By Caroline Rennolds Milbank
303 pages
This isn't just a pretty coffee table book. It is an exhaustively researched and detailed look at American fashion, starting in 1800 and going all the way up to the 1980s. It has plenty of pictures, and I like the way it connects history and ideas with clothes. I think, in fact, that it was probably originally a textbook for a history of fashion class -- it is that detailed and thorough. It also traces the history of particular designers through the different eras, so if you want to know what Bill Blass or Oscar de la Renta was up to in the 1960s, here is a great resource.
The book focuses on New York City, specifically as a rival to Paris, although since New York designed for the whole country, the book would be useful to clothing historians and costume-makers studying any part of the country. The New York details are so extensive, though, that if you were writing a novel set in New York in 1880 you could talk about shopping on this particular street in this particular store for gloves, and then going around the corner to see particular couture designer at particular address. It is that well researched.
I'm going to lend it to my Aunt Monica, but I'll ask for it back if I decide to set a romance novel in the United States at some point in the past.
Oh, and I want this dress:
Can I borrow it when Aunt Monica is done?
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