"This book examines how artists have used clothing and drapery - real and imagined, sacred and secular - as elements in their paintings to give emphasis and emotional force to their figures." "Drawing on works by artists over a span of six centuries as well as fashion plates, photographs and film stills, the author shows how drapery in painting evolved in the period following the Renaissance, becoming ever more flamboyant and theatrical, before the revolution of taste at the end of the eighteenth century saw a return to Neoclassical ideals of simplicity in art and dress."--Jacket.