By Georgina Howell – First Published in 1975 by Allen Lane, this edition published 1978 by Penguin Books.
I found this rather battered copy at the weekend for £5. Close to 350 pages, large-format paperback it covers the period from 1916 to 1975. It’s mostly in black and white with a couple of four-page colour sections.
It is set out in chronological order (except for the colour pages) and each year has at least two pages. There are also long intros to each decade.
1917
1927
1942
1953
1966
1971
Cover
1976, a Whitman Book, published by Western Publishing Company, Inc and licensed from Disney.
I loved paper dolls when I was little. I dutifully cut out the doll on my Bunty comic (bought every week while my younger sister had Twinkle) and I had a collection of historical paper dolls too. I’ve been into historic costume since I was tiny and paper dolls were my first costume reference books. Regular readers of this blog will also know that I collect illustrated editions of Alice in Wonderland. So when I came across this on Ebay I had to pick it up. This came from the US and I’m not sure that it was available in the UK. It is in perfect un-cut condition, so I have scanned it so that I can play about with printouts.
Here are the dolls on the back cover. They are press-out pieces on lightweight card. I love Alice’s all-in-one underwear.
The dolls
Some of Alice’s clothes. There is a mix of looks from the Disney animation and contemporary 1970s clothes. She even has a pink-striped catsuit a la the Cheshire Cat.
Clothes for Alice
There are also a selection of clothes for the Hatter and White Rabbit.
Clothes for the Hatter
Clothes for the White Rabbit
The Woman in Fashion by Doris Langley Moore cover
Published by Batsford in 1949 and illustrated with costumes from the author’s collection photographed by Felix Fonteyn.
This book was produced in the days when museum quality historic costume would still be modelled on real people. Doris Langley Moore moved in illustrious circles and the models in this book include Margot Fonteyn, Moria Shearer and Beryl Grey, ballerinas, and Vivien Leigh, Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave (as children), Googie Withers, actresses. There is a companion book, produced a few years later, The Child in Fashion, also featuring the Redgrave family.
Vivien Leigh in an evening dress c1883
Margot Fonteyn in a wedding dress c1877
Beryl Grey in a wedding dress 1837
The Doris Langley Moore collection formed the basis of the costume museum at the Assembly Rooms at Bath. There is a short series of films at the BBC archive
In 2004 my husband met Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave in Canada, and he took my copy of the book with him to show them. Rather marvellously, they both signed it for me, as did the wonderful Donald Sinden who wrote: I sign this – perforce – merely because I knew so many of these ladies (I can imagine him saying that!)
Vanessa Redgrave in a pink taffeta dress 1825. The only image in colour.
Lynn Redgrave in a dress c1863
Three Wishes Books 