Wow! This book is intense! Beautifully researched, fabulous written, and with lovely illustrations throughout, this is one for the Egyptomaniac! As one of those, I love it!
I knew Egypt had a huge impact on the 1920s but I didn’t realise just how much broader, and longer lasting than that, it has been. I am amused by the misinterpretations and renaming of styles and products to sell them as “Egypt”. In this day and age, of swift verification via Google or social, it is hard to imagine how a trend could go so wrong so quickly! If you love fashion, style or Egypt, you’ll enjoy “Style from the Nile”! It’s a five out of five on the enJOYment scale.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from Pen & Sword through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
From the back cover

In November 1922, the combined efforts of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon revealed to the world the ‘wonderful things’ buried in Tutankhamen’s tomb, Egypt had already been a source for new trends in fashion for quite some time: in the early 19th century, for example, Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign contributed to the popularization of Kashmir shawls, while the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869 stimulated ‘Egyptianizing’ trends in gowns, jewellery and textiles.
Post-1922, a veritable Egyptomania craze invested all artistic fields, quickly becoming a dominant Art Deco motif: “flapper-style” dresses were elaborately embroidered with beaded “Egyptian” patterns, evening bags were decorated with hieroglyphics, brooches nonchalantly sported ancient scarabs, and the sleek black bobs favored by the admired icons of the time, Louise Brooks and Clara Bow, looked up to the fabled Egyptian beauty of Nefertiti and Cleopatra.
Egyptomania often resurfaces in 21st-century fashion as well: the awe-inspiring John Galliano’s designs for Dior Spring-Summer 2004 brought back pharaonic crowns in lieu of headdresses in a triumph of gold-encrusted creations, the ancient practice of mummification was referenced by Iris van Herpen’s Fall 2009 collection and Egyptian vibes resonated in Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2018/2019 collection.
Through the combination of rigorous fashion history research, intriguing images and well-informed, but approachable, writing, Style from the Nile offers a comprehensive overview of a fascinating phenomenon that, to this day, continues to have a mesmerizing appeal.