Full color photos document hundreds of beautiful textiles from the Parisian high fashion houses of the 1950s. Featuring exotic and exquisite designs in silk, rayon, and cotton, these fabrics were used to create elegant women's couture fashions. Of special interest are fabric swatches reflecting seasonal styles, "special effects" photo-engraving and lavish imitation weaves. A valuable resource for designers, historians, and collectors.

More than a footnote to the Second World War, or a foreword to the youth-obsessed exhilaration of the Sixties, the Fifties was a thrilling decade devoted to newness and freshness. The British people, rebuilding their lives and wardrobes, demanded modern materials, vibrant patterns and exciting prints inspired by scientific discoveries and modern art. Despite the influence of glamorous Paris couture led by Dior, home-grown fashion labels including Horrockses and the young Queen Elizabeth's couturier Norman Hartnell had an equally great, if not greater impact on British style. This book, written by an assistant curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, is a fascinating look back to the days when post-war Britain developed a fresh sense of style.

Fabrics of the 1940s jump off the pages with vibrant colors in florals, stripes, checks, and plaids in full color photos. The war years saw a profusion of designs shown primarily in patriotic colors of red, white, and blue, many of them in patterns of stars and stripes, navy and airplane themes. Fabrics of the peace years reflect colors, bolder florals and geometric graphics that would continue well into the 50s.

Two lifelike paper dolls and 30 haute couture outfits by Chanel, Paquin, Jacques Heim, Mainbocher, Pauline Trigere, Givenchy, Cardin, Norell, other greats. Full Color. Publisher's Note. Captions.

Conversational prints were a prominent feature in the homes of the 1950s. These large and sometimes splashy print designs were used for drapery, upholstery, slipcover, and tablecloth fabrics, establishing a decorative theme or bringing a splash of color and humor. 250 color photos of vintage conversational prints are accompanied by full descriptions, making this a rich resource for designers and historians.

"A tribute to a time when style -- and maybe even life -- felt more straightforward, and however arbitrary, there were definitive answers." -- Sadie Stein, Paris Review As a glance down any street in America quickly reveals, American women have forgotten how to dress. We lack the fashion know-how we need to dress professionally and beautifully. In The Lost Art of Dress, historian and dressmaker Linda Przybyszewski reveals that this wasn't always true. In the first half of the twentieth century, a remarkable group of women -- the so-called Dress Doctors -- taught American women that knowledge, not money, was key to a beautiful wardrobe. They empowered women to design, make, and choose clothing for both the workplace and the home. Armed with the Dress Doctors' simple design principles -- harmony, proportion, balance, rhythm, emphasis -- modern American women from all classes learned to dress for all occasions in ways that made them confident, engaged members of society. A captivating and beautifully illustrated look at the world of the Dress Doctors, The Lost Art of Dress introduces a new audience to their timeless rules of fashion and beauty -- rules which, with a little help, we can certainly learn again.

Illustrations of clothing available for purchase from the catalog.