A Century of Fashion

An essential fashion industry resource, this new book presents a century of fashion illustrations from dress pattern envelopes ranging from the 1890s to the 1990s. References the popular shapes, silhouettes, and fashions through nearly 350 patterns for evening wear, lingerie, sportswear, and more. This detailed presentation illustrates cultural, social, and economic changes influencing women's fashions and the stylized illustrations used to capture the mode and ideal body styles of the day. As more design processes go digital, this book offers hundreds of skillful renderings done by hand. This is an ideal collection for fashion industry professionals, design students, and costume historians.
Alice I. Duff has been collecting dress patterns for over 34 years. Her other interests include cats, historic preservation, antiques, miniatures, and reading. She is a professional office manager in Portland, Oregon.