Fullerton College Library Fashion Subject Guide

This is just a quick guide to get you started. If you need personalized assistance with your research, you may schedule an appointment with a librarian. Go to Book a Librarian! and request a meeting to get one-on-one help with your research.

History of Fashion Websites

Andre Studios, 1930-1941: Fashion Drawings & Sketches

“This digitized collection of thousands of fashion drawings and sketches produced by André Fashion Studios between 1930 and 1941 is the result of a partnership between the Picture Collection of The New York Public Library and the Special Collections & FIT Archives of the Fashion Institute of Technology Library… The collection consists of original, hand-colored and reproduced fashion drawings from André Studios, one of a small number of competing design studios that created fashion sketches to sell to clothing manufacturers in the United States and Canada on a weekly basis. Pearl Levy Alexander and Leonard Schwartzbach were partners in André, with Pearl creating the designs and Leonard acting as the salesman. André specialized in children’s coats, and ladies coats and suits, and produced about 20 sketches a week for most of the year, beginning in 1930 and ending in the early 1970s. The site showcases the first decade of the firm’s output, up until the beginning of World War II, an oeuvre of significant proportions providing unique insight into fashion trends for women and children during the 1930s.” (from web site)

The Costume Gallery

The Costume Gallery is dedicated to online articles and resources. Contains over 2,900 webpages of period fashion articles, catalogs, books and images to access.  The site is no longer free so for full access to the info, you need to pay.

The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute of the Met has a collection of more than thirty thousand costumes and accessories spanning five continents and covering several centuries. Their website provides a database for searching more than 7,000 images from their costume collection as well as from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection. You can search their database for “18th century dress” or just try searching “costume” to browse their photos.  Look at the rest of the Metropolitan’s web site. There is a wealth of information!

The Costume Page

The Costume Page is a site with links to hundreds of other web pages on costumes.  You will have to decide how reliable the information is on each site.  This site does have a lot of links to historical costumes, making costumes, costumes for live performances and much more.

The Costumer’s Manifesto

The Costumer’s Manifesto is created and maintained by Tara Maginnis, Ph.D. of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She is the costume designer and a Professor of the UAF theatre department. The site provides links to a wide range of costume related resources.

La Couturière Parisienne

La Couturière Parisienne offers the user links to web pages covering the Medieval and Renaissance period to the early 1900s. The site links to artwork and fashion plates that provide visuals for the costumes of particular periods. Users will also find patterns, articles and photographs.

Elizabethan Costuming Page

The Elizabethan Costuming Page by Drea Leed lists links to Elizabethan/Renaissance web sites by categories such as Colors & Fabrics, Hats & Headwear and Costume Construction.

Europeana Fashion

The Europeana Fashion best practice network aims to aggregate existing content from the most important and interesting public and private European fashion collections. This fashion-related content will be integrated into Europeana.eu.

Fashion History Costume Trends and Era

This site contains illustrated pages covering Fashion History, Costume History, Clothing, Fashions and Social History.

Fashion Museum

The Fashion Museum in Bath, England has a collection covering historical and contemporary fashion.  The Fashion Museum link will take you to the page for searching their historical collection.

Fashion Past and Present

This page provides links to other web sites with information about fashion, textiles, armor, cosmetics, jewelry and more.

Fashion Plate

University of Washington Libraries Digital Collection includes 417 fashion plates from 1806-1914 from some of the leading fashion journals of the times.

The History of Costume by Braun & Schneider

The website has text and illustrations from Braun and Schneider’s 19th century book, The History of Costume. This book published from 1861 to 1880 has plates covering ancient costumes to the 19th century. However, keep in mind that the illustrations have a Victorian perspective to the costume designs so they may not be authentic.  They may also reflect the misconceptions of the late 1800s.

KCI: The Kyoto Costume Institute

The Kyoto Costume Institute collects and preserves examples of western clothing. The site has a Japanese and English version which gives you access to their digital archives with images in chronological order.  The images allow users to zoom in to see details in the fabrics. The site has examples of clothing from the mid-1700s to the 1990s.

LACMA Costume and Textiles Online Collection

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art includes an Image Library on their website under the category, Costume and Textiles. Search for costume to locate more than 200 images of apparel and accessories from around the world.

Ohio State University Historic Costume & Textiles Collection: Exhibitions

OSU’s Historic Costume & Textiles Collection is a scholarly and artistic resource for information and images on apparel and textiles. The exhibitions page has numerous images from their past exhibitions.

UNT Texas Fashion Collection

The University of North Texas Fashion Collection preserves and documents historically significant fashion. There are digitized photographs of items from their collection that can be browsed by time period and searched by keywords.  According to their site, they will be continually adding to their online digitized collection.

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum has a Fashion, Jewellery & Accessories section on their web site that offers an array of clear photographs of costumes from the 18th to the present day. Search carefully to discover all the hidden layers in this site.

Reference Books

Reference books include works such as specialized encyclopedias, atlases, and dictionaries.

They are excellent places to start your research. You can:

  •  Gather background information and gain a general overview on your topic
  • Develop a list of keywords for online searching

Library Catalog

  • How to Find: Click on CATALOG on the Library Homepage.
  • Basic Search: Use the “Limit to” drop-down and select “Reference”.
  • Suggested KEYWORD search terms to start your research:
      • costume
      • fashion

    Important Note: Print Reference books (1st floor) cannot be checked out of the library.

    Examples:                                                                       

    REF GT605 .E35 2015 Ethnic Dress in the United States: A Cultural Encyclopedia / edited by Annette Lynch and Mitchell D. Strauss. 2015

  Overside REF GT2290 LH265 2010 Hairstyles: Ancient to Present / edited by Charlotte Fiell. 2010

 Subscription Databases

The Gale Virtual Reference Library offers electronic access to a comprehensive collection of reference materials including articles from specialized encyclopedias.

How to Find: From the Library Home Page click on DATABASES and scroll down to the Gale Virtual Reference Library or use these links!

 How to Access:

  • On Campus–You don’t need to log on
  • Off Campus–there is remote access through the library webpage by logging in with your student ID number and last name.  You can also log in to MyGateway and click on the FULLERTON tab to access the databases. Call the reference desk, 714-9925694, during library hours if you have any questions.

How to Search: You can combine search terms by using the Advanced Search option.

Examples of KEYWORD search terms to start your research. Put your search terms in separate boxes and combine with AND.

    • fashion and 1960s
    • costumes and

Examples:

[electronic resource]         “The 1960s: Fashion: Overview.” American Decades/Vincent Tompkins.

[electronic resource]         “Afrocentric Fashion.” Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion/Valerie Steele.

Books and eBooks

Find Books or eBooks in the Library Catalog

The following subject headings are suggested for beginning your search. Use the drop down menu to change your search from Keyword to Subject Browse. Try entering the following subject terms to find books on fashion.

 Library Catalog Subject Browse:

      • Fashion
      • Costume
      • Clothing Trade
      • Textile Industry
      • Clothing and Dress
      • Dressmaking

Print Books

Fashion books in this category are usually marked “Books 2nd floor” or “Oversize 2nd floor”, but can also include “New Books” and “Bestsellers”. Circulating books can be checked out for two weeks, unless otherwise noted on the book, and may be renewed twice.  For more information on library policies, please see Borrowing.

Examples:

Oversize GT510.B6713 20,000 Years of Fashion: the History of Costume and Personal Adornment / Francois Boucher

Oversize PN1995.9 C56 L36 2007 Dresssed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design / Deborah Nadoolman Landis. 2007

 TT515 .K45 2013 Fashion Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the History, Language & Practice of Fashion / Alicia Kennedy & Emily Banis Stoehrer with Jay Calderin. 2013

Reserve Books

Reserve Books are materials that instructors have put in the library for student use.  They are located behind the Reserve counter on the 1st floor. There are many books on fashion and historical costumes that can be checked out for short-term loan, usually for two hours or overnight.

EBSCOhost service eBooks

On your Library Catalog results list, you may see Electronic Books (eBooks) on the same results list for printed books in the library. Electronic books are listed in the Library Catalog, but these titles are actually part of a subscription database, EBSCOhost (eBook Collection) or Springer eBook Collection.

 How to access EBSCOhost:

  •  From the Library Catalog, click on the eBook title to view the complete catalog record, then click on the Linked Resource to enter EBSCOhost.
  • From the Library homepage, go to the DATABASES link found on the homepage. Select EBSCOhost Service–> EBSCOhost Web–>eBook Collection.  As with all of the subscription databases, if you’re off campus, you need to enter the login with your student ID number and your last name. You can also access the databases by logging in to MyGateway and clicking on the FULLERTON tab. The databases links are listed on that page and you won’t need to log in to each database.

Web Sites

Contemporary Fashion

Apparel Search — Apparel Search is a directory for all things related to the apparel industry directory including fashion careers, trade shows, textiles, apparel associations, fashion blogs and a lot more.

Couture Fashion Week — Users can view photos by city, season, or subject.

fashionMagnet — Gail McInnes blog on industry news, events, interviews, industry advice from fashion experts.

Fashion Museum — The Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Fashion Museum was formerly known as the Museum of Costume. The Fashion Museum website showcases their world-class collection of historical and contemporary dress.

FASHION NET — For info on contemporary fashion, fashion.net provides web pages in English, Spanish and Japanese. This web site offers links to designers, fashion labels, magazines, blogs, books and more. Some sites may require subscription or sign-ups. Fashion.net also links to modeling agencies, architectural firms, art sites and other art/design related topics.

Fashion Trendsetter — According to their website, “Fashion Trendsetter is an online fashion and color forecasting, trend reporting and news e-zine which serves up-to-date fashion information from the major trade fairs, trend reports and fashion forecasts.”

Fashionista — Fashionista is a source for fashion news, career information, and criticism.

firstVIEW — firstVIEW is an online fashion photo archive. Most useful for students are the free Collections that can be viewed by users. An expensive subscription is needed to access the complete site. There is also a calendar of events.

Lifestyle — Lifestyle offers videos and photos of fashion trends, hairstyles, and makeup along with celebrity gossip. No information on the publisher of this site.

Olena: Fashion & Lifestyle Magazine — OLENA magazine was founded in 2007 as a global online publication to highlight to young fashion talents (designers, photographers, models, stylists, makeup artists, etc.) The magazine publishes materials in English, German and Russian.

Trends in Japan — Trends in Japan tracks fashion and street style as well as travel, sci-tech, life-style, and pop culture in Japan.

Vogue –Vogue provides ample photos of fashion shows and celebrities. It also has pages on beauty and culture.

Trade Shows

Cosmoworlds: Media/News/Publishing — Cosmoworlds Facebook page refers users to Creative Industries which features pages on design for industry professionals who can locate information on global trends, trade show, fairs and trade data. Cosmoworlds is a resource for professionals in fashion, interior design, new media and entertainment.

PeruModa — PeruModa is the portal for the international trade show of the Peruvian fashion industry.

PremiereVision: The World’s Premiere Fabric Show — This French website provides information for people and press in the fashion industry interested in this large exhibition specializing in fabrics. There are English and French versions of the pages.

PremiereVision—New York  — Information on this global textile event for North American Fashion professionals.

TMC Fashion Square — This website gives information on exhibitors in the Textile and Mode Center, Zurich. In German.

Euratex — The European Appeal and Textile Confederation represents manufacturers from 23 different European nations.

More Web Sites from Renee Young

Cotton Incorporated — The official site for America’s Cotton Producers and Importers, including news, research, and other resources.

Elle — Elle magazine includes news on current and upcoming trends, as well as health, beauty, and pop culture information.

FashionLive — A collection of fashion related links.

FashionSnoops — An online trend forecasting and consulting company. A subscription based service.

Fashion Wire Daily — “The first word in fashion.” News site focusing on fashion, beauty, and entertainment.

GQ  — The online GC magazine. A place to go for men’s fashion.

Harper’s Bazaar — Website version of the long-running print magazine. Includes sections on shopping, fashion ideas, and beauty.

InStyle — InStyle magazine’s website includes information on fashion, celebrities, shopping, beauty, and current designers.

Japanese Streets — Magazine on Japanese street fashion and street culture. Includes a great number of photos and links to items for purchase.

Net-a-Porter — Online luxury fashion retailer.

New York Magazine — New York Magazine’s site includes sections on fashion, shopping, and entertainment for New York City.

The Style Council — Service specializing in trend forecasting and textile design.

Trendzoom — Fashion trend forecast report and news service. Also includes coverage of key European trade shows.

WWD — Womens Wear Daily is a daily online newspaper which covers international fashion topics. Includes archives of past issues.

Periodicals

Print Magazines

The hard copy magazines are located on the second floor in front of the Help Desk. They are shelved alphabetically by title.

  • GQ–Gentlemen’s Quarterly
  • Ladies’ Home Journal
  • For fashion in the past, take a look at Life and Vogue.
  • Life (Life magazine goes back to 1936 if you are researching 20th century fashion trends)
  • Vogue (The library has July 1930 to Dec. 1976 then from Jan. 2000 to present)

Subscription Databases

To access the subscription databases, click on Databases on the library homepage.

EBSCOhost

From the list of databases, select EBSCOhost Service, then EBSCOhost web.  You may “Select ALL” then “Continue” to search all the databases simultaneously.

You can enter your search terms in the search boxes.

EBSCOFashionSearch2

You can limit using more specific, narrower terms. Try looking at the “Subjects” for possible search terms. You can also narrow your search by limiting the publication years to a specific range of years.