Author Description

The 1930s are remembered largely as an era of economic insecurity and crisis in the US, political instability and heated rhetoric filling the airwaves in myriad corners of the globe. What better time than the present, then, to revisit and reassess the fashions and styles of that troubled era? Despite the tensions and perils of that long-ago decade, the fashions of the time were often achingly chic, with the insouciantly androgynous flapper styles of the 1920s replaced by sweeping bias-cut gowns with deep-cut backs, floral tea-dresses, tailored suits and draped furs for anybody who could afford them. The latest volume in a series of resources devoted to specific decades, Fashion Sourcebook 1930s collects the most unforgettable looks of the decade, documenting its season-by-season fashions and offering an extensive selection of original photographs, sketches and prints--some 600 images in all, the majority in color--that give a full sense of the opulence and elegance of the period. These images are given depth and context by an essay providing a summary of the major themes within the era's fashion and presents its most notable designers. This is an essential handbook for fashion students as well as anyone interested in fashion or cultural history.