this is such a beautifully illustrated work of the fashions of the period from 1867-1898. Fans of Victoriana must have this in their library. Excellent resource for antiques lovers, jewelry designers, artists, costume designers etc.

Extensive and detailed illustrations, with good captions (including dates), divided into four style periods (1867-1874, 1875-1882, 1883-1890, 1891-1898). Narrative introduction to each period gives the general style trends. Very useful: includes hairstyles, shoes, parasols, aprons, decorative details, children's clothing, etc.

This book is an excellent source reference for the Bustle and Fine De Siecle time periods of fashion and costume wear. It has excellent illustrations of all types of daily and evening womens fashion in the various period silouettes.

I bought this book for a college term paper on the Twenties and the stock market crash, and was pleasantly surprised when I got it. It is a very nice, tall, paperback book which actually has real pages from the Sears catalogs in the twenties. Intermixed are notes from the author about Americans and their clothes in the twenties. There are also pages that show children's and teens clothes, mens clothes as well as hats, scarves, and purses. I was even more shocked to find one of my great-grandmother's purses in here! (And even more surprised to see what she paid for it.) This is a very good book for showing what people actually wore on an everyday basis, instead of showing the over glammed hype I've seen with many other books on the twenties, which show flappers pushing the laws of the twenties. The author does a good job of putting some explanations in the book for the clothing showed and the prices as well, and gives the reader a hint of why some fashions were more popular than others in the 20's.

I loved looking at this book. It was facinating to see what people wore back then, and to see how little things cost. i totally enjoyed this book because it was like stepping back in time. i highly reccomend this book to anyone who enjoyed/enjoys the 1920's.

This is an excellent reference guide for Lady Civil War Reenactors who want to create beautiful day dresses and ball gowns. The book has detailed descriptions of each dress. A true Godey's dress was for the lady of wealth, however many women of average means subscribed to Godey's to get ideas for the dresses they wore. Each page will give you an idea of colors, styles and types of fabrics used. This book is a must along with "Who Wore What" for a true insight into women's fashions of the 1860's

A delightful book to page through. Lots of black & white line drawings and several color plates. This must have been where Scarlett O'Hara got her inspirations!

Stella Blum has selected plates of 18th century fashion from the Metropolitan Museum's collection and reproduced them here in full colour.

You certinally don't get all the plates produced in the 18th century but what you get is a helpful and representitive selection. This is one of the few books where you can see actual colour plates all reproduced in a sequence like this.

If you have any interest in 18th french fashion this book is both [inexpensive] and invaluable.

This book gives a good look at what the Sears catalog offered in the way of women's fashions in the thirties. Merchandise is grouped by year and then by women's, men's etc. Descriptions are text from the catalog and in some cases give what fabric was used, orignal catalog prices are also included. Accessories such as shoes, hats and jewelery are also pictured.

A great resource for stage cotumes. If you are a good seamstress, today's patterns can be modified to create styles similar to those of the thirties.

I am very pleased with this book!! It gives the complete "picture" as well as the year on the proper wear of the clothing from that period, i.e., dress, coat, shoes, hats etc; even accessories like jewelery. The photographs are wonderful. It will be so much fun learning how to wear and collect vintage clothing!! I will buy the rest of the series!!!!!!

Wonderful book, gives an authentic overview of the way people dressed in the 1930's. They sure were a lot more stylish back then, just shows how classy an era the 30's was. When I go swing dancing I know what kind of clothes to look for this book has been helpful to me in dressing in that style. Recomended and just plain fun to look through.

As the title of this book suggests, the subject matter isprimarily reproductions of many ladies fashion plates from the higheststyle journal of the English Regency. Sadly, too few of the plates are reproduced in color, however, the editorial choices made by Stella Blum (at one time curator of the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Collection) about which plates to reproduce, and which ones to print in color are intelligent, and her brief essay of introduction is highly informative. This book is a must for people wanting to see what Regency Fashion looked like, or for people who wish to identify Fashion Plates. People who need a more through text on the subject should also buy "Jane Austen : In Style" by Susan Watkins, Hugh Palmer. People who want guidance on how to make these clothes should also seek out "Federalist & Regency Costume : 1790-1819" ed. by R.L Shep. END

For those of us who love to indulge in poring over antique fashion plates, this book is an excellent acquisition. I recommend it not for someone particularly new to costume history, but for those who need good reproductions of this particular period as a resource. Well worth the extremely reasonable price. Be aware that these plates were the "ideal" in fashion at this time. Look at our own fashion magazines and think about how close everyday clothes are to those images and you'll understand my caution.

it would be best to describe what kind of fashion like dresses, shirts,pants and is it just woman clothing or is it mens too? Please tell me more next time

From the days of John Adams, his wife, Abigail, commented in David McCullough's book about those times, how impressed she was with the fashions of the day in Paris and England at the time, but would never have worn such fashion here in America. The reasons she gave in her letters were that 1)America was mostly "puritans," and/or 2) poor so that much of the European fashion industry was alien to this country where women had to make do with simpler garments. Over the years, it's possible we have not had a clear vision of what constitutes female fashion to its fussiest and frilliest advantage. What little there was in the 1920's 1940's gave way to the men's wear fashions of today where women are taught to compete with men by wearing similar styles, sadly. The ability to manufacture more cheaply now could encourage a revival of designs that challenged Americans throughout her history that the times now may be right for, though not necessarily a return to Victorian times. "Play clothes," especially for women could be much more imaginative and fun, and perhaps women deserve that privilege without having to dress like men even while competing with them in business. Should femininity be so restrained as to make women anomalous and obscure in 2002 as to be nearly a uniform?