I have never met a Tom Tierney book I didn't love and this is no exception. He was such an extraordinary historical fashion expert and artist, making his coloring books not only an enjoyable task to color, but providing a great deal of history education in the process, especially for those like myself who spend time researching further, so as to not only color accurately, but to learn more about the period. I love history and fashion, so putting them together is twice the fun.

Along with his usual short paragraph for each page, he also supplies some further information in the Introduction. King Edward reigned from 1901, at Queen Victoria's death, until his death just nine years later in 1910. But as Tierney points out, Queen Victoria went into mourning with the death of Prince Albert and remained there, the same year Edward married Princess Alexandra of Denmark, and wearing window's weeds the rest of her life, she ceased to be a fashion icon. So the fashion world was really led by the young couple, from 1863 to 1910.

And that period produced gorgeous fashions and great change. So the Victorian and Edwardian period overlapped, and the trends went from crinolines and hoops to bustles and OH! Those terrible corsets that were responsible for the deaths of a great many women. Fortunately, eventually women learned not to torture themselves. Dresses slimmed down, and the Art Nouveau period transferred to the fashion world, then onto Art Deco, which thrived during the Roaring Twenties. Perhaps the last totally ridiculous—(and dangerous) fashion trend was hobble skirts, which fastened ladies' legs close together and made them hop around like a geisha! Gosh, I mean, what if there was a fire or they had to get out of the way of a wild driver? And thankfully, the corsets became less fatal, then ultimately disappeared all together. The way I see it, it was all about bosoms and derriéres, sticking out from opposite ends. And why? 'Cuz men liked that sort of thing, and the goal of all responsible parents of the time was to get the daughters married off to the highest bidder as soon as possible. Oh, my. I am glad to live in an era of, eh, casual dress and certainly women's self-sufficiency!

As is my usual procedure, I chose eight pages to post, and couldn't resist three more, so here are eleven of my coloring artworks to share. I have included the label given by Tierney for each one, but not the paragraph. All dates are approximate. I hope you enjoy looking as much as I enjoyed coloring. Incidentally, I wasn't making that up about corsets being fatal. One of the most fascinating fashion history books I've ever read is Bound & Determined: A Visual History of Corsets, 1850-1960. I was so impressed with it, I wrote to the author and sent her a link to the review, to which she graciously responded with a "thank-you" note. In addition, here's my Tom Tierney Index Page and my Fashion, Historic and Ethnic Costume Index Page.

Page 13: Bathing Costumes, 1880. I included this for the humor!
Page 16: An American Couple in Walking Clothes, 1885.
Page 17: Seaside Attire. 1886.

Page 20: Cycling Outfits, 1894. Goodness; they had an outfit for every activity. Just look at the size of those pant legs.
Page 22: Formal Wear, 1894. An example of Art Nouveau fashion.
Page 26: Dinner Gown and Afternoon Dress, 1901.

Page 27: "S" Corset and Rustling Silk Petticoat, 1903.
Page 28: The Gibson Girl, 1905.
Page 30: Costumes for Calling, 1909.

Page 30: Hobble Skirts, 1910.
Page 32: Dressed for the Tango, 1910. The Art Deco look.

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