Customer Reviews

Let There Be Clothes: 40,000 Years of Fashion

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

 

 

Too many authors of fashion/costume history get really stuffy, even pedantic in their published expertise. This is not that kind of author - she presents in a conversational format historical facts, quotes, a general timeline, and many reprinted photos, drawings and paintings showing fashion or something interesting to do with our favorite topic. Since it's written more like Vogue than any textbook, it's easier to digest and remember, and wholly entertaining at the same time. After all, what is fashion history but a record of the everyday clothes people wore during their lifetime, the same way we look at our bluejeans. This source of endless fashion trivia was a surprise gift from a friend and has become one of my favorite rainy day reads. And there's something for everyone: clothing colors of Egypt - the popular and the magical (p. 50), a medieval recipe for toothpaste (p. 138), a credit for the first owner of black satin sheets in the 1570's (p.177), Madame de Pompadour's deathbed act of cosmetic vanity (p. 227), the origin of men's trouser cuffs (p. 273), several references to fashions inspired by the silver screen (p. 348), the Edwardian revival of the early 1970's (p. 392), and a zillion more bits of tid. You'll find yourself saying "hmmm! never knew that!" pretty darn often. This book provides justification for saying "everything old becomes new again" and a fun perspective on constantly changing fashion through the ages. Especially appropriate for younger readers who couldn't make it through a textbook approach to clothing, or for those of us who like to read in bed without dozing off. Keep an eye out for this volume and snap up as many copies as you ever find.

40,000 Years of Fashion: Let There Be Clothes is one of the most humorous costuming books it has been my pleasure to read. It is a campy romp through the history of fashion from the prehistoric fur bikini to the hottest and hippest of the retro 90's. 40,000 years is not to be used as a serious research book, but it's fantastic for the vintage fashion enthusiast that is looking for the short take on a long subject. Fashion tips and social quips relevant to each century gives this book its charm

Funny, hip, accurate, and fascinating--what could possibly be wrong with a book whose chapter on the 17th century is titled "Louie, Louie?" It covers all the technical terms, shows the relationships between ripped jeans and the Reformation, and doesn't leave out makeup, shoes, gloves or plastic surgery. There is life after social anthropology

This is it; The Book, the one that made me fall in love with the history of clothing and fashion. You have to take everything with a grain of salt, but the easy-to-approach format with the pages divided into `articles' sort of like a newsletter, the fun graphics, and interesting historical tie-ins make this one of my favorite fashion history books. If you're looking for an in-depth historical study this is NOT for you. However, if you are looking for a fun, irreverent frolic through the togas, doublets, and surplices of times past pick up a copy of this when you find it, it's well worth it.

Why do people wear what they wear? This book tells all! Did blondes have more fun in Ancient Rome? In 40 A.D. laws were passed requiring Roman prostitutes to dye their hair blonde. Ever wonder what the Gauls wore into battle? They died their mustaches blue, put on their horned helmets and went off to war stark naked from the neck down! Why did LOuis XIV make high heels and stockings an essential for the well-dressed man? (He wanted to show off his great legs!) This book is a riot... buy it!

A fun, funky and thoroughly entertaining way to learn about clothes from the past and their role in history. Get your hands on this book!

This is a fun read with lots of great fashion trivia. There were areas where not as much detail were given (i have come to realize that no book on the entire history of fashion gives enough detail for each specific era) it was a very good overview of the history. Most books of this type can be stuffy and hard to read through but the author takes a humorous stance to her teaching. This in a book that will stay in my collection until they ship me off to the nursing home.

This is a great book. It delivers the information in a fresh, witty manner. The only thing I was disappointed in was the condition of the book. It said it was like new, and arrived with sticker marks on the cover and some bent corners on the pages. Other than the condition of my specific book, I am very pleased with the content and would definitely recommend it.