Books like this can so often go wrong: not enough illustrations to convey a sense of what you're looking at, not enough text to feel you learned anything, badly written (dull), etc. ... but not here. This was a fun, entertaining, instructive read, in a great big form that really showed off the costumes, and gave room for a considerable amount of information.

At first I was a little daunted by some of the biographical matter—I could care less if Famous Designer A was born to hard-working almond farmers in the midst of the Depression, etc—but then something strange happened ... these stories kicked into a sort of mythic fairy tale quality. The hero's humble upbringing. Their surprising encounter (which propels them into Hollywood costume design). The encounter with the monster (controlling producer, irrational actor, etc.). Their thrilling success, and inevitable fall (or if you're William Travilla, your later thrilling success on TV).

Falls shy of 5 stars because I didn't laugh or cry or marvel at the prose--it's well done and engaging, but not a masterpiece.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )

Fashion, especially Hollywood fashion, can be over the top, and this book about that subject is, fittingly, over the top. An oversized coffee table book of over 400 pages, with photos on every page, it is a treat. Each chapter is a brief biography of a designer, starting with the beginning of movies and coming up to the modern era. I was a little surprised at home many movies inspired clothing trends in real life- including the classic ‘flapper’ look of the 1920! I also learned that not being historically accurate is not a new thing (which I’d been noticing myself, watching TCM a lot), and that there was So. Much. Chiffon. used for decades. This book is a giant treat for the costume lover! ( )