I have so many costume history books that I have a hard time remembering which is which. This one stands out. It's one of my favorites. The photos are fabulous. The book shows not only high fashion of the time, it also has a whole chapter on fancy dress, or masquerade costumes from the period. Here are reproductions of paintings like the one by Gainsborough of the Hon. Frances Duncombe, a beautiful lady all done up in an 18th century version of 16th century costume. All I can say is it's a great book with images that you will not find anywhere else.

Art of Dress is essential in its information about the evolution of men's and women's clothing from 1750 to 1820. I bought this book in helping me to research the empire style dress of 1790s and early 1800s. It has helped me in my researching and placing me within the world of fashion during the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The fashion trends of underdress and overdress as well as hairstyles and clothing are shown in excess in this fabulous book. There are marvelous pictures of royalty of France (Empress Josephine Bonaparte) and her sisters. It is a definite 10 in my book!

For someone interested in Tamerlano, in Baroque opera, in costume design, or in renderings of Turkish and Persian costume, this is a fascinating publication. Certainly not for the general reading audience! This book contains many illustrations, culminating in sumptuous photographs from various angles of the costumes designed for Glimmerglass' gorgeous Tamerlano production. The background essays are interesting as well.

Subtitled "A Historical Guide To World Costumes," Buruma's survey boasts a foreword by Dr. Aileen Ribiero, head of the History of Dress department at the Courtauld Institute of Art. What makes the book unique are the color plates, which originally came from the Munchener Bilderbogen, published between 1848 and 1898 and reproduced in a British book, Costumes Of All Nations, in 1901 and 1907. The high quality color plates come from a variety of places, antique sculpture, frescoes and other wall paintings, illuminated manuscripts, fashion plates, portraits, earlier costume books. With four grouped illustrations to a page, these are not overly-large depictions, nor can they be all-inclusive in their coverage of a period, but the detail is excellent, and, as Dr. Ribiero says in her introduction, "they are detailed enough for the modern designer to find useful, giving a sense of the colour and appearance of costume both ancient and modern." The work is arranged chronologically, then by region of the world. Fascinating and beautifully done.

Wonderful, large colour illustrations and excellent commentary make this book a joy both to read and to view. Very interestingly matches artistic interpretations of dress with actual historic examples of similar garments.

This is a great book if you can ignore the text. The quality of the pictures is superb and there are plenty of close ups which is invaluable for someone interested in Ingres' technique from an artistic point of view. However this book is more of a social commentary on Ingres and the times in which he lived then a straight collection on his works, and it's pretty uncomplimentry about most of the things it covers.
The quality of the reproductions and the helpful close-ups are invaluable for an artist interested in portraiture or Ingres' style, but the actual book seems to be written from the "I know everything about this subject and if I make it look stupid then I make myself look knowledgeable and clever" school of art critics/historians.
0 stars for the author but a definate 5 stars for the artwork. Highly recommended for the serious artist or art lover. I'm really glad I bought it.

I absolutely had a heart attack when i found this book its so beautiful this is one of my most cherished books its so hard to find these sort of books these days too!