DIRECTORY: Online Fashion and Textile Collections

French men's shoes, 1690–1700, embroidered silk and leather, from the collection of the Costume Institute at the Met.

93 museums and institutions with online databases of their collections of fashion, textiles, and related materials. These represent websites that I have found to be well-digitized and useful in research — feel free to send any you've come across that I have missed. Enjoy!

Digitized Fashion Collections

Asian Fashion Archive: An extensive database of resources related to Asian fashion history.

Autry Museum of the American West: All things Western wear.

Bata Shoe Museum: The best shoe museum in the world, with many online versions of their exhibitions.

The Bonnie Cashin Collection at UCLA: Collection of nearly 7000 photographs and 21 scrapbooks of press clippings related to the work of the fabulous Bonnie Cashin.

Brigham Young University: The clothing collection at this Mormon university is surprisingly extensive – 2,668 items, primarily 20th century.

Budapest Museum of Applied Arts: Hungarian fashion and textiles.

Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum: The collection of the foremost fashion school of Japan.

Centraal Museum, Utrecht: 10,000 garments and textile fragments from the 17th century to today in the collection of this Dutch museum.

Charleston Museum: Historic apparel and accessories in their collection.

Chicago History Museum: Extensive collection of 20th-century couture.

Cincinnati Art Museum: Over 15,000 items in their fashion and textile collection.

The Collection of Motion Picture Costume Design: Private collection of Larry McQueen. Excellent for early Hollywood costume design, and film costumes in general.

The Cooper Hewitt, New York: Extensive textile collections.

Cornell University: 3000 of the 8000 objects in their fashion and textile collection are documented here with photographs.

The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A digitized dream. Over 30,000 objects.

DigitaltMuseum: Digital aggregators for 322 museum collections of Sweden and Norway.

Emilio Pucci Foundation: 70 objects from their archive.

European Fashion Heritage Association: Aggregator accessing nearly a million fashion objects and catwalk images held in European collections.

Europeana: Aggregator pulling from thousands of European collections. You can also try Modepedia, their fashion portal.

de Young Museum: An excellent collection of dress and accessories from a wide variety of cultures.

Fashion and Lace Museum, Brussels: Collections from the 18th-20th centuries.

FIDM Museum, Los Angeles: Collection from 18th-20th century clothing. Of particular interest are their Versace Menswear archive and Rudi Gernreich archives.

Goldsmiths: Textile collection of the arts college of the University of London.

Goldstein Museum of Design: Clothing collection from 19th century to today at the UNM design museum.

The Henry: Art museum in Washington state with an extensive collection of clothing and accessories.

Historic New England: A range of American clothing from the 17th century to the 20th, from various historic homes in the New England area.

Indianapolis Museum of Art: A good range of late 19th and early 20th century objects in their fashion and textiles collection.

Indiana University Bloomington: The Sage Historic Costume Collection. Mostly 20th c.

Irma G. Bowen Collection: The historic clothing collection at University of New Hampshire. Skews 19th century.

The Israel Museum: A variety of examples of 19th and 20th century dress from across the Jewish diaspora.

Jaconde: Costume and accessories in the collections portal of the museums of France.

JCCC: The FMD Historical Fashion Collection of the JCCC, Kansas City. 706 items, primarily mid- to late-20th century.

John Bright Collection: Historic clothing and accessories in the collection of British costume designer, John Bright.

Kent State University: Not a ton is digitized from here, and the collections are shown on Flickr – but what they have is really great, so it's worth including.

Kyoto Costume Institute: Heaven in a website. Over 12,0oo garments from 17th c to today in their collection.

LACMA: Los Angeles Country Museum of Art's fashion collection and textile collection.

Larsen: A Living Archive: An archive of work by American textile designer, Jack Lenor Larsen.

London College of Fashion Cordwainers Shoe Collection: Collection of over 600 pairs of shoes.

Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, U.K.: “The costume collection includes over 21,000 items of clothing, textiles and accessories, covering all aspects of the history of dress from 1600 to the present day. 18th-century fashion and 19th-century women’s and children’s dress are highlights.”

McCord Museum, Montreal: A collection of just under a thousand items from the mid 19th century through the end of the 20th century.

MFA, Boston: Over 27,000 items in their fashion and textile collections.

Minnesota Historical Society: 6,000+ clothing items, with extensive Ojibwe and Dakota collections.

MoMu Antwerp: Database of their study collection and similar collections, titled Open Fashion.

ModeMuseum, Hasselt: Collections of the fashion museum of Hasselt, Belgium.

ModeMuze.nl: Aggregator of over 80,000 objects from the fashion and textile collections of a variety of Dutch and Flemish museums.

MTSU Digital Collections: Historic clothing collection of the Middle Tennessee State University.

Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris: Over 30,000 items digitized in their fashion and textile collections.

Musée Suisse de la Mode: Swiss museum of fashion. Extensive collection of Robert Piguet drawings.

Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Paris: A lovely collection of his works, with many of his drawings digitized online.

Museo Tèxtil: Costume and accessory collections of the Textile Museum of Terrassa, Spain.

Museon, the Hague: Dutch museum of science and industry with an extensive collection of ethnographic materials.

Museu Nacional do Traje e da Moda, Lisbon: Collection of Portugal's clothing museum.

Museo del Traje, Madrid: Fantastic collection with over 50,000 items digitized. A little tricky to navigate, but if you know what you're looking for, worth translating some search terms into Spanish and trying them out.

El Museu Virtual de la Moda de Catalunya: Online archive of clothing from the collections of Catalonian museums in Spain.

Museum of the City of New York: A great collection of late 19th and 20th century dress, as well as

a glorious collection of fans.

Museum at FIT: The only museum entirely dedicated to fashion in the city of New York, and a personal favorite.

National Costume Museum of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology: A museum of Chinese dress at the foremost fashion school of Beijing. Found via the Asian Fashion Archive. From the top navigation bar, select from the four links from the right to access collection images.

National Museum of African American History and Culture: Objects related to dress in collection of the foremost museum of Black history in America, located in Washington, D.C.

Nasjonal Museet, Norway: Costume and textile collection of The National Museum of Norway.

New Canaan Historical Society: Some great 19th c gowns in their collection.

Ohio State University: A university collection of fashion and textiles with over 11,000 objects.

Palais Galliera, Paris: Fashion museum with collections from the 18th century to today.

Palazzo Mocenigo, Venice: Italian museum of textiles, costume, and perfume. Tricky to search but extensive digitized collection of 50,000+ items - another that is worth translating a few search terms for.

Philadelphia Museum of Art: Over 5,000 garments and accessories.

RISD: Over 10,000 fashion-related objects.

Roberto Capucci Archive: Around 100 garments from the collection of the Roberto Capucci Foundation.

Royal Museum of Ontario: Items in the collection of their Global Fashion and Textiles department.

Ryerson University Fashion Research Collection: 2800 garments, primarily 19th and 20th century.

The Fan Museum, London: Over 5,000 fans from 17th c to now.

The Palestinian Museum's Digital Archive: Over 70,000 items related to Palestinian culture. In our realm of study, their collection of photographs related to dress are particularly useful.

Salvatore Ferragamo Museum: Nearly 3000 pairs of shoes and related materials.

SearchCulture.GR: Aggregator search for fashion and jewelry related items in the collections of 82 Greek museums and archives.

SeokJuseon Museum: Collection of the museum of the Dankook University of South Korea. Found via the Asian Fashion Archive.

Shoes or No Shoes Museum: Collection of the Belgian shoe museum.

Tennessee State Museum: Fashion and textiles collection.

The Russian Shoe Museum: Shoe Icons. 1,600 pairs of shoes, plus shoe related materials.

The Simone Handbag Museum, South Korea: Handbags from 1550 to today.

The Smithsonian: American clothing and dress. About 2000 objects digitized.

Ukrainian Institute of Fashion: A beautiful website demonstrating the different styles of dress and exquisite folk embroidery of each region of Ukraine in short film clips.

Underpinnings Museum: Lingerie :)

University of Alberta, Canada: Collection of costume, notable for huge collection of dress

patterns.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Collection of historic dress from 1850s–20th c.

University of North Texas: Extensive fashion collection, built in part by Stanley Marcus of Neiman Marcus fame.

University of Rhode Island: Historic Textile and Costume Collection.

University of Southampton: Collection of Pockets. Just...pockets.

University of Wisconsin: Digital archive of nearly 10,000 textiles from the Helen Louise Allen collection.

The Valentine Museum: Richmond, VA. Requires a precise search, but has a great collection of historic dress.

Valentino Garavani Museum: A slightly odd, almost experimental online museum website created by Valentino to highlight works from the history of the brand. Even includes a desktop app, in case you are caught somewhere without internet access but still need your Valentino fix.

Victoria and Albert, London: One of the most comprehensive collections of dress in the world.

Wadsworth Athenaeum: Collection of historic dress and textiles at this Connecticut museum. Particularly good for research in dress of early New England

Wayne State University Collections: Over 1000 garments from 18th century to 1990s, including the former costume collection of the Henry Ford Museum.

Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection: Database with access to images of 500 dresses by Rhodes and over 1000 sketches, as well as fun video interviews with Zandra herself.