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Resources

Throughout my many years of trawling through the web, I have come accross numerous resources which may be useful to people interested in the history of Western fashion. Knock yourself out!

» Public Domain Patterns

» Couturier Interviews in Elle

General Tips

  • ProQuest has several archive databases which may be of interest: Vogue (US & British), Harper's Bazaar (US & British), Women's Wear Daily (US trade paper), and the Women's Magazine Archive (US & Canada). Check to see if your local library has a subscription: if not, your national library might. (In The Netherlands, you can get a subscription to the Koninklijke Bibliotheek for about €30/year, which includes ProQuest access.)
  • Fashion bookstore Perfume Drinker has a great research directory, I especially like the list of digitized women's magazines, which is the most comprehensive one I've yet seen.
  • Hathitrust and the Internet Archive have free-to-access scans of many public domain books and magazines related to fashion. A bunch are linked in the Perfume Drinker list above, but it's worth having a browse on your own.
  • Several museums around the world have (partially) digitized their collections, including photos of their costume holdings. Some good ones are: The Met, The V&A, The Kyoto Costume Institute, the Palais Galliera, The Museum at FIT, and the Boston MFA.
  • Similarly, there are several auction houses specializing in fashion, which upload high-res photos of their lots. Kerry Taylor Auctions and Augusta Auctions are still active. Charles A. Whitaker sadly is no more, but their website has been partially archived on the Wayback Machine, and you can view some past auctions via LiveAuctioneers.
  • I have to go cook supper now, but this is a reminder to add my Net-A-Porter secret later.