Product Description

Lavishly illustrated with 350 engaging nineteenth-century photographs, this book provides irrefutable documentation of Victorian ladies' fashions worn in America from 1860-1900. Extensively researched using period studio photographs and documents, the author thoroughly explores the fluctuations in Victorian fashions including casual wear, sports clothes, common dress, evening attire, hairstyles, jewelry, and clothing manufacture, while tracing the fascinating impact fashion had on the mental, physical, and social lives of our Victorian ancestors. Chapters on laundry, personal hygiene, cosmetics, and the dating of vintage photographs are included, along with a price guide and index. The authentic photographs and detailed analysis provide a unique picture of the lives of Victorian women through their styles of dress. This comprehensive and understandable visual guide is an invaluable resource for historians, scholars, theatrical costumers, and fashion and photography enthusiasts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #492332 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780764310546
• Condition: USED - LIKE NEW
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Linda Setnik lives in historic Folsom, California, where she has worked as an antiques dealer for the past twelve years and owns, along with her husband, Setnik's in Time Again antiques.

Customer Reviews

Some Real Strengths, but Also Some Weaknesses
This relatively inexpensive book still features crisp, beautifully reproduced illustrations. A real strength is the frequent inclusion of the full photographer's mount instead of cropping to the image. Setnik also finds it important to record where an image is taken, showing that she is aware that there were geographically specific fashion trends. The author attempts to combine her knowledge of costume with the history of photography. (These topics are often published separately.) The result is helpful. A major weakness is the lack of strong, dated examples. The author instead has written the history, and then found pictures to illustrate it. Consequently, the book is really the history of costume of the middle to upper class. Lower income groups, trades and ethnicity are not the subjects of this book. In my opinion, Setnick also over-generalizes when it comes to "poses" and "backgrounds". It is very difficult to rely on either for dating.

Recommended for students of fashion and costuming.
Victorian Costume For Ladies 1860-1900 is a photographic compendium of 350 nineteenth century images capturing yesteryear ladies' fashions worn in America. Author Linda Setnik thoroughly explores the fluctuations in Victorian fashions including undergarments, casual wear, sports clothes, common dress, evening attire, hairstyles, and jewelry -- and tracing the impact of fashion on the mental, physical, and social lives of Victorian ladies. Comprehensive, reader friendly, Victorian Costume For Ladies 1960-1900 is a welcome and impressive contribution that will be greatly appreciated by theatrical costumers, fashion historians, students of Victorian culture, and photography buffs.

The best book for ID of 19th C. clothing
This is a great book for anyone who collects victorian clothing. It is the one I refer to when trying to find the date of a particular piece. It goes into the detail of what was fashionable for the bodice, skirt, sleeve, etc. broken down into approximately two-six year periods. The pictures are of old CDV's so you can see how the dresses were actually worn (most originating from California). There are no pictures of period garments up close as some other books have. Still, the best book at mentioning fashions in detail for dating and illustrates tricky terms such as basque and cuirass bodices.