Hi folks! I promised that the next literature review would be the latter part of Mairead Dunlevy's Dress in Ireland, but I'm still working my way through it and its later chapters are much denser than I anticipated. So, in lieu of Dress in Ireland's part II, I present a review of an overview-style book.
This is a book that I picked up from my university's library with the hope that it would help me with my thesis. Unfortunately, its time period wound up not matching with the era I was looking at, but I've kept it around for general reference and because getting a huge stack of books back to campus is like, super hard you guys. Anyway, it's due in January and I really should return it then since I'm no longer a student, so I figured I'd flip through it. Let me tell you, I was well rewarded.
Costume 1066-1966 takes the form of a sketchbook with informative notes, which for me was extremely helpful. Recently I read a book on European fashion* that started as far back as the Minoan culture and ended somewhere around the end of the Renaissance, if memory serves me properly. This particular book was chock-friggin-full of information but had very few images. It covered fashion trends down to about the span of a decade on average, with detailed descriptions of each style with references to any "retro" fashions that came back into style. It really was very informative, but it left my head spinning with all the information it presented. I am not a part of the fashion world, so even specialized terminology left me without a good idea of how these styles would have actually looked. A gable headdress? Sure, I know that thing.
The great part about Costume 1066-1966 is that it is almost entirely pictures. It presents styles chronologically and labels them according to the King or Queen at the time. It also presents both men's and women's fashions, with an occasional page dedicated to external clothing, like mantles, that would have obscured the other garments. In later parts of the book, notes are made as to the occasion at which a garment would have been worn. For example, "winter coat" or "ball gown." I also find the notes to be extremely useful. Sometimes in an image it can be difficult to discern the important parts of an image, or even whether a particular feature is correct or just an artistic detail. In this book, important features are highlighted for the reader, such as "side lacing," "embroidered cuffs," and "padded sleeves."
The only gripe I might have is that when the edges on a gown or tunic are supposed to be decorated with a woven band, they seem too wide. I have not yet been able to find any evidence of tablet woven bands that are any wider that 1", and even that is pushing it. Most of the bands I've seen are around 1/4-1/2", while the edges depicted in the book look closer to 1.5"-2". While this is a small detail, it could be quite important when this book is used for its intended purpose: visual reference. It also makes me question somewhat the accuracy of the later sketches, but I don't have enough expertise to make that call.
Overall, I would recommend this book highly as a companion reference, particularly if it is paired with a more detailed, wordy book like the text mentioned above. It provides a great overview of fashions over the course of 900 years, which is no mean feat. I have also found that it is a great book to read once at the beginning of research and revisit often. It's a great book for quickly getting the "feel" of a fashion and for understanding the styles that came before it, to better put it in context.
*I'll post the title of the book once I find it in my local library again
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