What to read after Great Fashion Designs of the Belle Epoque Paper Dolls in Full Color?

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, haute couture achieved its first real prominence and prestige, thanks to the elegant fashion creations of Worth, Lanvin, Paquin, Poiret, and a host of other brilliant couturiers. Now their finest designs - and the glittering era in which they were created - are recalled in this splendid new paper doll book from Dover. Noted fashion authority and artist Tom Tierney has rendered two dolls (one in the earlier wasp-waisted style, the second accenting a straighter figure) and 30 authentic, meticulously detailed costumes in full color.

Encompassing fashions of the late Victorian period, the Edwardian era, and the early years of the First World War, the costumes comprise a rich array of ladies' apparel, usually designed for a specific function. Here are dinner gowns, opera cloaks, ball gowns, walking costumes, visiting dresses, tailored suits, bicycling dresses, at-home outfits, and many more.

Fashion enthusiasts will appreciate such highlights as a stunning crepe-de-chine house dress by Lanvin, an elegantly simple hobble-skirted dinner gown by Poiret, a "Scheherazade" -inspired ball gown by Laferriere, and numerous other outstanding examples of the couturier's art.

Custom-designed for well-to-do women, these elaborate confections of silk, satin, velvet, chiffon, lace, and other finery, not only set styles for the day, but established standards of excellence that profoundly influenced the course of high fashion.

Tom Tierney has painstakingly researched the originals of each costume to insure their accuracy down to the last nuance of fabric and cut. He has also provided concise, informative captions supplying pertinent information abouteach costume: designer, date, fabric, accessories, etc.

Paper doll enthusiasts, costume and cultural historians, anyone interested in an especially influential period of fashion design, will delight in this inexpensive full-color tribute to the inspiring and imaginative couture of the Bell Epoque.