[.ca] Tudor Costume and Fashion (ISBN 0486298450)

Horribly inaccurate!!:
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.

Good Resource:
This book is a good resource for the serious historic costumer, and fun to peruse through for anyone who enjoys this sort of thing. The reason I do not say this is a good resource for any historic costumer is that not all of the information in here is completely accurate, and if you are trying to recreate an historically accurate costume (or write a paper on historic costume, etc...) you will need to know what things in here you can believe, and what you should be wary about. Many of the terms used to refer to articles of clothing are not terms in standard use in the costuming world today, and some of the information that Norris presents as fact has since been proven wrong. The only reason I still gave this book four stars despite all that I have previously mentioned is that the pictures are wonderful. I have never seen a book that has such a plethora of sketches of so many different things relating to costume. Girdles, headpeices, hair styles, articles of jewelery, embroidery motifs, and trim are all shown in more detail than one can usually see, even in full-page color photographs. Not many of the pictures are in color, but the colors used in the original portraits are described in the accompanying commentary. This book is a good supplementary peice of information, but be careful not to take everything in it as absolute truth.

Basics with an open mind:
This was my 2nd book from Norris and his style does take you back. If you read the introductions you see that it is a book about Norris as an expert sighting himself. What you get is a rambling sometimes difficult to follow read BUT... you also get an incredible amount of information on how his genire viewed the fashions. You understand how the myths for the period got started and why. You get visuals of all kinds. Men's,women,lace,braids, trims... they may not be in any order but...The plates,pictures and references can lead you to where you want to go on the internet or in the library AND give you all the inspiration you need to start something in your studio!I can't live without this one! Keep an open mind and study study study.

An entertaining introductory volume.:
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.

A Valuable and In-expensive Book for a Costumer's Library:
I have read in the following reviews of this book, that it is inaccurate and offers little in garment construction information. Let me say that I have found this book highly useful and refer to it frequently along with my Uffizi Museum book, National Gallery book, and Janet Arnold's: Patterns of Fashion. I bought this book originally from the Huntington Library giftshop. This book offers a brief overview of Tudor Fashion from all the most important countries and regions in Western Europe, English fashion of the time receiving the most attention. There is a brief section in the back on dyes and colors (mainly for England). The line drawings are all in black and white. There are historical quotes of descriptions of outfits worn at noteable occasions (Queen Margot of France, my favorite). The sections on Spain and Italy I found interesting. I particularly enjoyed the drawn cataloguing of jewelry, gloves, hats, shoes and swords for each country. There are even a few drawings of corsets and farthingales. I have found this book to be a good resource to add to my collection of research materials. If you have an eye for detail and the desire to experiment and or research further how things were made, you will enjoy this book. This is not a "how to", but a good idea book. I don't regret it.