Victorian Fashions: A Pictorial Archive, 965 Illustrations (Dover Pictorial Archive)

This book was just what I was looking for! I wanted some visual illustrations of Victorian fashion after having found plenty of books with some images, but lots more written detail about Victorian style, clothing trends, and changes as time passed to those trends. This book was perfect. It's literally just a book of images of Victorian clothing -- dresses. undergarments, shoes, fans... You name it, it's in this book. Now, the fashions are all female-oriented, which isn't explicitly spelled out in the blurb, and I'd love to see a male fashion version of the book, or an edition with both female and male fashions represented, but this is a great start on what I was looking for to widen my visual encyclopedia of Victorian fashion. The pages are simply all images -- gowns, shoes, etc, tucked into the pages as they fit. There are no dates, locations, or any categorization of the pictures, as that's not what this book is about. The images themselves are greyscale, but they're printed clearly and crisply and show detail with precision. I'm very happy to have found this book, and it'll definitely be a reference I'll use frequently for inspiration!

This is a fantastic collection of JUST illustrations, in wonderful detail and in Victorian pen/ink drawing style.This is a great resource for the following users:Any surface designers: these illustrations can be scanned in, recolored and used in a variety of surface and product designsWriters: a great visual reference to describe characters' clothing in gothic novels or short storiesFashion Design students: as reference, an idea source on design details or to practice sketchingScrapbookers/crafters: a variety of projects, my favorite being scanning in at high resolution, enlarging in any design software and doing a heat transfer on canvas to create Pottery barn/Anthropologie style pillowsCostume Designers; great reference for any theatrical production of this period, with tons of ideas.Web designers: a huge collection of images for any websites that call for a vintage feel - boutiques, collectors, restaurants and events.I do wish that this book had a CD-Rom included, but its not really a big deal - I find that i do not even use the scanner to import the images most of the time, but snap a picture with my phone and upload it.This book as exactly as the title describes: illustrations. I think that some of the 1 and 2 star reviews on this item are unfair with complains about the lack of descriptions or exact historical references.It is JUST illustrations, and anyone seeking a more informative resource should do more research about the item, rather than leave bad reviews.

If you are like me and you can create a outfit just by looking at a picture then this is the book for you, The pictures are clear and detailed, there are no actual pictures it is all illustrations what a wealth of ideas and variations

I would rank this book just behind Victorian Fashions and Costumes from Harper's Bazar, 1867-1898 (Dover Pictorial Archives) by Stella Blum and Full-Color Victorian Fashions : 1870-1893 by JoAnne Olian. If you have to be selected go with the first two before this one, but I still highly recommend this to round out the collection. More than 900 very detailed crisp drawing from the marvelous people at Dover Publishing again. They bring you inexpensive books that are a wealth of information, writers of period romance just cannot live without.

Every student of 19th-century fashion needs to have six books from Dover Publications in his or her library:- Victorian Fashions and Costumes from 'Harper's Bazar', Stella Blum;- Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from La Mode Illustree, Joanne Olian;- Wedding Fashions 1860-1912, Joanne Olian;- Victorian and Edwardian Fashion: A Photographic Survey, Alison Gernsheim;- English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century, C. Willett Cunnington;- and this book.Carol Grafton's book is really more of an assemblage of pictures for illustrators than anything else, but what pictures! Over 900 B&W drawings lovingly display every little detail of the elaborate costumes of the Victorian and early Edwardian eras from the mid-1850's to 1903. This book doesn't have much in the way of text so it's not as comprehensive a research resource as some of the others that I've mentioned, but as an auxiliary resource to the other books on the above list, it's perfect.

Great book for anyone interested in the Victorian Era. My 15 year old Grand Daughter is one of these people - she was thrilled with the gift and happily sketching the costumes.

Love it. Using it for research for a theater production i’m Designing costumes fir’

I like the book but it is literally just a picture book. There are no explanatinos or catergories, the book only has the years on the bottom of the pages. But other wise fun to look at.

Buscaba un libro que reflejara la moda de la época Victoriana. Bonitas ilustraciones que muestran tanto el vestuario como los accesorios.

Really a great catalog characterized by a wide variety of designs that seem to embark on a real journey through time. For those who love to draw clothes or themed comics it's really recommended.

Enormément d'images pour illustrer la mode victorienne. Des robes, des chapeaux ,comment coiffer les cheveux et les garnir d'accessoires , fleurs et plumes, rubans et perles, broderies et dentelles. Des chaussures, des sacs, des bijoux; et des blouses, vestes, capes............une multitudes de détails pour s'inspirer et personnaliser son costume. Pas de patrons.

私は英語が全く出来ません。Be動詞？ぐらいで知識が終わっているような人間ですが、この本は思う存分楽しめました。（通し番号で）全123ページありますが、その全部が絵です。しかも白黒なのに皺などが綺麗に表現されている、大分ウエストが細い女性が着たドレスの絵。中には帽子、センス、カバン（？）、靴、なども載っているページもありますが、1ページに必ず1人、頭からつま先までの絵があり、時々後ろ姿まで載ってるとてもワクワクする本です。ドレスが好きな方は、買って損は無いと思います。

Ich nähe mittlerweile seit einiger Zeit historische Mode und möchte dafür auch wirklich authentische Kleidung herstellen. Da ist mir dieses Buch damit sehr behilflich. Die Illustrationen sind wunderschön und wahnsinnig detailliert. Von Hüten und Frisuren über Unterwäsche, Accessoires und Schuhe findet man alles was das Herz begehrt.Was für mich ein ganz besonders großer Pluspunkt ist, ist dass die Kleider in Zeit eingeteilt sind, was wirklich toll ist wenn man besonders auf athentisches achtet. Selbst für Nicht Nähinteressierte ist das Buch ein wahrer Augenschmaus zum durchblättern und entdecken.Was für einige vielleicht ein Nachteil sein könnte ist, dass auf Text verzichtet wird. Also es gibt weder eine Beschreibung der einzelnen Bilder noch Nähanleitungen oder ähnliches. Wer also gerne Hintergrundinfomrationen oder Details nachlesen möche wird damit nicht glücklich werden.Wichtig ist auch noch zu erwähnen, dass die Illustrationen nicht wie am Buchcover koloriert sondern schwarz-weiß sind, was der Detailfreude allerdings nichts abtut.