French Folk Costumes

All around the world there are festivals that reach back through the sands of time to medieval carnival traditions, and beyond. The festivals in this book are often little known outside their locale and they are all characterised by spectacular costumes and compellingly bizarre rituals. The Jarramplas of Piornal, Spain is a spooky devil character dressed in rags, who is pelted by two tons of turnips every year. In Japan, the Kasedori wear a suit of straw and run barefoot through the snow as vill... [Read More]

Middle Eastern literature and poetry, including Arabian Nights and Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, has captured the imaginations of European people with its mysterious atmosphere and tales of exotic lands. From the 18th to the early 20th century, various European editions of these stories were published that included imaginative illustrations by notable European illustrators such as Kai Nielsen, Edmund Durac and others.(mostly Japanese text, some English as supplementary)This book is a visual art coll... [Read More]

Recreate the braids, buns, and twists of your favorite historical, sci-fi, and fantasy heroes and heroines with Badass Braids. Step-by-step, illustrated instructions will show you how to make the hairstyles from Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Legend of Zelda, Vikings, The Lord of the Rings, and more. When she’s not studying for her PhD in social neuroscience, Silvousplaits (a.k.a. Shannon Burns) is creating and posting weekly instructional videos on her YouTube ... [Read More]

The rituals are centuries old and celebrate the seasonal cycle, fertility, life, and death. People literally put themselves into the skin of the "savage," in masquerades that stretch back centuries. By becoming a bear, a goat, a stag, a wild boar, a man of straw, a devil, or a monster with jaws of steel, these people celebrate the cycle of life and seasons. The costumes amaze with their extraordinary diversity and prodigious beauty. Work on this project took leading French photographer Charles F... [Read More]

This massive monograph on seminal designer Alexander Girard covers virtually every aspect of his distinctive career. One of the most prolific mid-20th century designers, Girard's work spanned many disciplines, including textile design, graphic design, typography, illustration, furniture design, interior design, product design, exhibit design, and architecture. Exhaustively researched and lovingly assembled by designer Todd Oldham, this tome is the definitive must-have book on Girard's oeuvre.Man... [Read More]

A gorgeously photographed glimpse into the "island of monsters"―the world of Japanese folk masks, characters, and costumes In Japan, the passing of the year is marked by festivals and rituals that have gone largely unchanged for centuries. Elaborate outfits, made from textiles as well as branches, straw, and other materials plucked from the natural environment, are donned in rural, agricultural, and fishing communities throughout Japan to celebrate seasonal rites of fertility and abundance. Yo... [Read More]

The designer Gere Kavanaugh is an irrepressible force of nature who epitomized the craft and folk vibe of the '60s and '70s California design scene and remains a larger-than-life personality today. Raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Kavanaugh became in 1952 only the third woman to earn a degree in Cranbrook Academy of Art's design program. After successful stints as one of GM's so-called Damsels of Design and as director of interiors for Victor Gruen's architecture and planning firm, she opened Gere ... [Read More]

Illustrated with color and black and white photographs and line drawings.

2 charming dolls, 32 accurately detailed costumes depict special occasion outfits worn in Provence, Bordeaux, Brittany, Burgundy, the Basque country, Normandy, Alsace, and other regions of France. Full skirts, embroidered shirts and bodices, ruffled aprons, knee pants plus quaint headdresses and footwear.