Alison GernsheimCritiques

Black and white photography as well as print representations of Victorian and Edwardian fashion

When I began teaching the history of photography, this was the most useful single book available. The writing is dense, but so is the information. I have about worn the book out. My copy is signed: Inscribed to Jim Colson with deep appreciation of his teaching. Helmut Gernsheim, Austin, May 1979.

Th 1970's saw the beginning of extensive photographic publications and of the undoing of the modernist critic base used by both Newhall and Gernsheim. As much as the field has advanced beyond their contributions, we owe them much gratitude for their hard work and the rich base of material they gave us.

Good photographic review of clothes of the upper class. Text is somewhat limited in scope--this work is far exclipsed by the work of Joan Severa "Dressed for the Photographer."

A quick read, but this book is most essential because of the real photographs. The photographs range from 1840 to the 1910s. That was the main thing for me: Photographs. No drawings or illustrations. Tons of photographs of real people.

The only qualm I had while reading is that when a picture was referenced, I had to flip back to find it. Also, it would be nice if the photos were in order of year, but these are small things. The real photographs are both fascinating and stunning.

While I probably won't need to read through this book again, I'll be constantly going back to it to gaze and study the photographs. Essential to someone studying the period.

I picked this up in a wonderful used book store on Cape Cod, it's a great visual resource for fashion from the 1830's to the 1910's. The author empahsises that what people wore wasn't directly correlated to fashion plates in magazines (think of Vogue today), and seeing photographs of people at the beach, the races, on picnics, posed in ball gowns, etc was fascinating.
Included are photos of Oscar Wilde, a young William Churchill, Lilly Langtree, and the "personification of the Gibson Girl", as well as more royalty than you can shake a scepter at. :)½

The fashion history of the Victorian and Edwardian eras is supported by many period photographs. Keeping in mind that the photographs are of wealthy people almost exclusively from this time period, many things can be observed: hair styles, the setting for the photo, and groupings of people. This time period covers the wasp waist to the bustle, both designs having little to do with the natural form of the female body. The photographs of children are also interesting as they are often portrayed as miniature adults. The amount of detail on the clothing is also an indicator of wealth and social position. One wonders what the common family wore during this time period and how they obtained their clothing.

Originally published as Fashion and Reality.