Research Links

These links are to websites that I find helpful in researching historic clothing. I’ve annotated them to give you an idea of what they contain or why I find them helpful!

• All the Pretty Dresses: A blog devoted to documenting extant historic clothing sales before the images and information are removed
• Antique-Gown: Extant garments for sale, often with detailed photos
• Antique and Vintage Dress Gallery: A huge collection of historic clothing and accessories for sale, there are many pictures from different angles which can be referenced for reproducing costumes
• The Bartos Collection: A staggering collection of period photographs, fashion plates, and extant clothing images from the mid-19th century through the early 20th century
• Claremont Colleges Fashion Plate Collection: Mounds of fashion plates that are searchable and zoomable
• Colours Used In The Regency and Georgian Eras: A blog post containing colors and descriptions/histories of colors
• Commercial Pattern Archive (CoPA): Patterns from 1860 through the present, often including the pattern piece image in addition to the front of the pattern envelope or drawing
• Curiosity Shop: Presentations and articles about a variety of mid-19th century topics around clothing
• Dames a la Mode: An immense collection of fashion plates from the 1770s-1840s, this collection can be viewed year by year or decade by decade
• Dames a la Mode Guide To Using Google Books: A very informative and helpful post about using google books to find fashion plates, specifically, though the information could be used for other searches
• The Delineator July 1883: A full issue of this magazine, each page scanned separately
• The Delineator at Hathi Trust: full volumes spanning the 1880s through 1920s, with limited views through the 1930s as well
• The Dreamstress Resources: A wide variety of links to sites with research images and information as well as costume suppliers
• Elizabethan Costume Page: Vast amounts of information and research useful for building costume from this period
• Fancy Dresses Described; or, what to wear at fancy balls: Full text (including pictures!) of this fun and silly guide from 1896
• Fine Daguerreotypes & Photography: While not organized or listed by date, this is a nice collection of images of real people from the mid-late 19th century.
• Godey’s Lady’s Book, selections from: Hosted by the University of Vermont, a selection of articles and images from the 1850s
• Hermitage Museum: Includes a searchable costume collection as well as searchable related collections such as paintings, drawings, and prints; jewelry; and textiles
• Jessamyn’s Regency Costume Companion: Lots of wonderful information and images about Regency fashion for men and women
• Journal des Demoiselles: Mounds of fashion plates from 1833-1922 arranged by year
• Kyoto Costume Institute Digital Archives: A small and beautiful sample of the collections of this institution, ranging from the 1750s to the 1990s
• Los Angeles Public Library Fashion Plates: Hundreds of plates from years throughout the 19th century
• La Belle Assemblee, selections from: Various images and text from issues ranging from 1808-1828
• La Couturiere Parisienne: Fantastic visuals: fashion plates and paintings as well as construction information
• Lulus’ Sewing Patterns and Guides for Historical Clothing and Costumes: Further resources relating to a wide range of periods and topics (Roman, Renaissance, 19th/20th centuries… and a variety of random other things, too), I found that some links are more helpful and accurate than others
• Manchester City Galleries Collections Database: Search the collections to find all sorts of historic clothing and accessories from the 19th and 20th centuries as well as a huge collection of carte-de-visit photos from the 19th century
• Mary Quite Contrary Historic Image Collection: A collection of pictures of extant clothing from the 19th century
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collections Database: Stunning collection of historic costume pieces spanning centuries
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Fashion Plates: Over 12,000 fashion plates from the 19th and 20th centuries
• Mezzotint Satires With Dates: A fabulous collection of satires dated from 1761-1800, organized by year and with descriptions
• Outerwear For Regency Ladies: An article by Kathy Hammel with lots of interesting and useful information and quotes from period resources, includes references
• Regency Era Fashions from Ackermann’s Repository: Fashion plate images from 1808-1828 on EK Duncan’s blog
• The Regency Fashion Page: A collection of links to images and text about Regency Fashion
• Regency Gown Construction Tips: Hosted by the University of Vermont, great resource for breaking down how Regency styles evolve from 1795-1820
• Regency Style Year-By-Year: A collection of information and fashion plates of fashion from 1790-1829, organized by year
• SceneInThePast’s Collection of Regency Fashion Plates: A collection of thousands of plates spanning the years 1800-1819, organized by year, on Flickr
• Sense and Sensibility Vintage Images: An immense collection of historic photos, fashion plates, extant garments and patterns from 1795 through 1959
• The Sewing Academy Compendium: A fantastic collection of resources and information for living history and reenacting in the mid-19th century
• Shoe Icons: A virtual museum of really lovely historic shoes from the 17th through 20th centuries
• The Symington Fashion Collection At The Leicester County Council: Photos and information from the Symington collection, spanning years from the 1850s through 1980s
• The Tudor Costume Page: Lots of information about building Tudor costume, including links to other helpful sites
• The Victoria and Albert Museum Collections Database: Wonderful collection of historic clothing and related accessories
• Victoriana Fashion: A variety of information about Regency, Victorian and Edwardian clothing and accessories, the ads on these pages make it a little confusing to navigate sometimes
• Vintage Knitting Resources: A collection of links to knitting patterns from the 1900s-1950s
• Vintage Victorian: Lots of great information and research, especially about the 19th and early 20th centuries