Medieval Costumes Fashion History

". . . thoroughness and most impressive scholarship . . . much entertaining detail and . . . pleasant humour." — The Times Literary Supplement (London)Underwear — practical garments with a utilitarian function or body coverings that serve an erotic purpose? As this fascinating and intelligently written study shows, the role played by underclothing over the last several centuries has been a varied one.In a well-documented, profusely illustrated volume combining impressive scholarship with an ... [Read More]

Over 400 illustrations in this superb pictorial archive trace the evolution of clothing styles, armor, and weapons during the medieval period in Central Europe. Unsurpassed in its comprehensiveness and variety, the volume draws upon a wealth of authentic primary sources, including written accounts, contemporary paintings and sculpture, and the remains of textiles and other relics.A profusion of apparel and weaponry are depicted, ranging from the simple tunics and robes of peasants, blacksmiths, ... [Read More]

From simple barbettes, crespines, and wimples worn in Anglo-Saxon times to the pillbox hat popularized by Jackie Kennedy in the mid-twentieth century, hats and headdresses have — for centuries — played an important part of a lady's wardrobe. This informative and meticulously researched book provides an authentic record of more than 1,300 years of changing fashions in women's hairstyles and headwear in England.More than 400 of the author's own drawings — rendered from ancient sources — tr... [Read More]

This volume begins with a short introduction by Else Ostergard to the amazing finds of garments from the Norse settlement of Herjolfnes in Greenland. It then features chapters on technique - production of the thread, dyeing, weaving techniques, cutting and sewing - by Anna Norgard. Also included are measurements and drawings of garments, hoods, and stockings, with sewing instructions, by Lilli Fransen. A practical guide to making your own Norse garment!

What People Wore When combines the studies of two classic nineteenth-century illustrators Auguste Racinet and Friedrich Hottenroth for the first time. Their works are presented first by chronology and then by subject, so that illustrators, historians, and students alike can choose to follow the path of fashion through the centuries, or study in detail the contrasting styles of individual clothing and accessories. Silhouettes reveal the shape of style through the ages, detailed cross-references d... [Read More]

This carefully researched volume offers lovers of both costume and the medieval period a meticulously researched and accurately detailed study of the clothing of the Middle Ages. Following an illuminating discussion of the style and construction of costumes worn in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, noted costume historian Mary G. Houston provides detailed descriptions and illustrations of actual apparel worn by all classes and sectors of society. Included are elaborate royal, ... [Read More]

Clear-cut and accurate in its guidance, this volume depicts medieval clothes and accessories not as inanimate museum exhibits but as items of vital interest and well worth recreating. Unlike conventional costume histories, which tend to classify their contents by era, this volume portrays the clothing of the twelfth through 15th centuries according to the wearer's social class. Here are the garments of royalty, clerics, doctors, merchants, musicians, knights, artisans, farmers, and laborers — ... [Read More]

This expanded and updated edition of John Peacock’s unrivaled collection of drawings ranges over eleven centuries of English historical costume. More than a thousand illustrations, based on surviving garments and contemporary paintings and photographs, demonstrate the astonishing changes in men’s and women’s clothing over the centuries―from the simple tunics and gowns of the eleventh century to the petticoat breeches and ostrich-plumed hats of Charles II’s reign to the T-shirts and sho... [Read More]

This practical and informative guidebook is a "must-have" for anyone planning to create accurate period costumes for theatrical productions and historical reenactments. From short tunics worn by Saxon men in the fifth century to a lady's bustle dress of the late 1800s, this profusely illustrated text contains a wealth of authentic patterns. Information on pattern sizes, materials required, and methods of sewing accompany simply drawn diagrams for Elizabethan doublets, capes, and trunks; a man's ... [Read More]

From headdresses to sandals, from warrior's armor to priestess's robes, the authentic costumes of people from all walks of life in the Roman and Greek civilizations are here pictured comprehensively and clearly. Three hundred finely drawn, detailed engravings (containing over 700 illustrations) show just what was worn by the poets, philosophers, priests and priestesses, peasants, Bacchanalians, emperors, generals, Amazons, and virgins of a bygone age.Carefully copied from ancient vases and statu... [Read More]