ALPHABET OF FASHION

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31783, 13 September 1968, Page 3

ALPHABET OF FASHION

(By ZALIA THOMAS) LONDON. Professor Janey Ironside’s book, “Alphabet Of Fashion,” published this week, in London, is far from being strictly for the professionals. It contains many facts that will undoubtedly be of interest to any woman who has ever made a dress for herself.

The book, which runs to some 263 pages, is classified under 11 headings, which includes fashion silhouettes and looks; dressmaking and other terms used particularly in fashion; accessories, footwear, furs, jewellery, hair; textiles; cosmetics; and a subject particularly interesting to any woman—a glossary of materials and textile terms which explains the composition of

various materials from acetate to zibeline. In the section “Outlines of Clothes,” Professor Ironside’s definitions are brilliantly illustrated by Susan Smallwood’s clearly defined drawings, so that many an apparently complicated sleeve or neck-line is exposed in all its apparent simplicity. The book also contains some facts on how such garments as blazers, jeans, levis and jodhpurs came to be named.

Professor Ironside has, as she says, regretfully omitted many historical names and expressions from her book, retaining only those which are still in use. She has also resisted the temptation of commenting on sociological and biological facts and theories as being beyond the scope of this particular book.