This is the book on fashion - if you only want to buy one book about fashion in the twentieth century, this is the one to buy. Even if you have many books already, buy this anyway. The pictures are fantastic - a great mix of the classics (Dovima and the Elephants is of course included) and some you may not have seen before - and the prose is great, not too flowery but still capturing the art and drama that is fashion. Organised chronologically by decade, this book includes not just an overview of each era, but also informative sections on most of the major designers, including some of the oft-forgotten pioneers such as Lanvin, Fortuny, McCardell and Capucci. There are also articles on various aspects of the fashion industry, from how the clothes are made the idols of each era, costumes in the movies and many more. A beautiful book to look at as well as one of the most informative non-scholarly, this is a fantastic book for any fashionista, whether a total devotee or someone just new to the charms of fashion. ( )