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This is a selective list but includes contact details for a range of organizations that provide information and services directly or indirectly about costume, dress, textiles and associated studies. Each listing will lead to other sources that will be of interest and can be used by both general and specialist readers.
In the UK the Museums Association is the professional organization for those working in its museums; its website provides useful information on all aspects of museum work and indications of the different types of collection each museum contains. Some areas of the website are limited to members only: https://www.museumsassociation.org
A membership organization for museum professionals with a detailed and useful website providing general information that leads to further entries; certain areas are for members only: https://www.aam-us.org
Museums whose holdings include collections of accessories, dress and textiles come in all shapes and sizes, and it is not just the larger museums that have important collections. Using national and international organizations, such as those listed above and below, provide links to more specialised groups and societies both nationally and internationally. Major international museums with significant collections of dress and textiles will be found within the resource sections of many entries. Several of these, for instance the Victoria and Albert Museum, London have significant collections of dress and textiles within many different departments: https://www.vam.ac.uk
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York contains the Costume Institute as one of its many collections: https://www.metmuseum.org
The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam has major collections of dress and textiles at: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl
The Kyoto Costume Institute is wholly dedicated to collecting, conserving and displaying European and Japanese fashion: https://www.kci.or.jp
Each website provides information about the collections of accessories, dress and textile items; list current and past displays, exhibitions and publications; offer short articles and videos and interactive options for those using each website. The V&A site has useful reading lists to guide students of dress history at all levels of expertise.
Virtual visits have become a crucial aspect of the work of all museums during the last couple of years and are likely to remain so. Exploring all websites for museums with dress and textiles within their collections is relevant for everyone interested in this discipline.
The website is an excellent introduction to the international scope of the ICOM Costume Committee’s work and membership. As with all membership organizations there are additional levels of access for members, specifically conferences and other events. However, all users of the website can access online publications such as conference proceedings, newsletters, bibliographies, guidelines and terminology for costume collections, and the workbook – ‘Clothes Tell Stories’ about working with costume in museums. The last is a major contribution with international content and is updated regularly; written in English it is the equivalent of a text book for all museum professionals who work for some or all of the time with dress and textiles.
Formed to promote the study and preservation of significant examples of historic and contemporary dress; the Society’s well-designed website provides many details about the history and work of the society, including its events, grants and regularly updated blog posts. Membership allows access to two issues of the journal Costume each year and two copies of the Newsletter and opportunities to book its annual conference and other events. Costume has been published since 1967 and its articles encompass an encyclopaedic range of themes and topics; authors include many leading dress historians. The whole back archive of Costume is available online to members of the Society.
A range of regional societies were formed in subsequent years; they are wholly separate from the Costume Society but have similar aims. All are membership societies and provide events, publications and links to many other groups and organizations both within their region and outside it:
A membership society whose aim is to foster an understanding of appearance and dress practices of people across the globe through research, education, preservation and design. Regional groups were formed from 1978 onwards, and have their own programmes and newsletters. The website provides information about the main society and the regional ones – Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern, Southeastern, Western and Southwestern, with information about events including tours, grants, publications and resources. The Society published a journal Dress from 1975 that now has two issues per year, an electronic newsletter CSA E-News, and a series of books including Clothing and Textile Collections in the United States: A CSA Guide.
Founded by Eric Pasold as a charitable trust to promote and support research on textile history, the history of dress and other uses of textiles from prehistory to the present. The website provides information about financial assistance for researchers via a range of grants; it organises and supports conferences and workshops, publishes monographs and the major journal Textile History. Its website resources section provides a group of titles that can be downloaded as PDF files. There is a list of museums, galleries, universities, research institutions and other groups based in the UK and abroad with relevant collections, courses, research facilities etc.
Useful website with information including events, newsletters, toolkits – these offer instructions and videos on topics such as identifying textiles and lace, mounting historic dress, a collections map of where to find collections in the UK and Eire, and a directory that provides a wide range of national and international contacts. Membership offers access to events and the range of information above. An email network for members provides a wide range of information from a variety of sources and posts details about one-off events and information about newer groups, both pop-up and more long-lasting.
A wide-ranging and useful website, with details about events, grants and access to all copies of the online journal each year; it also provides a link to a list of organizations and universities that support dress history research. The online journal published four to five times each year lists resources for dress history, and recent PhD topics in addition to articles and reviews. Membership allows access to events, discounted conference tickets etc.
Founded in 1982 for the study of the history, art and design of textiles the website offers information about its publications: a newsletter published three times a year and its annual journal Text. Membership rates vary according to age/status with access to awards, bursaries, and details of its fund-raising antique and vintage textile fairs. There is a useful resources section with links to a wide range of online databases including conservation and restoration, museums, societies, publications etc.
This membership society provides ‘an international forum for exchange and dissemination of information about textiles worldwide. Its events include symposia and workshops, and it provides awards and funding for scholarship in all aspects of textiles. It publishes TSA News online and hosts membership-only elements on the website. Fees are on a sliding scale according to means.
European clothing and textiles from the end of the Roman Empire up to the early modern period is the range covered in events including conferences, seminars and workshops. A Newsletter is published three times a year and all but the recent two years can be downloaded by non-members. Membership offers some free events and electronic access to the Newsletter with a further fee offering a paper version.
According to its website this is an interdisciplinary network, providing a forum for dialogue, collaboration, debate and a platform to showcase the work of fashion and dress researchers. It is a non-membership organization with a range of resources including events, publications [usually collaborative], listings of job vacancies and other changing elements of interest to research at all levels.
A digital forum for discussion of topics about the history of dress, fashion and bodily adornment. It is sponsored by the Pasold Fund and its success can be measured by its collaboration with other groups such as the Society for Renaissance Studies in 2021.
The major international houses, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips have some sales that include dress and textiles and details can be found online for all three. However, the principal auction house that deals in only fashion and textiles and has done since 2003 is Kerry Taylor Auctions: https://kerrytaylorauctions.com
The website provides outstanding images of every aspect of fashion and textiles sold by KTA and the range covers the last 300 years. It offers remarkable and carefully dated material and is as useful as any major museum with similar material, in fact it will have sold to many major and smaller international collections.
As the website states this is a ‘fully searchable edition of the published accounts of 197,745 trials held at the Old Bailey . . . between 1674 and 1913’.
It is a freely available treasure trove of unedited information about a wide variety of crimes offering key information about contemporary terms, prices etc. when items were stolen or exchanged illegally. Many items of clothing, textiles, accessories and jewelry are listed and can be found using the search engines. Used alongside dictionary entries it provides details not found elsewhere.
Founded in 1971 to ‘digitize and archive cultural works’ this website provides texts that are out of copyright. Other websites that use texts that are still in copyright, thus ignoring the livelihoods and rights of authors, should be avoided.
This website offers three categories for researchers: North America, Australia and Europe and these, in turn lead to specific museums and galleries, each indicating how its images may be acquired and used for research projects or publications.
Founded in 1997 this online resource created by the Library service of the University for the Creative Arts (UCA, based in south east England) provides over 140,000 images from more than 300 art and design collections in the UK. They are free for educational use but further details can be found via the website.
Access online to the Oxford dictionaries is usually through library membership using institutional, public and private libraries and their log-in details. This dictionary underpins the work of any costume or dress historian compiling a glossary or wanting to discover the origins and range of a specific term; however there are also specialist dictionaries of costume, dress, fashion terms that offer illustrative examples alongside actual definitions and these can often be preferable. Oxford University Press lexicographical publications also include the New Oxford American Dictionary.
