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Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Although filled with beautiful photography of period styles, I found this book to be ultimately a disappointment--short on substance. The introduction, where she states that "Basing a collection around thrift-store bargins is not only unrealistic, it can take days, weeks, literally years of your time." is the your first clue. The rest of the book is then devoted to extolling the virutes of couture and its designers. Fine for a small amount of those who can afford it, but unrealistic for the rest of the population. Tolkien has a mere two pages to fashions of the 1940's (which she calls "simple" and "utilitarian" before moving on to the rest of the 20th century. She divides the various decades into the trends that defined them, but then lets the pictures do the work for her. Tolkien also devotes a part of the book to 90's fashion--a decade which most vintage wearers would not even consider to be "vintage" in the first place. If you are looking for a very brief overview of late 20th century designer fashion, you might enjoy this book. If not, Amazon has plenty of other books on the subject that do a much better job.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for clothes lovers
Review: For anybody that loves clothes this is the book. I learned so much about fashion but in a way that was fun and useful. Not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: a vintage gem
Review: I think this is the best book that I've ever bought on vintage clothes. I love it and I've learned so much. A real find!
Rating: 
Summary: Not good unless you're collecting for a museum.
Review: Snobby tome that all but ignores giving advice on how to find quality, fit or style, but demands that you look for only museum-quality Balienciaga or Chanel couture that the average shopper could never possibly afford, much less wear. The photographs are very nice, especially the cover art, but I'm skeptical about any "Vintage Expert" book that describes the obviously flapper-inspired cover photograph as evocative of the 1880's - a serious gap of 40 years. You'd really think they'd know better. Save your money and put it to better use at your favorite local vintage shop or textile museum. Or both.
Rating:
Summary: Vintage Style
Review: The cover of this book is simply hideous but it just goes to show that you can't judge a book by it's cover because once you get past that floppy, kitschy image this book is super! Quite simply the best book I have yet read on buying and wearing vintage clothes, covering everything from the humblest fleamarket finds to top couture pieces. There's even info about costume jewellery, handbags and other accesories to help you throw together an authentic look. It's both highly informative and inspiring. My only criticism is that it deals exclusively with post-war fashion. I would have liked to have seen something about earlier fashion looks like 1920's flappers, 30's tea dresses or Victorian style but unfortunately the book mentions NOTHING about these important eras and begins instead with the 1940's. Maybe we should have a prequel?
Rating:
Summary: Flavorful, but not very in-depth or informative
Review: This book gives a rough overview of the latter half of clothing styles of the 20th century, very nicely illustrated with punchy, colorful photographs. However, this book is more of the coffe table variety than a volume to be used for serious or even casual research or reference, as its text describes trends of the decades rather than a lot of sartorial details, and the photographs are more reminiscent of a fashion magazine glossy than a review of stylistic changes, decade-by-decade. Fairly enjoyable for its visual appeal, but not very edcational, with an ineptly-researched index of vintage clothing Web sites. By far, the index of online purveyors of vintage clothing was terrible. It substitutes sheer volume for a considered guide to vintage on the Web. The author or editor(s) seem to have just gone to a search engine like Yahoo and just listed the first matches for "vintage clothing" found. So many of the sites listed are among the first ones on the Web, but unfortunately have hardly been updated since their inceptions. This index frequently lists third-string vintage clothing sites while omitting some really great ones that have popped up in the past couple of years. Any one putting in a couple of hours of honest searching on the Web can come up with a better list than this.
Rating: 
Summary: tracy talks vintage
Review: This book is great fun and so colorful! Rather reminds me of the times she is covering. Although she touches on the early post war years, the book's focus is on the 60's through the 90's. There are wonderful photos and illustrations and great text. She covers everything in fashion from clothing to jewelry, shoes and purses; the book is really a complete history of modern fashion. In that sense, it becomes a "what to look for and how to find authentic pieces" guide. The source list is worth the price of admission. I learned some things and am happy to have this in my collection.
Rating:
Summary: Eye Candy for the Super Rich,, and Shallow to Boot
Review: This book starts only at around 1940 and just gives a few glossy pictures for each decade. Models and model-lovers should love it, but it's really more about the culture of buying couture and outrageously priced clothing than it is about vintage. A big ho-hum, and a little bit of a ripoff for the money. Shallow, shallow, shallow.
Rating:
Summary: fine vintage
Review: This is not a book for grungy secondhand roses raking around the fleamarkets for funky bargain clothes but for the serious connoisseur of fine vintage this book is indispensable.
Rating:
Summary: The Fashionista's Stone of Books on Vintage Clothing
Review: What a wonderful find! This is a book that does everything it says on the tin and then some. Freely and beautifully illustrated with both period and commisioned photographs, it offers a cornucopia of images that cleverly demonstrates fashion, documenting & reflecting much of the past century.
The writing is witty and wise: intelligent & informative without being patronising & it is infectious in its enthusiasm. For someone like me, with alot more interest than knowledge in vintage clothing, what I really loved about it was its accessibility and how helpful it was with information- there are handy tips on the where's and how's of vintage shopping and dressing nestling in every corner. Because of the way that it integrates socio-economic and historical detail, it even makes for good reading if you're not that interested in the clothes themselves, as it offers a rich visual history, through clothing, of the century that was. It often seems that every other book is "the definitive guide to..." but this one is the genuine article. No cheap imitation this, it offers an assured overview of vintage style and an indispensible source list of web-sites and stores that sell vintage clothing. And it is so much fun to read.
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