The Complete Costume Dictionary

Introduction -- Dictionary -- Appendix A: Garment types -- Appendix B: Garment by country -- Appendix C: Garment types by era

Stephanie Davis has combined her painting and art teaching with research into costumes as depicted through the centuries. Dozens of carefully drawn and detailed illustrations embellish the text and give a visual dimension. She includes lists of couturiers and designers, costume collections and exhibitions of ancient civilisations.--[book cover].

- What is an earthquake gown? - Who wore eelskin masher trousers? - What did the word "dudes" mean in the 16th century? A Dictionary of English Costume by C. Willett Cunnington, Phillis Cunnington and Charles Beard was originally published in 1960. A monumental achievement and encyclopaedic in scope, it was a comprehensive catalogue of fashion terms from the mid-medieval period up to 1900. It was reissued and updated several times, for the last time in 1976. For decades it has served as a bible for costume historians. The Dictionary of Fashion History completely updates and supplements the Cunningtons' landmark work to bring it up to the present day. Featuring additional terms and revised definitions, this new edition represents an essential reference for costume historians, students of fashion history, or anyone involved in creating period costume for the theatre, film or television. It also is fascinating reading for those simply interested in the subject. Clear, concise, and meticulous in detail, this essential reference answers countless questions relating to the history of dress and adornment and promises to be a definitive guide for generations to come.

From the first animal skin body coverings, to today’s high fashion collections, fashion has held an important role in the evolution of mankind. The fashion industry has, and continues to make, major contributions to our cultural and social environment. It is an industry that responds to our inherent longing for tribal belonging, our socio-economic needs, individual lifestyles, status stratification and profession apparel requirements. The fashion industry is fast-paced, complex and ever changing, in response to consumer needs. Throughout the world, vast numbers of people contribute to this industry, each with the shared goal of supplying an end product of a particular price point directed at a target consumer. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Fashion Industry contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,400 cross-referenced entries on designers, models, couture houses, significant articles of apparel and fabrics, trade unions, and the international trade organizations. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the fashion industry.

Compendium defines over 10,000 words associated with wearing apparel and fashion. From bateau necklines to trilbys and vamps, words are grouped alphabetically according to dress parts, fabrics, and other style categories. Over 750 illustrations.

- What is an earthquake gown? - Who wore eelskin masher trousers? - What did the word "dudes" mean in the 16th century? A Dictionary of English Costume by C. Willett Cunnington, Phillis Cunnington and Charles Beard was originally published in 1960. A monumental achievement and encyclopaedic in scope, it was a comprehensive catalogue of fashion terms from the mid-medieval period up to 1900. It was reissued and updated several times, for the last time in 1976. For decades it has served as a bible for costume historians. The Dictionary of Fashion History completely updates and supplements the Cunningtons' landmark work to bring it up to the present day. Featuring additional terms and revised definitions, this new edition represents an essential reference for costume historians, students of fashion history, or anyone involved in creating period costume for the theatre, film or television. It also is fascinating reading for those simply interested in the subject. Clear, concise, and meticulous in detail, this essential reference answers countless questions relating to the history of dress and adornment and promises to be a definitive guide for generations to come.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing many of these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

In this deeply idiosyncratic collaboration between a psychoanalyst and a costume curator, Adam Phillips re-describes dress in terms of anxiety, wish and desire, while Judith Clark's installations raise issues of equivalence with Phillips' definitions and bring garments and other items from the Victoria and Albert Museum's archive to life in unexpected ways. Published in parallel with an Artangel commission at Blythe House, location of the V&A's vast reserve collections, and designed by Studio Frith, The Concise Dictionary of Dress examines the nature of dictionaries, archives and dress curation and adds a stunning visual essay recording two overnight tours through Blythe House by renowned photographer Norbert Schoerner. Phillips' definitions for words commonly associated with fashion and appearance - such as armoured, conformist, essential, provocative - were paired with eleven stations created by Clark on a walk through this vast building, from its rooftop to an underground coal bunker. Here in print, extending beyond the works at Blythe House, Phillips adds more words, more definitions and an overarching essay asking broader questions about what dictionaries are, how we use them and why they matter. Judith Clark herself also presents a written analysis of the Dictionary in response to questions posed anonymously by authorities in fields as varied as cultural theory, fashion history, arts curation and architecture, as well as a comprehensive illustrated catalogue of references used in creating the installations.