Tudor Costume and Fashion (Dover Fashion and Costumes) [Paperback]

Herbert Norris (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Fashion and Costumes | Publication Date: July 10, 1997

Monumental, profusely illustrated study of English fashions from 1485–1603. Highly authentic, detailed survey exuberantly describes clothing, headgear, hairstyles, jewelry, collars, footwear, more worn by royalty, nobility, middle and lower classes. Most illustrations from contemporary sources. 1,000 black-and-white figures. 24 halftones. 22 color plates.

Product Details

• Paperback: 920 pages
• Publisher: Dover (July 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486298450
• ISBN-13: 978-0486298450
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #406,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good resource!, September 27, 2000

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This review is from: Tudor Costume and Fashion (Dover Fashion and Costumes) (Paperback)

Depending on what you want to do. It won't show you how to sew anything. However, it does have great pictures in clear black and white showing what people wore in all different classes of society from about 1485 to 1601, carefully documenting changes in high fashion and also showing differences in different countries (England, Spain, France, Germany). I could recognize many of the portraits he used, as a historian of the time, but his drawings made what was actually being worn more clear than in portraits. You couldn't sew a costume just using his pictures, but if you had a pattern from somewhere else, his pictures would make it look more accurate. For details of sewing techniques, and photos of actual period clothes .I would go to Janet Arnold. I think that they supplement each other well. But neither is really a pattern book (except maybe if you are much more advanced than I am).

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Its virtues outweigh its flaws, March 27, 1999

By 

Catherine Raymond (Malvern, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tudor Costume and Fashion (Dover Fashion and Costumes) (Paperback)

For dedicated scholars of costume, Norris's book is irritating for two reasons: he seldom lists the sources of his beautifully drawn illustrations, making it difficult to assess their accuracy, and he packs his text with rambling digressions into history and historical anecdotes of dubious authenticity. However, you will never find so much information about Tudor costume for people from all ranks and all walks of life in any other place (especially not for such a low price), and Norris's wonderful black-and-white drawings illuminate for the discerning reader how some of the magnificent ensembles depicted by Van Dyke and Hilliard must have been made. By all means buy this book if you have any interest in Tudor costume, but check Norris against dated sources first if your objective is museum-quality recreation.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A value to anyone interested in Tudor & Elizabethian Fashion, March 6, 2000

By 

akasha_in_nyc "akasha_in_nyc" (Jersey City, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tudor Costume and Fashion (Dover Fashion and Costumes) (Paperback)

This book is a must have for anyone who is interested in fashion of the 1500s. It is the best tool I have found so far for Tudor fashions in most of Europe. It gives a great deal of information that is valuable to anyone who is recreating dress of the era. However, it does have some flaws. Norris tends to draw conclusions without giving reasons. Some of these appear to be incorrect. Also, there is a a profoundly English slant to information. Overall however, it is the best resource for Tudor fashion. For Elizabethian, "Elizabethan Costuming" by Janet Winter & "Patterns of Fashion : The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women C1560-1620" by Janet Arnold are better for the money.