Guide to Fashion
Websites:
Specialized Web Sites | Comprehensive Web Sites | Textiles | News & Magazines | Trends | History of Fashion & Costume | Dictionaries and Encyclopedias | Marketing and MerchandisingJewelry | Powerpoint | Photoshop
Books:
Suggested Subjects Headings | Recommended Reference Books
Databases
- eLibrary
- For TRENDS, you can search by images only and find quite a few images. Also includes some of the best articles on runway styles and seasonal treends. For HISTORY, click on TOPICS tab > World History > Special Topics > Costume and Fashion. You'll find quite a few articles about fashion history, along with links to relevant web sites. For DESIGNERS, you can search for images of them and their lines, along with articles. Includes many Getty Images!
- Daily Life Online
- Not many pictures, but does include information about various time periods, lifestyle, clothings, etc.
- Business Source Complete
- TIP: Click Choose Databases to search: Academic Search Complete, Newspaper Source, Regional Business News and other databases simultaneously!
- Search by itself to get the SWOT Analysis, Company Profiles, trade publications. ADD in Academic Search Complete, Regional Business News, and Newspaper Source to search thousands of publications simultaneously. Includes articles from: Journal of Fashion Marketing & Management, WWD, Textile World, Advertising Age, License!, Adweek, Brandweek, Wall Street Journal, Marketing, DSN Retailing Today, International Journal of Consumer Studies, International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Apparel and Textiles Industry Profile, Broadwoven Fabrics and Other Textiles Industry Yearbook, Home Textiles Today, Textile Industry Profile, Journal of Industrial Textiles, Textile World...
- TIP: Click Choose Databases to search: Academic Search Complete, Newspaper Source, Regional Business News and other databases simultaneously!
- LexisNexis Academic
- Full-text to general news and articles from hundreds of publications. Under the Business tab, you can locate company financials, SEC filings, and company anuual reports. TIP: click on the BUSINESS tab > Profiles > make sure to check Hoovers (complete). Uses boolean and "within" searching features!
- WilsonWeb: Biography Reference Bank, Humanities, Art, Readers Guide to Periodical Literature Online
- Search several databases simultaneously. The Biography Reference Bank has biographical information, pictures, and links to additional articles on the designers so that you can "hop" into the other databases. Includes articles from: InStyle, Vogue, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, and Seventeen, Textile, Textile World, Textile Research Journal, FiberArts...
- New York Times/Wall Street Journal: search both simultaneously
- Academic Search Complete
- Includes articles from: Ebony Man, Ebony, Essence, and People, Textile History, DNR: Daily News Record, Ornament...
- InfoTrac Newspapers: search over 100 regional and world newspapers simultaneously
- Oxford Art
- Includes history of fashion and costume. Click under: EXPLORE > Art and Art Forms > Dress and Jewelry > click on a topic that appears on the right side of the screen. Includes images.
- Hoovers (free)
- Free information about companies, their addresses, overviews, and competitors.
Check the Periodicals Guide to insure that the Library subscribes to the print journal you need. Request journals at the Circulation Counter.
-- END OF DATABASES --
Comprehensive Web Sites & Search Engines
- Angel of Fashion
- Fashion Designers: A to Z (about.com)
- Fashion Designers Directory
- Extensive listing of fashion designers - arranged alphabetically by their first name. (from Fashion Windows)
- Fashion Net
- Links to: fashion-specific search engine, designers and links to fashion news sites containing information about the designers, fashion news, profiles, job listings...
- Infomat: Fashion Industry Search Engine
- Links to over 3500 designers, showrooms, retailers, manufacturers and suppliers of clothing, textiles and accessories. Who's Who: biographies of fashion trend setters. Guides Section: fashion industry definitions, key players, trade events, hot topics, market research, and directories. Details available on particular accessories or apparal (men, baby, jewelry, bridal, contractors, computers for apparal shops, catalog production sources, display sources, notions and trims. Career Section: links to job sources. Includes extensive market research for countries around the world and for various types of apparal. Directory of material sources. Extensive directory of catalogs, sorted by type of apparal or accessory.
- International Directory of Design
- Site links to: fashion associations, e-zines, events, schools, and more.
- Yahoo: Fashion
- Fashion news, trends...
- Google Images
- Good source for pictures of runway styles and designers.
Fashion Trends
- Using Powerpoint: Tips
- WGSN-edu.com
- Wealth of information related to trends: trend makers, news, styles, color palettes, fabrics, materials, and more!
- Style.com
- Displays the current year and upcoming season trends.
- MB Fashion Week
- Wealth of information related to trends: trend makers, news, styles, color palettes, fabrics, materials, and more!
- TrendSetter
- Includes color trends, fashion trends, shows, accessories and more!
- CosmoWorlds - check out the Trends section
- Design Options
- Forecast of West Coast trends.
- Style Council
- Forecast of New York and Paris, includes pantones.
- PromoStyl
- Fabrics and prints, color palettes included under trendbooks.
- Pantone Colors
- Trend Stop
- InfoMat Trends
- Under TRENDS, has links to information from: TrendStop, PromoStyle, Peclers Paris, Fashion J, Kidding Consulting, Style Council, Design Options...
- Adversus: Style and Trends
- Current and upcoming season trends and styles.
- Fashion.era Trends
- Trends: current year and past, including color palettes.
- Fashion Window: Trends
- News articles related to fashion trends, including articles related to particular designers.
- Fashion 411
- Current year and upcoming season trends. Geared to the consumer.
- Fashion Industry Directory
- Trends, news, links to good sources of information.
- American Apparel and Footwear Assocation: Annual Industry Trends Statistics
- Just Style
- Showroom Access
Marketing
- International Business Etiquette & Customs
- Overview of basic country/regional values, clothing, business customs...
Merchandising
- Visual Store
- Articles on news, trends, materials, green retailing, supplier links, resources...
History of Fashion & Costume
- Costume History & Research (Artslynx)
- Great set of links to some of the best comprehensive and time period fashion sites. Includes links to: History of Costume (Braun & Scheider), Costumer's Manifesto, Mileux, Costume Gallery, and many more!
- History of Costume by Braun & Scheider
- Online textbook with great color images from the beginnings of time.
- Costume History (Costumer's Manifesto)
- This site may look a bit confusing... but within the links listed, click on HISTORY. This is one of the best fashion history sites.
- History of Costume
- Extensive timeline, including prehistoric, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, medieval through the 1990's.
- La Couturière Parisienne
- Pictures of costumes from the Middle Ages to 20th Century.
- New York Pubic Library Digital Library
- Thousands of high quality images scanned from newspapers and magazines. Includes a search engine.
- Visual Dictionary of Fashion
- Includes images by time period (from 1800 onward), by geographic area, by type of fashion (menswear, lingerie, accessories, and designers).
- Costume Gallery
- Covers the medieval time period, 1800's to modern. Includes links to over 2300 webpages and 3500 images. Scroll down the page to search by time period (left side) or by topic (right side).
- Fashion Plates Gallery
- Includes numerous images of fashions from: 1806-1913
- Reconstructing History
- History of Celtic, German, Irish, Japanese, Polish, Scottish, 17th century and 18th century clothing. Includes articles, pictures, some patterns, and links to additional websites.
- Fashion Era
- Covers women's fashions from the 1800's to recent with information on trends... lots of pictures.
- Milieux: The Costume Site
- Great resource. Links by: time period (back to Medieval times), article of clothing (hats, armor...), or ethnicity. Links are a bit mixed up.
- Costume Page
- Links to good fashion websites. Scroll down the page for a description of many of the sites. Click on HISTORY at the top for a list of fashion history sites (with descriptions of what you will find at that site), sorted by time periods.
- La Couturie: History of Fashion Through the Ages
- Covers the Middle Ages to recent, arranged by time period. Includes over 3800 images, with closeup options.
- History of Costume: Select Designers & Their Designs Virtual Gallery
- Includes Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Dolce, Fortuny, Galliano, Gaultier, Kawakubo, Miyake, Piguet, Pucci, Saint Laurent, Vionnet, Viktor, Schiaparelli, Watannabke, Westwood, and Yamamoto. Information about each designer along with fashion styles.
- Reconstructing History
- Links to social commentary and pictures related to: Celtic, Irish, Japanese, Scottish, 17th century, 18th century. Includes patterns.
- Baroque
- Lisa's Fashion History Database
- Fashion drawings covering the 1800s and 1900s.
- Godey's Lady's Book
- 1850's fashion magazine.
- 20th Century Female Fashion Facts By Decade
- Great images for 20th century women fashions.
- National Gallery of Art: Costumes
- A brief survey of American fashions from 1740 to 1895.
- Bissonnette on Costume (search by geographic area, time period, or subject)
- Fashion Plate Collection
- 417 fashion plates from 1806-1914
- Museum of Costume, Bath
- Click on HIGHLIGHTS and then click on the right side bar for pictures of costumes contained in the collection. Covers 1800's and 1900's.
- RetroLounge
- Links to fashions from the 1900's forward. Browse through the links, then click on the type of fashion you wish to view. Note: The time periods are not in chronological order.
- Centre National du Costume, Montreal
- Images of garments contained in their collection, with a description of each. Costumes back to Renaissance.
- Ravensgard Costumes & Textiles
- Long list of general history of costume sites, followed by specific time periods. Includes links to patterns.
- Greek Costume Through the Centuries
- Links to costumes from the ancient times through the 1800s.
- Fashion Dig
- Shop by decade links to images of materials and fashions from the 1920s onward. By designer provides links to fashion images. Includes a style gallery.
- Footware of the Middle Ages
- Classic Girls
- Contemporary fashions of the 1950s and 1960s.
- Costume Institute (for textiles & decorative arts)
- Textiles or jewelry.
- Clothes and Men
- Footwear of the Middle Ages
- Textiles Through Time
- Vintage Wedding Dresses (from the 1930's forward)
Dictionaries and Encylopedias
- Stylopedia: Online Dictionary
- Liz Claiborne: Fashion Glossary
- Apparel Search: Glossary
- Encyclopedia of Contemporary Fashion
- Below the advertisements is brief information about each designer, often including pictures.
- WWD Fashion Dictionary
Specialized Web Sites
- 3-D Body Scan
- Virtual reality of body scans. Includes a Virtual Try-On illustrates how "a consumer's body scan is merged with scans of pants sized for a set of fit models."
- BeautyWorlds
- Links to articles and websites on beauty, fashion, trends, hair, cosmetics...
- Career Threads
- Information on various careers in the fashion industry
- Fashion Icon
- Fashion Window
- Style-o-pedia: Fashion Glossary
Textiles and Fabrics
- AFMA Fiber World
- Apparel & Fiber Search
- CIRFS
- Fabrics.net
- Fabric Identification, fabric care, fibers, weaves, sources...
- Fashion & Design Textile Dictionary
- Fiber Society
- FiberWorld
- History of Fabrics
- History of Wool
- Just Style
- Links to fabric, textile, apparel, and footwear news. Includes marketing and country research.
- Natural Fiber Research
- Manmade Fiber Research
- Textile Arts (Tai Gallery)
- Textile Society of America
- Textile Source
- Links to textile companies, fashion and textile trends, publications...
- Textile Tradition in India
- Textiles Product Information
- Tribal Textiles (Marla Mallett)
- Virtual Garmet Center
- Lucre
- Pret a Porter
News & Magazines
- Apparel News
- Apparel Strategist: Apparel and Textile Industry
- Daily Fashion Report
- (DNR) Daily News Record: Menswear Trends
- ELLE
- Fashion UK
- Footwear News
- Vogue
- WWD
- Yahoo: Fashion
The Library subscribes to the following publications. The most recent issue is on display and back issues are available at the Circulation Counter. Bound issues are shelved in the upper level of the Library. Check the Periodicals Guide for information on the previous years shelved or bound.
- Vogue
- Elle
- Harper's Bazaar
- WWD
- GQ
- Glamour
Jewelry
- The Image: Minerals & Gemstone Gallery
- Images and information on thousands of gemstones and minerals used in making jewelry.
- Jewelry Mall's Jewelry Related Sites
Suggested Subject Headings
Do a SUBJECT or KEYWORD search in the Online catalog for your topic. After doing your search, you can limit the results to books at El Centro by selecting the Limit Your Search button.
| apparel costume fashion clothing and dress tailoring textile fabrics |
fashion designers fashion history textured woven fabrics men's clothing fashion drawing dressmaking garmet cutting |
Recommended Reference Books
in-library use only
Contemporary Fashion
REF TT 505 A1 C66
Essential Terms of Fashion
REF TT 494 C35
Couture: the Great Designers
REF TT 505 A1 M55
Book of Costume
REF GT 513 D38
World of Fashion
REF TT 515 L16
Fashion Encyclopedia
REF TT 503 H68
Who's Who in Fashion
REF TT 505 A1 W37
New Encyclopedia of Textiles
REF TS 1445 A18
The best guide to resources is a librarian who can help you in using the catalog, databases and the Web. A librarian can also assist you in selecting materials appropriate for your needs. Please ask at any service desk for information or assistance!
The El Centro College Library does not guarantee the currency or accuracy of these websites. Links to these sites do not represent an endorsement of the site or of information contained within the site.
Reference/Information Desk: 214-860-2174 Circulation:
214-860-2175
Comments or suggestions are welcome.
©2006 El Centro College Library
Dallas, TX
Last Updated:
October 2, 2008