Fashion in Photographs: 1920-1940 Hardcover - 1993

From the publisher

Fashion in Photographs is an authoritative series of fashion guides covering the period 1860-1940. This fourth and final volume features 150 period photographs, showing a wide variety of dress worn between 1920 and 1940. The black and white plates are taken from the photographic archive of London's National Portrait Gallerya vast collection of more than 100,000 images and a major source for costume historians. The present volume comprises studies of the rich and famous, as well as politicians, intellectuals, and subjects from further down the social scale. Well-known sitters include: Queen Alexandra, Viscountess (Nancy) Astor, Tallulah Bankhead, Cecil Beaton, Walt Disney, Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II), Aldous Huxley, Amy Johnson, Gertrude Lawrence, Diana and Nancy Mitford, Fred Perry and Flora Robson. The author, a leading dress historian, has provided a full caption for each photograph, describing costume, accessories andwhere relevantsetting. The captions also give relevant background information, besides discussing contemporary dress codes, what the clothes felt like to wear, and how fashion developed during the period. This fascinating study of an important period in recent history will appeal to general readers and students alike. Its combination of reliable visual information and informed comment will be invaluable to designers in fashion and the performing arts, as well as to students of costume, social and photographic history.