The Costumers' Bookshelf!
This page contains books that are musts for costumers!
Fashions From the Godey's Ladies' Book
This is a simply delightful book for
those who have a particular liking of the fashions from 1830 -1869. Fashions
from the Godey's Ladies' Book by Stella Blum features prints and fashion plates
from the popular Victorian magazine. It contains over 150 plates, most are
black and white, and small, to the point captions. A valuable resource for
costumers, artists, and fans of Victoriana!
I was extremely pleased to be able to find this book in my local library. Victorian Fashions and Costumes from Harper's Bazar is a wonderful costume resource! It spans from about 1860-1905. This book is chock full of wonderfully detailed black and white fashion plates. If you are interested in either drawing or sewing the costumes from the time 1860-1905, or simply enjoy looking through costumes from that time, this is the book to have!
Victorian and Edwardian Fashion-A photographic Servey
If you have a broad range of interests from the 1800s, this is the best pictorial book I can recommend. it spans from 1840s, to about 1920, and has a wonderful collection of photos, with wonderful info! Many of the photographs are of famous people, actresses or high class individuals. What makes this book so unique though, is that many of the photos are of life scenes-not portraits. This gives you a chance to see what people really would have worn while biking, hiking, mountain climbing, partying and much more! An invaluable resource!
I own this book, and can't tell you how much enjoyment I have gotten from looking through it, and what I learned! It, of course, has photos from United States, from the years 1860-1915. If you specialize in the Bustle and early Edwardian (1890s) Eras, you will definitely enjoy this book! Most of the photos are of average, everyday people in more or less "normal" clothes. A must for artists and costumers!
American Fashion in Early Photographs
This book may be called the "sister" of the above book- Victorian Fashion in America. It is very much like the other one, meaning, it has about 200 photos, all portraits and mostly of "normal" everyday people. If you like early Victorian Fashion, however, you will enjoy this one much more than the above, as it has photos from 1840-1890, and focuses mainly on the 40s-60s.
Period Costumes of the Stage and Screen
I found this to be a very helpful book! It is a handbook on drafting and adjusting patterns for costumes. (made for stage and screen, though any costumer may use it!) Filled with original sketches of real costumes worn by actresses and movie stars, this unique guide gives a wonderful helpful look at how to draft and great tips on designing!
While I don't believe the world to be quite that old, I DO believe that this is a must have for costumers!!!!! This book is about 2,000 pages long, and gives tons of helpful info on costumes from the ancients, to 1960s. Though it may be a bit dry for reading, it is great to look through, as it has many pictures and plates- most of which are in color!
If you don't care much for reading about costumes, but enjoy looking at them, this is the book for you! There are more than 1,000 drawings in this book from all eras and ages! Most of the drawing have been taken from paintings and plates. This is a wonderful book for artists, as it was easy to follow line drawings, and an invaluable book for costume designers! It is definitely one of the tops on my lists of favorites!
P.S. Just a heads of on this. I would recommend this girls only, and depending on your standards, perhaps 10 and over, as some of the costumes are very scanty in clothing around the *ahem* chest. But please do not trash it for that reason!
Braun and Schneider History of Costume
This is a beautiful book, and a great reprint of the old one! The Braun and Schneider History of Costume is a book of a bout 300 pages, all of old costume plates from all ages! Unfortunately, the book does not really have any what we consider "proper" Victorian costumes (it focuses mainly on medieval and Victorian folk dress) it is a wonderful resource for Ancient and Medieval Costume.
If you are into hats, this is the best book for hat "drafting" I've found! Not only does it give clear, easy instructions on the art of hat making, but it also comes with free patterns in the back, and wonderful drawings throughout for ideas! I never thought I could make hats until I read this book! I highly recommend it!
