Are there any books with extensive examples of historical world fashions?

Question

I like to do fantasy illustrations, but sometimes I like to reference various fashions from the past (anything from medieval spain to ancient greece). The problem is I have problems finding a lot good examples, even with the help of google and wikipedia. I'm also curious about various armor, weapons, and archetecture.

Answer 1

I use historical costume references all the time. Two really good sites I like to visit are The History of Costume by Braun & Scheider, and costumes.org (it's link intensive, but follow the links that have scissor icons next to them for pictures). As for books, I would go with Auguste Racinet's Le Costume Historique. It's not 100% historically accurate (which shouldn't matter if you're just using it for inspiration), but it's very, very thorough (it has amour references too). I'll post the links below in the source section.

Good luck!

Answer 2

You can also look for websites generated by historical reenactment groups; Renaissance Faire people for instance. They'll have information or illustrations on all those items and lists of references too. They're usually very passionate about accuracy, so the books or sites they recommend will be good ones. One I know of is www.ediespage.com/ede; that is medieval era, but there are others for the other eras you're interested in.

Answer 3

Yes, there are.

While for visual aids I would look into museums and coffee-table books on art, there is also a whole class of fiction that uses extensive historical research to build the stage (ironically called Historical Fiction). Rather than reading the classic works of the time (Cervantes, Voltaire, Plato, Homer, et al) I would focus on these newer works, since they take into account that the reader needs a decription of how, exactly, a Greek toga differs from a Phonecian one. Here is an .edu site with more information: http://web.utk.edu/~wrobinso/590_lec_hisfic.html.

Answer 4

How about this:

Costume and Fashion: A Concise History (World of Art) (Paperback)
by James Laver (Author), Amy De LA Haye (Author)

or the books listed at the second link.

Answer 5

know-how that there is background exterior of the Bible, (inclusive of Viking who did not come alongside till hundreds of years later) is evident to Christians. in any different case what do you do with usa (the main important Christian stronghold in the international) which isn't even reported in scripture? not something incorrect with having an interst or maybe a delight on your background. i will hint my kin back to thirteenth century Scotland, and there continues to be a standing fort build via the kin in 1500AD. it quite is, needless to say, thoroughly exterior the background of the Bible. the reality that there have been Sumerians and Mesapotamians additionally should be evident to Christians, as they are reported in the previous testomony. That the reality that the Jews got here from the Mespotamians is likewise evident by using fact Genesis 12 tells us that. The founding father of the Jewish race, Abram, replaced into born in Ur. the place you will get into issues is once you state that they Jewish faith replaced into in accordance with their "myths". If it quite is actual, then how in one era did they pass from a pantheon of gods to a unmarried God? The Jewish faith replaced into began via a guy who rejected the Mesapotamian myths and commenced a faith that replaced into theologically very almost the choice of each and every little thing they believed. They placed the gods in the earth, coming up each and every little thing from the physique of a lifeless goddess. Genesis places God exterior of the actual universe and coming up each and every little thing from not something via in simple terms speaking. Very diverse ideas. The "declare" that the Sumerian pills are the muse of Genesis is in accordance with there being seven surviving pills, even although none of them incorporate a unmarried ingredient resembling the six days of introduction in Genesis. by using fact Abram initially spoke the comparable language, you will locate particular root words carried over into the words used for "god" and the call assigned to him. could you have predicted Abram to have used chinese language or Spanish particularly? however the seen God in the Jewish faith is very diverse from that of the Mesapotamians.

Answer 6

Yes, try your local library.