Post by Goblin, esq. on Apr 30, 2010 17:53:55 GMT -5
Dressed to Kill
British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions 1748-1857
by Amy Miller
While the text is interesting, discussing the parallel evolution of men's clothing and the changing morality that turned the Georgians into Victorians, I'm posting this in the costuming section, so I'll write about the parts that apply to costuming.
Roughly half the book is given over to gorgeous color photographs of naval uniforms in the National Maritime Museum's collection. Most garments are shown front and back, and usually include a close-up of some detail, too. The garments include both dress and undress coats, waistcoats, breeches, and even a couple of cloaks and a pair of stockings. Several epaulettes are shown close-up, including pictures of the undersides showing the fastenings.
The "patterns" described in the Amazon.com description of this book are actually line drawings of a number of the garments lying flat, which are useful for seeing the true shapes of lapels, or some of the seam lines of the interior of the tails.
Along with the text are also a number of pictures of portraits and prints, good source material showing contemporary views of naval officers.
I would recommend this highly to anyone interested in naval uniforms, and particularly to costumers wanting to recreate one. The inside views of coat tails, and the disassembled sketch of Nelson's breeches have already answered a number of questions I was wondering about.
British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions 1748-1857
by Amy Miller
While the text is interesting, discussing the parallel evolution of men's clothing and the changing morality that turned the Georgians into Victorians, I'm posting this in the costuming section, so I'll write about the parts that apply to costuming.
Roughly half the book is given over to gorgeous color photographs of naval uniforms in the National Maritime Museum's collection. Most garments are shown front and back, and usually include a close-up of some detail, too. The garments include both dress and undress coats, waistcoats, breeches, and even a couple of cloaks and a pair of stockings. Several epaulettes are shown close-up, including pictures of the undersides showing the fastenings.
The "patterns" described in the Amazon.com description of this book are actually line drawings of a number of the garments lying flat, which are useful for seeing the true shapes of lapels, or some of the seam lines of the interior of the tails.
Along with the text are also a number of pictures of portraits and prints, good source material showing contemporary views of naval officers.
I would recommend this highly to anyone interested in naval uniforms, and particularly to costumers wanting to recreate one. The inside views of coat tails, and the disassembled sketch of Nelson's breeches have already answered a number of questions I was wondering about.
