James Laver: The same costume will be Indecent 10 years before its time, Shameless 5 years before its time, Outré (daring) 1 year before its time, Smart, Dowdy 1 year after its time, Hideous 10 years after its time, Ridiculous 20 years after its time, Amusing 30 years after its time, Quaint 50 years after its time, Charming 70 years after its time, Romantic 100 years after its time, Beautiful 150 years after its time. The following was written by Michael Carter of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: Born in Liverpool, England in 1899, James Laver was a dress historian who worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as a curator from 1922 to 1959. His initial interest in dress grew out of the need to date accurately the pictures in his care. His instrumental relationship to costume quickly changed, and, as he writes in his autobiography, "Having studied the What and the When, I began to wonder about the How and the Why" (1963, p. 240). Laver became one of the most prolific authors in the English-speaking world to write on the history of dress and fashion as well as on the sociology of those topics. Not only did he recast the conventional narratives of European high fashion, but he also wrote about nonfashionable forms of attire, such as school and military uniforms, children's dress, and sporting clothes. He died in 1975.
Laver is one of the pioneers of fashion history publications but is often dismissed now for being too much of a generalist, which is too bad. He is very readable, and certainly influenced my early education about fashion history. The Cunnington's were the other authors that got me going...
Thank you. I am currently working on a small museum clothing collection and these words ring so true! Marian
