Clothing and Dress

The ways that people use dress and decoration to identify with a community. This includes costumes and clothing through the ages.

Resources in this category:

The Costume Gallery
http://www.costumegallery.com/

This is a comprehensive costume history website covering different eras and regions in the world. Also, the site includes information on historical patterns and obtaining materials to make costumes.

Costume History
http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/costhistpage.htm

This incredibly rich site offers descriptions and pictures of how humans have clothed themselves from Ancient Greece to the present. Although the focus is on Europe and the U.S., there are also significant data on the ancient near east. Many of the primary links offer primarily text, but pictures also abound after a bit of digging. There are also instructions on how to make some of the garments described.

The Costume Page
http://members.aol.com/nebula5/costume.html

This page offers over 2000 links to information about costumes including costume history, the making and wearing of costumes, costume buying guides, and Halloween costume suggestions. One section offers dozens of links to ethnic and folk costume material. This site is geared to those in theater, students, researchers, and many others.

The Costumer's Manifesto
http://www.costumes.org/

Just about anything you need to know about costuming: advice and how-to, photo references, designs, and many, many links.

Costumes of the Levant
http://almashriq.hiof.no/general/600.technology/640/646/cost...

The site provides an overview with photographs of historical Lebanese, Syrian, Bedouin and Kurdish clothing.

La Couturiere Parisienne Costume and Fashion Site
http://www.marquise.de/

History of European costume from the Renaissance through the 20th century, with illustrations, images, descriptions and many sewing patterns.

18th Century Costume Resources Online
http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/18thlinks.htm

Internal and external links about the history of costume in 18th century Europe. Information on styles, hair and wigs, shoes, fabrics and many more. Profusely illustated.

The Elizabethan Costuming Page
http://www.elizabethancostume.net/

The website is devoted to all facets of 16th century Elizabethan and Tudor costumes, dress and fashion. It includes instructions for making stockings, corsets, shoes, and other articles of clothing. This is a good resource for Elizabethan costume history and has links to other fashion history sites.

Greek Costume Through the Centuries
http://www.annaswebart.com/culture/costhistory/

Information on and pictures of Greek costume from Minoan times until the 1800s, including a short mention of Roman fashions.

The History of Costume
http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/COSTUME1_INDEX.HTML

A collection of 500 costume images consisting of "historical dress from antiquity to the end of the 19th century." The 125 pages of images are from the book "History of Costume" printed in 1861 in Munich. Images have a "Victorian" perspective that does not detract from the value. There are two indexes:a fast loading Text, and the slower Images.

History of Footwear
http://www.footwearhistory.com/

This site examines the history of footware in Europe and America from the Renaissance-era to the present. It also includes brief descriptions of men's and women's dress from those periods, a discussion of Lotus shoes in China and customs related to shoes from around the world, and a bibliography of related books.

A History of Kimono
http://web.mit.edu/jpnet/kimono/

"The kimono is the traditional clothing of Japan. Kimono styles have changed significantly from one period of Japan's history to another, and today there are many different types of kimono worn by men, women, and children. The cut, color, fabric, and decorations of a kimono may vary according to the sex, age, and marital status of the wearer, the season of the year, and the occasion for which the kimono is worn." This site has excellent pictures of kimono and is interactive. It is a joint project between the Japanese and Culture Network and MIT.

Milieux: The Costume Site
http://milieux.com/costume/

A directory of links about all the costume-related topics one could imagine. Research the history of various arms and armor, find instructions on making period costumes and links to suppliers, resources for costume materials, and organizations. There is also a section that has drawings of costumes used in various plays or theater productions. A good site for theater groups and science fiction and fantasy fans.

Real Regency Clothing
http://locutus.ucr.edu/~cathy/reg3.html

This website includes many images of fashion plates of the Regency period during the early 19th century. There is information on appropriate dress for the time of day and the occasion. Also, the site includes details on fashion accessories and shoes. This is a good resource for costume history during Jane Austen's time.

Solemates: The Century in Shoes
http://www.centuryinshoes.com/

"Here's a look at 100 years of changing footwear fashions -- a snazzy feat of multimedia. Select a decade and enjoy images of beautiful shoes, browse old advertisements, or explore vintage film and video clips."