From Library Journal
The authors, curators in the Department of Textiles and Dress in London's Victoria & Albert Museum, have compiled a glorious array of color photographs and period illustrations of rare bags and shoes from the museum. An informed and fascinating account of the development of shoes and purses since the Middle Ages results. Bags traces the development of this accessory from 14th-century girdle bags to 20th-century purses exhibiting the creative use of leather or manufactured materials. Shoes track decorative shoes, with varying heel heights, from medieval flats to modern lucite heels. Both books discuss men's and women's accessories but picture more of the latter, since more examples have survived. Using small type fonts to fit a great deal of information into a compact size (8" x 7"), these works are history books, not collectors' guides; there are, for example, no price listings. But savvy collectors will wish to read these authoritative tomes to gain familiarity with characteristic styles. Valuable for costume history students and other interested readers in academic, public, and museum libraries.
-Therese Duzinkiewicz Baker, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-Therese Duzinkiewicz Baker, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Four centuries of stylish shoes - a source of endless fascination for lovers of fashion - feature in this latest addition to the V&A’s popular series.
Shoes hold a special fascination for lovers of fashion. This lively account traces the history of footwear right up to the flamboyant styles of the late 1990s. Specially commissioned photographs highlight the elegance and beauty of embroidered shoes from the 17th and 18th centuries and the delicate slippers worn by Victorian ladies. Later designs steal the show with a mouthwatering array of strappy sandals, stilettos, brilliantly coloured suede boots, the infamous mock croc platforms that made Naomi Campbell stumble on the catwalk and, at the opposite extreme, trendy DMs and trainers.
