The Complete Costume Dictionary
By (author) Elizabeth J. Lewandowski
Publication date:
24 October 2011Length of book:
622 pagesPublisher
Scarecrow PressDimensions:
286x224mm9x11"
ISBN-13: 9780810840041
While there are costume and fashion dictionaries tied to specific countries or periods, none have been comprehensive. In The Complete Costume Dictionary, Elizabeth Lewandowski has collected from a variety of sources—including costume history texts, journal articles, historical publications, autobiographies, biographies, foreign language dictionaries, and contemporary publications—to create a resource that spans the globe, from the earliest record of fashion to the 21st century.
Including more than 20,000 fashion and costume terms, this volume also features more than 300 illustrations. The first section of the book is an alphabetical listing of these words with their definitions, period, and country of origin. This volume also contains appendixes that list the terms by country of origin, period, and type of clothing. The book is not limited to the Western World and includes both archaic and current terms.
Significantly greater in scope than anything currently available—online or in print—this one-of-a-kind publication is an invaluable resource for costume and fashion historians, textile preservationists, period re-enactors, and history and theatre scholars, as well as theatre professionals.
Including more than 20,000 fashion and costume terms, this volume also features more than 300 illustrations. The first section of the book is an alphabetical listing of these words with their definitions, period, and country of origin. This volume also contains appendixes that list the terms by country of origin, period, and type of clothing. The book is not limited to the Western World and includes both archaic and current terms.
Significantly greater in scope than anything currently available—online or in print—this one-of-a-kind publication is an invaluable resource for costume and fashion historians, textile preservationists, period re-enactors, and history and theatre scholars, as well as theatre professionals.
To understand better the terms used in an 18th-century family diary, Lewandowski, a professor of theater in costume design (Midwestern State Univ., TX), began collecting words on note cards 15 years ago. The end result is this massive collection of more than 20,000 fashion and costume definitions. Appendixes arrange terms by garment types (280 kinds of lace, 118 terms for sleeves), by era from ancient Egyptian sheath dresses to 1960s hot pants, and by country. Covering items from an aile de pigeon, a wig worn by French men in the 1750s, to a Zylinder, a German top hat, this is a welcome resource for costume departments and social historians alike.