Genie Barrett wrote: > Hello all, > > Having just received Norris in a gift basket this last weekend, I am > wondering how good his TEXT is. I've heard so many of you mention > this as one of the least desirable of costuming books, but no one > says why. Some of that is obvious, just looking at the pictures, but > I wanted to get your opinions. The date of origin is a big one, I'm > sure, but what else? The date is the root of most of the issues. Norris was doing quite a good job for his day, and is actually better than some of the later costume texts, but far better things have been published since his time. The issues with redrawing, reinterpreting, and not really understanding what he's looking at have been mentioned. He also perpetuates earlier mistakes. A lot of this stems from earlier attitudes about costuming, which tried to interpret images and descriptions of clothing in forms familiar to the reader of that time, rather than according to sound historical research and analysis.
Susan _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
