Claire’s Historical Fashion Reference & Resources

Last updated:1/12/2024

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!

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:

Quick note: If you find a link or resource that’s no longer available, please let me know ( twitter, tumblr, e-mail, etc.) and I’ll make sure to retire it or find a replacement as soon as I can!

(I’m also totally open to any additions or recommendations, just shoot me a note and I’ll check it out 🖤)

Advice for Researching Historical Fashion (or anything, really)

• 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

• 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.
• 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.

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 📚
• 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 📚

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.

• 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 📚

Military Uniforms

• 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 💻

Undergarments

• 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

• 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.

Textiles & Embroidery

• 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 💻
  Really neat catalog of textiles and woven garments, with a particular focus on non-western examples.

Ancient World

• 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

• 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.

Medieval Norse/Viking

• 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.
• 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.

Tudor | late 15th-16th Century

• 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 📚
  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.

17th Century

• 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.
• Late 17th Century Clothing History 💻
• Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail 📚
  Online: Free to borrow on Archive.org (older edition, 1998) 💻

18th Century

• 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.

19th Century

• 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 📚

20th Century

• 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, and these are all fantastic places to start.

• Everyday Fashions 1909-1920 📚
  Online: free to borrow on Archive.org 💻
• Everyday Fashions of the Twenties 📚
  Online: free to borrow on Archive.org 💻
• Everyday Fashions of the Thirties 📚
• Everyday Fashions of the Forties 📚
  Online: free to borrow on Archive.org 💻
• Everyday Fashions of the Fifties 📚
• Everyday Fashions of the Sixties 📚

Regional Fashion Resources

Inuit & Indigenous Arctic

• 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.

Native American/First Nations

• 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 📚
  Striking portraits of people in modern Powwow regalia, insanely impressive work.

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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.
• 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.

Saudi Arabia

• 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

• Traditional Palestinian Costume 📚
  A monster of a tome surveying Palestinian Costume.  Absolutely worth perusing if you can track down a copy.

China

• Chinese Dress: From the Qing Dynasty to the Present Day 📚
  Fantastic new survey of Chinese historical dress.
• 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

• Suomalaiset Kansallispuvut 💻
  An extremely in-depth resource for Finnish regional costume.  God how I wish I spoke Finnish.

Russia

• Magnificence of the Tsars: Ceremonial Men's Dress of the Russian Imperial Court, 1721-1917 📚
  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.

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.

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.

Costumes & Costume Design

• Costumer’s Guide to Movie Costumes 💻
  Starting to shift their focus towards facebook, but still a great go-to site for costuming in film.
• 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.

Historical Costumer Blogs

• 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 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.

Tumblr

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.

YouTube

• Bernadette Banner 💻
  Videos about historical costume recreation and historical fashion in general! One of the greats.
• PriorAttire 💻
  In-depth videos about historical recreations

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 📚
  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.

SUPPLIES

• 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.

PATTERNS

• 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.
• 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 🧵
  Curators at LACMA have started outlining patterns based on extant pieces in their historical collection, and the results are pretty fantastic. A free resource!