Bags (V&A Accessories) - Hardcover

Wilcox, Claire

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500519374 ISBN 13: 9780500519370

Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 2017

Synopsis

A comprehensive look at the changing styles and uses of one of fashion’s best-loved accessories, the bag, throughout history

Illuminating the evolution of bag designs and uses from the medieval period to today, Claire Wilcox explores varied iterations of this cult accessory, from early drawstring creations and richly worked ecclesiastical purses to large work bags of the eighteenth century and the small reticules that were designed to complement high-waisted Empire line dresses.

Increased travel in the nineteenth century brought about the leather handbag as we know it today, while the twentieth century saw an explosion of innovations, from 1930s designs reflecting the streamlined American aesthetic and the use of new synthetics such as imitation patent leather and Vynide, to the rise of the luxury designer handbag by the likes of Hermes, Gucci, Chanel, and Prada.

Written by fashion curators who spent years at the V&A, Bags is fully illustrated in color throughout and arranged chronologically. A detailed glossary, bibliography, and index conclude the book.

90+ color illustrations

About this title

About the Author:

Claire Wilcox is Senior Curator of Fashion at the V&A and Professor in Fashion Curation at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.

Review:

“This updated, beautifully bound volume looks at purses and handbags primarily from London's Victoria & Albert Museum. Fashion curators and coauthors Wilcox and Currie trace the development of bags in the 16th century through the designer ‘it’ bags of the 2000s.”
- Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0500519374
• ISBN 13: 9780500519370
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160