Fashion Since 1900

World of Art

by Valerie D. Mendes, Amy de la Haye

“Excellent . . . makes many revealing connections between fashion and modern painting styles, theatricalism, ethnographic design, and sports clothing.”― Bloomsbury Review From the turn-of-the-century S-bend silhouette to the “green fashion” and celebrity couture of the new millennium, this comprehensive survey explores all the significant developments in fashion in a period that has seen a growing preoccupation with personal appearance and clothes. It focuses on key movements and innovations in style for both men and women, and explores these through the work of the most original and influential designers. Chapters are organized around crucial shifts in style and major world events, and exciting advances in fashion are placed within their socioeconomic, political, and cultural contexts.

International in scope, this new edition includes updates on the most important new designers and the reinvention of brands. The reference section includes an extensive bibliography. 78 color, 222 b&w illustrations

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction, Art, History, Design, Fashion History

314 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Valerie D. Mendes, formerly head of Fashion and Textiles at the V&A, is a freelance fashion and textiles historian.

Reviews

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent combination of informative and readable and I especially appreciated the rich and carefully chosen selection of illustrations.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

It likely goes without saying, but this is a history of Western fashion, we get a soupçon of Japanese around the 1980s and page or two of other areas in the 2000s.

It's a good general overview of European/American styles and trends and how they were effected by current events.

The author injects a bit of her own opinion, especially when it comes to trends she likes, which is fine, but I could do with either more, filling the pages with anecdotes; or less, just the facts, ma'am. The in between leaves me with some questions about how factual the writing really is. Not a big problem though, I'm not writing any research papers today.

[Carlo Mazzanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

As silly as this sounds, I very much enjoyed the pictures. I stopped reading after the 60s, I think, which is probably less a reflection of the book or its quality than a statement about my own taste. Genuinely think it's very interesting and worth a read. Surely it's not exahustive, but a good introduction, as far as my non-expert opinion means anything.

[Eda Çakmak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Assigned by dear Elizabeth Morano in class, at first discarded begrudgingly, this book became my fashion history bible as my love for the field grew. My copy is well-loved but the beautiful, sturdy print will hold on for decades to come.

[Jade To · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for a History of Fashion course, and while it does contain interesting information, it is nearly completely Eurocentric with a small mention of a few Japanese designers. It would be more interesting to touch more upon fashion globalization.

[Lesley Botez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough exploration of 20th and 21st fashion. excellent books for research with good illustrations.

[Gabriella (Ferreira) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A captivating book on the trends of fashion in the 20th century. I loved the flow of the pages and chapters, and especially how well the authors blended one trend to the next in chronological order. They mention everything that could have influenced a certain trend from politics to weather and from music and art to customs. BUT my favourite favourite (yes, I repeat) was the fact that they mentioned past trends when referencing a newer one. It was really helpful to have this book around, which fits right in most of my purses, as a fashion student. The fact that I could easily write paragraphs about where the 70s originated their affinity for stars and glamour (the 1930s glamour!) only gave me extra points on my tests.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good, easy-to-follow overview of the radical evolution of fashion trends throughout the 20th century. I found the parts encompassing the ‘40s to the ‘70s particularly interesting and learned a lot of fascinating facts I hadn’t considered before about the reasons behind certain trends. Despite only having a foundational knowledge of fashion terminology, I was able to follow this book without too much difficulty and overall, I felt that this was a pretty well-rounded, accessible overview.

[Michele]

putting this one on hold while i embark on a slightly crazy project based on e.h. gombrich's the story of art, which i'm using as an excuse to take myself chronologically through the story of everything (i.e. not just art but also philosophy, science, literature, music, etc), starting with prehistoric times. will come back to this when i get to the 1900s!

[Tanis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book covering a wide range of costume at designer and high street level. It has enough detail to be interesting but not so in depth that the joy is sucked out. Well illustrated too. A keeper.

[Shmuel Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much more realistic than Linda Watson’s 100 Years Of Fashion, as it doesn’t divide into decades because reality isn’t that neat and ordered, but rather by movements. Also, it isn’t limited to presenting everything from Vogue’s eyes like the other one. Really informative.

[Brenna (: · Rating 4 out of 5]

My new favorite non-fiction read! I don’t think I’ve ever been as interested to learn about history than while reading this. Learning about designers I admire and want to know more about was a really fun experience.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Fashion Textbook.

[Beth]

I use this as a text for the second half of my Fashion History class

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

claro, concreto, fluido: es un buen punto de partida, sin ser exhaustivo brinda un panorama muy completo, interesante y accesible

[Katerina Spilani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about the history of Fashion mainly focused on Hight Fashion. It has very good imagery. For a General and comprehensive guide, it is a very good choise

[m]

For class

[Euphemia · Rating 5 out of 5]

great rundown of fashion through the 20th century, appropriately categorising by movements and subcultures rather than simply decade-by-decade. a comprehensive and enjoyable overview.

[Madison]

I thought this was a good book for information about fashion right now, and in the past. I read this book for a Social Studies project I am doing in class and I used this book for notes on my topic : Fashion over the decades. I gave this book a 7 out of 10 because I wasn't reading it for fun, and it was really long. I recommend this book to people who have time to read a large book, and to people who love fashion.