From the invention of the needle some 40,000 years ago to the birth of grunge in the 1990s; from the neolithic weavers to the biggest names in the fashion industry today - this is a guide to the landmarks of costume history and to the forms and materials used through the ages. Also featured are the underlying motives of fashion and the ways in which clothes have been used to protect, to express identity, and to attract or to influence others. This is a revised edition of Laver's study. It includes a new final chapter by Amy de la Haye, Assistant Curator of Costume and Textiles at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in which she chronicles the trends and developments in fashion from 1940 to the 1990s, with a special emphasis on international design and designers. A new selection of illustrations for this section is included.