Guides: THEA 4321 History of Costume: Visual Sources for Garment Artifacts

Visual Sources for Garment Artifacts

Bloomsbury fashion central This link opens in a new window
Provides access to a searchable portal of integrated text and image content on world dress and fashion throughout history. Notable resources are reference works, including the Berg Encyclopedia of Dress and Fashion, an extensive e-book collection, classic and modern writings on fashion, and a vast image bank, including items from the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Searching by image only reveals a visual search interface with a specially designed taxonomy in order to refine search results by type of dress, people, time period, place, textiles and materials, and themes.
ARTstor This link opens in a new window
Provides access to more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences. Includes suite of tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes. Includes offline image viewer and mobile versions.
Vogue archive This link opens in a new window
A complete searchable archive of Vogue (U.S. edition), from the first issue in 1892 to the current month. Every article, cover, photo shoot, illustration and advertisement has been digitized to the highest standard, with rich indexing enabling you to find images by designer and brand names. ProQuest

Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion
The Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion explores all aspects of dress and fashion on a global level, from pre-history to the present day.
Diana: Designing for a Princess
Dress: The Journal of the Costume Society of America (online)
Fashion History Century/Decade Overviews
Fashion History Timeline
FIDM Museum & Galleries (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising)
The FIDM Los Angeles campus houses a Permanent and Study Collection of over 12,000 costumes, accessories, and textiles from the 18th century through the present day, including film and theatre costume. It is one of the largest such collections in the United States, and top designer holdings include Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Dior, and Lacroix. The FIDM Museum also houses the early Hollywood Costume Collection on loan from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks.
Historic Royal Palaces: Kensington Palace
The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (NYC)
The Museum’s permanent collection now encompasses some 50,000 garments and accessories from the 18th century to the present. Important designers such as Adrian, Balenciaga, Chanel, and Dior are represented. The collecting policy of the Museum focuses on aesthetically and historically significant “directional” clothing, accessories, textiles and visual materials, with emphasis on contemporary avant-garde fashion.
NYPL Digital Gallery: Dress and Fashion: Design and Manufacture
Several rare and unusual published resources of interest to students of western dress and fashion from the 19th to the early 20th-century. Includes historical surveys as well as manufacturers' booklets and sample swatch catalogs.
Queen Victoria: From pampered princess to elderly empress: wife, mother and queen
Victoria & Albert Museum
Victoria & Albert Museum (UK): Fashion Jewelery & Accessories
The collection covers fashionable dress from the 17th century to the present day, with the emphasis on progressive and influential designs from the major fashion centers of Europe. The V&A collections also include accessories such as jewellery, gloves and handbags.
Vogue Runway Shows
An extensive searchable collection of runway shows over the years.

Museums & Exhibits

Victoria & Albert Museum (UK): Fashion Jewelery & Accessories
The collection covers fashionable dress from the 17th century to the present day, with the emphasis on progressive and influential designs from the major fashion centres of Europe. The V&A collections also include accessories such as jewellery, gloves and handbags.
The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (NYC)
The Museum’s permanent collection now encompasses some 50,000 garments and accessories from the 18th century to the present. Important designers such as Adrian, Balenciaga, Chanel, and Dior are represented. The collecting policy of the Museum focuses on aesthetically and historically significant “directional” clothing, accessories, textiles and visual materials, with emphasis on contemporary avant-garde fashion.
FIDM Museum & Galleries
The FIDM Los Angeles campus houses a Permanent and Study Collection of over 12,000 costumes, accessories, and textiles from the 18th century through the present day, including film and theatre costume. It is one of the largest such collections in the United States, and top designer holdings include Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Dior, and Lacroix. The FIDM Museum also houses the early Hollywood Costume Collection on loan from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks.
NYPL Digital Gallery: Dress and Fashion: Design and Manufacture
Several rare and unusual published resources of interest to students of western dress and fashion from the 19th to the early 20th-century. Includes historical surveys as well as manufacturers' booklets and sample swatch catalogs.

THEA 4321 History of Costume

Visual Sources for Garment Artifacts

Museums & Exhibits

University Libraries