Staff Pick
Clothing Art: this is where the paths of history, art, and fashion intersect. Fashion has always mirrored societal mores and ethics. Our understanding of historical clothing is dependent mostly upon the artist’s representation. Years and centuries later, the modern viewer sees not only the subject’s personal style, but also where they fit into their society and what that society was made up of. Author Aileen Ribeiro, one of the world’s premier authorities of costume history, has written an astonishingly detailed text — rich in complexity and exhaustively researched. This will be a major bible of fashion history for years to come. Clothing Art is an amazing book. Recommended By Tracey T., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
An entirely new way of looking at the history of fashion through the eyes of artists
There have always been important links between art and clothing. Artists have documented the ever-evolving trends in fashion, popularized certain styles of dress, and at times even designed fashions. This is the first book to explore in depth the fascinating points of contact between art and clothing, and in doing so it constructs a new and innovative history of dress in which the artist plays a central role.
Aileen Ribeiro provides an illuminating account of the relationship between artists and clothing from the 17th century, when a more complex and sophisticated attitude to dress first appeared, to the early 20th century, when the boundaries between art and fashion became more fluid: haute couture could be seen as art, and art used textiles and clothes in highly imaginative ways. Her narrative encompasses such themes as the ways in which clothing has helped to define the nation state; how masquerade and dressing up were key subjects in art and life; and how, while many artists found increasing inspiration in high fashion, others became involved in designing artistic and reform dress. Sumptuously illustrated, Clothing Art also delves into the ways in which artists represent the clothes they depict in their work, approaches which range from photographic detail, through varying degrees of imaginative reality, to generalized drapery. "