The Getty Museum publishes a number of small books looking at different aspects of the art in their vast collection. This one, looking at clothing in Medieval times, does not disappoint.

Using pages from illuminated manuscripts, often books of hours, we see how people in all classes dressed from the 12th through the 15th Centuries. Each work is described and discussed, looking at the clothing.

These tiny works of art are so often neglected. This book is lovely for the light it shows on this era.

Thanks to NetGalley I received access to a digital ARC of Fashion in the Middle Ages by Margaret Scott in exchange for an honest review.

A foreword by Elizabeth Morrison is followed by an introduction and then the three main chapters, Dressing for the Moment, Dressing for the Job, and Dressing for Another Time, Another Place, before a glossary of terms, and suggestions for further reading.

This book is fascinating and I’m so grateful for having the chance to read it. Tons of interesting information illustrated by lots of pictures with illuminating (heh) captions. In my copy many photographs were of very low quality making it hard to make out the details described by in the text, but I assume that is a feature of the digital ARC and not part of the final copy.

I enjoy reading historical fiction, biographies of historical figures, and playing faux-medieval fantasy roleplaying games, so this book was very much a delight for me. The glossary alone is exceptionally helpful when trying keep the difference between miniver and ermine straight in my head, or remembering just what samite was again. I will happily add a copy of this book to my collection as soon as possible.

Fashion in the Middle Ages was originally published as an exhibition catalog accompanying a historical retrospective at the J. Paul Getty museum in 2011. The book was apparently organized in relation to the physical exhibits in the museum, because it's not arranged in any obvious relation to time period, culture, or world location. This causes some amount of confusion and 'cultural whiplash'. I did enjoy Dr. Scott's commentary on sumptuary laws and the use of different materials.

There are interesting and well written notations about the curated objects. Many of the illuminated pages are very well notated with interesting observations about the depictions being of a different culture or time period from that in which the objects were produced.

I received an electronic galley of this book and many of the illustrations were so pixellated and unclear as to be virtually unusable. The historical notes were very clear and well written, so I assume that a print copy of this book would solve the problems which plague the e-book. Roughly 1/3 of the illustrations in the electronic version are sub-optimal. As noted before, the exhibit notes are well written and accessible and the illustrations could be better.

I enjoyed this small volume. I would have liked to have seen the original display. There is a

Three and a half stars, most likely more (4 - 4.5) for the paper versions with better illustration reproductions.