In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion

`I was so excited when I first saw this book, I pre-ordered it and waited impatiently. It finally arrived today and I just thoroughly perused it. It's even better than I'd hoped. It's massive enough to be a coffee table book. The glorious pictures fill whole pages and get this...most pages have no margins: the picture ends where the page does. So the detail is marvelous. Often, a whole portrait is shown, then a close-up of it, then a close-up of the close-up. On a miniature painted of Elizabeth I, you can see the little drops of enamel and the tiny jewels glued into her crown."A picture is worth a thousand words" so I am stunned that such a brand-new and highly-illustrated book has no Look Inside feature[*] because by far, the most important word in the title of the book is ART. In Fine Style is all about the paintings because so very few clothes have survived from the 16th and 17th centuries: we have not one piece of clothing from Henry VIII. But from his court portraitist, Hans Holbein the Younger, to Van Dyck, to van Doort, to Rembrandt, to miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard, we see probably more detail than extant clothing would reveal. This book has over 320 "colour" illustrations and I just get lost in them. Books like this are often breath-taking on illustration but the writing is lacking...or the text is great but the pictures are too few, too small or in b&w. However, this book is the perfect marriage of both. Anna Reynolds's handling of the 262 numbered illustrations allows you to seamlessly (excuse the pun) pass back and forth from the text to the image, and to page back and forth through the book to find connected information: the figures are easy to find from the text describing them and the captioning is particularly clear.There are 4 areas of interest covered here: reenacting and historic costumes, needlework, history and portraiture. There is a whole chapter of 50 pages entitled simply Painting Dress so art students should go crazy. The front cover tells you everything: it's all about the style and how it was conveyed in the over-the-top luxury of the Tudor and Stuart dynasties.Let's be clear what this book is: it's NOT  The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing Sixteenth-Century Dress . Even though the chapters of the book include: Dressing Women, Dressing Men, Dressing Children, Painted for Battle and the Hunt, re-enactors will not be able to use this book to pattern much of the dress they desire. And don't get your hopes up when you see the final chapter is entitled Playing A Part...that is mostly about the masques and exotic clothes the queens of James I and Charles I liked to wear and not what you would see at a renaissance faire. But the book is invaluable to convey the spirit and atmosphere of style that re-enactors want to emulate.My big interest is needlework and needlework history and this book satisfies my desire to see up close just how much decorative stitchery was a vehicle for conveying the richest elements of dress and accoutrement: gold or silver thread attached precious jewels to almost every dress Elizabeth wore. Contemporary inventories reveal that Elizabeth may have owned 3,000 dresses during her life. Elizabethan and Jacobean needlework is an area of keen interest currently and this book is jam-packed with them.Another big interest of mine is Tudor--particularly Elizabethan--history. (See my profile pic.) It fascinates me that Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots were first cousins once-removed, that they had such an enormous impact on each other's lives, but they never met in person. While Mary lost, literally, her head, Elizabeth lost the war of succession. Perhaps it's Elizabeth's final revenge that Mary's bloodline proved not to be up to the task of ruling England successfully.I can't come up with a single negative thing to say about this gorgeous, enlightening book except that I'm mystified that Amazon deleted almost all customer uploaded images on books on July 15, 2013 [*]. (I had uploaded 34 which is the most I'd ever done because the pictures here are so scrumptious. They don't even show on the image gallery on my profile page.) How do you know if you want to plop down $50 on a book sight-unseen? Well...take my word for it: you won't be sorry.TRIVIA QUESTION: Who first had cobblers make shoes to fit the right and left foot instead of being interchangeable? The answer is in the Comment below.

This is a marvelous book! First - the photographs of art work from Tudor and Stuart times are beautifully done in both close ups and full frames, showing all the bits of fashion under discussion and fully identified as to subject and artist. I saw many portraits of people I had read about often as a history buff. Secondly, the discussion puts their clothing into their time, with information about all the impact their religions and culture had upon their choice of fabrics, decoration, and styles, from shoes and underwear to hats, cloaks and jewelery, and everything underneath. As a needleworker myself, I so appreciated the details provided and all the work that went in to these fashions, so few of which remain for us to see now except in the portraits left to us. The book was a delight from cover to cover, and well worth the price.

I was not disapointed when I received this book. I do costuming in the SCA in the late Elizabethan style. I am constantly on the look out for more information and this book has plenty. It is a large format with plenty of close ups on details which I always find exordinary in paintings of this period. Then, it covers the whole range of Tudor through the Stewart periods sometime juxtaposing the information and paintings. I feel this examination is very helpful in gaining fresh perspectives. Please keep in mind that this is not a how-to book but an examination of the styles, culture, and history of that time. I haven't finished reading it yet but I feel I can safely say that I will turn to it many times when trying to recreate this clothing.

Although, as it must, it relays greatly on painting of the Tudor and Stuart period, there are many pictures of actual surviving clothing. Over sized book full of wonderful color pictures and close ups of parts of various garments. The book is written with great style and explanations of what was worn when, by whom and why. Showing how the style of Italy, France, etc., influenced the English style. And the influence of England on the style of the Low Countries. A must for the costumer or anyone who appreciates art of the period or just a beautiful book.

This is one of the most beautiful and informative books I have ever owned. I am an artist interested in collage as well as painting, and this is an inspiration for both because of the exquisite detail photographs of paintings and original items of clothing. I also love fashion and am interested in sewing again. As a former illustrator, the explanations of how the various forms of dress and headdress worked, and why is fascinating. And, I am fond of this period in history. I am so happy to have this book.

This oversized book brings large, beautiful pictures, just about all in color of mostly Tudor and Stuart superrich in their best finery, as well as some surviving garments. With mostly such large photos, you can really appreciate the detail. Book is divided into chapters, covering the dress of men, women, children. First, dive into all the pictures, and then go slowly through each chapter, including insights into how fabric was woven, what was popular and how clothing defined status. There is also some coverage of jewelry, even a surviving piece and how different artists depicted it, alongside the actual jewel.

Great photos and some wonderful closeups. Most of the info is for 1600 and after, but there is a reasonable amount of stuff for the Elizabethan/Henrician people (20-30%, maybe). Not much info about actual clothing construction, and the embroidery information is not new either, but the pictures make up for that. They do try to compare portraits to actual extant garments when possible, which is fun. There is a fair amount of information on the actual painting techniques if you're interested in that, but I'm not qualified to judge the quality of that.

This is an absolutely superb publication in all ways. One of the most beautiful publications/catalogues I have seen for some time. As well as being very clearly arranged for the various sections dealt with, the illustrations and numerous details of the paintings and actual costumes could not be bettered. Having viewed the exhibition its self, at the Queen's Gallery, I can vouch for the quality and value of the images, in some ways being even better than the actual exhibits themselves. The written content is also clear, concise and enlightening.Anyone interested in any aspect of fashion, portraiture, period painting, portraiture or other historical area of the period would find delight, I am sure, in this publication. Get a copy - quick!

There are many handsome books about the history of costume which, while lavishly illustrated and expensive, contain very little actual information. This title however, while sumptuously illustrated, is also a mine of interesting and practical facts exploring how each garment was made, how it was worn, the significance of different fabrics all backed up by carefully chosen examples of original costumes and contemporary portraits. Also valuable is the chapter on how and why sitters were portrayed wearing certain garments, their significance and even how artists set out to represent in paint fabrics, jewellery and accessories. Further chapters are dedicated to styles in armour, variations in clothing styles in different countries, stage and masque costumes, and children's wear. This is a valuable book not only for those who are interested in historic clothing but also for those who wish to have an insight into the art of Tudor and Stuart portraiture. I found this book fascinating and absorbing. Don't let the price put you off - in my opinion it is worth every penny.

This book has been published to accompany the exhibition 'In Fine Style' which is at present at Holyrood in Edinburgh, having been in London. This is not merely a catalogue of exhibits, it explains the history of the paintings and other items. The chapters cover subjects such as Clothes for Women, Men, Children, Hunting Outfits, and a brief overview of clothing in Continental Europe. When a painting is mentioned in two different chapters, there is an illustration of it in each chapter. No need to keep looking back to previous chapters to see the picture! I appreciated this, as so often there is one illustration of a painting in a book, and you have to keep finding it again.The illustrations are sumptuous, and as I went to the exhibition prior to reading this book, I want to go again now that I have read the book.The close up illustrations are sufficiently detailed to allow the reader to attempt a historical reconstruction of the garments shown. This is more than a catalogue, it is one of the best books ever written on Historical Fashion.

Amazing. Packed with high-resolution close-ups of famous paintings, giving a superb level of detail. The glorious pictures are backed up with in-depth writing about the construction, and purposes, of court clothing. A must for anyone interested in clothing from this period.

For anyone interested in costume and/ or Tudor and Stuart history this book is a must. I found it to be well written and informative without being dry and the photography is gorgeous. There are lots of visual and verbal descriptions of the fabrics and forms of clothing and jewelry that were used. I was so pleased with the book I purchased a second copy for a friend's birthday. I hope she enjoys it as much as I am.