1950s Fashion Print

Last fall,  I bought V&A Pattern: The Fifties. This gem, while quite small,  is full of beautiful images. I like it a lot, particularly because I'm so fond of Lucienne Day's work and there are quite a few images of her textile designs in there.

I must have bought that first book at Amazon.com, because they recommended this newly released book 1950s Fashion Print to me.  When this book first arrived and I flipped through it, I was a little disappointed as many of the images do nothing for me:

But, some of the images are just lovely:

And of course, Lucienne Day has a good showing:

Unlike V&A Pattern: The Fifties, which contains minimal text, 1950s Fashion Print is at least as much about the text as the images.  As such, it wasn't until I sat down to read the book that I realized the true worth of this book.

"Interest lay in the plant skeleton rather than the bloom, seed heads rather than the blossom, and leafless trees rather than foliage"  (Fogg, 2011, p. 8).  

Yes, yes, yes!  I've been slowly making my way through the book, really enjoying myself.  I have found it really useful to have the internet at hand while reading because Fogg often makes reference to different designers, artists, and such without providing representative images of their work.  I'm sure this is in order to keep the cost of the book down, but it is useful to have a picture of the Skylon  available when Fogg is going on about its pervasive influence.  Google Images to the rescue!

Anyway, if you are able to buy or borrow this book, I'd recommend it...inspiration awaits!