SHANNON'Sdresses
LINKS...
I have drooled over each and every one of the websites listed here, spent hours learning about the different fashion eras in history, recognising what styles belong where, and carefully examining the structure and detail of each. I have found inspiration in every page, and I hope this list can do the same for you.
Historical costume sites
Antique Dress - A fantastic reference site for authentic antique and vintage garments from the early 1800s to today.
Arcane Lore Designs - Creators of yummy Renaissance, Elizabethan, Tudor, Celtic, and Medieval costume, and much more.
Bustledress - A great resource for all stages of Victorian fashion, with a fashion timeline from 1800-1930.
Corsets and Crinolines - Includes an antique clothing timeline from 1839 to the 1910s, and an awesome antique corset gallery.
Costume Super Centre - A pretty thorough resource for pretty much any costuming era you could think of. Lots of actual period paintings and fashion plates.
Crimson Gypsy Designs - Stunning renaissance inpired gowns and corsets, many gypsy/peasant style. The corsets and bodices are especially yummy.
Costumes by Lynn McMasters - Creating predominantly Renaissance and Elizabethan costume from around Europe.
Fashions of the Ages - Tons of resources of recreated historical costume from pretty much any era of history.
Festive Attyre - A gorgeous collection of accurate Renaissance recreations, many from Italy. Includes a six-year archive of weekly contributions of 'Featured Attyre' from members of the costuming community.
History and Fashion of Shoes - Anyone who's ever drooled over shoes (pretty much every woman in history) and especially vintage-style shoes, will absolutely salivate over this website. It's full of fashion plates, illustrations and photos, as well as a thorough written history of the changing fashion of shoes and other aspects of fashion history.
History of Costume - An online resource aimed at fashion students studying at the State University College at Odeonta, New York. Provides first-hand resource material from original fashion plates and paintings, as well as authentic vintage garments from the later eras of fashion.
Jessamyn's Regency Costume Companion - Although I have not seen this website updated in quite a while, Jessamyn (if that is indeed her real name) specialises in authentic regency gowns, although there are a few other yummy creations, including Medieval and Victorian.
Katherine's Dress Site - Although I have never heard of it, this lucky girl seems to go to something called Costume College quite a lot and consequently has a heap of costumes up her sleeve, ranging from the 1700s to the early 1900s, as well as LOTR and Star Wars reproductions, and they're all very good. I don't know where she finds the time.
Mode Historique - Historical Fashion - Sarah Lorraine has been sewing historical dresses since 1991 by the looks of it, and now has a collection of yummy costumes from Victorian to Elizabethan and Tudor and more.
Nehelenia Designs - I love this site. A one-woman costuming maestro, she specializes in authentic historical clothing from 1500 to 1890, and also produces awesome movie costume reproductions. A very good all-round drool-worthy reference site.
Ninya Mikhaila - Historical Costumier - Ninya Mikhaila is a costumer who specialises in historically accurate Elizabethan/Tudor garments, but she also has some costumes in her gallery from the 17th century and above. She and Jane Malcolm-Davies have recently brought out a book called The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing 16th Century Dress, which I now own as part of my collection of costuming reference books.
Past & Present Creations - An extensive and diverse collection of historical and movie reproductions, from Renaissance to the 1940s, Chronicles of Narnia to Moulin Rouge. This site is awesome.
Pearson's Renaissance Shoppe - A wide range of renaissance style gowns - from Medieval tunics to Elizabethan a gypsy attire. I love this site.
The Reniassance Taylor - A historically accurate site specialising in the recreation of 16th and 17th fashion. Provides resources for research, pattern drafting and sewing techniques and tips.
Truly Victorian - An AWESOME site, the only Victorian online resource you'll need. Spanning 1830 to 1901, it covers hoop, early bustle, natural form, late bustle, and belle epoch styles.
Vermilion Vintage - Antique and vintage costume resource from the 1840s to the 1950s. There are some very yummy creations in there, I especially love the 1920s section.
The Very Merry Seamstress - Yum, yum, yum. SO many yummy gowns and accessories and corsets and movie reproductions...there's no end to searching this site. So much content, it has to be listed alphabetically.
Movie costume sites
The Costumer's Guide to Movie Costumes - A frequently updated and extremely comprehensive and diverse website providing screen captures, stills, and promo shots for historical and fantasy movie costume research. I check this site almost every day.
The Movie Mannequin - A brilliant reference guide to all kinds of movie costumes, using film screen captures.
Pattern companies
Here are some online sewing pattern catalogues, although not as complete and comprehensive as a pattern book you would find in a fabric store. However, they are still useful for inspiration, ideas, and helping decide what to buy. Plus, they each have a catalogue of out-of-print patterns that you can still buy through the website
Simplicity patterns - I think Simplicity are the best. Their patterns look more researched, more detailed, have better cuts, and are therefore better fitting. It just looks like a lot more effort and care has gone into them, and I would pick Simplicity over anything else if possible.
Butterick patterns - I don't think Butterick's patterns are quite as detailed and fine-tuned as Simplicity's, but they nonetheless have some very yummy costume patterns on offer.
McCall's Patterns - I don't think McCall's is that great either. The designs and cuts are very simple, and in turn don't give a great effect. But they're good for a novice who is still getting the hang of the shape and form of pattern pieces.
Vogue Patterns - Vogue patterns are a bit more pricey than the others, but I think it's because they've been around a lot longer and they know what they're doing. I love Vogue for their 'Vintage Vogue' patterns - authentic patterns from the 40s and 50s. Delicious.