Book Recommendations - Research
My dear readers, life has been incredibly hectic, so we are taking it easy with this blog post. I write this as I pack to go to a professional conference with the hopes of sorting out post-graduate life and as I take my spring break away from my last semester of college and the show I’m currently designing (more on that anon!).
We’re talking about one of my favorite topics today - books! Today, I’ll be highlighting my top four picks for researching Western fashions. All four of these books cover Western fashions or modern globalized fashion. I’m actively trying to expand my library of books to include non-Western examples of fashion and trend.
“Fashion 101” was my introduction to fashion and dress history. It covers a wide variety of basic garments in east to understand illustrations and descriptions.
This book talks about the garments we see on a day to day basis and explains their origins, their designers, and how to style them. I recommend this book for any budding young designer who wants to understand clothing and fashion. There’s a glossary of design and fabric terms that were essential to developing in early understanding of line and texture.
This book is geared to a younger audience. A more grown-up, in-depth version is “…isms: Understanding Fashion” by Mairi MacKenzie.
“Costume: 1066 t0 the Present” by John Peacock is a great overview of the shapes and styles of any given era.
This book primarily focuses on English fashions for each era, but gives enough of an understanding about the trend and shape of each that the knowledge gained is widely applicable. I still go back to this book when I’m starting a project in a new era.
The “present” in the title refers to 2005, so this book does cover a wide span of history. It’s great for gaining a general understanding of an era.
“How to Read a Dress” by Lydia Edwards covers the details of dress from the time of Queen Elizabeth 1 to Queen Elizabeth 2 (1550 to 1960 to be exact).
This is a much more detailed look at dress history than the previous books. It talks about trends - why they came about, how and why they evolved, and how these trends play into women’s history and beauty standards. There’s also a massive glossary of terms that’s helpful for any novice or veteran dress historian. Author Lydia Edwards also covers dress history on her Instagram!
This book does focus on solely women’s fashions. There is a companion book, “How to Read a Suit”, that I have not gotten my grubby hands on, but it will happen. There is also a revised version to “How to Read a Dress” that contains more images from a wider span of time and more examples from different social classes. “I do not need two copies of the same book”, I tell myself as I hit add-to-wishlist on the revised version.
The Kyoto Institute’s book on their costume collection is one of my favorites in my entire library. There are incredibly clear and detailed photos, excellent research and timelines, and the book covers a wide span of time.
I love this book for the pictures. I also love that it shows examples of shoes and accessories so that there’s a complete understanding of a fashion. The way this book is spread out allows the reader to see the evolution of trend in a much slower and well-paced manner than some other books. I love the specifics this book discusses.
It’s only drawback is that it solely focuses on upper-class European examples. I get it, these things are pretty and have survived well, but I’d love to see a book with this level of detail about the garments that didn’t survive as well but still have a story to tell.
