Rating: 
Summary: a money waster
Review: I hate to say this about any book, but the lack of cross references, the out of proportion sketches, and the lack of in depth information make this an absolute money waster. There are considerably better books even for the first time enthusiast with little cash.
Rating: 
Summary: Teen Designer
Review: I have been the costume designer for many of my school's plays, which have ranged from Medieval times to the 1970s to the 1840s in the deep south. And for every single project I have consulted this book. It may not have writing throughout all of it, but I have found that this helps none when you know nothing about the time period. The best thing is to just see how it was all put together. And this book does that wonderfully. I know that when I go off to college, this book will be going with me.
Rating:
Summary: Teen Designer
Review: I have been the costume designer for many of my school's plays, which have ranged from Medieval times to the 1970s to the 1840s in the deep south. And for every single project I have consulted this book. It may not have writing throughout all of it, but I have found that this helps none when you know nothing about the time period. The best thing is to just see how it was all put together. And this book does that wonderfully. I know that when I go off to college, this book will be going with me.
Rating: 
Summary: Limited usefulness
Review: I use this book a lot to give my customers a rough idea of what period costumes look like. If someone wants a costume from me, but don't really know what it is they are looking for I hand them this book so they can scan through the periods and find a general idea of what they want. Good for ideas for LARP costumes( but get a book with patterns too).
Rating:
Summary: Too ambitious
Review: Part of the difficulty of this book is that it tries to do so many periods--and does none of them well. The drawings convey the incorrect impression that basic silhouettes changed little over 900 years, and they seem to be based on other costume books, rather than on actual contemporary portrayas of dress, and so compound the errors of these earlier books, sometimes combining elements of dress which were never seen together in actual fact. There is no attempt to site sources for the costumes, so it cannot be used as a springboard for further research. The only real use I can see for it is perhaps for theatre designers wanting an overall impression of how the clothes of a particular period looked, and even then, there are much better books for almost every period in print.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely inspirational!
Review: This book has enabled me to combine various elements from familiar patterns I had on hand to create designs that look absolutely authentic, without spending another dime!
Rating:
Summary: Very helpful resource for the SCA
Review: This isn't the "all inclusive" book but it does present nice pictures with short essay explainations. I was very tired of reading 5 pages of information to try and visualize what the costume looked like. This book along with a more detailed description was the best tools for my research.
Rating:
Summary: Very helpful resource for the SCA
Review: This isn't the "all inclusive" book but it does present nice pictures with short essay explainations. I was very tired of reading 5 pages of information to try and visualize what the costume looked like. This book along with a more detailed description was the best tools for my research.
Rating:
Summary: Very helpful resource for the SCA
Review: This isn't the "all inclusive" book but it does present nice pictures with short essay explainations. I was very tired of reading 5 pages of information to try and visualize what the costume looked like. This book along with a more detailed description was the best tools for my research.
Rating: 
Summary: Good source for general readers
Review: You don't have to be a costume designer to enjoy this book. It's suitable both for professionals and for laypersons interested in art, costume/social history and drama.Subtitled "A Complete guide to English Costume Design and History," it is Anglocentric. Names and regnal dates of each monarch (handy for those interested in royal history) appear above line drawings of several "looks" for each period, male and female. Italic captions draw the eye to noteworthy characteristics, e.g. "embroidered hemline", "wide flared sleeves." Placed alongside the relevant features, they provide an audiovisual aid for increasing style awareness and specialised vocabulary (especially in some of the medieval hair-stylings!). The book increases your awareness of changing fashions and discrimination of styles within periods. While interesting in its own right, Peacock's book is pleasant to have on the bookshelf, being a good supplementary text for, e.g., History of Art, Drama, and Social History. No doubt there are more complete texts in both breadth and depth, but this is highly visual and usable. Recommended.
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