Taschen reissues Racinet's monumental costume history

Taschen has published a new edition of Auguste Racinet's 'Le costume historique', a monumental 500-plate work originally released in 1888. Racinet, a draftsman and publicist, compiled an exhaustive survey of costume from antiquity to the late 19th century, drawing on manuscripts from the Bibliothèque nationale and private collections. The book extends beyond Europe into Lapland and French regions, though its 19th-century perspective is ethnocentric and annexationist. Each plate functions as a narrative vignette, integrating hairstyles, jewelry, and furniture without hierarchy. One striking example shows a medieval court woman gently stabbing her lower abdomen before a crucified, bearded man in white underpants, illustrating Racinet's poetic approach to depicting cut and color.