G. Woolliscroft Rhead’s Chats on Costume offers an informal, illustrated tour through the history of European dress, written in the approachable style of the popular “Chats” series. Rhead, an artist and designer, surveys the changing silhouette across centuries, pausing over ruffs, farthingales, wigs, and the recurring follies of fashion.
Aimed at the general reader and the collector, the book blends anecdote with a designer’s eye for line and ornament. Rhead is alert to how costume expresses period taste and social aspiration, and he writes with wit about the extravagances of each age. An engaging introduction to historical dress, it is offered here as a free EPUB download.