Mary G. Houston Knihy

This scrupulously researched and abundantly illustrated book includes 315 drawings based on renderings by artists of the period to achieve utmost accuracy and authenticity.Included are elaborate examples of Aegean costume, Doric and Ionic styles of dress for women, Greek and Roman armor, graceful and intricately arranged Roman togas, the tunica — roomy, wide-sleeved apparel; and the pallium, a cloak-like garment. Ornate vestments of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Byzantine costumes are carefully described and portrayed, as are styles of hairdressing, jewelry, and other decorative elements.An excellent reference for the history classroom, the volume also includes instructions and flat patterns showing the cut of sample garments, making it easy for costume designers to reproduce period apparel. This book will be valuable as well to costume historians and art students interested in the development of representative art.

Over 250 illustrations, drawn in the artistic style of the period, depict apparel worn by Egyptian royalty, manual workers, and military, as well as by ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Flat patterns show cut of the garments, enabling today's costumers to accurately reconstruct this apparel. A comprehensive archive.

This carefully researched volume offers lovers of both costume and the medieval period a meticulously researched and accurately detailed study of the clothing of the Middle Ages. Following an illuminating discussion of the style and construction of costumes worn in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, noted costume historian Mary G. Houston provides detailed descriptions and illustrations of actual apparel worn by all classes and sectors of society. Included are elaborate royal, academic, and legal costumes; Eucharistic vestments and garments of religious orders; working class apparel; civilian dress; and more. Also examined is a wide variety of accessories and ornaments, jewelry, armor, textiles, embroidery, coiffures, and other items.The clear, succinct text is splendidly documented by 350 black-and-white line illustrations based on contemporary books and manuscripts as well as representations in paintings and sculpture. Indispensable for students of costume history, medievalists, illustrators, and fashion historians, Medieval Costume in England and France will delight anyone interested in the medieval period and its dress.