Historic Costume: North America and Western Europe: 18th century

This beautifully illustrated book reveals sharp pleats, high collars, gleaming pastes, colorful beads, elaborate buttons, and intricate lacework that make up some of the garments in the Victoria and Albert Museum's extensive fashion collection. With an authoritative text, exquisite color photography of garment details, and line drawings and photographs showing the complete construction of each piece, the reader has the unique opportunity to examine up close historical clothing that is often too fragile to be on display. It is an inspirational resource for students, collectors, designers, and anyone who is fascinated by fashion and costume.This new edition features an updated design, fresh content and new research, a comprehensive index, and an introduction that focuses on the makers and processes involved in producing 18th-century fashion.

Published from 1778 to 1787, with elegant, accurate, hand colored plates, the original edition was reprinted between 1911 and 1914 in Paris. This reprint faithfully reproduces 64 plates from the Paris edition. (from the publisher)

This book studies the evolution of European dress through two centuries: aesthetic and technical development from the Age of Enlightenment to World War I.

Details of high fashion from 1600 to 1800 from pieces in the Victoria & Albert museum.

A series of easy-to-use reference guides on the history of dress, each book covers one century. The central part of each book is a series of illustrations, arranged chronologically, taken from the time of the dress itself. These include oil paintings, photographs, engravings, woodcuts and line drawings from a wide range of sources and give an idea of what was worn and how. The clothes are described, explained and intepreted and captions describe what is worn on the head, body as well as any accessories. Vanda Foster was formerly the Senior Assistant Keeper of Costume and Textiles in the Museum of London.

Exploring changing styles and usage, this account features a wide range of bags from delicate draw-string and richly worked ecclesiastical purses, to large 18th-century work-bags and tiny reticules worn by slender-waisted Empire beauties.