The accountant who created the first book of fashion

[davidhuh]

Gentlemen,

this was published on the BBC website early June:

How did a 16th Century accountant end up creating one of the most unique documents in the history of fashion - the world's first fashion book?

Creating fashion history is not something you would normally expect from an accountant.

But in an extraordinary undertaking spanning 40 years a style-obsessed accountant from Augsburg in Germany recorded in detail what he wore, creating what historians now think is the world's first fashion book.

Interested in clothes from a young age, Matthaeus Schwarz started commissioning watercolour paintings of himself at the age of 23 and continued until he was 63. No other pictorial record like it exists, say experts.

Read more here and watch a most entertaining film: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22766029

Cheers, David

[hectorm]

Very good find, David. Dress and fashion always tell us so much about history and human nature.
And just think about it, nowadays Mr. Schwarz would have been a lofty member of the LL, inundating us daily with his images.