The Corset and the Crinoline: An Illustrated History (Dover Fashion and Costumes) Paperback – December 26, 2007

Since there were no reviews for this book, and not much of a description, I took a chance on buying it. It wasn't quite what I'd expected, but it was enjoyable and educational.Rather than focusing on the Victorian era of corsets and crinolines, it goes back through history to show the complete evolution of these types of garments. There are a lot of quotes and letters to support the text, and you learn a surprising amount. I was pleased to note that it did not portray corsets as the evil death-traps that some books do, but presented both sides of the story, and even pointed out the ludicrousness of some of the 19th century claims against corseting.The illustrations are lovely line drawings, pretty enough to frame. My only complaint is that for "an Illustrated History" it didn't have nearly enough of them. Some chapters had none at all, and in one place I counted more than 30 pages with no illustrations to break up the text. For that I subtract a star from my rating. Otherwise, if you enjoy the history of fashion at all, you'll probably like this book.

This is an exceptionalbook, though the period wording is occasionally a little dense to puzzle through. It is wonderful to have the Victorian viewpoint on these essential period garments, as well as real commentary as to actual sizes as they were seen at the time.

This kindle version does NOT have any patterns in it. It only has a history of corsets and crinolines with some nice drawings of outfits for different periods. If you want patterns. Do not buy this.

Great resource

Not the fresh take I thought I was buying. It's OK, i added to the shelf but .........

Interesting book, I misunderstood the description though. It was originally published during the Victorian era and says a lot more about corsets then than about corsets in history. I've found the most interesting was reading about clothing history with a Victorian filter.