Fashion In Art

From the Age of Worth to Today
An engaging and meticulously researched look at the choice of attire in portraiture and its cultural significance.

From the provocatively exposed shoulder of John Singer Sargents Madame X to the graphically bold gown Michelle Obama chose for her First Lady portrait, fashion has always registered cultural shifts, and artists have canonized them. This book documents the stories behind the clotheswho made them, who wore them, and what they meantand reveals the designers, dressmakers, and ateliers whose work came to be immortalized in paint and other media.

In the 1880s, painters were advising the House of Worth on designs destined for society portraits, while Worth, in turn, created signature details that foreshadowed both the unapologetic branding of Andy Warhols celebrity portraits and the logo culture of today. The Impressionists painted contemporary city life as they found it, capturin