Customer Reviews

20,000 Years of Fashion The History of Costume and Personal Adornment

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This thick reference book will look great on your coffee table... I've referenced it more times than I can count- if you are interested in historical costuming, this is a must have for a jumping point to do more research. It shows an overview of history through fashion, though I must admit the reading didn't draw me in, despite several attempts to drudge through it. More than anything, this book is full of copies of primary and secondary sources- both photographs of museum artifacts and details of paintings and sculptures. It has some nice information on Egyptian and Roman fashion in the beginning, but other than that its primary focus is on Anglo-Saxon oriented fashion. It must be stressed that this book is not an end all and be all when it comes to the word on fashion- though it provides a useful and generalized overview, and it may happen to have what you are looking for, it does completely ignore some very important years/fashions (example: Tudor, late 1400-mid 1500s! ). Caveat emptor, more for art fans and theatre costumers than die hard history buffs, but overall a good buy.

I recommend this book primarily for those wanting a good overview of a very long period of time and for the beautiful pictures, many of which are in colour. However, especially for the periods before 1500, there often are simply not enough illustrations to accurately portray the changes in fashion during these years, and the text tends to focus on French fashion almost exclusively. I've also discovered errors in descriptions of styles by as much as a century and a half--best to ignore the text and make your own analysis based on the illustrations themselves, which are all contemporary sources, not modern interpretations or redrawing. A very good resource book for any costume library.

20,000 Years of Fashion is one of the best general overviews of the history of clothing. It is full of many beautiful color prints that are lovely to look at, and they are all considered "primary resource". Primary resources are paintings, drawings, statuary, or any art from that specific period. It is considered to be the most reliable and accurate depictions of what was worn (and even these are subject to interpretation). This is in contrast to this same artwork redrawn today. A good example of this are the really beautiful books of medieval costuming done during the Victorian era, such as those by Rascinet. The illustrations are redrawn from medieval paintings. They are beautiful color illustrations - but totally inaccurate. You can see the Victorian influence and mindset in their drawings. 20,000 Years of Fashion brings a general overview of clothing history and how it was influenced by its environment. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading about clothing history or anyone just looking for a lovely book of pretty pictures.

I recently purchased 8 different books on the history of costume, and I am pleased to say that this book seems to be, by FAR, the best book, while also being the lowest priced work that I purchased! I purchased the books with the intention of using them to assist in dating eighteenth and nineteenth century portraits, and this book is PERFECT for the task. When you open this book and flip through the pages, you can't help but think that it is exactly what you were seeking. It is just bursting with text and images, all on quality glossy paper that makes the images easy to see. Many of the fashion books I have examined seemed to have either too much text at the expense of images, or too many images with no additional information to assist. This book offers substantial helpings of both! I have to disagree with the reviewers who say the text is hard to follow or that the pictures are too small.... The pictures are quite easy to see, and the only ones in black and white are of origiinal works that happen to be in black and white, so I don't think this was a fair criticism. The text seems logically presented, with easy-to-follow section headings. I would never say that this book could serve as the "only" book you need if you are serious about obtaining specialist knowledge on the history of costume. However, I would certainly name it as the best "all-in-one" to start with. This book combines drawings of fashions, photographs of actual period clothing in museum settings, and plenty of examples of painted works depicting fashion trends. Being the critical person that I am, I cannot help but point out what I see as the one flaw: this book has extremely sparse information on military uniforms, so if you are interested in militaria you will need to seek a more specialized book. If you are interested in SEWING period clothing, I recommend Norah Waugh's works, "The Cut of Men's Clothing" and "The Cut of Women's Clothing". If you are interested in identifying period fashion trends, especially in small details such as accessories, hairstyles, buttons, etc. I HIGHLY recommend this book. I can honestly say that if it cost three times as much, I would still be recommending it as the best one I've seen yet. If it were an option, I would have given this book SIX STARS!

If you can only own one book on the history of costume this is the book. I would put it on my top ten books to take to a desert island IF ONLY to remember what the world once looked like. It doubles as an art history book in the sense that it uses art up until the 20th century to show what people (albeit WEALTHY people who could afford to have their portraits done) wore. It is a beautiful resource.

This book is full of excellent 1st degree research. I have used it on multiple occassions to set me on the right track for doing intensive research on a variety of periods. It does lack a bit in non-Western costume, but the periods it does cover are done very well. Its a great reference book to have around.

I really debated between giving this 4 or 5 stars. This is a book I reference when I need a little more in-depth info about a certain period or style. As some of the other reviewers have said it is not an easy or engaging read. However, the text is very scholarly and deals a lot with political and economic factors that influenced the world of fashion (many books simply describe the developments in the garments without dealing much with the "why"). There are many images to show the progression of fashion changes and Boucher includes photos of extant garments (where possible), statues, accessories, etc. alongside reproductions of paintings. Each period is introduced by a general overview of the European world of the time (politics, economy, etc.) and then divided into sections such as Spanish Costume, or Military Costume. If you need a general overview of the complete history of (Western) fashion with a lot of scholarly text to back it up, look no further.

This book is a great source for pictures but the text is not as useful. It is more anthropological than historical and has been translated from French so is sometimes unclear.

I'd go so far, in fact, as to say that if you don't have _20,000 Years of Fashion_ in your library, or if you don't have ready access to a library that has this book, your credentials as a serious student of fashion would have to be called somewhat into question. This massive 440-page-plus tome could serve as a college text in costume history; and I make no doubt that, at some schools, it has filled just that role. Do bear in mind that this book covers fashion only up to about 1965 (that, however, may be no great hardship to those who believe that there hasn't really been any great couture since the last time Hubert de Givenchy designed something for Audrey Hepburn :) ). There is a truly staggering amount of illustrations in the book - over 1100, of which some 350 are full-color - and the array includes reproductions of many famous paintings and other artworks showcasing especially notable costumes. Every item of costume and couture is covered in detail, from head (hats) to feet (shoes) and in between. In contrast to some other pictorial works of fashion I've reviewed, there is a very extensive and detailed text, though, as another reviewer has noted, it was originally written in French and has been translated to English, with the possible loss of some nuances and idioms in the process.

Overall, I repeat my initial judgment: this is a mandatory item for anyone seriously interested in the history of costume to have in their library.

I would never have passed any of my Costume Design classes in college without this book and even now find it to be ridiculously useful when it comes to double-checking period dress I see in shows or movies. You wouldn't believe how many people get the costumes wrong!!!