Why'd they wear that? Fashion as the mirror of history

Review by Booklist Review

What a good idea for a book. And what a smart way to do it. As the subtitle says, this hefty, extensively illustrated book uses fashion to discuss the ways and whys people dress and how it reflects what's happening in their civilization. This massive task is divided into manageable bits through clever design and pithy headings, including a seemingly endless supply of plays on dress for success, like dressed to protest and dressed to compress (corsets). Starting at about 2000 BCE, the book moves briskly across continents, explaining not just dress but footwear, ways of cleaning clothes (not terribly successfully), fashion disasters (including using arsenic as an ingredient in textiles), and how society changed fashion and how fashion changed society. The many photographs are well chosen and reproduced, and Albee writes in a conversational style that, though occasionally repetitive, is instantly appealing to readers. Tim Gunn writes the foreword, and a time line and bibliography conclude. Dressed to impress!--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2015 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Full of period images that show off every bustle, frill, and rivet, this wide-ranging guide to clothing throughout time will fascinate history and fashion buffs alike. Albee gives overviews of Renaissance, Elizabethan, and Baroque fashions (among many others), while highlighting how economic and social changes were often directly reflected in clothing-during the Great Depression, for instance, costume jewelry replaced more expensive accessories. In the 1920s, flapper dresses represented women's liberation, and the styles of the 1960s and 1970s were sometimes inspired by current events (following the moon landing, the "space age" look became the rage). Albee also highlights the extremes to which individuals will go to conform to fleeting ideals of physical beauty-such as the practice of binding feet in China or the wearing of whalebone corsages and crinolines. An insightful study of how clothing is shaped by-and sometimes helps shape-history. Ages 10-up. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Horn Book Review

Albee comprehensively and conversationally examines how fashion has shaped history, and vice versa. Organized chronologically, the text explains how a trend or clothing item originated and what function it served, with numerous accompanying illustrations and photos; side boxes provide additional context (e.g., "How did [knights] go to the bathroom?"). A fascinating read for fashion and history aficionados. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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