European Costume and Fashion 1490-1790

This authoritative and exhaustive guide to three centuries of fashionable dress carefully traces the evolution of wearing apparel in Western Europe from the late Tudor period (1490) through part of the reign of George III (1790). Relying on period paintings and prints to illustrate various elements of clothing, the authors have meticulously dated every costume and detail. Here are accurate representations of sixteenth-century conventional fashions for women; doublets, slashed sleeves and hoods; Spanish trunk hose, ruffs and farthingales of the early seventeenth century; the rise of the periwig in the early eighteenth century, along with the origin of modern suits for men, cravats, parasols, and the bustle; and the reappearance of the hoop in the later 1700s, along with monstrous coiffures, the wide-skirted coat transformed into a tail-coat, and much more. An important section on costume patterns is also included. Graphic artists and designers for the theatre, motion pictures and television will find the permission-free illustrations in this comprehensive guide indispensable. Costume enthusiasts will delight in its pictorial coverage. Unabridged republication of the second edition of Historic Costume: A Chronicle of Fashion in Western Europe 1490-1790, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1929. Introduction. Chronological Table of English and French Rulers. Patterns, costumes, and addenda. 211 illustrations.