Rich selection of scaled dressmaker's patterns from the popular late-19th century magazine The Voice of Fashion details 50 garments for women, from handsome daytime and evening dresses to casual tennis outfits, a riding habit, and undergarments This volume will not only find practical use among costume designers and students of fashion history but will also delight browsers and anyone intrigued by the evolution of clothing styles. 498 illus.

Chinese textiles go back thousands of years. The Silk Road was named for the extensive trade in these fine materials. Due to China's size and history of successive wealthy dynasties, a vast amount of textile art is available for study today. Great tombs have yielded beautiful and dateable pieces worn and used by elite members of Chinese society. These and other fragile examples reside in museums and a few private collections. Other examples of antique Chinese textiles are found still to be in the marketplace. While it is impossible to look at these beautiful examples and not admire the skill of the weaver and embroiderer, until now there has been little information about their history or value. This comprehensive guide to collectible Chinese textiles with an extensive number of examples and with an understandable grading system that relates to what constitutes value. This book is beautifully illustrated with over 500 detailed photos of ceremonial court robes, badges, and decorative textiles dating from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) through the Ching dynasty, (1644-1911). It is designed for historians, Asian studies sholars, and textile collectors, from beginning to advanced, as a real-world representation of available pieces and an indepth study. It is a must for appraisers and connoisseurs alike.

This new book provides an organized, chronological guide to the evolution and development of the myriad types of soft headgear worn by the SS. As the pre- and war-years progressed, geographical areas of operation changed, and the composition of the SS divisions evolved. So also, did the headgear worn by these troops. This reference illustrates a great number of these examples with over 600 photos including more than half in color. The overwhelming majority of these pictures including many rare original candid period snapshots have never been seen before in any previous publication.

The motifs and design elements of lighting, furnishings, and everyday household implements have long served as teachers, offering clues and insight into the lives of the people who created and owned them. Here is a comprehensive tour of figured coverlets made between 1817 and 1869. These antique woven bedcovers, with their graphic and colorful images of trains, animals, buildings, heroes and patriotic symbols, provide a wonderful and perhaps unique snapshot of the bright optimism that was the 19th-century spirit of America. Over 100 coverlets are shown in full, in color, and on both sides. They include many early and rare pieces, offering an unprecedented reference on the subject. Nearly all are dated and/or identified, and represent all the major coverlet producing states.

Art takes many forms. In this selection of Asian court attire, dating from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the phrase "you are what you wear" resonates. Vollmer journeys back to the thirteenth-century Chinese Empire, where ancestors of the ruling Manchu conquerors dressed fittingly. These exquisite costumes remind us that royalty once set fashion standards the way that celebrities do today, but that these garments also promoted distinct national and political messages that helped keep a ruling minority in power for nearly three centuries. Dressed to Rule is a guide to the exhibit, of the same name, that appeared at the University of Alberta in 2007.

Every Persian carpet has a story to tell -- from the remote villages of Afghanistan and Iran, down the ancient trade routes traveled for centuries, to the bazaars of Tehran and the markets of the Western world. Carpet-making is one of this tumultuous region's few constants, an art form that transcends religious and political turmoil. Part travelogue and part exploration into the meaning and worth of these mystical artifacts, "The Root of Wild Madder" presents practical information about carpets while exploring the artistic, religious, and cultural complexities of these enigmatic lands.

The Toms collections boasts one of the most important groupings of tapestries privately assembled during the second half of the 20th century. It's more than 100 examples, woven between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries in workshops of Flanders, France, Italy and England, are noteworthy not only for their geographic, historical and thematic diversity but also for the remarkable condition. Mary Toms, widow of Reginald Toms, bequeathed this legacy in 1993 to the Canton of Vaud (Switzerland). This catalogue documents all of the woven works in the Toms collection, providing historical and artistic analysis. This richly illustrated volume is intended for novice readers, veteran tapestry lovers, and specialists alike.