The Peacock’s Tail
Binder, Pearl. The Peacock’s Tail. First Edition. 1958. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition.
Assume Louis XIV, or even Thomas Jefferson, walked off the history page and into modern society. Unless he chose to be a club kid, the extravagance of his wardrobe would raise eyebrows. That is, until recently, when Timothée Chalamet and Henry Styles entered the scene. In this comprehensive social history of men’s costume, Pearl Binder wonders (and laments) how men’s fashions became so uninteresting, with discussions of Beau Brummell, Lord Byron, Puritan New England, and much more. It is mostly text, but interspersed, are wonderful pen & ink illustrations (also by Binder). The dust jacket for this title is typically in tatters; this is an exceptionally nice copy.
“Our era, for all its scientific marvels, is surely unique in history insofar as our present male dress is consistently ugly and ungracious from the cradle to the grave.”
--Pearl Binder