Emily Burbank’s Woman as Decoration considers the dressed woman as a work of art, tracing how feminine costume has functioned as ornament across the history of painting and society. Written in the 1910s, it surveys periods and styles with an eye to color, line, and the relationship between a woman’s dress and her setting.
Part fashion history, part guide to artistic self-presentation, the book reflects early twentieth-century ideas about beauty, taste, and the visual role of women. Burbank draws freely on art and decoration to argue for dress as deliberate design. A revealing period document on aesthetics and gender, it is offered here as a free EPUB download.