What People Wore When: A Complete Illustrated History of Costume from Ancient Times to the Nineteenth Century for Every Level of Society Review

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(More customer reviews)What People Wore When is a rather recent addition to this particular genre. I am a very visual person and an individual who reads quite a lot of history and biography. I own several books addressing and covering the different clothing worn by different cultures throughout history, and have assess to quite a number of others. I find these books add much spice to my reading and certainly help me visualize those people about whom I am reading. This goes for fiction as well. I am currently reading Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and it is easier for me to see Marianne, Elinor and the others in my mind's eye as I read if I can view their clothing. This edition is one of the better works out at the present time and it is not only a tremendous help but an absolute delight reading.
As the publication descriptions note, this work features the art of Fredrich Hottenroth aned Auguste Rucinte, or is at least based upon their technique and style. These are two of the best of the classic illustrators of the nineteenth-century and their work appears in quite a number of publications, even to this date. Most readers of history will recognize their style when they first open this work. The clothing shown in this book is extremely detailed, both in style and in color. (More about this later).
This book starts with ancient times, beginning with the Egyptians, Assyrians, Etruscans and other civilizations, and goes through the nineteenth century. The clothing features represent each class of society, from the lowest to the highest; military, civilian and religious. Each illustration, and there are hundreds upon hundreds of them, and are accompanied by very insightful explanations and comments. As has been noted, the book is broken down into various sections, i.e. chronology, geographic, and specific era. All are well cross referenced. This work also has sections devoted to accessories such as head gear, hairstyles, footwear, belts, bags, neck wear and more. Both male and female clothing are well represented. All entries are dated as precisely as possible; something I find quite helpful. All sections of the book begin with a brief explanation and a brief history lesson.
While the main emphasis of this work is more or less Euro-centric, most of the other parts of the world are well represented as are specific, little known tribes and cultures. As an example, India is well represented, but not to the depth as say France or Germany. The Native American portion of the book is probably the weakest.
As to what I do not like about the book (which by the way, is not much) starts with the fact that I am quite unfamiliar with clothing jargon, and even though the Editor Melissa Leventon has given us a very nice Glossary to work with, I am still so uneducated in this area that I found even that somewhat wanting. Secondly, the illustrations could quite possibly be a little too stylized, a little too perfect. I have been fortunate enough to have visited many museums in my life, all over the world, and have had the pleasure of seeing many of the items illustrated here. I can assure you that reality can be a bit of a disappointment at times. These small points should not really even be considered as they are more "opinions of taste," i.e. mine, and an obvious gap in my education.
This is an extremely useful book, for my purposes, and it is quite fun to just leaf through it. So many times I caught myself wondering "what were those people thinking," when I viewed some of the fantastic, and I must say, ridiculous items of clothing; but then I would always stop and think about some of the things we have worn in my life time, both men and women, and feel a bit embarrassed for casting mental stones. Gosh, I wonder if I still have my polyester leisure suit with bell-bottoms and orange double knit polyester shirt stashed in the attic somewhere?
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks


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