Customer Reviews

Victorian Costume for Ladies, 1860-1900: With Price Guide

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

 

 

This relatively inexpensive book still features crisp, beautifully reproduced illustrations. A real strength is the frequent inclusion of the full photographer's mount instead of cropping to the image. Setnik also finds it important to record where an image is taken, showing that she is aware that there were geographically specific fashion trends. The author attempts to combine her knowledge of costume with the history of photography. (These topics are often published separately.) The result is helpful. A major weakness is the lack of strong, dated examples. The author instead has written the history, and then found pictures to illustrate it. Consequently, the book is really the history of costume of the middle to upper class. Lower income groups, trades and ethnicity are not the subjects of this book. In my opinion, Setnick also over-generalizes when it comes to "poses" and "backgrounds". It is very difficult to rely on either for dating.

Victorian Costume For Ladies 1860-1900 is a photographic compendium of 350 nineteenth century images capturing yesteryear ladies' fashions worn in America. Author Linda Setnik thoroughly explores the fluctuations in Victorian fashions including undergarments, casual wear, sports clothes, common dress, evening attire, hairstyles, and jewelry -- and tracing the impact of fashion on the mental, physical, and social lives of Victorian ladies. Comprehensive, reader friendly, Victorian Costume For Ladies 1960-1900 is a welcome and impressive contribution that will be greatly appreciated by theatrical costumers, fashion historians, students of Victorian culture, and photography buffs.

What a wonderful reference book to have! It is well thought out and researched and the text is illustrated perfectly with beautiful period photographs. So much detail about period costume is included and organized, decade by decade, that this is a must have reference for any collector of antique clothing. Both the novice and experienced collector will find new information here!

This is a great book for anyone who collects victorian clothing. It is the one I refer to when trying to find the date of a particular piece. It goes into the detail of what was fashionable for the bodice, skirt, sleeve, etc. broken down into approximately two-six year periods. The pictures are of old CDV's so you can see how the dresses were actually worn (most originating from California). There are no pictures of period garments up close as some other books have. Still, the best book at mentioning fashions in detail for dating and illustrates tricky terms such as basque and cuirass bodices.

I love the Victorian Era and I also write historical fiction. I'm always looking for good resources and this book is an excellent addition to my collection.

The author gives a brief introduction about the time period and what people were wearing. Ms. Setnik then explains what dresses looked like, and what they were made from. She then has a category in each chapter for sleeves, hair and jewelry(which I found very helpful). Within the chapters there are a ton of pictures which were great examples of what she already wrote about. I'm no seamstress so occasionally I wasn't sure what she was talking about but the pictures helped me understand.

Included in this book are chapters on laundry, cosmetics, hygiene and so much more.

There were only two problems I had with this book. One, it doesn't come in hardcover, which is a huge disappointment for me. The other issue I had was the book is large, so it was cumbersome for me to hold. I wish it had been smaller, though I suppose if it had then the reader wouldn't get all of the great photos. And some of the photos are very large showing off great details.

Anyone who is interested in the Victorian Era and what women wore needs to buy this. Its a great reference. Highly recommended.