books on the history of fashion and design, etc.
French men's shoes, 1690–1700, embroidered silk and leather, from the collection of the Costume Institute.
Enjoy!
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Fashion Plates:
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British Museum: Hundreds of 18th and 19th-century fashion caricatures. Your best bet is searching for "fashion satirical print" in their search box.
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Claremont Colleges: Collection of 620 19th century fashion plates.
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Iowa State University: 250 fashion plates from the 18th century to the early 20th century.
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Los Angeles Public Library: “Over 6,200 hand-colored, finely detailed fashion illustrations produced between 1780 and 1880 for British and American fashion magazines.”
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University of Washington: About 500 fashion plates from the 19th and early 20th centuries.​​
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Western Michigan University: Luna, their collection of 250 or so 19th-century fashion plates.
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Fashion Drawings, Photographs, and Advertisements:
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Chicago History Museum: Great Antonio Lopez fashion drawings.
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Duke University Ad*Access: Searchable database of thousands of advertisements, including over a thousand beauty, hair, and feminine hygiene ads.
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The Henry Ford Museum: Notable for over 300 Christian Dior sketches from the 1940s - 60s, most of which include fabric swatches.
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London College of Fashion: Photograph archive with nearly 1000 photographs from the course of the 20th century.
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Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg: A collection of nearly three thousand fashion photographs and drawings, most notably the fashion and costume designs of Ernst Dryden.
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Parsons Special Collections: Notable designers with items in their collection include Claire McCardell, Donald Brooks, Sophie Gimbel, and Norman Norell.
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Sparc Digital: Digitized items from the fabulous Special Collections at FIT. Hundred of fashion drawings, including ones by Yves Saint Laurent, Halston, Lucile (Lady Duff Gordon), Hattie Carnegie, Bonnie Cashin, and more.
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Victor Stiebel Archive: London College of Fashion's archive of materials related to South African-born British couturier of the 1940s and 1950s, Victor Steibel.
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