Customer Reviews

Vintage Clothing 1880-1980

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

 

 

I have a number of vintage clothing books in my library and have been collecting vintage clothing and accessories for almost 20 years. This book is the only one I have regretted buying. Many of the "illustrations" are black and white drawings that explain color and cut. The descriptions are not adequate-there are few if any makers names listed and there's no index to help in the process of looking up an item. Many of the models that are used do not carry the clothing well and since the photographs are in black and white you cannot see the pieces properly. The one thing that I can say that's positive is that she does list the time periods for the items she shows, and she does pack many plates into her book.

If you are looking for information on clothing between 1880 and about 1919, by all means, this is the book for you. But, if you're like me and you are looking for a book on clothing from 1930 on, pass this one up. More than 3/4 of this book is dedicated to victorian clothing. You can also tell which decades this author favors. While pictures of models (if you can really call these women models) in victorian clothing are carefully posed and accessorized, the more current clothing is slapped on just about anyone who would stand still long enough to have their picture taken. Example - the 60+ year old woman in the WEDDING DRESS. There are really no clothing from the 70s or 80s in this book and the 50s and 60s are very sparse. The prices are also unreasonably high for the average collector. I was EXTREMELY disappointed with this book. But I do have to admit I did get a couple of giggles from some of the pitiful pictures.

I have just started studying and researching vintage clothing. I did not find this book to be all that helpful. The value guide seems to be very high. Some of the pictures are interesting and the summaries at the beginning of the chapters are somewhat helpful, however, I feel there are better books available for research.

This book deserves better reviews than it has received here. First of all, it was one of the very first "guides" written for vintage clothing collectors, and I still appreciate and value the nearly 300 pages of fashion images both illustrative and photographic.

As for the "value" guide; we know, or should know, that prices of vintage clothing can vary wildly depending on where you live, what is hot and what is not, if the seller wants to sell low and if the buyer wants to buy high. I think the prices indicated in this guide, though nearly ten years old, are still fairly accurate, adding 30 to 40 percent to the higher-end, rarer pieces and giving or taking 10 to 20 percent on the low end.

I believe Maryanne Dolan knows vintage clothing, and knows the field well. Her historical research is good, and her appreciation and passion for costume is inspiring. Her overviews of the periods at the beginning of each chapter are well-written, clear and easy to read.

It is true, however, that the book needs an index, some copy editing and perhaps a more sophisticated design layout for today's collectors. All seriously considered books need an index; just a fact of life in a costume or fashion researcher's world. Perhaps in a next edition?

It is wise to note that one isn't going to get rich buying and selling vintage clothing today -- a nice living perhaps, if you have a decent collection already established -- but a fantastic hobby is always a possibility.

An update is in order, but all in all, this is a good book worth having in your fashion history, vintage clothing or collecting library. Besides, when you can get 300 pages of pretty decent material for less than $10, how can you go wrong?

Dolan's Guide is good, but not great- it is in need of some extra editing, and a wider variety of fashions. But, it is a -vast- improvenment over the first edition. Her price estimates, while they may seem high, are actually accurate reflections of the prices paid in large cities. Here in the Midwest, we cut her prices by 2/3 in order to get fair, practical prices and values. Also, the book is targeted not toward the fashion lover, or vintage clothing store owner, but to the -collector- of vintage fashion; this is why the prices are high: it's not a guide to the vintage fashion industry, but a price guide (of course, as its title suggests) for antique dealer and collector. (Personally, I find this a little unrealistic, as I've never met anyone who actually -collects- vintage fashions, but maybe I'm just mixing with the wrong crowd.) It is also a -fun- read; I own few other books I can always enjoy this much, for as little as five minutes to as long as two hours. Also, be sure to read the long introductions at the beginning of each chapter; they are as much fun as the illustrations, and provide an excellent overview of each period. Her guide to rhinestone jewelery is also good, better even than this.

I generally highly value my books on vintage clothing, however I gladly got rid of this book several years ago. It has some good basic information, but the values are very high and far too many of the illustrations are of items in period catalogs and magazines and not of actual garments. This may have been one of the first books on vintage clothing but it certainly is not one of the better ones.

This is an amateurish book written by someone with a passion. But it is not well organized or helpful.

The book focuses very strongly on the early period, and has little of any use from after the 1940s. There are almost no photographs of actual garments such as the actual collector might run across. Nearly all of the images are old catalogue illustrations, in black-and-white, with all the distortion and idealization that old advertising images are prone to. They are not sorted or labeled in any helpful manner. Furthermore, the reproductions are very muddy, almost photocopy-looking. There are a few photographs of old garments worn by modern people posing as if for historical portraits, and a few display photos from auction houses of extremely rare and valuable couture garments, not at all like what the typical collector could possibly find. There are even some photos of the author wearing a historical *costume* sewn from reproduction patterns!

It would have been far better to see careful photos of actual garments that have survived.

The values given for the garments are very optimistic, even today, and especially when the book came out. The prices for the auction houses' Worth garments may be based on actual sales (but not of much use to the typical collector), but much of the rest of them seem to be based on wishful thinking.

There is no discussion of condition or rarity, care or documentation. It reads like a personal scrapbook of someone very enthusiastic but not very organized. There are so many better books out there for the vintage collector; best to avoid this one.