Book excerpt: Luxurious textiles, exacting tailoring, and lush trimmings abound in this glorious volume that celebrates the evolution of European dress through two centuries. Fashion is in the details. The textiles, tailoring, and trimmings all work together in the creation of the finest pieces. Drawing on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's internationally known fashion collection, this gorgeous book tells the story--in words and beautiful pictures--of fashion's aesthetic and technical development from the Age of Enlightenment to World War I, a period when fashionable dress underwent sweeping changes. Many remarkable examples of men's, women's, and children's garments are featured here for the first time, including an extraordinarily rare 1790s man's vest designed to promote sympathy with the French Revolution; a stunning 1845 black satin gown from the royal court of Portugal heavily embroidered with gold; and an 1891 evening mantle with silk embroidery, glass beads, and ostrich feathers designed by French couturier Émile Pingat. An invaluable resource for anyone interested in the evolution of fashion, this generously illustrated book provides a rich visual history of the changes that occurred in fashionable dress spanning a period of more than two hundred years.