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How to Read a Suit: A Guide to Changing Men’s Fashion from the 17th to the 20th Century
Fashion is ever-changing, and while some styles mark a dramatic departure from the past, many exhibit subtle differences from year to year that are not always easily identifiable. With overviews of each key period and detailed illustrations for each new style, How to Read a Suit is an authoritative visual guide to the under-explored area of men's fashion across four centuries.
Each entry includes annotated color images of historical garments, outlining important features and highlighting how styles have developed over time, whether in shape, fabric choice, trimming, or undergarments. Readers will learn how garments were constructed and where their inspiration stemmed from at key points in history – as well as how menswear has varied in type, cut, detailing and popularity according to the occasion and the class, age and social status of the wearer.
This lavishly illustrated book is the ideal tool for anyone who has ever wanted to know their Chesterfield from their Ulster coat. Equipping the reader with all the information they need to 'read' menswear, this is the ultimate guide for students, researchers, and anyone interested in historical fashion.
Each entry includes annotated color images of historical garments, outlining important features and highlighting how styles have developed over time, whether in shape, fabric choice, trimming, or undergarments. Readers will learn how garments were constructed and where their inspiration stemmed from at key points in history – as well as how menswear has varied in type, cut, detailing and popularity according to the occasion and the class, age and social status of the wearer.
This lavishly illustrated book is the ideal tool for anyone who has ever wanted to know their Chesterfield from their Ulster coat. Equipping the reader with all the information they need to 'read' menswear, this is the ultimate guide for students, researchers, and anyone interested in historical fashion.
232 pages, Paperback
Published February 6, 2020
28 people are currently reading
464 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 29, 2020
A natural follow up to the wildly successful HOW TO READ A DRESS, this menswear-focused fashion history books delights in its efforts in teaching the reader how to “read” a suit. Coving four centuries, this lushly illustrated and another book follows the evaluation of the suit. In this exploration we see the origins of the suit as well as its development overtime, picking up and discarding elements associated with its past, present, and future. Readers will marvel at the historical journey the book takes one on, and the lasting impression the well-researched and presented information will leave.
This is an essential book for any menswear historian and designer.
This is an essential book for any menswear historian and designer.
December 6, 2020
Excellent history of the three-piece suit from the time of Francis I to almost now.
Coat, vest and pants have varied enormously in that time and this book shows how some of the changes came about, some gradually some more abruptly. The shape of the lapel, the width of the cuffs on the coat. Colors went from bright and included embroidery to the mostly black that it is today, as it has been since Beau Brummell declared that the best color to show off the athletic male form in elegance.
I'm glad I don't have to know all this. There's no way I can remember just when the front of the coat went from squared off to rounded or the other way around. I'm glad there's this book to help out theater, film & TV people who want to get it right. And all those romance writers. What shapes and colors were fashionable at what time and what was still worn even though it was no longer fashionable. Where are the pockets, if any? What kind of buttons: fabric-covered or metal? How many and how many actually button. Are coat and pants of the same material? What about the vest? Sometimes all 3 match, sometimes they're all different. There's also mention of what kind of shirt, hat, stockings and shoes went with the outfits, but the focus is the main three pieces.
Pictured examples come from paintings, engravings, and occasional still-existing garments. There's even a suit that George Washington wore around the time of his first inaugural address in 1789.
Chapters are organized chronologically: 1666-1700; 1700-1799; 1800-1859; 1860-1899; 1900-1939; 1939-1969; 1970-2000. There's a 5-page glossary of terms, 14 pages of notes, 5 pages of Select Bibliography, 11 pages of photographic credits, and a 3 page index.
Recommended for fans of fashion history.
Coat, vest and pants have varied enormously in that time and this book shows how some of the changes came about, some gradually some more abruptly. The shape of the lapel, the width of the cuffs on the coat. Colors went from bright and included embroidery to the mostly black that it is today, as it has been since Beau Brummell declared that the best color to show off the athletic male form in elegance.
I'm glad I don't have to know all this. There's no way I can remember just when the front of the coat went from squared off to rounded or the other way around. I'm glad there's this book to help out theater, film & TV people who want to get it right. And all those romance writers. What shapes and colors were fashionable at what time and what was still worn even though it was no longer fashionable. Where are the pockets, if any? What kind of buttons: fabric-covered or metal? How many and how many actually button. Are coat and pants of the same material? What about the vest? Sometimes all 3 match, sometimes they're all different. There's also mention of what kind of shirt, hat, stockings and shoes went with the outfits, but the focus is the main three pieces.
Pictured examples come from paintings, engravings, and occasional still-existing garments. There's even a suit that George Washington wore around the time of his first inaugural address in 1789.
Chapters are organized chronologically: 1666-1700; 1700-1799; 1800-1859; 1860-1899; 1900-1939; 1939-1969; 1970-2000. There's a 5-page glossary of terms, 14 pages of notes, 5 pages of Select Bibliography, 11 pages of photographic credits, and a 3 page index.
Recommended for fans of fashion history.
February 27, 2020
Meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated. A great companion to the author’s earlier book ‘How to Read a Dress.’
I really loved both these books, and clearly the author has chosen very specific examples to show trends and progressions in details like collars and lapels. I always wish her books were a little longer with more of the essays that head each chapter, but better to leave the audience wanting more than to be dry and unreadable. This is a great into to men’s fashion history.
I really loved both these books, and clearly the author has chosen very specific examples to show trends and progressions in details like collars and lapels. I always wish her books were a little longer with more of the essays that head each chapter, but better to leave the audience wanting more than to be dry and unreadable. This is a great into to men’s fashion history.
February 6, 2021
The perfect companion book to "How to read a Dress". I found this book especially useful since I haven't looked into mens clothing all that much in my research and this was a great way to get a general overview on the subject.
I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an introduction into the history and development of suits.
I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an introduction into the history and development of suits.
September 20, 2024
Fashion is ever-changing, and while some styles mark a dramatic departure from the past, many exhibit subtle differences from year to year that are not always easily identifiable. With overviews of each key period and detailed illustrations for each new style, How to Read a Suit is an authoritative visual guide to the under-explored area of men's fashion across four centuries.
Each entry includes annotated color images of historical garments, outlining important features and highlighting how styles have developed over time, whether in shape, fabric choice, trimming, or undergarments. Readers will learn how garments were constructed and where their inspiration stemmed from at key points in history – as well as how menswear has varied in type, cut, detailing and popularity according to the occasion and the class, age and social status of the wearer.
This lavishly illustrated book is the ideal tool for anyone who has ever wanted to know their Chesterfield from their Ulster coat. Equipping the reader with all the information they need to 'read' menswear, this is the ultimate guide for students, researchers, and anyone interested in historical fashion.
Each entry includes annotated color images of historical garments, outlining important features and highlighting how styles have developed over time, whether in shape, fabric choice, trimming, or undergarments. Readers will learn how garments were constructed and where their inspiration stemmed from at key points in history – as well as how menswear has varied in type, cut, detailing and popularity according to the occasion and the class, age and social status of the wearer.
This lavishly illustrated book is the ideal tool for anyone who has ever wanted to know their Chesterfield from their Ulster coat. Equipping the reader with all the information they need to 'read' menswear, this is the ultimate guide for students, researchers, and anyone interested in historical fashion.
January 30, 2024
Learning my lesson from How to Read a Dress, I did not fully read this book. I browsed through it. Much like its companion book, you have to be more into the construction of the clothes. It's more towards the fashion than the history. I did enjoy that this book added a breakdown of paintings and not just the suits/dress exhibits.
January 31, 2021
I thought it might be interesting, and it was. But only for a second. I grew bored quickly. Just not my cup of tea. Really good illustrations, and probably 5 stars for someone else, just not this guy.
March 1, 2020
Min belöning efter att ha lämnat in en tenta. Extra roligt att flera exempel i boken kommer från Livrustkammaren på Stockholms slott.
October 17, 2021
A great informative book about suits, detailing the change and evolution of 300+ years of suits.
December 6, 2021
I more browsed through than properly read this book, but I'd like to come back to it someday and give it a proper read through. It had lots of pictures and broke everything down nicely.
June 9, 2023
Not really the best book in my opinion
November 30, 2023
Book for a essay, don't you love when essay research is actually interesting to read
April 27, 2024
Informative. This is a book for those style conscious gentlemen that enjoy the history behind why we wear suits and how they progressed to the garment we know today.
May 12, 2024
Exhaustive, but not really a pageturner
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews