LibGuides: Fashion Resources: Costume Designs, Historic Patterns &amp; Cosplay: Database &amp; Internet Resources

Databases and Internet Resources: Theatrical Costuming & Costume Design

American Periodicals Series Online This link opens in a new window
Scanned pages of more than 1,100 historic American magazines, journals, and newspapers from 1740 through 1940. Articles can be searched by author, source, and words in the complete text. Updated quarterly.
ARTstor This link opens in a new window
ARTstor is now part of JSTOR. The ARTstor platform was retired on August 1st, 2024.
Search over one million images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences. Images may be used in presentations for educational or other noncommercial uses.
Bloomsbury Fashion Central This link opens in a new window
Access peer-reviewed interdisciplinary research in fashion and dress. Content includes reference works, articles, scholarly e-books, case studies, biographies, lesson plans, bibliographic guides, textbooks, video content, runway and backstage photos from fashion shows, and images from museums around the world.

Commercial Pattern Archive, CoPA Online
"CoPA Online contains over 55,000 scanned images (garments & pattern schematics) from 61,000 commercially produced patterns, dating back to 1847." Users can search by date, clothing type or pattern number.
Hair and Makeup Artist Handbook
A website on "media makeup – from considering makeup as a career and being a trainee, through to what to think about when creating vintage looks." The site has a number of articles on historic makeup and hairstyles from the 1600s through the 20th century.
Historical Clothing Guides for Theater Costumes
This site links to a series of pages covering a variety of historical clothing periods. As always use caution in evaluating resources for accuracy.
Sewing Patterns and Guides for Historical Clothing and Costumes
A link guide that provides costume-making resources from ancient Egypt to the 1950s as well as some fantasy Steampunk links.
The Tudor Tailor, Reconstructing 16th Century Dress
This website includes multiple resources on reconstruction of 16th century dress with a particular focus on England and Western European countries. Resources include links to articles, books and videos on the topic.

Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
Search the entire run of Vogue magazine (US edition), from the first issue in 1892 to the current month. Includes high resolution images of every page, advertisement, cover, and fold-out.
Women's Wear Daily Archive (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Explore Women's Wear Daily, from 1910 to approximately 6 months ago, through full color images. Updated twice yearly.