- Find & Research
- Get Help
- Use the Library
- About
- News & Events
Costume Design
Costume Design
Books for Costume Work
Fashion, costume, and culture : clothing, headwear, body decorations, and footwear through the agesebook
The costume supervisor's toolkitPN2067 .P685 2019
Encyclopedia of world dress and fashionGT507 .E54 2010
Reference Collection
Period costume for stage & screen : patterns for women's dress, 1500-1800![Grete Kolliner (Wien 1892-1933) (Dorotheum) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grete_Kolliner_Manon_Chaufour_und_Otto_Werberg_als_Tanzkakteen.jpg){kind=link}
Children's costume : the complete historical sourcebook GT1730 .P43 2009
Sears catalogs
Call numbers vary
For images of clothing from historical periods, start with a search for books listed in the online catalog. Search terms that you might use are:
Look under narrower subject headings, if applicable, such as:
If you are looking for images relating to specific time periods or occupations, search relevant headings. For example:
General Internet Image Searches
Note that not all images found on the web are available for reuse. Unless stated otherwise, the creator (artist, photographer, etc) owns the image and holds all usage rights. Learn more.
Beware that internet image searches will often bring up pictures of people in homemade costumes, which may not be historically accurate.
Google Images
Image search engine. Filter for reusable images by selecting "Tools" and then "Usage Rights."
[More details]
Wikimedia Commons
A searchable collection of 27+ million "freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute."
[More details]All images are reusable. Remember to cite your source.
Flickr
[More details]
A searchable collection of digital photos. Please note the copyright and reuse policy for each image. Flickr lets you limit searches to "creative commons," U.S. government, and other reusable/public-domain categories.
Find reusable images by using changing from "Any license" to reusable licenses (on the results screen). Remember to cite your source.
Newspapers & Magazines
Vintage newspaper articles or articles on international topics can include useful photographs.
Vogue Archive
The Vogue Archive contains the backfile of Vogue magazine (US edition), spanning the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. It preserves the work of the world's greatest fashion designers, stylists and photographers and is a unique record of American and international fashion, culture and society from the dawn of the modern era to the present day.
[More details]Includes high-resolution, color images of fashion and design. Spans 1892 to the present.
New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
Resource provides searchable archive for the New York Times dating back to 1851. Contains digital reproductions of every page from every issue in downloadable PDF files.
[More details]Full-text access to the New York Times from 1851 - present.
Newspaper Databases
Complete list of newspaper resources accessable through Randall Library.
[More details]More newspapers available from Randall Library.
More Costume Ideas
Performance Design Archive
Includes costume design documents from 1930 to the present, mostly from Europe and the United States.
[More details]
Oxford Art Online
Oxford Art Online is an innovative new gateway that offers users the ability to access and search the vast content of Grove Art Online and Oxford art reference in one location. Including eBooks on art and art history.
[More details]allows you to search two library databases (Grove Art Online and Oxford Art Reference) at one time.
ARTstor Digital Library
The ARTstor Digital Library is a nonprofit resource that provides over 2.5+ million digital images in the arts, art history, architecture, anthropology, history, humanities, foreign languages and literatures, religion, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research.
[More details]provides over 2 million digital images.
American Memory Project
Images, videos, and presentations compiled by the U.S. Library of Congress related to American history.
[More details]
The Costume Page
Resource of collected information regarding costuming. Includes costuming history, costuming by era, by ethnic group, Halloween, and costume-making.
[More details]
Elizabethan Costume Page
Resource provides information on clothing from the Tudor and Elizabethan periods in England, from peasant to upper class, children to adults.
[More details]
Fashion Plate Collection
Digitized fashion plates from French, British, American, and other fashion journals between 1806-1915.
[More details]
History of Costume
Resource for students studying historical fashion as well as Victorian-era costume designers. Resource is a digitization of plates printed from 1861 to 1880 and bound under the title "History of Costume." These plates consisted of 500 designs of historical dress from antiquity to the end of the 19th century.
[More details]
London College of Fashion - Cordwainers Shoe Collection
Collection includes around 650 shoes which cover the period between 1780 and the 1990s, and include examples produced by important makers such as Pinet, Joseph Box, James Taylor, and W.L. Douglas
[More details]
London College of Fashion - Paper Patterns
Collection includes 800 patterns dating from the 1920s to the present.
[More details]
London College of Fashion - The Woolmark Company
Collection donated in the 1980's includes two thousand black and white photographs dating from the 1940's through to the early 1980's as well as numerous press releases from the Woolmark Company. The images capture both the fashion of the time and the style of photography. The press releases, which in some cases are still attached to the photographs, give additional information about the garments, designers/manufacturers, the photographer, and any points of interest reflecting the promotional style and language of the time.
[More details]
Milwaukee Repertory Theater Photographic History
Visual chronicle of the artistic productions of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in the years 1977-1994. The collection presents 1,800 images documenting 195 performances during these 17 seasons.
[More details]
Works of Art: The Costume Institute
Photograghs of selected items from Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum, spanning 2000 B.C.E. - present and "five continents."
[More details]
Library of Congress - Prints & Photographs Online Catalog
Contains catalog records and digital images including photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.
[More details]
Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology - Collection
Digital collection of photos, garments, and accessories from the 18th century to present held at the Museum at FIT.
[More details]
Europeana Fashion
Images and texts of historical European clothing and accessories, contemporary designs, catwalk photographs, drawings, sketches, plates, catalogs, and videos.
[More details]
Blanche Payne Regional Costume Photograph and Drawing Collection
Collection of drawings, photographs, art, and postcards from research trips to Yugoslavia and other countries in 1930 and years 1936-1937.
[More details]
Motley Collection of Theatre & Costume Design
Source of documentation on the history of theater; provides access to a rare collection of original materials on the theater comprising over 5000 items from more than 150 productions in England and the United States. These materials include costume and set designs, sketches, notes, photographs, prop lists, storyboards, and swatches of fabric.
[More details]
Chicago History Museum - Costume and Textiles
Museum holds more than 50,000 costumes and textiles dating from the eighteenth century to the present. Collection materials include clothing worn by former presidents and first ladies, sports stars, celebrities, and other luminaries, as well as by everyday Chicagoans. The Museum’s textile holdings include a significant representation of military flags, political banners, quilts and coverlets, samplers, rugs, and other household textiles. Highlights include mid-twentieth century textiles designed by Chicago-based artists, such as Ellenhank and Angelo Testa.
[More details]Need Help?
Costume History
Consider also using Randall Library's multitude of history resources when looking at the history of costuming.
Need a sewing machine?
Randall Library's Curriculum Materials Center, in Watson Education Building, has sewing machines available for student use. If you are a beginner, please schedule an appointment rather than just stopping by, so that someone will be available to help you get started.
Finding Books on the Shelf
Ready to find library books on the shelf? Our books are arranged in Library of Congress call number order. Below are some helpful links and just ask a librarian for help if needed.
Library of Congress Classification (LC)
Randall Library help page for Library of Congress catalog classifications.
[More details]Subject: