Customer Reviews

Fashion: The Twentieth Century

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Fashion books tend to focus in on one subject or personality, or sometimes a series of related subjects. Fashion, the Twentieth Century is an entirely comprehensive look into the world of fashion and how it has developed over the past century. The book is divided into two "chapters", and delves into many different sub-topical areas of fashion interest. It focuses on different fashion eras, as well as different popular (and avant-garde!) designers over the past 100 years. Although I tend to enjoy a more single subject type of fashion book, I found this book useful for its depth of many topics, not to mention some interesting and gorgeous fashion photography. As a sort of fashion encyclopedia, it will make a useful addition to any fashionista's library.

'Fashion - The Twentieth Century' by Francois Baudot is the book to read if you really want to gain an insight into 20th century fashion trends. Its five page bibliography is the most comprehensive list of any fashion book we have come across. Baudot is an expert and this is what makes the book so enjoyable. There are many pictures and the text flows and is very informative. There are also separate features on the important designers/couturiers of the 20th century. A historical review of fashion is presented at the beginning of the book and at the start of each of the eleven sections.

I think those who are already well-educated on fashion would find this interesting, but as a regular person who's just interested in understanding the changes throughout the past century (hemlines, makeup, fabrics, colors..) I found this book totally inaccessible. It seems to be more of a history of fashion as an art form and of the high-fashion designers' collections and without really clear dates or references to how ordinary people wore styles.

So jam-packed full of information and pictures, great for history, trends, great source book in a compact easy-to-carry size.

It's a Rizzoli; light on the text, heavy on the graphic. But vastly incomplete and devoted to high fashion only. No trickle-down here, which is a shame. When will someone publish a historically complete book on fashion encompassing couture to K Mart?