num_pages: 192
description: From the simplicity of eleventh century dress to the excesses of punk, this invaluable work depicts the ever-changing modes of almost one thousand years. Now in an enlarged edition, this volume adds another 500 years to its previous coverage, to include the very beginning of any significant clothing style to appear after A.D. 1000, following through comprehensively with a new series of fashion plates showing the styles of the last few years that have succeeded in establishing themselves. This fascinating journey through the centuries starts with the Norman conquest of Britain, when the establishment of a royal court initiated the first nationwide fashion hierarchy to which the kingdom's subjects could aspire. It then moves on through the late Middle Ages, turbulent years of war and intrigue which spanned the reigns of some of Europe's most memorable monarchs, to the High Renaissance through to the so-called Age of Reason. In each of these periods, a host of figures is depicted in the clothing of their rank and station, from peasants to princes, musicians to musketeers. The book then goes on to explore the most brilliant and exciting epoch in costume history, the Rococo. Its elaborately ornamented architecture, furniture and art provided new concepts in decorative and even fantastic costumes. France continued to lead the fashion world throughout the Revolution, the Empire, the Romantic era and the Second Rococo, but then English, German, Spanish and other European influences began to emerge. English designs became increasingly influential during the Victorian era and the early years of the twentieth century. Nor was America far behind. Elias Howe's invention of the sewing machine in 1846 brought great advances to the clothing industry and let to late twentieth-century revolution in casual fashion. This encyclopaedia, with 180 colour illustrations and descriptions of the great years of fashion, will be as interesting and valuable to modern fashion designers and photographers, students of costume history, wardrobe mistresses and theatrical performers as it will to general readers.
language: English
title: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Costume And Fashion: From 1066 to the Present
publisher: Cassell Illustrated