More than 4,500 entries. An exploration of the various layers that generations of styles, looks, and fashions have accumulated; many of those layers are buried in the past, forgotten by time. An attention not only to the bright lights on the runways, but also the minor players. A journalistic tone, with none of the cold rigidity of an encyclopedia, as we tell the stories of the men, women, and events of fashion. This is the Dictionary of Fashion of the twentieth century and the new millennium, the first one to have been conceived and written in Italy. There are roughly one hundred contributors to this encyclopedia: fashion historians, writers, great names of lifestyle journalism and trade reporting. This encyclopedic account zooms in on the present, explores the lands of memory, and unearths territories that have been forgotten and overlooked, forgotten, excavating in an archaeological manner into the past, because in fashion, even the recent past is ancient history. The result is a sort of still picture, from the turn of the twentieth century to the turn of the new millennium.

The Dictionary of Fashion puts the spotlight on Tailors and Seamstresses-Couturiers-Fashion Designers-High Fashion Houses-Labels and Trademarks of Prêt-à-Porter-Pattern Makers-Jewelers-Manufacturers and Industrialists of Fabrics, Apparel, and Eyeglasses-Historic Boutiques-Items of Apparel and Accessories that have made Fashion History-Fashion Schools-Shoe Designers-Magazines-Hairdressers and Hairstylists-Fashion Agencies and Institutions-Historic Names of the Criticism and Journalism of Fashion-Editors in Chief of Famous Fashion Magazines-Models and Cover Girls-Photographers-Artists and Movements that have Influenced Fashion-Strategists of Communications and Image-Leading Figures and Industrialists of Cosmetics-Places of Fashion-Fashion Museums and Collections-Illustrators and Costume Designers-Youth Movements and Modes-Icons of Elegance.