Why'd They Wear That?: Fashion as the Mirror of History

Such interesting details. Pictures helped explain things. Only the first and last pages seemed aimed only at middle schoolers. I want to seek out Sarah Albee's other books and read them too!

Loved this book. A great introduction to fashion history, even my 11 year old likes to pick it up and read it. Great pictures and variety of styles and fashions covered.

I bought this to read with an eight year old. She is very smart and interested in fashion.I am disappointed because I have to apologize for the author's awful and silly historical assumptions to an eight year old. There is too much fashion research now for someone to get away with writing this crap indignantly.For instance: "Some of the original crusaders may have felt just and righteous about their cause, but others were probably just happy to get away from the grim monotony of their huts or manor houses, and figured a crusade was as good an excuse as any for a little adventure away from home." This was the 1100's when average life expectancy was thirty? Sixty, if you were lucky. Here's another good one: Concerning distinguishing armor: "After that fiasco it became apparent that knights needed labels on the outside of their cans."The illustrations and photos are not credited to photographers or artists, which is disappointing as well- The layout is willy-nilly, more magazine like, and not very pro-book oriented. The one good thing I can write is that the photos and type are fun and well-produced, so it's a good time.

I purchased this as a coffee-table book. We homeschool, and I like to have books laying around that anyone can pick up and peruse when feeling idle, but maybe learn a thing or two at the same time. My 11 yo daughter loves flipping through occasionally. The bigger surprise was when my parents came to visit and my father was engrossed in its pages! Lots of fun to hear Dad say, "Huh, so that's what that was. I'd heard the term before, but never knew!" :-)

This was a good book for middle school level readers. It' a way to make History more interesting and how it relates to everyday people. The timeline in the back linking historical events to fashions is especially helpful.

It has nice pictures, but I feel that there wasn't enough research done. Some of the "facts" are inaccurate or misleading. It also took on a preachy tone at the end.

This book has fabulous photographs and lots of interesting information about the history of fashion. I relied on it heavilyfor a presentation I did for a middle school audience. I think it would be a great addition to any public or school library.

Truly great for all ages. I bought it for my niece's daughter and son but wound up reading it first, and loving it enough that i turned a friend in the fashion industry on to it.

Very colourful and a general overview of fashion throughout history. The book contains a fair bit of information on fashion but it's definitely lacking in detail (ex. I don't recall reading about the Roman army armours although there were a few pages on the crusades'). It could provide a wonderful introduction to history, though.

delightful illustrations, fun, if brief, texts...perfect introduction to fashion history