I would have loved to had seen the pieces of the garment drawn in their pattern shapes, but otherwise an excellent book with much detail written about each garment. Only other problem was that sometimes the writer's handwriting about the details on the drawings were a bit hard to decifer.

Until this book dissapeared from my local library I must have borrowed it for over half its shelf life there, in all of 15 years this book has been THE reference for me, no mean feat to hold my attention since I was 11.
I love it because of the minute detail of the fabric patterns which although hard to find today similar items can be found for those wanting to recreate the dresses.
The value for money is unreproachable, you just have to buy this book. Thank the publishers for reprinting in the U.S and here in U.K !

This book remains my favorite costume book, even 10 years after I first checked it out of the library. I find myself coming back to this book time after time, either to study a particular point of fashion or just to browse the fabulous drawings.

Nancy Bradfield has done a great service to all who enjoy studying vintage clothing and their construction. Each item includes 2 to 4 full-page, detailed drawings so the reader can see every detail of the original garment -- inside AND out. Many of them include measurements, so if you're a very talented seamstress/tailor, you can recreate the garments and scale them to fit a modern body.

Some books seem to just throw pictures or drawings together in no particular order, which makes it difficult to fully understand the fashion changes that took place. Nancy Bradfield has arranged the drawings in chronological order, which I find much easier to follow. She also has rather detailed comments along the bottom of each 2-page spread which explains particular details of the item or the fashion changes that were occuring at the time the dress was made. Those comments are in addition to the description found on the top left side of the left page, which is specific to the dress in question.

This is the Bible for any costumer or vintage clothing collector! The only thing that would be better is examining the clothes in person...And unlike seeing the clothes in person, you can keep going back to the drawings again and again.

This is a wonderful quick reference of historical costumes in England. Half the book is black and white sketches of costumes through the years. The other half is a short history of the costumes worn during various time periods. The time periods are sectioned according to rulers (kings/queens) of the time. Every aspect of clothing is discussed from undergarments to headpieces. Because of the easy format, I use this book to look things up for quick answers. I am not an expert, but the accuracy of the content of this book is relatively decent as a quick reference. I would not recommend this book to those looking for detailed costume information. I would recommend it as a quick reference or for sketches.

I read this book in library, and it's amazing. I've looked at other books on medieval costume, but none have been as helpful or as easy to use as this one. The time periods are listed in order under the names of the rulers of England, with detailed sections for both men and women. Half of the pages of the book have beautiful black and white sketches of the costumes of the time period, and then on the page facing the sketches there are descriptions of the garments of the time period, down to the colours and fabrics.