This captivating book reproduces arguably the most extraordinary primary source documents in fashion history. Providing a revealing window onto the Renaissance, they chronicle how style-conscious accountant Matthäus Schwarz and his son Veit Konrad experienced life through clothes, and climbed the social ladder through fastidious management of self-image. These bourgeois dandies' agenda resonates as powerfully today as it did in the sixteenth century: one has to dress to impress, and dress to impress they did. The Schwarzes recorded their sartorial triumphs as well as failures in life in a series of portraits by illuminists over 60 years, which have been comprehensively reproduced in full color for the first time. These exquisite illustrations are accompanied by the Schwarzes' fashion-focussed yet at times deeply personal captions, which render the pair the world's first fashion bloggers and pioneers of everyday portraiture. The First Book of Fashion demonstrates how dress – seemingly both ephemeral and trivial – is a potent tool in the right hands. Beyond this, it colorfully recaptures the experience of Renaissance life and reveals the importance of clothing to the aesthetics and every day culture of the period. Historians Ulinka Rublack's and Maria Hayward's insightful commentaries create an unparalleled portrait of sixteenth-century dress that is both strikingly modern and thorough in its description of a true Renaissance fashionista's wardrobe. This first English translation also includes a bespoke pattern by TONY award-winning costume designer and dress historian Jenny Tiramani, from which readers can recreate one of Schwarz's most elaborate and politically significant outfits.

An essential fashion reference for students and professionals alike, organized in a series of detailed case studies Fashion design is a process of investigating, understanding context, and constantly questioning what you are doing and why. This comprehensive survey presents the work of a wide range of modern and contemporary designers and reveals the innumerable areas of inspiration and research on which they’ve drawn, from historical examples such as Christian Dior’s “New Look” to traditional textiles from around the world, as seen in John Galliano’s Peruvian-inspired collection of 2005. The first part of the book investigates the research process in the work of designers such as Paul Smith, Comme des Garçons, and Anna Sui. The second section covers subjects like vintage and retro, the use of archives, and the influence of art movements such as op art and surrealism. The third part presents case studies of world-famous designers: Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior, Alexander McQueen, and Coco Chanel, to name but a few.

An obsession with fashion is nothing new. Throughout history, dress has mesmerised with its power to charm and communicate identity and status. In this first English translation of an extraordinary historical document – the earliest known book of fashion – fashion-conscious Renaissance man Matthäus Schwarz and his son Veit Konrad chronicle their lives through the clothes they wore. Lavishly illustrated, The First Book of Fashion recaptures the experience of sixteenth-century life through the rich intricacies of dress and its cultural meaning. The book unpicks the fabrics, cuts, colours and detail of these remarkable illustrations and their brilliant captions handwritten by Schwarz, arguably making him the first fashion blogger. Historians Ulinka Rublack and Maria Hayward bring the original manuscript to life with new, insightful commentaries alongside the original text, providing an unparalleled portrait of sixteenth-century dress and culture in context. Including a specially-designed pattern by Olivier award-winning costume designer Jenny Tiramani, from which readers can recreate one of Schwarz's original garments, this is a valuable resource for everyone from scholars to designers to fashion enthusiasts.

An obsession with fashion is nothing new. Throughout history, dress has mesmerised with its power to charm and communicate identity and status. In this first English translation of an extraordinary historical document - the earliest known book of fashion - fashion-conscious Renaissance man Matthäus Schwarz and his son Veit Konrad chronicle their lives through the clothes they wore. Lavishly illustrated, The First Book of Fashion recaptures the experience of sixteenth-century life through the rich intricacies of dress and its cultural meaning. The book unpicks the fabrics, cuts, colours and detail of these remarkable illustrations and their brilliant captions handwritten by Schwarz, arguably making him the first fashion blogger. Historians Ulinka Rublack and Maria Hayward bring the original manuscript to life with new, insightful commentaries alongside the original text, providing an unparalleled portrait of sixteenth-century dress and culture in context. Including a specially-designed pattern by Olivier award-winning costume designer Jenny Tiramani, from which readers can recreate one of Schwarz's original garments, this is a valuable resource for everyone from scholars to designers to fashion enthusiasts.

Highly Commended, Society for Renaissance Studies Biennial Book Prize 2022 In sixteenth and seventeenth-century England, the female silhouette underwent a dramatic change. This very structured form, created using garments called bodies and farthingales, existed in various extremes in Western Europe and beyond, in the form of stays, corsets, hoop petticoats and crinolines, right up until the twentieth century. With a nuanced approach that incorporates a stunning array of visual and written sources and drawing on transdisciplinary methodologies, Shaping Femininity explores the relationship between material culture and femininity by examining the lives of a wide range of women, from queens to courtiers, farmer's wives and servants, uncovering their lost voices and experiences. It reorients discussions about female foundation garments in English and wider European history, arguing that these objects of material culture began to shape and define changing notions of the feminine bodily ideal, social status, sexuality and modesty in the early modern period, influencing enduring Western notions of femininity. Beautifully illustrated in full colour throughout, Shaping Femininity is the first large-scale exploration of the materiality, production, consumption and meanings of women's foundation garments in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England. It offers a fascinating insight into dress and fashion in the early modern period, and offers much of value to all those interested in the history of early modern women and gender, material culture and consumption, and the history of the body, as well as curators and reconstructors.