Costume History and Fashion Design

Library Resources for Costume and Fashion Research

The Texas Fashion Collection at the University of North Texas contains over 15,000 objects of historic dress and is an important resource for researchers, students and lovers of fashion and costume. The Texas Fashion Collection is located in Scoular Hall. The library resources are housed in the Willis and Science and Technology Libraries on the UNT campus in Denton, TX.

Willis Library, 1506 W. Highland Street	Science and Technology Library, within the Information Sciences building, 307 Avenue B.

Journal Articles on Costume and Fashion

Search the databases below for journal articles on fashion, costume and designers.

*If accessing off campus, you will be asked for a username (EUID), and (EUID password).

Search Strategies:
Designer or Name Example: Balenciaga, Cristobal; Klein, Calvin.

Topic Example: "textile design" and history; fashion and men and Europe; "fashion accessories", costume and Victorian.

Design and Applied Arts Index

This is an excellent database for journal articles on design and designers.

Art & Architecture Complete

A good comprehensive art database with a lot of full-text journal articles. Coverage is 1984-present.

Bibliography of the History of Art

(BHA) 1973-present

ARTBibliographies Modern

1984-present

Grove Art Online

Search this database for quick, in-depth encyclopedia entries on designers, movements, and theory.

J-Stor

Search J-Stor for historical information on costume.  All J-Stor articles are full-text.  You may need to add more keywords to your search to narrow your results since J-Stor has so many journal articles.  Example: Costume AND Tudor AND England AND Male.

If you did not find the full-text of the journal article in the databases:
Search the UNT Online Catalog to determine if UNT subscribes to more online or paper formats of your journal. To do this, choose the "journal title" search tab, and type the title of the journal in the search box. The paper journals will be located on the first floors or lower levels of the Willis Library and Science and Technology Libraries. The catalog search record will show the location.

Books

How to Find Books in the UNT Libraries

Search the UNT Online Catalog.  Choose the Keyword search. Search the name of the designer or topic.  Example: Balenciaga, Cristobal, Chanel, Coco; Chanel, Coco AND dress, Medieval AND clothing; Medieval AND fashion; "Art Deco" AND fashion; accessories AND Renaissance; shoes AND history. 

Reference Books on Costume and Fashion

*All books are located in Reference, First Floor, Willis Library (unless otherwise noted).

Survey of Historic Costume

GT580 .T67 1998

20,000 Years of Fashion

(Boucher) GT510 .B6713 1967a

The Guide to Historic Costume

GT507 .B33 1955

Encyclopedia of World Costume

(Yarwood) GT507 .Y37 (2nd floor, Willis Library)

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Costume and Fashion: from 1066 to the Present

GT730 .C37 1994

Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion

GT507 .E53 2005

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Costume and Fashion 1550-1920

GT585 .C37 1986 

Encyclopaedia of Fashion

GT507 .O53 1986 (2nd floor, Willis Library)

Esquire's Encyclopedia of 20th Century Men's Fashions

TT617 .S36

Evolution of Fashion

GT510 .H5 1987

The Face of the Century: 100 Years of Makeup and Style

GT2340 .D43 1995

Fashion: From Ancient Egypt to the Present Day

391 C767f

Fashion in Costume, 1200-2000

GT511 .N85 2000

Fashions in Hair

(Corson) GT2290 .C6 1970

Fashions in Makeup

(Corson) GT2340 .C67

A History of Men's Fashion

GT1710 .C44 1993

Men's Fashion: The Complete Source Book

GT1710 .P43 1996

20th Century Fashion

GT596 .P433 1993

Contemporary Fashion

TT505.A1 C66 2002

Visual History of Costume

GT733 .V57 1989 (2nd floor, Willis Library)

Survey of Historic Costume

GT580. T67 1998

More Costumes for the Stage

GT1741. J323 1993

American Costume, 1915-1970: A Source Book for the Stage Costume

PN2067.03 1982

Film Costume: An Annotated Bibliography

Z5691.P75

Costume on the Stage, 1640-1940

(DeMarly) GT1741.D4 1982 (2nd Floor, Willis Library)

Theatrical Costume, Masks, Make-up and Wigs: A Bibliography and Iconography

Z5691 .J68 2000

Books on Fashion Designers

*The fashion designers are listed alphabetically by last name in these books. These books are located in the Science and Technology Library, unless otherwise noted.

The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers

GT507 .O53 1998 (Reference, 1st Floor, Willis Library)

Contemporary Fashion

TT505.A1 C66 1995 c. 2

Who's Who in Fashion

TT505.A1S73 1996

Who's Who in Fashion

TT505.A1S74

The Fashion Guide: International Designer Directory

T495.F37 1994 (Reference, 1st Floor, Willis Library)

Books in the Rare Book and Texanna Collections

The Rare Book Room

on the 4th floor of the Willis Library houses many rare and fragile materials on the history of costume and fashion design. These items may be used only in the Rare Book Room.

 

Le Costume en France de François 1er à 1900

391 .G137c

Costume Historique

391 .R11 vol. 6 pt. 2

Costumes Civils et Militaires des Français à Travers les Siècles

391 C351c

Costumes of Eastern Europe

391.T459

Delineations of the Most Remarkable Costumes of the Different Provinces of Spain

391 .G446d

Deutsche Volkstrachten

391 .K885d

Godey's Lady's Book

1837-1871; 1874-1875; 1877; 1882; 1884

History of French Masculine Costume

391.1 .G347

History of the Feminine Costume of the World

2 vols., 391.2 .G347

Mexican Costume

391 .M543m

Story of Fashion in France

391.2 .C351

Zur Geschichte der Costume

391 .U87b

How to Find and Borrow Books from other Universities

Search the World Catalog  to find out what books have been published on your topic that are not owned by the UNT Libraries.  The World Catalog contains more than 35 million records describing items owned by libraries around the world.  Books not owned by UNT may be requested to be borrowed by UNT students, faculty and staff through UNT's Inter-Library Loan Department.

Images of Historic Costume and Fashion

*The best sources for historic costume and fashion images can be found in the Reference Books on Costume and Fashion section above. These books are full of color images with accompanying descriptions and historical information.

Image Databases

*Search the image databases listed below to instantly see high resolution images of historic costume and fashion by time period. *If accessing off campus, you will be asked for a username (EUID), and password (EUID password).

History of Costume

This is a database of historic costume images found in fine art works. It is a great source to find out what costumes, accessories and hairstyles were being worn in different historical periods in various countries.

ARTstor

ARTstor is a digital library of over 700,000 high resolution images of art and architecture from Neolithic to Postmodern times. Costume and fashion objects and those depicted in other works of art can be viewed by choosing "Browse by Collection", then "Fashion, Costume, Jewelry". Now click on the plus "+" sign in the box beside the words Fashion, Costume and Jewelry and you will now see these categories further broken down by country. Click on the country of choice to see all the fashion, costume and jewelry of that country. You can also click on "date" to organize the images from earliest to latest periods.

Images of Historic Costume and Fashion on Microfilm

The Willis Library has an excellent collection of microfiche costume and fashion images on microfiche in the Microforms Department

on the Lower Level of the Willis Library. The MicF call number follows each title. Ask for the call number of the collection at the Microforms desk.

Visual Catalogue of Fashion and Costume in the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1556-1975,

MicF 245. Includes prints, drawings, and plates of costume and fashion  designs owned by the museum.

Pacquin-Worth Fashion Drawings, 1865-1956

MicF385. Provides 5,000 illustrations of Parisian fashion designs.

Fashion For America

MicF633. Provides information on the U.S. fashion industry during the 20th century created from images in the collection of the Fashion Institute of Technology Library.

Swinging Sixties: Fashion Design in Britain, 1960-1969

MicF 384. Contains images of Sixties designers, haute couture, and manufacturing houses.

London College of Fashion Designer Files

MicF 802. Contains 25 years of clippings of various designers' work from fashion magazines such as Vogue and Elle.

New York and Hollywood Fashion and Costume Design from the Brooklyn Museum Collection

MicF 366. Provides an overview of fashion and costume design from 1910 through the late 1950s. Includes 657 sketches representing 55 designers.  Examples of Hollywood designers included are Charles LeMaire, Edith Head, Walter Plunkett, and Irene.

Professional Fashion Resources

Books

*These books are located in the Science and Technology Library

(unless otherwise noted).

Career Opportunities in the Fashion Industry

TT507 .V63 2002

Fashion Design: Process, innovation & Practice

TT507 .M384 2003  

Apparel Making in Fashion Design

TT520 .K4589 2002

Fashion Design Drawing Course: Principles, Practice, and Techniques

TT507 .M384 2003     

Imagemakers: Cutting Edge Fashion Illustration

TT509 .D39 2004

Essential Fashion Illustration

TT509 .L35 2005

Fashion Illustration Now

TT509 .B66 2004

The Vintage Fashion Directory: the National Sourcebook of Vintage Fashion Retailers

GT507 .T87 2002  (Reference, 1st Floor, Willis Library)

Offical Price Guide to Vintage Fashion and Fabrics

GT505 .S65 2001 (Reference, 1st Floor, Willis Library)

Internet

The Costume Page 

A comprehensive index of costume and costume-related links for those who study and/or make costumes.

Fashion Net

Designed to be a global meeting point for the fashion- and style- interested public as well as for the fashion industry.

Firstview

Features the leading designers of Paris, Milan, New York, and London. Includes 50-150 photographs of each designer's collection.

Fashion Icon 

A fun fashion site that includes a store lounge and seasonal fashion review.

Style.Com
Published by Vogue Magazine's Condé Nast, this site features reviews, digital  images of 6,000 contemporary runway looks for each season. Includes slideshows and video  highlights from shows in New York London, Milan and Paris.