Tudor Costume and Fashion

Rating:
Summary: A must for Tudor costuming
Review: As an Elizabethan Recreationist, this book is invaluable for costume research. Our guilde has call 'Elizabethan Costuming for the Years 1550-1580' by Janet Winter & Carolyn Savoy the bible for Renaissance Fair participants. Well this is now the 'New Testament'

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource for costuming of the era
Review: As the owner of a costume business that specializes in historical costuming, I really appreciate the detail in both text and illustration. I particularly like the attention paid to accessories and details, and the fact that information is given for the various social classes. It's lavish illustrations have been an inspiration to me, and to my customers.

Rating:
Summary: Good resource!
Review: Depending on what you want to do. It won't show you how to sew anything. However, it does have great pictures in clear black and white showing what people wore in all different classes of society from about 1485 to 1601, carefully documenting changes in high fashion and also showing differences in different countries (England, Spain, France, Germany). I could recognize many of the portraits he used, as a historian of the time, but his drawings made what was actually being worn more clear than in portraits. You couldn't sew a costume just using his pictures, but if you had a pattern from somewhere else, his pictures would make it look more accurate. For details of sewing techniques, and photos of actual period clothes .I would go to Janet Arnold. I think that they supplement each other well. But neither is really a pattern book (except maybe if you are much more advanced than I am).

Rating:
Summary: Its virtues outweigh its flaws
Review: For dedicated scholars of costume, Norris's book is irritating for two reasons: he seldom lists the sources of his beautifully drawn illustrations, making it difficult to assess their accuracy, and he packs his text with rambling digressions into history and historical anecdotes of dubious authenticity. However, you will never find so much information about Tudor costume for people from all ranks and all walks of life in any other place (especially not for such a low price), and Norris's wonderful black-and-white drawings illuminate for the discerning reader how some of the magnificent ensembles depicted by Van Dyke and Hilliard must have been made. By all means buy this book if you have any interest in Tudor costume, but check Norris against dated sources first if your objective is museum-quality recreation.

Rating:
Summary: Good reference source, but cross referencing essential
Review: Good reference source, but cross reference to other sources to check details, as his drawings of existing artwork are subject to his own interpretation and have since been shown to be slightly incorrect in some details. Only really a problem if you are a stickler for authenticity, otherwise a VERY good, detailed coverage of a fascinating subject.

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Summary: Horribly inaccurate!!
Review: Herbert Norris' based his books off of the Victorian views of the middle ages and renaissance... not the time periods themselves. What he could not derive from the Victorians, he just made up. In addition, his redrawings are much changed from the originals. If you want to make a halloween costume that has a medieval or renaissance "feel" to it, go ahead and purchase this book. However, if you are a historical costumer or are interested in accuracy at all, buy this book only if you want a paperweight.

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Summary: No Costumer's Library should be without this book
Review: Herbert Norris, in this book explores so much more then just clothing. It is by this virtue that I recommend it to you. He researches hair, jewlery, furniture, fabric, embroidery, and many other details besides the clothing of the Tudor dynasty. The one draw back for this book is found in his redrawings of portraiture...Norris tends to focus more on the aesthetic and less on authentic reproduction of the art. It's a minor flaw vastly out-weighed by its many virtues.

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Summary: RenFaire Enthusiast and Costume Designer
Review: I found this book to be a superb resource for designing and constructing Tudor period clothing. I agree with other reviewers that his ramblings can be distracting at times, but the entertainment and interest value overcome the drawbacks. The accessories shown in drawings are superb resources for hair styles and equipages used by Faire Cast persons. Once you have the vision of what you want, there are other sources available to tell you the "how to", this book is primarily a vision book...and a grand one, indeed. If you are interested in Renaissance Faires as a Cast member or a member of the Needleworker's Guild then this book is well worth purchasing.

Rating:
Summary: Basics with an open mind
Review: I found this book very informative and entertaining. The costume information is voluminous, the illustrations are clear, and there are brief historical notes on the famed personages plus amusing anecdotes. There are also contemporary quotes on fashion and behavior.
As a more knowledgeable friend warned, some of the drawings are affected by the fashions of Norris' era, and the few primary-source illustrations are black and white. Bibiographical references are sadly lacking.
However, it is overall a pleasant introductory volume on Tudor clothing.

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining introductory volume.
Review: I found this book very informative and entertaining. The costume information is voluminous, the illustrations are clear, and there are brief historical notes on the famed personages plus amusing anecdotes. There are also contemporary quotes on fashion and behavior.
As a more knowledgeable friend warned, some of the drawings are affected by the fashions of Norris' era, and the few primary-source illustrations are black and white. Bibiographical references are sadly lacking.
However, it is overall a pleasant introductory volume on Tudor clothing.