Fashion: The Complete Sourcebook

I found this somewhat disappointing, not the least because even the 2003 reprint actually ends in 1990. The basic plan is good: fashions are presented for a five year period, e.g., 1900-1904. Each section has a page each of haute couture, accessories leisure wear, underwear, evening wear, bridal fashions and two pages of day wear. This is followed by a very useful section with silhouettes for the beginning and ending of each five year period, with description of typical details: e.g. fabrics, trimmings, necklines. This is followed by brief vitas of designers and a bibliography.

The coverage of accessories is sporadic, with, for example, no purses shown for ten years. Worse, the author has missed a number of major clothing trends. One would never guess from this that hats are now rarely worn, except in cold weather and certain religious venues. Worse, Peacock ignores blue jeans and women's business suits.

What's here is good, but there are a lot of gaps. ( )