to their waists in order to give their dress the required shape is also something quite different, and slightly shocking, when viewed in a photograph, as opposed to in a drawing.

The two volumes of this set do by no means attempt to illustrate costume history in its entirety either historically or geographically. They only cover Western fashions in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and even within these confines are selective. The accent, as one might expect, is very much on women's clothing. Also, while the slimmer of both volumes covers both 18th and 19th centuries, the larger volume is dedicated in its entirety to the 20th. In my view, the second half of the latter volume focusses on extreme designer fashion in too much detail, constituting a conceptual breach with earlier parts of the book, where clothing is shown that was actually worn in daily life, and not only on the catwalk. But that is a minor niggle. Designers, illustrators and historians alike are bound to be delighted with this set, and even the casual browser will likely find it hard to put down. Every page is a feast for the eye; the costumes shown are rarely less than dazzling; and the quality of the pictures is exquisite. The books, which come in a slipcase, are stylishly laid out, and offer just enough textual background information. At the price, this is a steal.

Taschen has made another design masterwork. Though I'm not so interested in fashion per se, the book has an excellent layout with arty photos of clothing styles through modern history. Such a short volume cannot obviously contain a large diversity of styles, but it does an admirable job. Much of the clothing is shown worn by featureless manequins which add that artful quality to the pictures. The text is not quite as informative as I would like: only some of the pieces are discussed.

This book offers a comprehensive collection of exceptional outfits (beautifully presented). Most of which, I have never seen in other books of a similar subject matter. There is an overwhelming wealth of photographs, all in color. Many of the documented outfits also have accompanying detail shots (hugely inciteful). Everything about this two volume set is splendid, the fact that both volumes are soft back in a presentation case (which makes them even more affordable), is easily forgiven. You will find yourself salivating over the first Volume, the 18th and 19th Centuries (fly fringe, lace, chenille fringe, satin covered beads). An invaluable resource !

This is an amazing set of books if you're trying to reproduce period costume, or get those irksome details that nobody else seems to be willing to provide in close-up detail. The photography is clear and clean - and while KCI hasn't provided a great deal by way of commentary, the lush images and detail shots speak for themselves.

I'm absolutely amazed that this set is selling for such a low cost - even as a set of 'paperback' books, the glossy coffee table quality would normally lead me to expect a significantly higher price.

I ordered this book literally 2 days ago & today i got home & it was here already!!! I was jumping up & down i was so excited! The books are beautiful & i couldnt be more thrilled about the great price i got them for. Glowing books, your the best!!

I am in the process of building my own Fashion Design Library with books that covers differents aspects of this fascinating world (drawing, patternmaking, draping, sociological, business and so forth) including Fashion History. I knew about fashion books published by Taschen during a Fashion Design Course I took last Summer in Italy. Previously I got Fashion Now (Icons) from Taschen and this one has an even better price-quality relationship: fancy presentation, high quality of the pictures and brief explanations about each century covered by the 2 volumes and most of the pieces presented. You can really spend hours!!! enjoying all the finishing details of the clothes.