Knights clad in chain mail populate these pages, alongside crowned heads in royal regalia and common folk in their finest apparel. Scrupulously authentic in every detail, these images offer colorful portraits that span centuries of fashion, from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance.
Raphaël Jacquemin was preeminent among the fashion illustrators and historians of nineteenth-century Europe's golden age of fashion design publications. His 1869 Iconographie Générale et Méthodique du Costume du IV au XIX Siècle drew upon manuscripts, reliefs, and effigies from the Louvre, university libraries, and other archives for the most striking and accurate fashion statements from the fourth through seventeenth centuries. This collection features ninety of Jacquemin's magnificent hand-colored engravings, a gallery of iconic portraits that have served as museum exhibits in their own right. Fashion designers, artists, costumers, and others seeking authenticity of period detail—as well as inspiration for contemporary styles—will find this book a splendid resource.