Visual Reference Tools
"Visual Reference" is a general term for a wide range of materials that fall into two general categories:
Primary sources were made in the period and place being studied. Examples include clothing advertisements from women's magazines, dress patterns printed in period newspapers, drawings by a fashion designer, or an actual article of clothing. Primary resources that are rich with images can also yield, with careful analysis, an insider's view of the ideas, concerns, and values of a place and time.
Secondary sources, on the other hand, are created by scholars and costumers who have studied primary resources, synthesized what they have learned, and presented it for others in the field. Secondary sources are arranged by century indicated on each tab. To find more, search OBIS using the tips on the "Databases" tab of this guide.
Background and Context
- Fashion History Timeline
Fashion history featuring objects and artworks from over a hundred museums and libraries that span the globe dating from ancient to modern times. The Timeline website offers well-researched, accessibly written entries on specific artworks, garments and films for those interested in fashion and dress history. - Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Pairs essays and works of art with chronologies, telling the story of art and global culture through the Museum’s collection.
- Oxford Reference This link opens in a new windowHundreds of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and general reference titles. Use to explore the historical context of a costume.
Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion by Call Number: Main Library Oversize GT507 .E53 2005, vol. 1-3; Also onlineISBN: 9780684314518An authoritative introduction to fashion, the industry, and the issues that have defined the field. Some 640 articles describe the colorful facets of couture and textiles, from fabrics of chintz, corduroy, and feathers to such garb as aprons, bikinis, and prison dress. There are color plates and nearly 600 black-and-white illustrations.
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Websites and museum collections
- Europeana Fashion
Includes historical clothing and accessories, contemporary designs, catwalk photographs, drawings, sketches, plates, catalogues and videos – from more than 30 European public and private institutions. Descriptions are in the language of the owning institution. Enter a keyword and then limit by geography, date (YEAR:[1500 TO 1550]), object type, etc.
- Gallery of Costume, Manchester Art Gallery
One of England's largest costume collections with over 21,000 items covering all aspects of the history of dress from 1600 to the present. The collection is particularly strong in18th century fashion and 19th century women's and children’s dress. Search for "Collection Group = Costume."
- The Textiles Collection, University for the Creative Arts at Farnham
A teaching collection with over 3,000 artifacts demonstrating a wide range of textile techniques and processes. Samples include Coptic textiles from 800-1000 AD through to British woollen cloths, Kashmir shawls, African strip weaving and Scandinavian furnishing fabrics from 1950 to 1990.
- Tiki-Toki: Fashion Timeline
Two centuries (1750s - 1950s) of fashion from Kent State University's Fashion Museum. Changes in fashion are aligned with political and cultural events as well as technological innovations.
- Victoria & Albert Museum: Collections
The V&A is the leading museum of art and design in the West, housing a permanent collection of over 2.3 million objects that span over 5,000 years of human creativity with particular strengths in architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewelry, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance. [From the website]
