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    Home > British Landscape and Culture > How to Read a Dress: A Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 21st Century: Revised Edition
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    How to Read a Dress: A Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 21st Century: Revised Edition

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    Description
    Fashion is ever-changing, and while some styles mark a dramatic departure from the past, many exhibit subtle differences from year to year that are not always easily identifiable. With overviews of each key period and detailed illustrations for each new style, How to Read a Dress is an appealing and accessible guide to women's fashion across five centuries. Each entry includes annotated color images of historical garments, outlining important features and highlighting how styles have developed over time, whether in shape, fabric choice, trimming, or undergarments.

    Readers learn how garments were constructed and where their inspiration stemmed from at key points in history - as well as how dresses have varied in type, cut, detailing and popularity according to the occasion and the class, age and social status of the wearer. This new edition includes additional styles to illustrate and explain the journey between one style and another; larger images to allow closer investigation of details of dress; examples of lower and working-class, as well as middle-class, clothing; and a completely new chapter covering the 1980s to 2020. The latter demonstrates how the late 20th century and early 21st century firmly left the dress behind as a requirement, but retained it as a perennially popular choice and illustrates how far the traditional boundaries of 'the dress' have been pushed (even including reference to a newly non-binary appreciation of the garment), and the intellectual shifts in the way women's fashion is both inspired and inspires.

    With these new additions, How to Read a Dress, revised edition, presents a complete and up-to-date picture of 'the dress' in all its forms, across the centuries, and taking into account different sartorial and social experiences. It is the ideal tool for anyone who has ever wanted to know their cartridge pleats from their Recamier ruffles. Equipping the reader with all the information they need to 'read' a dress, this is the ultimate guide for students, researchers, and anyone interested in historical fashion.
    DELIVERY

    We offer free standard UK delivery on all orders over £50.

    Orders up to £30 are charged a flat fee of £4.95

    Orders between £30.01 and £50 are charged a flat fee of £6.95.

    Usual UK delivery timescale (excluding custom prints) is between 5 and 7 working days from the date of dispatch. Please allow up to 14 working days for delivery. For custom print delivery pricing and timescales see below. These timescales may vary especially when we have online sales and in the weeks before Christmas. Christmas 2024: The last recommended order date for UK orders is 14 December. The last recommended order date for all international orders is 23 November.

    Delivery Worldwide

    We can also ship to selected countries worldwide. 

    For full details, including prices, click here.

    Custom Prints

    Your prints and frames will be handmade by King & McGaw at their Sussex workshop.

    Unframed orders are shipped within 5 working days (normally shipped next day).

    Framed orders are shipped within 20 working days.

    Further information on delivery timescales for custom prints can be found here.

    RETURNS

    If you are not completely satisfied with your item you may return it within 28 days for a refund.

    For further details on returns click here.

    Unfortunately we cannot offer a refund on custom prints unless they are faulty or we have made a mistake. Custom prints are exempt as they are made to order.

    Manufacturer/Publisher: Bloomsbury
    Binding: Paperback
    Author: Lydia Edwards
    Date Published: 2023

    SKU: 9781350172210

    Description
    Fashion is ever-changing, and while some styles mark a dramatic departure from the past, many exhibit subtle differences from year to year that are not always easily identifiable. With overviews of each key period and detailed illustrations for each new style, How to Read a Dress is an appealing and accessible guide to women's fashion across five centuries. Each entry includes annotated color images of historical garments, outlining important features and highlighting how styles have developed over time, whether in shape, fabric choice, trimming, or undergarments.

    Readers learn how garments were constructed and where their inspiration stemmed from at key points in history - as well as how dresses have varied in type, cut, detailing and popularity according to the occasion and the class, age and social status of the wearer. This new edition includes additional styles to illustrate and explain the journey between one style and another; larger images to allow closer investigation of details of dress; examples of lower and working-class, as well as middle-class, clothing; and a completely new chapter covering the 1980s to 2020. The latter demonstrates how the late 20th century and early 21st century firmly left the dress behind as a requirement, but retained it as a perennially popular choice and illustrates how far the traditional boundaries of 'the dress' have been pushed (even including reference to a newly non-binary appreciation of the garment), and the intellectual shifts in the way women's fashion is both inspired and inspires.

    With these new additions, How to Read a Dress, revised edition, presents a complete and up-to-date picture of 'the dress' in all its forms, across the centuries, and taking into account different sartorial and social experiences. It is the ideal tool for anyone who has ever wanted to know their cartridge pleats from their Recamier ruffles. Equipping the reader with all the information they need to 'read' a dress, this is the ultimate guide for students, researchers, and anyone interested in historical fashion.
    DELIVERY

    We offer free standard UK delivery on all orders over £50.

    Orders up to £30 are charged a flat fee of £4.95

    Orders between £30.01 and £50 are charged a flat fee of £6.95.

    Usual UK delivery timescale (excluding custom prints) is between 5 and 7 working days from the date of dispatch. Please allow up to 14 working days for delivery. For custom print delivery pricing and timescales see below. These timescales may vary especially when we have online sales and in the weeks before Christmas. Christmas 2024: The last recommended order date for UK orders is 14 December. The last recommended order date for all international orders is 23 November.

    Delivery Worldwide

    We can also ship to selected countries worldwide. 

    For full details, including prices, click here.

    Custom Prints

    Your prints and frames will be handmade by King & McGaw at their Sussex workshop.

    Unframed orders are shipped within 5 working days (normally shipped next day).

    Framed orders are shipped within 20 working days.

    Further information on delivery timescales for custom prints can be found here.

    RETURNS

    If you are not completely satisfied with your item you may return it within 28 days for a refund.

    For further details on returns click here.

    Unfortunately we cannot offer a refund on custom prints unless they are faulty or we have made a mistake. Custom prints are exempt as they are made to order.