A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion: Historic and Modern (Dover Fashion and Costumes)

I am a fan of Mary Brooks Picken's works. I had expected the book to be heavier with assumed content. It changed after turning a few pages. In the middle of the book there are monotone pictures of historical garments on unknown and forever known people. The illustrations are black and white, nice to look at (vintage + classy) and it reads like a dictionary, not an encyclopaedia. There are so many names or history behind garments I'd taken for granted, little considered, or was unexposed to until this book. It is true, there is no pattern breakdown. However, there are some great descriptions for hand-sewing that are both standard and highly unusual. I can't imagine I won't refer to it again and again until it falls apart someday. I do recommend this book!

It’s a fantastic reference.

If you need to discover all about a certain time period's costume details, this book isn't what you need. However, as a fantasy writer, I find this book an incredibly useful tool in helping me get the right word for costume parts. Organized in the form of a dictionary, the book requires you to know what you are looking to find; but it's still useful as more than a dictionary: You can look under general topics, such as 'skirts' or 'sleeves' and learn a lot about various styles in a backwards fashion.All in all, a bit difficult to use, but a good book to have in your library.

As a student in fashion school I purchased this to supplement my text books especially in Fashion History classes. It was useful for finding much of the more recent terms that I required. However, it was lacking in the earlier historical terms (Mostly Ancient Mesopotamia through the French Revolution eras.) Unless you'd like it specifically for those historical terms it will be useful for the more everyday fashion lingo which needs definition.

I just received my copy today, and I am thrilled with it. It is exactly what I was hoping for, a useful, easy to pick up (it's lightweight and not so large that it's a difficult reference), simple to use reference material for our costume shop. Includes broader headings (sportswear), as well as specifics, the pictures are great (although more would be helpful), and there are fabric descriptions as well. Highly recommended as a reference, do not purchase as a reading book. Perfect for a work setting.

I don't now if I'll use this dictionary again. Frankly I bought it because it was a required 'text book' for a class on fashion terminology. I've had good 5-6 hours browsing through the illustrations and definitions. I suppose it's a good reference book to keep.

This was a gift to my son's girlfriend. We share a love of costuming. This book is an excellent reference.

This book was a gift for my sister-in-law, who was preparing a fashion show of vintage clothing left by her mother and others in a small town in coastal Maine. She found the book a core resource for her commentary,