Apparel Arts Project

[gefinzi]

In the last issue of Classic Style magazine there was an article on Apparel Arts. Within the article reference is made to a gentleman in London (a member here?) who is trying to digitalize all the Apparel Arts magazines from 1932-1950 and make them publicly available.

Does anyone know how far along this project is? (I also wonder if it is legal or if there are copyright issues). I'd love to have online access to all those books.

[Midnight Blue]

That would be an incredible gift to the sartorial community. It can't replicate the experience of browsing the actual magazines and touching authentic fabric samples from the golden age of fashion but it sure beats viewing the nearly illegible microfiche copies that are available to most people lucky enough to have access to a major library.

[Hartline]

I was wondering about that myself. It would be great to work on and contribute. Does anyone know who Peter Cormie is?

Among this group we probably have a complete collection. I think at least one of our members in New York actually does.

If you are interested in some of the background of the business do a search in Time Magazine's online archives which is free -- "Apparel Arts" brings up the articles. Then, sort them in chron order.

Gingrich's autobiography (Toys of a Lifetime (1966)) also has some interesting points. And, there are volumes written about Paul Rand.

Manton may know, but I think he might be very busy in the latest version of creative destruction.

[jekarwoski]

I saw this too. Actual printed material would be wonderful; though I would lament not having the fabric swatches. Still, I'd prefer the physical over the online verions...well, why not both?

If the final will only be bits, I hope the project organziers look to something like the products issued by Octavo (http://www.octavo.com/) as an exemplar.

[masterfred]

While it would indeed be wonderful, doesn't Conde Nast still hold copyright to this material? Wouldn't this present a legal and financial hurdle to this coming to fruition? I seem to remember some talk here at one time about these illustrations being put onto CD-ROM; I believe Ed Hayes at the time mentioned he represented a client on CN's behalf. Anyway, it seems more than just a matter of scanning and posting the illustrations, as the project may be shut down by attorneys.

[couch]

I have also heard second-hand that CN retains the rights. But perhaps (we can hope) that this project would be a licensed or joint venture. It could be a very low-overhead (high profit?) way for CN to exploit the property, given a partner willing to do the labor of scanning, since materials costs would be trivial for an online edition. I'm thinking of The New Yorker magazine's "Complete New Yorker" digital facsimiles covering its entire history, distributed on a portable hard drive, as an example. It sells for a very affordable price and would comprise an order of magnitude more pages than the twenty years or so of AA that would be of interest.

[edhayes]

I'll ask, I know Conde Nast has them, let me see if they are digitized

[Chris Rimby]

I REALLY hope this project comes to fruition. I refer to etutee's AA scans almost weekly. I would LOVE to own all of the illustrations.

[luk-cha]

this would be great if is came about - i too refer alot to etutee's post esp in recent months!