A History of Costume in the West

📒 From the primitive clothes of prehistoric times to the whimsical fashions of today, the history of cos-tume is a vast topic which has never been more popular or widely studied. Why did people of a certain period dress in a certain way? How did contemporary fashion reflect the current social scene and why did it vary from country to country? The answers to these and countless other questions are revealed in this comprehensive study. We all have vague ideas of how men and women looked throughout the ages, but this definitive volume eliminates the guesswork, provides an exact picture, and explores the reasons for the adop-tion of an endless succession of styles and fashions, the types of material used and the choice of per-sonal adornments like jewellery, as well as cosmetics and hair styles. Each epoch and region is clearly held in focus within the various chapters into which the book is di-vided: prehistory, the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome, Europe in the Dark Ages, and onward through the Renaissance, the rise of fashion at the royal courts of the eighteenth century, through to the marvellous variety of styles in modern times up to the present day. This sumptuous survey is lavishly illustrated with over 1000 pictures from every conceivable source. Engravings, paintings, manuscript illuminations, sculptures, tapestries, drawings and photographs combine to provide a vivid, almost cinematic accompaniment to the text.