Customer Reviews

Full-Color Sourcebook of French Fashion: 15th to 19th Centuries (Dover Fashion and Costumes)

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Dover's edition is reproduced from colorplates

from "Modes et Costumes Historiques" (Paris, 1864).

It is a very good guide to fashions of the nobility

and general costume of the peasant/working class,

including women and men, a doctor, page,

shepherdess, and chambermaid, etc.

There is a List of Plates at the front, but no Introduction, Index in the back, or glossary of terms. Plate captions include the Plate number, General Title, Date.

(ie: "Plate 3. Women from the outskirts of Paris (reign of Charles VIII), 1443.")

This edition would go well with Dover's

_An Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Costume_ or

_A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion Historic and Modern_.

The book is well worth it for fashion enthusiasts! As an art historian and illustrator, I find Dover's color plates extremely useful for accurate patterns and fabric colors.

I don't own this book-- let me say that up front. But with any reproduction from the 19th century, there's one thing of which you must beware: the Victorians LOVED to put their "stamp" on things. If you look at the bodies of the women, for example, you can see they hold to a Victorian standard of beauty, not one contemporary to the costumes rendered. The differences in line and fit for the articles of clothing themselves are also subtly different, based on, again, a very different aesthetic. While this may not matter to anyone looking for general outlines and period landmarks, it's something to keep in mind for more serious research. In other words, if you're looking to reproduce a costume somewhat faithfully, this shouldn't be your primary resource.