Chronicle of Western Fashion (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This easy-to-use sourcebook of fashion in the Western world spans 40 centuries from ancient Egyptian robes to today's latest Parisian designs. Arranged chronologically, over 1,000 meticulous color drawings record the astonishing variety of ways in which the human form can be adorned. This is the indispensable reference that no collector, social historian, or fashion enthusiast should be without. Over 1,000 color illustrations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (March 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810939533
• ISBN-13: 978-0810939530
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,076,845 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An extensive overview of fashion history, August 21, 1999

By A Customer

While this book isn't strong on text nor has any detailed clothing construction information, I do find it very inspiring when I'm looking for ideas for my own fashion designs. It's an excellent idea book and a general reference to those only superficially interested in fashion history in the western world. For something more in-depth for a seamstress or historian, you'd need to look elsewhere.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a good basic reference, August 22, 1999

By A Customer

This book is good for peliminary research, as illustrated in the previous reviews. However, I find that the blocky figures sometimes interfere with capturing the right period sillouette. As mentioned before, this book depicts costumes almost year-by-year. But this doesn't provide a wide variety of clothing from one period. For example, you will see how women dressed in various countries for a stretch of five years or so, but nothing as to how men dressed, or regional variations in costume.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Serious fashion historians, avoid this book., February 15, 1998

By A Customer

Although Peacock made a valiant attempt at giving an overview of costume, this is an extremely poor source for anyone doing serious costume research. Some of the details--silhouette, trim, seamlines, etc.--are grossly distorted or misrepresented. Although readers may get a general idea of what clothing in other periods looked like, they should not take any of these drawings seriously unless they can be verified with other sources. Even a cursory look at the artwork from which Peacock's redrawings were done will show obvious inaccuracies. This book may be useful as a take-off point for further research but nothing more.