Haute Bordure: Embroidered clothing and accessories in the Netherlands- book review

Embroidery is an ancient technique. Coming soon to the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden is a special exhibition about embroidery through the ages. I already received the book Haute Bordure.

A wonderful book for the fashion lover!

Embroidery is in the spotlight

‘A denim jacket from fashion house Gucci full of colorful embroidered patches of bees, tigers, butterflies and flowers created a real craze in 2016. The possibility to customize the embroidery to your own choice made the garment personal and unique.’ So begins the Introduction to the book Haute Bordure. Embroidery is an ancient art.

This book spotlights embroidered clothing and accessories from 1620-2020 in the Netherlands.

Haute Bordure Embroidered clothing and accessories in the Netherlands, 1620-2020

Haute Bordure highlights the fascinating history of four centuries of embroidery in Dutch fashion. From seventeenth-century wedding gloves with pearls, sequins and gold thread. And men’s vests adorned with silk flowers, to motley embroidered basting discs from the island of Marken.

But also contemporary creations by fashion designers like Viktor & Rolf and Jan Taminiau.

Book review

What a wonderful book Haute Bordure is. This book tells about the makers and wearers, the materials and techniques used, as well as sources of inspiration and symbolism. Of course embroidery has never completely disappeared, but sometimes it is more fashionable or less so.

Embroidery is an ancient craft. One that is now again the center of many haute couture collections, as for example in the collections of Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana. But we also see embroidery in today’s streetscape as a reaction to impersonal mass customization.

A reading and viewing book

Haute Bordure is a lovely read and look book. The stories are inspiring and the pictures’re beautiful. This is how gowns with voluminous hips from the eighteenth century come by. Or the men’s vest of this time.

Where you could tell from the fabric and decoration the social status of the wearer. It contains the most beautiful gowns, as well as wedding dresses from 194-1965. In those days, women were advised to make not only a fashionable, but also a practical choice:’ for not only will you enjoy it on the big day, but also – and long afterward! ‘For he who is wise does not store her bridal gown in the camphor, but will days […] even after the wedding day.'(J.V.1955, 6)

Embroidery is more than just decoration

Haute Bordure proves that embroidery is more than just decoration. It shows who you are or who you want to be. The many pictures take you back in time.

The book is about fashion, identity, technology, white on white and Royalty. Not only the pictures’re beautiful, also the stories with the pictures’re inspiring and surprising. And very nice, on the front and back flap the embroidery stitches are drawn.

Information about the book:

This beautiful book is a 152 Page, deluxe paperback with flaps depicting various embroidery stitches. In it 90 illustrations in color and 10 in black and white.

Order this book on the site of Waanders Uitgevers, at Bol or perhaps also to be ordered at your local bookstore.