2014-05-11

A four-language fashion dictionary

I found the Langenscheidt Schiele & Schön Praxiswörterbuch Textil und Mode a while ago. While I haven't read through all of it, I would say it's more oriented toward visible design elements of clothing than it is toward construction techniques or fabrics. Interfacing, interlining, canvas, and hair canvas are nowhere to be found, for example. Maybe they are in the longer version or the app (see below).

About two-thirds of the book has English words or expressions followed by definitions, then the German, French, and Italian versions with their respective definitions; looking up by the other languages is a two-step process (you're referred to the number of the English version).

Some of the terms strike me as very odd, like "ear bandeau" for what I'd probably call an earwarmer or headband. As a whole the dictionary's probably meant to be UK English first and foremost, with American versions of things only given afterward, so that might explain some of that (though nothing else is mentioned for "ear bandeau" and I have no idea whether that is a normal British term).

For me, probably the most useful aspect of it is the Italian, where I know almost nothing. It can be useful for reading La Mia Boutique magazines.

The book is apparently a shorter version of an illustrated fashion dictionary which I have not seen and which seems to have been replaced by a "Garment & Fashion Dictionary" app. That might be the most cost-effective way to get it in many parts of the world, if you have the requisite iThing to run it on.

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