Research Guides: THEA 309/310: History of Costumes: Costume History

Related Guides

For additional research information try these guides:

Bloomsbury Fashion Central

Bloomsbury Fashion Central
Contains Berg Fashion Library, which provides cross-searchable access to interdisciplinary text and image content on world dress and fashion. Includes e-books, reference works, images, and more.

Costume Journals

Click to see holdings in VCU Libraries and
online full-text access.

Studies in costume & performance.
Studies in Costume & Performance is a peer-reviewed journal that considers costume as a symbiotic articulation of the body of the performer which is visual, cultural, political, material, temporal and performative.

Costume History Online

Fashion History Timeline
An open-access source for fashion history knowledge, featuring objects and artworks from over a hundred museums and libraries that span the globe. The Timeline website offers well-researched, accessibly written entries on specific artworks, garments and films for those interested in fashion and dress history. Created by art history faculty and students at FIT.
Fashion Eras and Clothing Style Names-1800's-2000 (Fashion-Era.com)
A brief overview of some of the names used to identify fashion history and design styles in the 19th & 20th centuries.
(Use this as a starting point to browse for more info in academic sources)

Subject Guide

Carla-Mae Crookendale

(she/her)

Contact:

cmcrookendale@vcu.edu
(804) 827-0367
Cabell Library, Room 121-L

Subjects: Arts, Performing, Arts, Visual

Ask Us

Browsing Costume History

Use these call numbers to browse for books at the Cabell Library:

GT 500-2370 -- Costume and Fashion; pattern books, history, terminology
PN 2067 -- Theatrical costume and costume design.
TT 500-695 - Fashion: designers, dictionaries, handbooks, patterns and more

Costume History Books

Survey of Historic Costume
Call Number: GT580 .T67 2021
Learn about Western dress from the ancient world to today. Each chapter shows you the social, cross-cultural, environmental, geographic, and artistic influences on what people wore.
20,000 Years of Fashion: the history of costume and personal adornment
Call Number: GT510 .B6713 1987 (Cabell Library Reference, 1st Floor)
Illustrated history of fashion from ancient times to the present.
The Greenword Encyclopedia of Clothing through World History
Call Number: Cabell Library Reference GT507 .G74 2008
The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Costume and Fashion: From 1066 to the Present
Call Number: Cabell Library Reference GT730 .C37 2006
Costume and Fashion: a concise history
Call Number: GT511 .L39 2012
Covers the landmarks of costume history, the forms and materials used through the ages, as well as the ways in which clothes have been used to protect, to express identity, and to attract or influence others.
What People Wore When
Call Number: GT511 .L474 2008
Works are presented first by chronology and then by subject, highlighting in detail the contrasting styles of individual clothing and accessories.
Women's Hats, Headdresses and Hairstyles
Call Number: GT2110 .D42 2006
More than 400 drawings provide an authentic record of over 1,300 years of changing fashions in women's hairstyles and headwear in England.
Fashions in Makeup: from ancient to modern times. by Richard Corson
Call Number: GT2340 .C67 2003
A comprehensive history of cosmetics that chronicles the pursuit of beauty from Ancient Egypt to the present day.
The History of Hair
Call Number: GT2290 .B79 2000
A study of the history of hair, and how fashion and events have influenced hair styles around the world.
Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion
Call Number: Cabell Library Reference GT507 .E53 2005
Over 600 articles on fashion, the industry, and the issues that have defined the field.
3 volumes

Costume History Databases

Use databases to search for articles and essays from fashion and fashion journals on costume and fashion.

Bloomsbury Fashion Central
Provides cross-searchable access to interdisciplinary text and image content on world dress and fashion. Includes e-books, reference works, images, and more.
Art Full Text (EBSCO)
Citations, abstracts, and selected full-text for articles from periodicals published throughout the world. Also indexes reproductions of works of art that appear in indexed periodicals. Includes selected full-text. Abstracts, 1994+; full-text, 1997+.
Design and Applied Arts Index (DAAI) - (Proquest)
International index to articles in more than 450 design and craft journals. Also contains data on designers, craftspeople, studios, schools, workshops, and firms.
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Major areas of coverage include:
Product design
Interior design
Graphic design
Ceramics
Glass
Jewellery
Textiles
Furniture
Fashion and clothing
Illustration
Typography and type design
Metalsmithing
Retail design
Architecture
Industrial design
Sustainability
Advertising
Packaging
Theatre
Vehicles
Exhibitions
Book design
Web design
Computer aided design
Computer graphics
Animation
Garden design
Landscape architecture
Urban design
Education
Design management
Inclusive design
Universal design
Design history

(1973 - present) VCU access only
Vogue Archive
Image-rich primary source for the study of fashion, gender and modern social history. It presents a portrait of its era through photographs, articles, and advertisements. Contains every page of Vogue Magazine from 1892 to the present.
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(1892 - Present) VCU access only
JSTOR
Searchable backfiles of core journals in the humanities, social sciences and sciences. (Backfiles end 3 - 5 years prior to current date).
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Contains digitized copies of complete runs of hundreds of scholarly journals, many of which contain illustrations and art reproductions. Select the "caption" feature (in the Advanced search) to limit your search to image captions.

Resources Beyond VCU Libraries

If you can't find the book, article, or dissertation that you want at VCU, try these resources to find what you need.

Inter-library Loan (ILL)
Via Interlibrary Loan, you can borrow books, articles, and DVDs that VCU does not own.
WorldCat (via FirstSearch)
Consolidated catalog of items held by libraries worldwide.

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VCU access only
RALC
The Richmond Academic Library Consortium is a group of Richmond area libraries which have agreed to extend limited borrowing privileges to students, faculty, and staff of any RALC school.

Citations

Citation Styles Research Guide
VCU Libraries guide to citing information in a variety of formats including APA, MLA, and Chicago.
Citation Tools
Provides information about choosing and using citation tools such as Mendeley, Zotero, and EndNote.
Purdue OWL - Research & Citation Resources
Comprehensive guide to in-text and reference list citations for APA, MLA and Chicago styles.

THEA 309/310: History of Costumes