The Fashion Shelf.

Out-of-Style

Betty Kreisel Shubert, author/illustrator

Flashback Publishing

21580 Paseo Venezia, Mission Viejo, CA 92692

9780983576167, $50.00 (hardback), www.outofstylethebook.com

"Out-of-Style: A Modern Perspective of How, Why and When Vintage Fashions Evolved" is an important costume history reference text with hundreds of time-sequenced illustrations of changing Western fashions from the 1830s to the present. The initial chapter shows it as Evolution in a Thimble ... Overview of the Primary Silhouettes of Each Decade 1830-1900. A delightful chain of ten fashion models ladies are sketched, each wearing the primary dress shape of her decade, from the Victorian lady to the Gibson Girl! "Out-of-Style" continues to present incredibly detailed, witty summaries of two centuries of evolving "Out-of Style" presents a gold mine of information about vintage fashion evolution over the past two centuries, all attractively organized and illustrated in wonderful little costume parades of figures over the decades, such as the March to Modernity 1900-2000, otherwise titled The Bottom Line About Hemlines, on pages 216-217. So much information is compacted and presented in these two pages about women's fashion evolution. "Out-of-Style" is also at treat to read, from the pages of glowing testimonials from such famous people as Marlene Madrid (retired Supervisor of the Disneyland Costume Workroom) and Allen M. Zelter, professor of Theatre, Emeritus, Cal-State University at Fullerton, and more. In addition to costume history and fashion evolution, "Out-of-Style" presents plausible definitions of "What is vintage?" and also "What is Good Taste?" "Out-of-Style" is a fantastic resource for theatre groups, genealogists, costume designers, vintage collectors, social historians, and fashionistas. As a real plus, it is a fabulously fascinating, fun book to read!