Don’t let the charming illustrations or the engaging infobytes fool you, The Complete Book of Fashion History offers a real introduction to the history, geography, styles, and stylemakers of fashion. Fun and easy to read, it offers the reasons why specific fashions became famous in the first place, such as the climate in specific areas, like ancient Egypt.

It goes on to cove modern western fashion by decade, including famous fashion designers and icons. It’s a fun tour through history, for every age, even the very young. More generally, it offers a serious look at why things are the way they are, and why people do things the way they do, and all the where’s, what’s and why’s included. It’s a seriously fantastic overview of fashion, old and new.