LibGuides: Theatre: Costume Resources

Books in the Library

A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion by Susan J. Vincent (Editor); Susan Vincent
Call Number: R 391.009 C899
ISBN: 9781472557490
Publication Date: 2016-12-15
A cultural history of dress and fashion' presents an authoritative survey from ancient times to the present. This set of six volumes covers over 2,500 years of dress and fashion.
Fashion by Dorling Kindersley Publishing Staff
Call Number: R 391.003 F262
ISBN: 9780756698355
From simple to sophisticated, elegant to excessive, what we wear says who we are. "Fashion" is the ultimate visual guide to everything ever worn. From the extravagance of Ancient Egypt, through the legendary fashion houses of Chanel and Dior, to the latest cutting-edge labels, this gorgeous collection of costume and dress shows how fashion reflects people and places, and captures the times in which they lived.
The Book of Costume
Call Number: R 391 D27
What People Wore : A visual history of dress from ancient times to twentieth-century America
Call Number: R 391 G68-In Reference and on 2 copies on 2nd floor
The Historical Encyclopedia of Costumes
Call Number: R 391.005 R11
A Pictorial History of Costume : A survey of costume of all periods and peoples from antiquity to modern times including national costume in Europe and non-European countries
Call Number: 391.009 B83
What People Wore When : A complete illustrated history of costume from ancient times to the nineteenth century for every level of society
Call Number: 391.009 W556L
The Chronicle of Western Costume: From the Ancient World to the Late Twentieth Century
Call Number: R 391.009 P313c
Satire and Style: Fashion in Print, 1777-1927
Call Number: 769 F659s

Fashion Books to Read Online or for Download from The Met (FREE!)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers books and exhibition catalogs you can download for free. If you take you the link, you can search their holdings. They also have fashion books available for download or to read online as well. See the links below for some costume titles.

Image Resources for Costumes

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection Online
You can search the Met's image collection available online. Over 400,000 images are posted and you can limit your search by time period, region, and type of art.
Art Project-Google
Explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces.
Web Gallery of Art
The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European fine arts from 11th to 19th centuries.

Artcyclopedia This link opens in a new window
An internet site with links to hundreds of museum sites and image archives.

The Harvard Art Museums
Ever since their founding, the Harvard Art Museums—the Fogg Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, and Arthur M. Sackler Museum—have been dedicated to advancing and supporting learning at Harvard University, in the local community, and around the world.

More Costume Image Resources

The Billy Rose Theatre Collection from NYPL
The Billy Rose Theatre Collection's photograph archive holds personalities, productions, theatre buildings, and production studios.
Digital Public Library of America
Efforts led by a range of organizations, including the Library of Congress, HathiTrust, and the Internet Archive, have successfully built resources that provide books, images, historic records, and audiovisual materials to anyone with Internet access.
Victoria and Albert Theatre and Performance Collection
The Theatre and Performance collection was founded in the 1920s when a private collector, Gabrielle Enthoven, donated her extensive collection of theatrical designs, memorabilia, books and photographs to the Museum
British Museum Collection Online
There are currently 2,217,021 records available, which represent more than 3,500,000 objects. 911,942 records have one or more images.
National Gallery of Art
With the ongoing success of our digitization initiatives, the image collections staff are pleased to bring you selected highlights from the collections. Please enjoy the following features documenting our unique perspective on the history of Western art and architecture as interpreted though the lenses of our featured photographers.
Kent State University Costume Gallery
Color photographs of costumes from the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries.

Films on Demand

Films on Demand is an excellent visual resource and has many video covering different historical periods in the United States and Europe.

To cite a film from Films on Demand, there is a citation feature underneath the movies that contain the following information, below is also a sample citation.

Title. Year and Copyright holder. Database Name. Publisher Name, Year. Source. Date Accessed

Communism in Latin America, Ca. 1980 Copyright The WPA Film Library. Films On Demand. Films Media Group, 1980. Web. 14 Sept. 2015.

Films on Demand Video Collection This link opens in a new window
Thousands of high-quality streaming educational and documentary videos, as well as indie films, historical speeches and newsreels.

Organizations

Costume Society of America
The Costume Society of America advances the global understanding of all aspects of dress and appearance. We work to stimulate scholarship and encourage study in the rich and diverse field of costume.
Costume Society UK
An organization whose aim is to promote the study and preservation of historic and contemporary dress.

Vogue Magazine Archive

The Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
An archive of Vogue magazine (US edition) in full color page image format, from the first issue in 1892 to the latest issues.

Life Magazine Archive

Life Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
A cover-to cover digital archive of Life magazine, from its first issue in November 1936 through December 2000.

eBooks

Fashion, Costume, and Culture
Provides facts and information about the cultural, religious, and social implications of human decoration and adornment throughout history, with a particular emphasis on the decades of the 20th century.
Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages
Provides a broad overview of costume traditions of diverse cultures from prehistoric times to the present day. Examines more than 430 items of human decoration and adornment, ranging from togas to turbans, necklaces to tennis shoes.
Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion
A survey of clothing, costume and fashion. Coverage includes the origins of clothing and body adornment, the development of fabrics and technologies, and the social meanings of dress, as well as representative costumes from a wide range of historical eras.

Credo Reference: Image Search Box

Search for the century to see works of art from that time period.

Women's Magazine Archive

Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
A full-text historical archive of magazines aimed at a female readership, including Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Essence and Woman's Day. Using the "Advanced Search" option you can limit your search in several ways, including limiting it to advertisements or photographs.