20th Century Fashion in Detail

by Claire Wilcox, Valerie D. Mendes

Genres: Fashion, History, Non-fiction
Pages: 224
Series: Fashion in Detail
Rating:

Synopsis:

20th-Century Fashion in Detail reveals the elaborate embroidery, intricate pleats, and daring cuts that make up some of the most beautiful garments in the twentieth- century fashion collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, one of the world's top fashion and design museums. Authors Claire Wilcox and Valerie D. Mendes, leading fashion experts from the V&A, have written a book that will be an invaluable resource for students, collectors, and designers.

Including exquisite haute-couture pieces, from sequined Chanel ensembles to embellished Dior evening gowns, this revised and expanded edition features more than 30 new garments. Each piece is accompanied by detail photography and line drawings showing its complete construction. An extraordinary exploration of the techniques used by couturiers, 20th-Century Fashion in Detail will delight all followers of fashion.

Claire Wilcox and Valerie D. Mendes’ 20th-Century Fashion in Detail is a pretty good volume, with lots of detail. It’s not a period I’m super interested in for fashion, though I do like the designs of e.g. Madeleine Vionnet (felt surprised/sad there was only one of her items in here and definitely not a favourite of mine), but the volume’s a good one all the same, going through various types of detailing and cut in themed chapters.

As ever, I quibble about the fact that there’s no full-length picture for a lot of the garments. I know the point is to see the details, but sometimes it’s hard to understand what you’re seeing without the full image, even with the line-drawings that are included. It’s especially difficult if you’re non-visual like me, but I think it would be helpful for any reader, honestly.

Lovely photographs and some astounding details, good explanations thereof, and the line drawings are helpful — it’s a good volume, as usual for this series.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)