Be a dedicated follower of fashion...
What your ancestors wore, and why
- Ask relatives about their past fashion you'd be surprised what they tell you.
- If you have a group photo you want to date, look for the most fashionable details, generally found in the younger men and women - hairstyle, partings, hats, sleeves and jewellery are all useful indicators.
- Did your great grandfather wear knickerbockers? Did your great grandmother wear a bra or a corset? Which designers would have influenced the style of your ancestors?
Capture your own fashion history
- Sort out a box of old family clothes and photograph them now for future generations
- Pause your life laundry, delay that trip to the second hand shop and photograph your fashion faux pas as well as your 'Sunday best'.
Research tools
- Costume history reference books: The Costume Timeline: 5000 Years of Fashion History (Hardcover) is one of a vast selection of books.
- The UK Costume Society has meetings, a publication and experts on costume history www.costumesociety.org.uk
- Victorian fashion magazines like 'The Young Ladies Journal' available at the British Library give a great impression of the period.
- Link to biographies of fashion designers at www.designerhistory.com
- www.costumegallery.com a US site with a gallery and encyclopedia.
- Learn about textiles at www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/collections/ST.html
- www.hants.gov.uk/museum/costume/dating.html tips on dating Victorian photographs from the dress detail.
- Go to exhibitions - museums like V&A allow you to view fashion history in the flesh. The Museum of Costume in Bath even has exhibitions on specific areas of fashion such as pockets or corsets.
