I get an awful lot of traffic through this site from visitor's looking for costume reference. In addition to my Larp Costuming Bibliography I'm offering direct links to titles offered by Amazon (at a whopping .003% commission or so - I've gotta pay for my fabric stash somehow!). I own most of these volumes, so the recommendations are based on experience.
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Peacock's
Fashion Books Although they don't use primary source material, these books feature lots of spot-on line drawings, breaking decades down year by year and featuring both men and women's fashion. These books are excellent overviews and starting points for further research. |
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| The Sears Catalogs I really like these books for providing examples of clothing that was on offer to the middle class, rather than the usual collections of high fashion. Unlike the Peacock books, these volumes feature primary source material, which might be a factor for you in your research. |
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| Books that are either on my shelf, or that I want to have on my shelf! |
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| men & women - 1560 - 1620 |
women 1660 - 1860 |
women 1860 - 1940 |
Pricey, but fab! |
Pricey, but also fab! |
Pricey, but fabber yet! |
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I rely on this one all the time! |
Essential for corsetiers |
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another good book for corset-makers, but it's not for the faint-of-heart! |
As the title suggests - lots of detail photos. |
color plates taken from an 18th C. fashion publication. |
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A nice reference for 18th C. fashion and furniture. |
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| Other Fun Costume-Reference Titles |
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This offers nice summaries of the designers, as well as some good B&W pix of work from the golden age. |
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Another one on my shelf. As the cover suggests, it focuses on late 20th century designers |
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Paging through this is one of my guilty pleasures... |
...and ditto |
..and again |
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I like looking through this when I'm in need of flamboyant ideas! |
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