LibGuides: HON 420 (Clemente): Fashion History

Databases

Primary sources: Articles, ads and images from the same time period as your object

Vogue Archive
A complete searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included, and can be searched by garment type, designer and brand names.

Women's Magazine Archive
Good for: Searching North American women's magazines and their historical context.
Contains: Women's magazines including Better Homes and Gardens, Chatelaine, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Parents Magazine, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and Essence.
Dates covered: 1887-2005.
Harper's Bazaar Archive
Good for: Studying changes in American fashion, culture, and society.
Contains: Harper's Bazaar magazine.
Dates covered: 1867-present.
Fashion Photography Archive
Good for: Exploring contemporary fashion history and clothing designers.
Contains: Photos, essays, and videos.
Dates covered: 1980-present.
Gale OneFile: Popular Magazines
Good for: Popular magazine articles from Consumer Reports, Time, National Geographic, Newsweek, New Yorker, Vogue, Business Week and more
Contains: Magazine articles
American Consumer Culture
Good for: Searching historical product catalogs and exploring advertising and marketing campaigns.
Contains: Archival records of ad agencies, marketing campaigns and catalogs.
Dates covered: 1850-1990s.
Trade Catalogues and the American Home
Good for: Studying consumer advertising, marketing, and life in America.
Contains: Catalogs, price lists, and brochures.
Dates covered: 1850-1950.
Popular Culture in Britain and America
Good for: Studying popular culture in the US and Britain through music and alternative publications.
Contains: Primary sources.
Dates covered: 1950-1975.

Part of Americana combined search portal

Secondary sources: scholarly analysis of fashion and material culture

Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts
Good for: Visual inspiration and practical advice on idea generation, research techniques, and portfolio development in visual arts disciplines.
Contains: Searchable e-books.
JSTOR
Good for: Exploring a wide range of scholarly topics.
Contains: Scholarly journals, ebooks, art images and primary source collections

JSTOR digitally archives more than 700 scholarly journals. Subjects include African-American studies, anthropology, Asian studies, business, ecology, economics, education, finance, history, literature, mathematics, music, philosophy, political science, and more. Also includes ARTSTOR collections from museums and collections of historical primary sources from libraries and cultural heritage organizations.
Gale OneFile: Pop Culture Studies
Good for: Analyzing and contributing to popular culture.
Contains: Scholarly journals and magazines.

Cultural History of Dress and Fashion: The Modern Age
This collection of essays uses critical theory to analyze the significance of fashion trends.

Secondary sources: articles by art historians and design professionals

Design and Applied Arts Index (DAAI)
Good for: Finding abstracts and citations for design and applied arts.
Contains: Abstracts and citations for articles, news items, and reviews.

Secondary sources: Industry and trade publications

Mintel Market Research Database
Good for: Accessing international reports on consumer products and industries.
Contains: Market research reports.

Mintel offers hundreds of market research reports covering the U.S. and International consumer marketplaces. Each market research report combines data & analysis of the competitive landscape, market-share analysis and consumer profiles. Complex demographic issues are broken into easy-to-understand sections, explaining consumer behavior and demonstrating the structure of the market. The database covers cover a variety of sectors including consumer goods, travel and tourism, financial industry, internet industry, retail, and food & drink. All users who register and create a profile must use their university email address.
Women's Wear Daily Archive
Good for: Studying fashion industry history and trends.
Contains: Trade publication Women’s Wear Daily.
Dates covered: 1910-present.
ABI/INFORM Collection
Good for: Analyzing business trends and company information.
Contains: Articles and reports on advertising, marketing, economics, and more.
Dates covered: 1923-present.
Statista
Find data about brands or companies like market share and sales figures.

Statista includes data on more than 85,000 topics from 18,000 sources. About 20 percent of the total data in Statista comes from sources available free online, such as the World Bank and the U.S. Census, but the data also includes numerous exclusive sources which include industry, marketing, and trade groups. Much of the data is related to marketing, demographic, government and industry information, and is international in scope. Data can be downloaded in JPG, PowerPoint and Excel.

Theory and method

Doing Research in Fashion and Dress by Yuniya Kawamura
ISBN: 9781350089761

Publication Date: 2020
The Dress Detective by Ingrid Mida; Alexandra Kim
ISBN: 9781472573971

Publication Date: 2015
Fashion Design Research by Ezinma Mbonu
ISBN: 9781780671796

Publication Date: 2014
Fashion Studies by Heike Jenss (Editor); Joanne B. Eicher (Contribution by); Christopher Breward (Foreword by)
ISBN: 9781472583178

Publication Date: 2016
Handbook of Material Culture by Chris Tilley (Editor); Susanne Kuechler-Fogden (Editor); Webb Keane (Editor); Mike Rowlands (Editor); Patricia Spyer (Editor)
Call Number: Internet Access or UNLV Book Stacks, 3rd floor GN406 .H36 2006

ISBN: 1412900395

Publication Date: 2006

Example books analyzing objects

As Long As It's Pink by Penny Sparke
Call Number: UNLV Book Stacks 4th floor HQ1233 .S63 1995

ISBN: 0044409230

Publication Date: 1995
Blue Jeans: the Art of the Ordinary by Daniel Miller; Sophie Woodward
Call Number: Internet Access or UNLV Book Stacks, 3rd floor GT2085 .M55 2011

ISBN: 9780520272187

Publication Date: 2012
Men in the Mirror by Tim Edwards
Call Number: UNLV Book Stacks, 3rd floor GT1710 .E38 1997

ISBN: 0304337900

Publication Date: 1997-04-01

Guides for collectors

While not technically primary sources, reference guides can help you date or identify an object; with that information, you can run more effective searches in primary source collections like the historical newspapers.

Internet Archive texts can be viewed online for up to one hour if you create a free login on the site.