[.ca] Art Deco Fashion (ISBN 1851773908)

From Amazon.com:
Sexy, modern, and unabashedly consumer-oriented, Art Deco was a new kind of style, flourishing at a time of rapid technological change and social upheaval. Lacking the philosophical basis of other European design movements, Deco borrowed motifs from numerous sources--Japan, Africa, ancient Egyptian and Mayan cultures, avant-garde European art--simply to create novel visual effects. Art Deco 1910-1939 surveys the sources and development of the popular style with more than 400 color illustrations and 40 chapters by numerous design specialists. The authors track Deco around the globe, from Paris to the United States—-where it got its biggest boost from mass production—-to Northern and Central Europe, Latin America, Japan, India, and New Zealand. The book's broad focus encompasses industrial artifacts (the Hindenburg blimp, the Burlington Zephyr locomotive), as well as architecture, furniture, accessories, fashion, jewelry, typography and poster design. Despite the existence of other prominent artistic movements during the 1920s and '30s, the authors tend to hang the Deco label on virtually any object that portrays the effects of technology or employs color, luxury materials or artificial light in striking ways. It does seem a stretch to include Man Ray's photographs, Sonia Delaunay's textiles and the movie King Kong in the Deco pantheon. But the great strength of Art Deco 1910-1939 is that it reveals the social context of Deco, not just its pretty face. The book accompanies an exhibition (organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto through January 4, 2004; subsequent venues are San Francisco and Boston. —Cathy Curtis

Amazing!!! Well put together:
So many books out there on the subject of historical clothing are over priced and has pictures printed in black and white, with text making up the bulk of the book. So I was suprised when this book came from Amazon... you get a hardback full colour well writen book with beautiful pictures, art and information. Thankfully, the V & A (Victoria and Albert Museum, UK) played a large role in the book. They are the foremost authority on historical clothing, of any period. Not only does it cover clothing, it goes on to talk and illustrate deco hair tips, sporting fashions, 20's designers from A-Z, fashion icons and much more. A beautiful book worth every penny.