Colonial and Early American Fashions

This entertaining and educational coloring book provides a fascinating glimpse of clothing styles worn by Colonial Americans — from the early years of colonization to the onset of the American Revolution. Carefully researched and meticulously rendered by illustrator Tom Tierney, 45 excellent, ready-to-color illustrations present an exciting panorama of wearing apparel spanning nearly 150 years of fashion history.

Accurately depicted are men, women, and children from every social class: Puritans of the early 17th century (who, contrary to common belief, wore other colors besides black), Danish immigrants (1650), Maryland settlers (1630), pirates dressed in the latest fashions acquired as booty; an independent servant, an English officer and his lady, a colonial merchant's family of the early-1700s, an eighteenth-century Quaker woman, and many others.

Often a food indication of class and rank, garments include simple woolen trousers, muslin shirts, and cotton dresses worn by country people, laborers, and artisans. Waistcoats, silken breeches, and linen shirts are the apparel of choice among well-to-do townsmen and military officials, while gowns of satin and brocade clothe ladies of means. Descriptive, fact-filled captions accompany each finely detailed illustration.

Engaging, full-page displays of shoes, headgear, hairstyles and powdered wigs complete this collection — sure to appeal not only to coloring book fans but to costume historians and designers as well.