Art Of Adornment

the art of ADORNMENT DESIGN • FASHION • ART Adornment originated in the fourteenth century as the action of making someone or something attractive by adding decoration. It is also those details in design that create evocative rooms, intriguing structures, and beautiful landscapes. The Art of Adornment is lavishly illustrated with design patterns and “adorned” with quotes about design, fashion, and art. It’s the perfect gift for anyone who understands that “the gods are in the details.” Each of the arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish, and grace life is under the patronage of a muse, no god being found worthy to preside over them. —RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Art as Adornment: The Life and Work of Arthur Smith is a splendid documentary writing about a prominent player in the Modernist Jewelry Movement. The trade name, “ArtSmith” came to resonate with fashion and theater types in New York and all over the country during the three decades following World War II. As a Black navigating the racial tensions of the period, Arthur Smith managed to rise above the fray and achieve extraordinary success in the development of designs for jewelry that were eminently wearable and for the wearer a decorative pizazz triumph. With over 150 illustrations, this book will take you on an awe inspiring journey starting with his parents’ migratory trek from Jamaica through Cuba and ultimately to New York City, Arthur’s education in the arts, and concluding with a detailed description of his jewelry styling and creativity.

“You can’t have depths without surfaces,” says Linda Grant in her lively and provocative new book, The thoughtful Dresser, a thinking woman’s guide to what we wear. For centuries, an interest in clothes has been dismissed as the trivial pursuit of vain, empty-headed women. Yet, clothes matter, whether you are interested in fashion or not, because how we choose to dress defines who we are. How we look and what we wear tells a story. Some stories are simple, like the teenager trying to fit in, or the woman turning fifty renouncing invisibility. Some are profound, like that of the immigrant who arrives in a new country and works to blend in by changing the way she dresses, or of the woman whose hat saved her life in Nazi Germany. The Thoughtful Dresser celebrates the pleasure of adornment and is an elegant meditation on our relationship with what we wear and the significance of clothes as the most intimate but also public expressions of our identity.

Elaborating the history, variety, pervasiveness, and function of the adornments and ornaments with which we beautify ourselves, this book takes in human prehistory, ancient civilizations, hunter-foragers, and present-day industrial societies to tell a captivating story of hair, skin, and make-up practices across times and cultures. From the decline of the hat, the function of jewelry and popularity of tattooing to the wealth of grave goods found in the Upper Paleolithic burials and body painting of the Nuba, we see that there is no one who does not adorn themselves, their possessions, or their environment. But what messages do these adornments send? Drawing on aesthetics, evolutionary history, archaeology, ethology, anthropology, psychology, cultural history, and gender studies, Stephen Davies brings together African, Australian and North and South American indigenous cultures and unites them around the theme of adornment. He shows us that adorning is one of the few social behaviors that is close to being genuinely universal, more typical and extensive than the high-minded activities we prefer to think of as marking our species – religion, morality, and art. Each chapter shows how modes of decoration send vitally important signals about what we care about, our affiliations and backgrounds, our social status and values. In short, by using the theme of bodily adornment to unify a very diverse set of human practices, this book tells us about who we are.

"In individual chapters, selected works from 1965 to 1995 by students, graduates and teachers ... are presented and described in short texts" -- Dustjacket.

Using a combination of tapestry, and lace-making techniques- Barbara Natoli Witt's necklaces are stunning intricate webs of ancient beads, colored threads, artifacts and gem stones from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe. Nartoli Witt was a pioneer in the wearable art movement that began in San Francisco and has been creating her necklaces for over 40 years.

Catalog of an exhibition held at Smith College Museum of Art, Feb. 1-Jun. 15, 2008.

An element of luxury and elegance, ribbon has been used as adornment since antiquity. In Ribbon: The Art of Adornment, ribbon experts Nicholas Kniel and Timothy Wright celebrate the history, versatility, and beauty of this textile accoutrement. Through hundreds of stunning, stylish photos, Ribbon gives inspiration and ideas for using ribbon in home d cor, including tabletops, pillows and curtains, and holiday decorating; gift adornment; fashion; weddings; parties; and more. Learn techniques for tying bows and other methods of working with ribbon, as well as how to purchase, care for, and store ribbon. Also included is a helpful glossary defining textile and sewing terms and a comprehensive resource section, giving you all the inspiration and information you need for immersing yourself in the extravagant world of ribbon.