Steele, a historian at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, has edited a comprehensive resource to clothing and contemporary fashion that will be useful to the general reader and the advanced high school and undergraduate student. The three volumes are arranged A-Z and include entries on contemporary fashion designers, ethnic and regional costume, fabrics and materials, elements of costume, historic costume, and notable people, among other subjects. A sample of topics for individual entries includes animal prints, armor, art and fashion, Pierre Balmain, barbers, Bill Blass, resist dyeing, earrings, eyeglasses, hemp, oilskins, safety pins, t-shirt, unisex, worsted, and yarns. Each entry includes cross- references and a bibliography. The contributors include curators, academics, journalists, and independent scholars in the UK, the US, Australia, Germany, and Canada. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR