18th Century Clothing

Historic Communities

by Bobbie Kalman

The clothing of the eighteenth century was a colorful mix of fancy fashions from Europe and homemade threads created from wool, flax, and cotton. Young readers will learn about fashion, the dangerous makeup worn by women and the undergarments that made it hard for them to breathe. Children will be fascinated by such accessories as: - wigs and corkballs - stomachers - fans - buckles, stays, and farthingales - pattens and clogs

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Fashion

32 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

About the author

Bobbie Kalman is a Hungarian-born children's author and publisher known for educational nonfiction books widely used in schools and libraries. After fleeing Hungary with her family during the 1956 Revolution, she later settled in North America. With backgrounds in English, psychology, and education, she wrote more than 800 books, including “Refugee Child” and several popular curriculum-based series.

Reviews

[Jerry Alter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! How Colonists dressed and made their clothes is fascinating! I like the various hats the Colonists wore. I like the 100% cotton dress in the picture on the upper right corner of page #5, especially the fabric! I also like the apron. It looks a lot like a dress a soprano would sing in as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart. Afterall, it's that same time period. I especially like the story printed in Italics of how cotton was made into cloth under the picture. This way you can more easily learn how fabric is made since words alone can't explain it in full detail. Pictures make it easier to understand. I've read books on the subject of old clothes and fabrics that had only words and couldn't fully understand them. I'm glad Historic Communities added lots of pictures making it much easier to understand!

[Galina Krasskova · Rating 2 out of 5]

lovely illustrations but several errata including confusing corsets with stays, panniers with hoop skirts, and pushing the idea (which we know to be incorrect) that 18th century folks were dirty and lice infested. I cannot recommend this and if it weren't for the illustrations I'd have given it a lower rating.

[Rodica]

Library sale find. No rating because it would be unfair to give a bad rating to a book that is meant to educate children on historical topics. Yes, it’s superficial and not fully accurate (corsets were not as uncomfortable as portrayed), but it does its job of giving an overview of fashion history of 18th century and it does it pretty well for its length and parameters.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty book with lovely pictures of clothing and hair styles of the time period. I would have liked more information concerning certain traditions such as wigs for men but it was a good introduction.

[Maxwell Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, to the point, and illustrative. I learned a lot from this and I plan to use it as a source for reenacting.