Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1987 - 28

BOOK REVIEWS

that are
dill1ll1er~ d or
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books on period patterning, many of
which have come from England.
Gretel Geist Rutledge
Michigan State University
East Lansing

A Visual History of
Costume: The Twentieth
Century

by Penelope Byrde
London: B.T Batsford Ltd., 1986.
Distributed by Drama Book
Publishers, ew York. ISBN
0-1734-4859-8,114 pp., ill., £19.95
cloth.

onsidering the number of
C
sources available on twentiethcentury dress, another work on the

shops, will put this book to good use.
Where else can one get sixty-eight
complete patters in one slim volume
that includes all the major fashion
trends of this century up to 1970 1 For
the small costume shop with a limited stock of commercial patterns,
this book is a gold mine.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the very British
tone to the writing and the nature of
the pattern selections. For example,
the 1917 selections are British army
26

TD&T· SUMMER 1987

uniforms for both the man and the
woman. Again, in 1942 the woman's
garment is a WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) uniform, and the
man's garment is a Royal Air Force
uniform. So too, the selection for the
man in 1944 is an officer's great coat.
Although these selections may seem
chauvinistic to an American reader,
they provide invaluable information
not easily available from any other
source. As such, this work is a
worthy contribution to the list of

topic appears unnecessary. Yet Penelope Byrde's volume in the B.T.
Batsford series, A Visual History of
Costume, richly deserves a space on
the shelf. The visually stunning collection of black-and-white and color
illustrations offer a complete overview of the century.
Like the previous books in this
series, Byrde's volume traces the
stylistic developments of dress
throughout the century and identifies precisely when these developments occur via a brief introduction
and documented pictorial works.
Throughout the book it is readily apparent that, as in the previous century, the styles for men remain
basically unvarying in character
(give or take a subtle change in cut,
material, or decoration) while the
women's styles reflect the social, artistic, and industrial changes of the
century. One thing this work does
well is establish the rhythmic pattern of our century. While leafing
through the images, the slow evolution of a style or image during the
early decades gives way to the constant shifting of styles with which
we have all come to live.
The major forces behind stylistic
variations are discussed in the introduction and the effects are visualized
in the carefully selected illustrations. The range is astounding - couturier designs by such artists as Paul
Poiret, Madeleine Vionnet, and
Christian Dior are not far from such
subversive fashion trendsetters as
the hippies, the skinheads, or the
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1987
