Dress of the eighteenth century is not without anachronisms and exoticisms of its own, but that singular, changing, revolutionizing century has become an icon in the history of fashion.

Paintings of extraordinary beauty and variety were made for the many royal courts of India during a golden age that unfolded in the sixteenth century and lasted well into the British period. In India, two artistic traditions converged. The indigenous Rajput culture produced exuberant, vibrantly colored, boldly patterned illustrations of Hindu myths and epics. The entirely different art of the Islamic Mughal invaders, subtle and naturalistic, mainly presented elegant scenes of court life and history. From the cross-fertilization of these two traditions, a multiplicity of highly original painting styles blossomed and flourished. While works of art originating in Mughal and Rajput courts are often treated separately, in this book paintings made in the major Mughal, Deccani, Rajput, and Pahari workshops are presented together, chronologically. Eighty-three exceptionally fine paintings are reproduced in full color. Each is accompanied by a paragraph explaining the subject illustrated and pointing out particular qualities of style. Interrelations between the various court traditions are explored in the essay, a lucid and comprehensive overview of the development of Indian painting. The author vividly describes the vicissitudes of political power, royal personality, and the movement of artists from place to place that constituted the historical and social context in which each regional court evolved its distinctive artistic vocabulary. The rich, remarkable court paintings of India are splendidly offered to the reader's eye and mind in this book, which also includes a map, enlarged detail photographs, and a selected bibliography.

A team of conservators and scientists have been investigating a selection of West African dance crests that will soon be on display.

Teen Advisory Group Member Evelin writes about dress codes in fifteenth-century Italy.

This 3-D–printed nylon dress challenges the standard conservation approaches deployed by Costume Institute conservators in the preservation of fashion.

Although the iconic silhouette of the eighteenth century is that of the rectangularly panniered, conically corseted court dress, a simpler line of dress launched the era.

Although components of Hellenic attire have appeared throughout Western fashion’s 600-year history, it is only from the 1790s to the 1810s that classicized forms are embraced as the prevailing mode.

In the absence of any surviving clothing, art and literature provide the only evidence of classical dress, opening a Pandora’s box of confusion and contradiction.

Greek vase painting and traces of paint on ancient sculptures indicate that fabrics were brightly colored and generally decorated with elaborate designs.