Product Review

In the 1920s, fashion magazines were the principal source for news of the latest Paris couture. One of the most famous and long-lived of these journals was L'Art et la Mode, published from 1880 to 1967. L'Art et la Mode captured the glamor that was Paris in the Twenties, from days at the races to nights at the opera, from Sundays at the Ritz to Saturdays at the Folies-Bergère, and it followed the glittering circuit that flourished from Longchamps to Deauville to Cannes to Biarritz. The magazine was read avidly not only by the rich who patronized the couture, but also by the woman who relied on her "little dressmaker" to copy the styles depicted in the periodical.
This lavishly illustrated volume offers 138 dazzling pages from L'Art et la Mode featuring fashions for all occasions by the great French couturiers of the Twenties—Patou, Worth, Molyneux, Doucet, Paquin, Vionnet, Lanvin, and Chanel among them. Selected by JoAnne Olian, curator of the famed Costume Collection at the Museum of the City of New York, a wealth of designs include stylish outfits for winter sports, hunting season, tennis, golf, and other athletic pursuits, as well as high-fashion ensembles for soirées and all manner of chic divertissements.
In addition to choosing the plates, Ms. Olian has also provided an excellent introduction discussing the magazine, the period, and its fashion trends. The result is a beautifully illustrated, sumptuous look back at one of haute couture's most influential decades. It is also an outstanding and inexpensive source of copyright-free fashion illustrations for use by designers and craftspeople.