John Peacock (1)Besprekingen

Good book for detailing fashion through the ages. Just a shame no colour plates

Lending

Not worth it. Inaccurate beyond belief.

I guess this is good for a quick reference if you have no idea about historical costumes. But there is not much info about the actual clothing and the illustrations doesnt show a good enough cross section of the different styles.

Laurel Love

fantastic reference book for history, but I have knocked off a point because it doesn't have anything on peasants clothing, and the modern (1960's onwards) is just wrong! pen and ink illustrations, no colour.

Got this as an xmas gift - the renderings are great and it looks like it will be an excellent resource.

I found this book to be ideal when discussing costume design for a production with a director. It gives a perfect overall visual summary of each period and helps the director visualize and decide which period of costume they want to go with.

I have a hard time being enthusiastic about this book. It's a collection of hand drawn figures in chronological order to illustrate the evolution of men's and women's fashion over 900 years. My main problem is that ALL of the figures have a distinct 20th century fashion model posture, which distorts the lines of the garments. The pelvic thrust really displays the bias of the artist's timeframe--and not those of the fashions being illustrated. That was not the stance of the 1820s, or the 1540s, for example. And the figures all have tiny, tiny heads, which is more than a little creepy. Go look at original, contemporary sources and skip this book.½

I waffled between 4 and 5 stars for this. I think Peacock could do with some slightly more accurate titles. This is a history of western European shoes, with ancient Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt thrown in for length. Beyond those, there is nothing on even eastern Europe, let alone Asia, Africa, etc. I also suspect from his books that Peacock does not really approve of our casual age. I saw only a single tennis shoe; none of the clogs and earth shoes that were so typical of the late 1960s and early 1970s; and none of the elaborate athletic shoes. Peacock does say that he is focusing chiefly on fashionable shoes, but I think that the high-end athletic shoes qualify as designer models, even if the other don't.

Given that, it's wonderful for what it does cover. Men's shoes are included. My favorite part is the ancient shoes; I have never seen such a variety illustrated.

The pages have small but clear drawings of usually 7 or 8 shoes per page, with minimal labelling. More detailed labelling follows. The time length covered by each section varies; as one might expect, shorter period are covered for more recent shoes. This is not as lush as the photographic collections of shoes, but I think it's more helpful as a history, especially for older styles which may have been reconstructed from fragments.

The introduction gives a brief history of the development of the shoes. There is a timeline where the shoes are reproduced as outline drawings to get a idea of the flow of change. This is followed by a concise history of designers and companies, and a bibliography.

So, it doesn't have a scholarly historical text, I don't recommend it for people as a book for gaping over startling shoes, but it is a very good visual history.½

I found this somewhat disappointing, not the least because even the 2003 reprint actually ends in 1990. The basic plan is good: fashions are presented for a five year period, e.g., 1900-1904. Each section has a page each of haute couture, accessories leisure wear, underwear, evening wear, bridal fashions and two pages of day wear. This is followed by a very useful section with silhouettes for the beginning and ending of each five year period, with description of typical details: e.g. fabrics, trimmings, necklines. This is followed by brief vitas of designers and a bibliography.

The coverage of accessories is sporadic, with, for example, no purses shown for ten years. Worse, the author has missed a number of major clothing trends. One would never guess from this that hats are now rarely worn, except in cold weather and certain religious venues. Worse, Peacock ignores blue jeans and women's business suits.

What's here is good, but there are a lot of gaps.½

This isn't for people who wish to research the dress of any time period in depth, but it is an excellent all-in-one reference for artists who frequently need to draw period costumes on a casual level, which wouldn't justify buying a number of specialized costume books. I whip it out constantly to add accurately dressed background characters.

I love this book for an idea of silhouettes and general shape changes. It's also a good place to start with ideas for embellishments, trim styles, etc. Don't buy this as a guide for construction, though, or you'll be disappointed.

my medieval costuming group declares unequivocally that this is one of the worst books/authors on the topic and to steer clear!½

Another of John Peacock's books depicting fashion of one era or another. The good news is this is one of the few places you can find modern fashions in a form that's fairly easy to study. The bad news is threefold.

First of all, Mr. Peacock draws all figures as elongated, small-headed people who wear clothing from the 20s, 30s, and 70s very well indeed, but they don't show the clothing as it actually looked on real people.

Secondly, this volume and the corresponding volume, [Fashion Sourcebooks 1970s] are scant, at best. A better choice are the two larger volumes by the same author, divided into mens and womens wear, and encompassing the century rather than a single decade.

Finally, the fashions shown in Mr. Peacocks works are NOT representative of the clothing worn by most people in the eras depicted. They ARE, however, a good representation of the product emanating from Design Houses. If you are content with "Fashion" being interpreted as "Designer Fashion" only, then these are the books for you. If you're looking for the clothing the common man wore, take a look at the Sears Catalog books that are readily available.

A basic book to give you an idea of fashion through time.½

I really like this book - it is made up of drawn pictures of 1920's fashions showing such as wedding clothes, evening wear, sportswear, daywear etc. going up in years. They are not coloured (except for the ones which are on the cover) but the detail is really good! At the back of the book are descriptions for each clothing article. The pictures are beautiful!

Gives an overview of how fashion changes, but I'm not very fond of the drawings- somehow the shape seems the same, despite the shifting fashions.

Nice detail studies of cuffs, collars and other accesoirs.

I find this book valuable for getting a general idea of an era. Gives basic shapes and characteristics.