Book Review of Janet Arnolds Patterns of Fashion
Patterns of Mode five: The Content, Cutting, Structure, & Context of Bodies, Stays, Hoops, & Rumps, c. 1595-1795, was released terminal month by the School of Historical Dress, which houses the Janet Arnold Archive. This is probably one of the most anticipated historical clothes books to be published in years, and certainly the most important book on stays to be published in decades--maybe ever.
Does it live upward to the hype? Oh, yes.
The Schoolhouse had a alpine order: to laurels the late Janet Arnold's legacy, to aggrandize upon her enquiry, and to concord truthful to the aim and theme of the unabridged Patterns of Fashion serial, while utilizing new tools and technology. In short, to publish the definitive work on this department of way. And they had to do information technology as a group effort, with team members scattered across Eurpope. The writer list includes Janet Arnold, Jenni Tiramani, Luca Costigliolo, Sebastien Passot, Armelle Lucas, and Johannes Pietsch.
They've succeeded.
I have read nearly every book that is available in English about 18th century stays. I have studied them in person. I have spent 10 years re-creating them, developing patterns, testing ideas. And I learned new things within 30 seconds of cracking open my volume.
(For those unfamiliar, Janet Arnold was a renowned apparel historian, teacher, author, and costumer. Her Patterns of Fashion volumes are some of the most influential and well known works on historical apparel. When she passed in 1998, she left behind an annal of unfinished enquiry and books.)
What's swell nigh it and what's in it?
Firstly, this volume is massive. Information technology is at least twice every bit thick equally Patterns of Fashion one, which speaks to the volume of information included.
Secondly, it is in color, dissimilar the before volumes published 30+ years ago. The colour images and diagrams jump off the page and add together and so much depth of information.
It contains 26 gridded patterns for stays, 10 hoops, and more. At that place are color photos of every garment.
The focus on content and context, mentioned in the title, are standouts for me. Details about the whaling trade, which grasses were actually used for bents, how the raw materials were processed, textile weaving--this context helps one understand the broader social and economic context of staymaking in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The front of the book consists of a very detailed department going into all of these details, and more, including drafting methods and excerpts from tailors manuals at the time. It is my understanding that many of these have been translated to English for the commencement fourth dimension for this book.
The cut and construction info in the gridded blueprint department of the book is of grade stellar. This is the first publication to actually delve into the layers within stays--did you know it was extremely common for them to include paper? X-ray technology has allowed the authors to reexamine some of Janet Arnold'southward earlier piece of work, calculation depth and new information.
What's of import most it?
Groundbreaking discoveries were made during the investigation of the Castilian hoop included in the book. Hearing the story of how they discovered it at the Structuring Style conference in Munich was just fascinating. The method of using grasses to create long roping for hoop stiffening is new to me.
This book is too important as information technology brings a shift in terminology. We now know to refer to stitched stays and covered stays, not stays and bodices. Indeed; until the Mantua, information technology is covered stays we are seeing as outerwear on women, not bodices. This is honestly a shift in the entire thinking of 17th century fashion.
The curved drafting system equally explained by Luca Costigliolo is a revelation that we'd only partially understood before.
Who is it for?
I have had several people ask me if this book is skilful for beginners. My reply is--if you are truly interested in historical wearing apparel from this period, why spend time with watered down or outdated information, when yous now have admission to this? Starting time with the all-time research. It'south OK if you never use ane of the patterns from the book, or you've never used a gridded design. You will learn so much merely from reading through it.
After all, I've been studying historical dress for 15 years and I have however learned an astonishing amount from the volume. One of the things I'd like to practice soon is compare the patterns from the extant stays to the ones I've drafted from photos of the same stays, to see merely what I got incorrect.
Where to become information technology?
In that location has been some defoliation about how to acquire Patterns of Style 5. The School of Historical dress has called to self publish and act as sole distributor, so that more than of the profits feed straight into the school. This does mean shipping from the UK, simply besides means more funding for future volumes. That's fine by me!
The Schoolhouse is releasing it in waves, so they aren't stuck with 5,000 orders all at once. If the website says out of stock, just bank check back the following day.
Get your copy hither.
A special moment at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, book in hand and bodily garment before me.
Bravo, squad. Now I eagerly expect the 19th century book...
Source: https://redthreaded.com/blogs/redthreaded/book-review-patterns-of-fashion-5
0 Response to "Book Review of Janet Arnolds Patterns of Fashion"
Post a Comment