Claire’s Historical Fashion Reference & Resources
Last updated:10/16/2022
I first put this document together back in 2014, and haven’t gone through the process of doing a full
update—adding new resources, culling any dead links—in some time. Four million years, I think? So
here we are. I decided to reformat it somewhat this time around: rather than sorting by
books-vs-online resources, I’m sorting by era/region, and using
and
emoji to clearly denote
what’s available as a book or online ( or
for sewing resources). That means that if you’re looking
for a particular century, you shouldn’t have to dig around in more than one place!
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This list is by no means an exhaustive one- it’s a list of (primarily western for now) historical fashion
resources, both online and offline, that is limited to what I know, own, or use! It’s a work in progress,
and I’m definitely hoping to expand on it as my knowledge base grows. First things first, how about a
little:
Advice for Researching Historical Fashion (or anything, really)
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Read, and read about more than just costuming. Allowing yourself to understand the cultural
and historical context surrounding the clothing of a particular region/period can be invaluable in
sussing out good costume design. Looking at pictures is all well and good, but reading about
societal mores, about construction techniques, daily routines, local traditions & symbolism, and
whatever else will really help you understand the rhyme and reason behind costuming in any
given context.
Expand your costume vocabulary. When you’re delving into a new topic, costuming or otherwise,
picking up new terminology is essential to proper understanding and furthering your research.
Write down or take note of terms as you come across them- google them, look up synonyms, and
use those words as a jumping off point for more research. What’s a wire rebato? How does it
differ from a supportasse? Inquiring minds want to know.
Double-check your sources. Especially on the internet, and doubly especially on
tumblr/pinterest/tiktok. I love them (and use them!), but they can be ground zero for rapidly
spreading misinformation. Books are often your safest bet, but also take into account their date
of publication, and who’s writing them—an author’s biases can severely confuse or misconstrue
how they’re interpreting their original source material.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Do everything you can to find out information on your own, but
feel free to reach out to people with more specialized areas of knowledge for help! Be
considerate about it- the people you’re asking are busy as well- but a specific line of questioning
that proves you’re passionate and that you respect their subject matter expertise can work
wonders.
Keep track of the information you find. There’s nothing more infuriating or heartbreaking than
trying to remember where you saw that one particular jacket with the sleeves that do that
thing—whether it’s using PureRef, a google doc, bookmarks, a post-it, anything: keep track of
what you find so you can come back to it later!
Okay, onto the links! If you’re on desktop, you should be able to click the small icon to the left of the
page to expand an Outline for easy navigation.
Chronological Western Historical Fashion
General / Surveys
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British Costume from Earliest Times to 1820
A great, text-heavy book with lots of reliable first hand sources. Be wary of the Victorian
photography in the book—the reproduction costumes are somewhat less reliable.
Costume in Detail: Women's Dress 1730-1930
Elaborate line drawings/diagrams of extant period garments! A fantastic survey.
The Cut of Men's Clothes: 1600-1900
Online: free PDF available on reenactor.ru
Patterns for men’s period garments, based on extant examples.
Cut of Women’s Clothes: 1600-1930
Patterns for women’s period garments, based on extant examples.
Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History
Online: Volumes 1 and 3 are free to borrow on Archive.org
This is probably going to be a library find for you—a great general resource, and at least volumes
1 and 3 are available online.
A History of Costume
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
A 1960’s survey of historical fashion, including a lot of great text and patterns/diagrams for
recreation.
As always, be wary of any outdated photos of “reconstructions.”
Fashion (Taschen 25th Anniversary)
A survey of the Kyoto Costume Institute’s fashion collection- broad but beautiful. On every
fashion student’s bookcase.
Fashion: The Definitive History of Costume and Style
Great overview of fashion history from the Smithsonian and DK publishing. Some neat spreads of
details like purses, women’s shoes, etc.
The History of Costume: From the Ancient Mesopotamians Through the Twentieth Century
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Broad costume survey, second edition.
What People Wore: 1,800 Illustrations from Ancient Times to the Early 20th Century
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
One of those “I am putting this here because I used it a ton when I was younger” books—a great
survey to browse through, but full of illustrations based off of other work so definitely to be taken
with a grain of salt.
The Historical Encyclopedia of Costumes
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Auguste Racinet’s 19th century survey of historical fashion. To be taken with a grain of salt, since
it’s a later publication, but absolutely worth browsing.
What People Wore When: A Complete Illustrated History of Costume
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
A collection of both Racinet and Hottentoth’s costume plates from the 19th century, but with
some additional context and copy that is missing from Racinet’s original.
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We Wear Culture
A collaboration between Google and more than 180 museums, schools, fashion institutions to
collect and curate historical fashion. Eminently searchable and filterable.
Met Publications
The Met has graciously uploaded a substantial portion of its library for perusal and download,
including over 50 books on historical fashion. I might call out a couple of them specifically
throughout this document, but it’s worth browsing through the entire collection.
MoMu: Historical Dresses Undressed
A video deconstructing the layers under various pieces of extant historical clothing - the entire
channel is worth a looksee, but this is an especially lovely little video.
Démodé Couture
Kendra Van Cleave’s exhaustive historical costuming site, that only gets better with time. Van
Cleave is an exceptional dressmaker and fashion historian, and I owe her site for so many of my
early forays into historical costuming resources on- and offline.
La Couteriere Parisienne
Fantastic survey of fashion as seen in period art, paintings, magazines, patterns, etc. Tons of
information, clearly arranged by century/time period.
Wikipedia’s History of Western Fashion
Shouldn’t be the be all, end all resource for historical costuming, but a surprisingly robust
jumping off point for when you're trying to initially pin down a period of historical fashion. It is
definitely a high-level overview, though- you’ll need to delve into more costume-specific sites as
well.
The Cutter’s Guide
Kind of a mind-boggling number of visual references and resources put together by Siam
Costumes, a costume house out of Thailand.
Shorpy
A fantastic resource for day-to-day clothing from the 19th and early 20th centuries, even if it isn’t
catered specifically to fashion photography.
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PATTERNS OF FASHION
Historical costuming legend Janet Arnold’s detailed, hand-drawn diagrams of historical fashion, inside and out.
Currently in the process of being reprinted in 2022.
● Patterns of Fashion 1: Englishwomen's Dresses & Their Construction C. 1660-1860
● Patterns of Fashion 2: Englishwomen's Dresses & Their Construction C. 1860-1940
● Patterns of Fashion 3: The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women, C.1560-1620
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Patterns of Fashion 4: The Cut and Construction of Linen Shirts, Smocks, Neckwear, Headwear
and Accessories for Men and Women C. 1540-1660
Currently out of print, scheduled to be reprinted in Winter of 22/23.
Patterns of Fashion 5: The content, cut, construction and context of bodies, stays, hoops and
rumps c.1595-1795
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FASHION IN DETAIL
Not what you want if you’re looking for photos of entire costumes- note the “in detail” bit up there.
Just a beautiful series, and great reference for all the little things you might miss otherwise. The V&A
has an amazing fashion collection, and it’s great to see them share it with the world.
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Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail
Online: Free to borrow on Archive.org (older edition, 1998)
Nineteenth Century Fashion in Detail
Underwear: Fashion in Detail
World Dress: Fashion in Detail
The one non-Western entry in the series.
Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700 - 1915
LACMA’s response to the V&A’s series mentioned above, also an invaluable resource for historical
fashion detail.
Dress in Detail from Around the World
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Military Uniforms
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An Illustrated History of Uniforms from 1775-1783: The American Revolutionary War
An exhaustive overview of uniforms during the Rev War, beautifully illustrated.
L’Armee Française: Uniforms, Equipment, Armament
Military Headdress: A pictorial history of military headgear from 1660 to 1914
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Undergarments
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Res Rarae Historical shoe reproduction
Women’s Hats, Headdresses and Hairstyles
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Big ol’ survey of women’s hats and hairstyles across the centuries.
Beauty & Cosmetics 1550-1950
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
A short and sweet survey of makeup in the Western world.
An Illustrated Dictionary of Hair-Dressing and Wigmaking
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Comprehensive book of wigs, beards, and hairstyles with plenty of diagrams/illustrations.
Published in the 80’s, but still relevant.
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Textiles & Embroidery
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Corsets and Crinolines
Online: free PDF available on reenactor.ru
Norah Waugh’s invaluable survey of historical corsetry and other structural undergarments.
Corsets: Historical Patterns & Techniques
Online: free PDF available on reenactor.ru
Underwear: Fashion in Detail
Accessories & Miscellany
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Embroidered Textiles: Traditional Patterns from Five Continents
Textile Designs: Two Hundred Years of European and American Patterns Organized by Motif,
Style, Color, Layout, and Period
Textiles in America, 1650-1870
Textile as Art
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Really neat catalog of textiles and woven garments, with a particular focus on non-western
examples.
Ancient World
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Ancient European Costume and Fashion
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Survey of ancient European costume from paleolithic times to the Norman Conquest in 1066.
Medieval | 5th-15th Centuries
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Medieval costume and fashion
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Great resource with lots of specific, to-the-year details and diagrams.
The Medieval Tailor's Assistant, 2nd Edition: Common Garments 1100-1480
Online: free PDF available (1st Edition)
An amazing wealth of information about designing and constructing clothing from the 13th to the
16th centuries. A lot of this is very tailored (HA) towards actual sewing, but it should be
invaluable to illustrators and designers as well.
Church Vestments: Their Origin and Development
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Survey of the early Christian church’s vestments up until around 1400.
Extant Medieval Clothing
A goofy little website, but exactly what it says on the tin: extant medieval clothing and patterns.
Illuminating Fashion: Dress in the Art of Medieval France and the Netherlands
Breaks down the evolution of fashion in medieval illuminated manuscripts from 1330-1515. Not
exhaustive, but includes zoomable high res scans of period manuscripts and physical replicas of
the fashion being discussed.
Some Clothing of the Middle Ages
Looks dated, but a nicely detailed survey of archaeological garments.
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Medieval Norse/Viking
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Viking Clothing
A dense and thoughtful survey of Viking clothing, reflecting the latest research c. 2006.
Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns
Nigh-obsessive patterning & construction details based on extant Norse clothing. Missing dates,
but easy enough to cross-reference.
Viking: Dress, Garment, Clothing
Nille Glaesel’s take on Viking clothing for men, women & children, including extensive patterns
and construction notes.
Viking Resources for the Reenactor
A good ol’ Web 1.0 jumping off point if you want to get into Viking costuming. Lots of resources
for both clothing and textiles.
Viking Clothing Guides
Individual PDF guides for regional Viking clothing—Danish, Swedish, Rus, etc. In-depth and
impressively illustrated.
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Recreating Viking Clothing
More Web 1.0 goodness. Tons of in-depth notes on Viking archaeological finds, as well as
thoughts on their reconstruction.
Early Gaelic Dress
An illustrated paper on early Gaelic clothing during the Viking age.
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Tudor | late 15th-16th Century
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Tudor Costume & Fashion
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Great resource with lots of specific, to-the-year details and diagrams.
The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing Sixteenth Century Dress
Online: free PDF on Archive.org
Firsthand resources, diagrams, and construction techniques for 16th century fashion. There are
some additional books in the Tudor Tailor series that I haven’t checked out yet, but look
extremely promising:
○ The Tudor Child: Clothing and Culture 1485 - 1625
○ The King’s Servants: Men's Dress at the Accession of Henry VIII
○ The Queen’s Servants: Gentlewomen’s Dress at the Accession of Henry VIII
○ The Typical Tudor: Reconstructing Everyday 16th Century Dress (coming soon!)
In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion
Analysis of Tudor & Stuart fashion using art from the period, gorgeous book. Waaay too
expensive right now.
Elizabethan Costuming Page
I’ve found that Googling anything about Elizabethan fashion brings you back to this page in some
way, shape, or form- an indispensable resource, and easy to browse.
Blackwork Embroidery Archive
Hyper-niche website providing patterns for Elizabethan blackwork embroidery.
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17th Century
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The Modern Maker Vol. 1: Men's 17th Century Doublets
The Modern Maker Vol. 2: Pattern Manual 1580-1640
Pattern drafting based on surviving manuals from Spain during 16th and 17th centuries.
Seventeenth-Century Women's Dress Patterns: Book 1 / Book 2
Hands on analyses of extant garments, comparisons to contemporary art—invaluable if you’re
interested in this particular era.
17th Century Men’s Dress Patterns
Same as above, but for men’s patterns! A thorough, in-depth analysis of extant fashion.
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Late 17th Century Clothing History
Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail
Online: Free to borrow on Archive.org (older edition, 1998)
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18th Century
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Costume Close-Up: Clothing Construction and Pattern, 1750-1790
Linda Baumgarten works with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and is a very, very
well-known name in the 18th century costuming spheres. Great breakdown of their collection of
extant garments from the period.
The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England
Everyday fashion in the CW Foundation’s collection, including details, back & front shots, etc.
Eighteenth-Century Clothing at Williamsburg
Extant clothing from the CW Foundation’s collection
What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America
More of the same. In a good way.
Eighteenth Century Hair & Wig Styling
An amazing resource if you’re actually planning on styling wigs, granted, but equally amazing
reference if you’re look to understand the particulars of 18th century hair, decade by decade.
The Ceaseless Century: 300 Years of Eighteenth Century Costume
Online: Free PDF on Archive.org
A book that chronicles the pillars of eighteenth century costume, as well as how that century
influenced fashion over the following 200 years. A super interesting comparative study.
Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century
Online: Free PDF on Archive.org
Out of print, but finally available online! Beautiful extant gowns/scenes from the 18th century,
and the styling of the photoshoots is impeccable.
Fitting & Proper
Focused on everyday American clothing of the 18th century, including patterns and photographs
of extant garments.
Eighteenth-Century French Fashion Plates, 1778-1787
An Illustrated History of Uniforms from 1775-1783: The American Revolutionary War
An exhaustive overview of uniforms during the Rev War, beautifully illustrated.
Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail
Online: Free to borrow on Archive.org (older edition, 1998)
Dress in Eighteenth-Century Europe 1715-1789
As my sister refers to it, “ONE OF THE BEST.” An extensive survey of the period—text-heavy, talks
about retailing, etiquette, the rise of the couturier, etc.
The Art of Dress: Fashion in England and France, 1750-1820
What it says on the box! Text-heavy book about how dress reflected social, political and cultural
developments in the two countries.
18th Century Clothing Notebook
A collection of links to extant clothing and accessories from the period.
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19th Century
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20th Century
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Who Wore What? Women’s Wear, 1861-1865
A very niche, but very valuable resource for women’s clothing during the American Civil War.
Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900
Everyday American fashion during the 19th century.
Victorian and Edwardian Fashion: A Photographic Survey
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
The Victorian Era is the first time we have actual photographic evidence of contemporary people
wearing clothing—getting to see fashion in its proper context is an invaluable resource for this
time period.
English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century
Online: free PDF available on Cutter's Guide
Thorough survey of women’s fashion throughout the entire century. Tons of
illustrations/diagrams.
Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from La Mode Illustrée
Fashion plates are a fantastic resource- a lot of bang for your buck, and you get to see variations
and detailing within a very specific period of time.
Victorian Fashions and Costumes from Harper's Bazar, 1867-1898
Online: free PDF available on Cutter's Guide
...Ditto.
The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire, 1789-1815
Online: free PDF on Archive.org
In-depth survey of French clothing during the Napoleonic/Regency era.
Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques
Online: free PDF on Archive.org (the original Dressmaking, Up to Date)
A reissue of the 1905 how-to book Dressmaking, Up to Date, widely considered the first modern
American sewing book.
An Illustrated History of Hairstyles 1830-1930
A fantastic survey of everyday people and their everyday hairstyles.
Nineteenth Century Fashion in Detail
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British Photo Detective
A surprisingly neat find- a catalog of photographic hairstyles and fashion from the Edwardian
period onward.
EVERYDAY FASHIONS SERIES
Fashion/department store catalogs are an amazing resource for fashion during the last two centuries,
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and these are all fantastic places to start.
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Everyday Fashions of the Twenties 📚
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org 💻
Everyday Fashions 1909-1920
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
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Everyday Fashions of the Forties 📚
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Everyday Fashions of the Fifties 📚
Everyday Fashions of the Sixties 📚
Everyday Fashions of the Thirties
Regional Fashion Resources
Inuit & Indigenous Arctic
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Arctic Clothing
Traditional Alaskan/Canadian clothing and construction techniques.
Sinews of Survival: The Living Legacy of Inuit Clothing
Survey of 4000 years of Inuit clothing.
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Native American/First Nations
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Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
A broad survey of American indigenous fashion, B&W plates.
Faces from the Land: Twenty Years of Powwow Tradition
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Striking portraits of people in modern Powwow regalia, insanely impressive work.
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Identity by Design: Tradition, Change, and Celebration in Native Women's Dresses
a history of Native women’s fashion over the past two centuries.
Mesoamerica
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Tattoo Traditions of Hawai’i
A succinct little book covering historical and modern Hawai’ian tattooing traditions.
Ahu La’i - the Ti Leaf Rain Cape
Quick little video explaining Hawai’ian ti leaf cape practicality and construction.
Ancient Egypt
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Indian Clothing Before Cortes: Mesoamerican Costumes from the Codices
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Absolutely unmatched collection of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican fashion as sourced from the
codices. The best resource out there.
Pasifika
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Pharaonic Egyptian Clothing
By Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, an invaluable resource on Egyptian clothing. Unfortunately
out-of-print and irreplaceable, but I took the time to scan a copy and make the PDF available
online! You can also find several hard copies at local libraries, god bless ‘em.
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Saudi Arabia
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The Art of Arabian Costume: A Saudi Arabian Profile
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Dated but thorough survey of regional Saudi Arabian clothing.
Mansoojat Foundation Museum of Saudi Arabian Costume
An amazing collection of well-documented tribal fashion from Saudi Arabia.
Palestine
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Ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian & Persian Costume
Online: free to borrow on Archive.org
Ancient Egyptian Costume and Fashion History
Fantastic (and fully cited!) online survey of Egyptian fashion.
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Traditional Palestinian Costume
A monster of a tome surveying Palestinian Costume. Absolutely worth perusing if you can track
down a copy.
China
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Chinese Dress: From the Qing Dynasty to the Present Day
Fantastic new survey of Chinese historical dress.
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The Manchu Dragon: Costumes of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 1644–1912
Tutorial: How to wear 襦裙( Ruqun) and 曲裾(qūjū)
Thanks to the folks who shared this link with me! Definitely not my wheelhouse, so I appreciate
the external information.
Finland
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Suomalaiset Kansallispuvut
An extremely in-depth resource for Finnish regional costume. God how I wish I spoke Finnish.
Russia
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Magnificence of the Tsars: Ceremonial Men's Dress of the Russian Imperial Court, 1721-1917
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Lovely survey of men’s court fashion in Russia.
Russian Elegance: Country & City Fashion from the 15th to the Early 20th Century
Expensive, but gorgeous.
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Miscellany
CATALOGS and FASHION PLATES
Clothing and store catalogs are a fantastic resource, though they’re obviously limited to the advent of
the department store and beyond. They’re a fantastic snapshot of what was in-style for everyday folk
during a particular year, and they also have a breadth of detail and variety that you wouldn’t be able
to see otherwise. One thing to keep in mind is that people weren’t always on the cutting edge of
fashion- if you’re designing clothes for a character in 1887, you can look at catalogs from the decades
prior as well.
● Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from "La Mode Illustrée"
● Victorian Fashions and Costumes from Harper's Bazar, 1867-1898
Online: free to borrow at Archive.org
● Archive.org - Department Store Catalogs
Vintage store and manufacturer catalogs, including the 1912 one I used for early Bioshock Infinite
research.
● Claremont Colleges Fashion Plate Collection
primarily 19th century.
● UW Fashion Plate Collection
● http://www.wishbookweb.com/the-catalogs/
Vintage Christmas catalogs, from the 1930’s-80’s.
● Cutter’s Guide | Catalogs
Extensive department store catalog collection from the 1850’s-1980’s.
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MUSEUMS
A number of museums have now cataloged their collections in online, searchable databases,
including garments and resources that aren’t currently on display - it’s great being able to go straight
to the source for your research. See also: Kendra Van Cleave’s Extant Costume Collections Database
● The British Museum
Fully searchable collections of extant fashion, fashion plates, etc.
● Victoria & Albert Museum
An unparalleled fashion collection, both historical and contemporary.
● Kyoto Costume Institute
Unfortunately not their entire collection, but it does include some fantastic highlights.
● LACMA
An impressive costume & textiles collection, easy to peruse and often with high quality TIFF’s for
download.
● The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Costume Institute
Extant fashion, textiles, and paintings, both western and non-western, and a number of PDF
books on fashion as well!
● Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Textile and fashion arts- everything from doublets to kente cloth.
● National Museum of the American Indian
Amazingly in-depth collection of historical and modern art, costume, objects, etc.
● Colonial Williamsburg
18th century American fashion.
● Glover’s of London
GLOVES. 17th to 21st centuries. More gloves than you could ever ask for.
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Costumes & Costume Design
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Costumer’s Guide to Movie Costumes
Starting to shift their focus towards facebook, but still a great go-to site for costuming in film.
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Recycled Movie Costumes
Really neat blog about reused (usually historical) costumes in films.
Historical Fashion on Social Media
Pinterest
Pinterest is a surprisingly deep resource (don’t let the cottagecore moodboards and easy weeknight
meals on the main page dissuade you), especially as you jump from board to board to find people
with similar interests/collections. You’re more than welcome to follow me and my boards, but here
are a couple especially great people to follow if you want to be absolutely inundated by fashion:
● Leimomi Oakes/The Dreamstress - historical fashion
● Ella Luiting - European regional fashion
● Maria Dolores Fernandez - Objects, ancient cultures, archaeology
● Stonefinder - Cultural/historical jewelry
Historical Fashion Blogs
There are so many blogs out there that you can follow on historical fashion, so this is a woefully short
list. These are just talented costumers who I’ve stumbled across over the past couple of years; most
(if not all) of them fabricate costumes as well as researching/writing about it, so they really know
their stuff:
● All The Pretty Dresses
A blog cataloging extant garments in private collections, up to 1929. Hasn’t been updated in a
white, but a great resource for seeing clothing outside of museum collections.
● Diary of a Mantua Maker
Historical fashion blog, focusing primarily on the late 18th century. A deep dive, and a very
satisfying one. Her work is gorgeous.
● Folk Costume and Embroidery
Deep dive into folk costume and embroidery in different cultures across the world.
● Frock Flicks
All about historical costume in film and television, with an annual snark week.
● La Cotte Simple
14th-15th century fashion and dressmaking,
● Loose Threads
Medieval and Viking Costuming, super interesting stuff. So many posts about apron dresses, I love
it.
● A Wandering Elf
Viking clothing up the wazoo.
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Historical Costumer Blogs
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American Duchess
Amazingly talented costumer Lauren - has a penchant for the 18th century, but makes (and writes
about) costumes from a variety of eras. Now an amazing period shoemaker as well!
Before the Automobile
One of my favourite historical costumers, with an impeccable eye for design and fit. Primarily
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covers the 18th & 19th centuries.
Historical Sewing
19th century costuming, with a ton of opinion articles about the theory and culture behind
recreating historical costumes.
Gwendolyn Grey
Beautiful costuming blog with occasional articles about historical fashion. Very thoughtful.
Rococo Atelier
Costumer with a focus on the 18th century! I clearly follow a lot of 18th cent. Blogs.
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Tumblr
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For some unadulterated extant dress porn, Tumblr is a fantastic point of reference:
● Fashions from History
A regularly updated tumblr posting extremely well-tagged extant fashion.
● Defunct Fashion
Hasn’t been updated in a couple years, but a fantastic archive of extant fashion. One of the first
historical fashion blogs I followed on tumblr.
● Fripperies and Fobs
Historical fashion and costume design, beautifully curated
● OMG That Dress
Fashion survey that posts frequently, often talking about contemporary fashion as well.
Well-tagged for both time periods and designers.
● Ye Olde Fashion
Fashion history blog- photos, extant clothing, the whole shebang.
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YouTube
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Bernadette Banner
Videos about historical costume recreation and historical fashion in general! One of the greats.
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PriorAttire
In-depth videos about historical recreations
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General Sewing Resources
Especially useful if you plan on making your own historical costumes, but the value of understanding
how clothing is put together and constructed cannot be overstated. Most of these resources focus in
on historical construction techniques, though a couple of them are more broadly applicable to sewing
in general
● The Art of Manipulating Fabric
Online: free to borrow at Archive.org
Great book for sewing techniques, and costume design inspiration- it’s amazing what you can do
with the actual surface texture of fabric.
● Pattern Magic I | Pattern Magic II
Absolutely stunning sculptural fabric techniques.
● The Basics of Corset Building
Great starter book for building corsets
● Corsets: Historical Patterns & Techniques
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Online: free PDF available on reenactor.ru
Great overview book, plus a ton of gorgeous photos of extant corsets.
The Lady’s Guide to Plain Sewing, Book I | Book II | The Workman's Guide to Tailoring Stitches
and Techniques
Simple, living history-appropriate books about basic hand-sewing techniques! You can carry
them in your kit and no one’s the wiser. Pretty rad.
Foundations Revealed
Paid membership community for learning about corsets and other historical undergarments.
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SUPPLIES
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Burnley & Trowbridge
17th through early 19th century fabric, notions, patterns, anything you could want.
Corsetmaking Supplies
As per the title, an exhaustive site for any type of corset-making materials under the sun.
Farthingales Corset Supplies
Another corset supply shop, though Farthingales is particularly admirable for having the elusive
5/16” spring steel corset bones.
Timely Tresses
Late 18th to 19th century historic millinery.
Renaissance Fabrics
Take a wild guess.
Wm. Booth, Draper
18th century fabric and notions.
Wooded Hamlet
Historical fabrics, notions, and supplies.
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PATTERNS
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Margo Anderson’s Historic Costume Patterns
Amazingly thorough patterns for Renaissance-era costume construction. Each item comes with a
veritable bible of historical context, construction notes, and appendices.
The Recollections of J.P. Ryan
18th century clothing patterns, and a great jumping off point.
Truly Victorian
The go-to patternmaker for Victorian and early Edwardian clothing patterns. Heather is also a
complete sweetheart, and can always be hit up in the forums for help and advice
Laughing Moon
19th century patterns, have shifted their business to being download-only. I haven’t used
Laughing Moon myself, but I know a lot of people who do!
Past Patterns
A wide swath of historical fashion patterns from the 18th-20th centuries.
Ageless Patterns
A substantial Victorian pattern library, but not for the faint of heart—most of the patterns are
exact reproductions, so they take some amount of effort to adjust them for a modern figure.
Kannik’s Korner
Same folks that make the Lady’s/Workman’s Guides, great patterns from the 18th-19th centuries.
LACMA’s Pattern Project
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Curators at LACMA have started outlining patterns based on extant pieces in their historical
collection, and the results are pretty fantastic. A free resource!