Historical Clothing Resources: Digital

Because one of my major interests is historical fashion, I have started compiling resources that I enjoy and I wanted to share them with you. Online resources are easy-to-access and very inexpensive to use, so they are a good way to explore.

Just like my list of print resources, this is largely taken from Claire Hummel's list of historical fashion resources. It, too, is updated whenever I find a new link to share.

Most recent update: April 1, 2015

General and Survey Sites

• The Costumer’s Manifesto
• Démodé Couture 
• Books 
• Links
•  Extant Costume Collections Database
• La Couteriere Parisienne
• Textile as Art
• Wikipedia’s History of Western Fashion

Medieval

• Extant Medieval Clothing
• Some Clothing of the Middle Ages
• Medievalists.net Fashion Tag

16th Century

• Blackwork Embroidery Archive
• Elizabethan Costuming Page
• Elizabethan Portraits

17th Century

• Late 17th Century Clothing History
• Nicole Kipar’s 17th-Century Clothing History
• LACMA fashion plates

18th Century

•  Introduction to 18th-Century Fashion
• 18th Century Clothing Notebook
• 18th Century English Gown

19th Century

• British Photo Detective
• Timeline of Costume History
• The Sewing Academy 
• Costume Institute Fashion Plates

Modern Fashion

• Beyond Buckskin
  
• Eff Yeah Indigenous Fashion
  
• Loux the Vintage Guru
• Style Korea

Costumes

• Costumer’s Guide to Movie Costumes
• Oregon Shakespeare Festival costume rentals
• Recycled Movie Costumes

Museums

• The British Museum
• Colonial Williamsburg
• Glover’s of London
  
• Kyoto Costume Institute
• TEXMEDIN Digital Library
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Costume Institute
• Museum of Fine Arts Boston
• National Museum of the American Indian
• Victoria & Albert Museum
• Extant Costume Collections Database

Catalogs and Fashion Plates

• Á La Mode, 1795-1920 Fashion Plates
• Archive.org - Deptartment Store Catalogs
• Claremont Colleges Fashion Plate Collection
  
• Digital Changeling - Period Resources
  
• UW Fashion Plate Collection
• Wishbook Web
  

Pinterest

• http://www.pinterest.com/barbeemt/
• http://www.pinterest.com/marilola678/
• http://www.pinterest.com/p8ronella/
• http://www.pinterest.com/stonefinder/
• http://www.pinterest.com/thedreamstress/
• http://www.pinterest.com/shoomlah/

Blogs

• All The Pretty Dresses
  
• Diary of a Mantua Maker
• Folk Costume and Embroidery
  
• Idlewild Illustre
• La Cotte Simple
  
• The Merry Dressmaker
  
• Mode Historique
• Rococo Atelier
  

Tumblr

• Defunct Fashion
• Fripperies and Fobs
• Non-Western Historical Fashion
• Old Rags
  
• OMG That Dress
• The Vintage Thimble
  
• Ye Olde Fashion
• Recycled Movie Costumes - not necessarily the most practical reference, given the nature of movie costumes and their historical accuracy, but still really fun to look at if you're interested in costuming.