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Dress and Textiles – General
Acton, B. 1987. ‘Good breeding and clean linen’, Bulletin of the Costume Society of Scotland, XXVIII, 5-18.
Discusses the cleaning of garments in the eighteenth century, with emphasis on evidence from Scottish inventories.
Adams, S. 2005. ‘Purchasers from the Parsonage: observations on Bath dress and reactive shopping by the Penrose family, 1766-1767’, Costume, 39, 79-90.
Extracts from Letters From Bath by the Reverend John Penrose, 1766-1767 (eds. Brigitte Mitchell and Hubert Penrose) on the subject of dress. The letters in the book were written to the six children left at home in Cornwall while the Reverend Penrose went to Bath to have his gout treated. The letters record the reaction of an educated, simple, and forthright man to the diversions, absurdities, and materialism of Bath. Given that the appearance of a clergyman, and of his family, was a matter of importance, and given the numerous Cornish visitors to Bath, it appears that Mrs Penrose decided that the Reverend’s clothes, and even her own, were perhaps not quite sufficiently ‘decent’. Therefore, sensible and economical shopping was undertaken to reestablish an appearance suitable for a clergyman’s family in comparison with those fashionable ‘Others’ so widespread in Bath.
Anthony, I. E. 1980. ‘Clothing given to a servant of the late sixteenth century in Wales’, Costume, 14, 32-40.
Transcript of a list of clothing c.1580-1610.
Arnold, J. 1972. Patterns of Fashion 1. Englishwomen’s Dresses & their Construction c.1660-1860. London, Macmillan.
Arnold, J. 1973. A Handbook of Costume. London, Macmillan.
Arnold, J. 1985. Patterns of Fashion [3]. The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women c.1560-1620. London, Macmillan.
Arnold, J. 1997. ‘Farthingale fashion’, Journal of the International Association of Costume, 14, 172-173.
A brief report of a lecture given in Denmark by the author on a black satin petticoat of about 1615-20 in the National Museum, Copenhagen.
Arnold, J. 2008. Patterns of Fashion 4. The Cut and Construction of Linen Shirts, Smocks, Neckwear, Headwear and Accessories for Men and Women c.1540-1660. London, Macmillan.
Ashelford, J. 1983. The Visual History of Costume: The Sixteenth Century. London, Batsford.
Ashelford, J. 1988. Dress in the Age of Elizabeth I. London, Batsford.
Ashelford, J. 1996. The Art of Dress: Clothes and Society 1500-1914, National Trust.
Includes discussion of some items of dress associated with National Trust properties: Erddig, Lanhydrock, Kedleston, Snowshill, Killerton, Gawthorpe Hall.
Baumgarten, L. 1993. ‘Under waistcoats and drawers’, Dress, 19, 4-16.
Considers how men combated the cold in the eighteenth century and illustrates this with examples from the wardrobes of Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Coutts.
Boucher, F. 1987. A History of Costume in the West. London, Thames and Hudson.
Bradfield, N. 1981. Costume in Detail: Women’s Dress 1730-1930. London, Harrap.
Breward, C. 1995. The Culture of Fashion. A New History of Fashionable Dress. Manchester, Manchester University Press.
Covers a wide timespan from the Middle Ages to the present day. Does not aim to present a comprehensive chronology, but examines the meanings of dress in a cultural context and interprets distinctions of class, gender, sexuality, nationality.
Breward, C., Conekin, B., et al. eds. 2002. The Englishness of English Dress. Oxford, Berg.
Is there a peculiarly English ‘look’ and if so how does one define it? With chapters authored by leading scholars in the fields of costume history, social history and cultural studies, this book examines the ways in which fashion and dress might be considered in the context of national identities as they apply in England. An overview is presented of how particular designers and consumer groups have striven to present or contest versions of Englishness through clothing from the 18th through to the 21st centuries.
Browne, C. 1996. Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. London, Thames and Hudson.
Browne, C. 2004. Lace from the Victoria and Albert Museum. London, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Buck, A. 1979. Dress in Eighteenth Century England. London, Batsford.
Buck, A. 1990. ‘The clothes of Thomasine Petre 1555-1559’, Costume, 24, 15-33.
Uses evidence provided by the account books of the Petre family to examine what was worn by a daughter, from ages twelve to sixteen, of the rising gentry in the mid-sixteenth century. An appendix gives transcriptions from the accounts. The article also includes a glossary.
Buck, A. 1991. ‘Buying clothes in Bedfordshire: customers and tradesmen, 1700-1800’, Textile History, 22(2), 211-237.
Includes many extracts from inventories and accounts, and an appendix transcribing a probate inventory of 1720.
Buck, A. 1996. Clothes and the Child: A Handbook of Children’s Dress in England 1500-1800. Bedford, Ruth Bean.
A re-written, updated and enlarged edition of Children’s Costume in England by Phillis Cunningham and Anne Buck (1965).
Buck, A. 2000. ‘Clothing and textiles in Bedfordshire inventories, 1617-1620’, Costume, 34, 25-38.
The writer discusses clothing and textiles mentioned in the volume of 166 probate inventories of 1617-20 published by the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society in Bedfordshire, England, in 1938. The volume was a pioneer work in the detailed study of probate inventories, particularly those of people of lesser rank – husbandmen, yeomen, artisans, and laborers. The inventories show textiles and clothes in people’s homes, along with other household possessions, often recorded room by room as they were when the owner died; those completed with details of clothing bring more clearly to the mind’s eye the men and women who were living and working in Bedfordshire in the early 17th century. The writer discusses the range of clothes recorded in the inventories, including items of men’s and women’s clothing, details of fabric and color, examples of household linen, evidence for spinning and weaving within such households, and evidence for the making and buying of clothes at this time.
Burman, B. 1981. Fashion Revivals from the Elizabethan Age to the Present Day. London, Batsford.
Carter, A. 1992. Underwear: The Fashion History. London, Batsford.
Discusses the history of underwear from the late fifteenth century to the end of the twentieth century.
Chappell, D. 2008. ‘Sir William Heathcote’s livery’, Costume, 42, 66-87.
Cheape, H. 1993. ‘Researching tartan’, Costume, 27, 35-46.
Considers evidence relating to tartan from the sixteenth through to the twentieth century.
Chenoune, F. 1993. A History of Men’s Fashion. Paris, Flammarion.
Translated from French into English by Deke Dusinberre.
Chrisman, K. 2001. ‘Mary Edward’s taste and high life’, Costume, 35, 21-13.
Mary Edwards’s eccentric taste in fashion is examined in the context of her life and her close relationship with William Hogarth. This wealthy woman first shared her life and fortune with Lord Anne Hamilton, with whom she had a son, but in May 1734, she took steps to disassociate herself and her estate from him. She spent the remaining nine years of her life overseeing the management of her estates and the upbringing of her son, encouraging Hogarth and other emerging artists, and spending enormous sums on clothing and jewelry. Hogarth’s conversation piece ‘The Edwards Hamilton Family’ and the portrait ‘Miss Mary Edwards’, which were completed almost a decade apart, reveal a dramatic change in Edwards’s dress and deportment during that time, as the mannered pose and unremarkable attire of the former work give no hint of the vast wealth and independent spirit that dominate the latter. The works show that independence gave Edwards the cash as well as the confidence to dress as extravagantly as she pleased. Moreover, the painting ‘Taste in High Life’, which she commissioned from Hogarth in 1742 in response to jibes about her own eccentric style of dress, shows that she was notorious enough to be the subject of satire and sufficiently bold to respond to her critics.
Chrisman-Campbell, K. 2004. ‘French connections: Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and the Anglo-French fashion exchange’, Dress, 31, 3-14.
A frequent visitor to Paris and an intimate of Marie-Antoinette, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was a crucial link between French and English fashion at a time in history when each country relied upon the other for inspiration and innovation. Georgiana was one of England’s primary tastemakers, serving not only to invent fashions, but also to inspire them. The true key to her sartorial success, however, was her privileged access to French fashions. Like Marie-Antoinette, she patronized celebrated marchande de modes Rose Bertin, who was nicknamed France’s ‘Minister of Fashion’. The duchess was instrumental in carrying actual French fashions, as well as news of the latest trends, from Paris to England. It is arguable that she was not so much a leader of English fashion as a prominent follower of French fashion. In turn, she helped to establish a fashion for English and Anglophile styles in France.
Clark, G. 1994. ‘Infant clothing in the eighteenth century: a new insight’, Costume, 28, 47-59.
Considers the evidence provided by the records of infants who had been sent by the Foundling Hospital to wet nurses in Berkshire between 1741 and 1760. The evidence comprises clothing lists and fabric samples. Extracts from the clothing lists are included in this article.
Clarke, B. 2009. ‘Clothing the family of an MP in the 1690s: an analysis of the Day Book of Edward Clarke of Chipley, Somerset’, Costume, 43, 38-54.
An analysis of the Day Book 1692-1703 of Edward Clarke of Chipley, Somerset (1650-1710), MP for Taunton, reveals evidence of his expenses on clothes for his children. He also describes where the family shopped and who did the shopping, what materials were used and what they cost, who made the clothes and whether clothes were refurbished. The article uses the correspondence of Edward and his wife Mary to show how fashion and clothes were an enduring interest and subject of discussion in both town and country.
Clatworthy, L. 2009. ‘The quintessential Englishman? Henry Temple’s town and country dress’, Costume, 43, 55-65.
This article examines some of the purchases of personal clothing by Henry Temple, first Viscount Palmerston (1676-1757) recorded in his surviving account books, and goes on to discuss whether he could be said to have had separate town and country wardrobes. A version of this paper was presented at the Costume Society Symposium: ‘Town and Country Style’ in 2007 and is based on the author’s research for a doctoral thesis on the subject of Henry Temple’s personal papers at the Broadlands Estate.
Cox, M. 1998. Life and Death in Spitalfields, 1700-1850. York, Council for British Archaeology.
Based on finds from excavations in the vaults of Christ Church, Spitalfields. Includes discussion of especially manufactured funerary textiles, as well as ordinary clothing found in coffins.
Cumming, V. 1984. The Visual History of Costume: The Seventeenth Century. London, Batsford.
Cumming, V. 1998. The Visual History of Costume: From Hats to Shoes – 400 Years of Costume Accessories. London, Batsford.
Cumming, V. 2004. Understanding Fashion History. London, Batsford.
Cunnington, C. W. and Cunnington, P. E. 1972. Handbook of English Costume in the Eighteenth Century. London, Faber & Faber.
Cunnington, C. W. and Cunnington, P. E. 1972. Handbook of English Costume in the Seventeenth Century. London, Faber & Faber.
Cunnington, P. and Lucas, C. 1978. Charity Costumes of Children, Scholars, Almsfolk, Pensioners. London, A. and C. Black.
Cunnington, P. and Mansfield, A. 1969. English Costume for Sports and Outdoor Recreation from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries. London, Adam & Charles Black.
Dunlevy, M. 1989. Dress in Ireland. London, Batsford.
Includes chapters on the following: ‘The Sixteenth Century’, ‘The Seventeenth Century’, ‘1700-1770’, and ‘1770-1840’.
Edwards, L. 1985. ‘Dres’t like a May-Pole’, Costume, 19, 75-79.
Discussion of Verney suits with skirted breeches.
Ehrman, E. 2006. ‘Dressing well in old age: the clothing accounts of Martha Dodson, 1746-1765’, Costume, 40, 28-37.
A study of the clothing accounts of Martha Dodson, a wealthy widow of the gentry class in 18th-century England. Dodson’s household accounts from June 1746, when she was 62 years of age, and June 25, 1765, three months before her death at 81 years of age, show her purchases of fabric and clothing, which were mostly made in London; her informal and undress wear; her outdoor garments; her stays and shoes; and the alteration, repair, and upkeep of her clothes. They reveal the wardrobe of an older woman who respected the social customs of her class and balanced the acquisition of new goods with economy, and fashion awareness with decorum. Studied in conjunction with the accounts of other contemporary gentry families, they shed light on the choice of goods available, consumer preference, and the balance of new purchases with the alteration and repair of existing items.
Faiers, J. 2008. Tartan. Oxford Berg.
Geijer, A. 1980. A History of Textile Art. London, Pasold Research Fund and Sotheby Parke Bernet.
Gent, L. and Llewellyn, N. eds. 1990. Renaissance Bodies: the Human Figure in English Culture. London, Reaktion Books.
Giles, E. B. 1887. The History of the Art of Cutting in England, preceded by A Sketch of the History of English Costumes. London, T H Holding.
Giles, E. B. 1987. The Art of Cutting and History of English Costume. Mendocino, California, R L Shep.
Ginsburg, M. 1981. Wedding Dress 1740-1970. London, H.M.S.O.
Green, R. 1994. The Wearing of Costume: The Changing Techniques of Wearing Clothes, from Roman Britain to the Second World War. London, Safira Publications.
Aimed primarily at those in the theatre. The first section discusses the management of certain types of garment (e.g. skirts and cloaks). The second section offers a history of costume with emphasis on the poise and posture adopted by the wearers.
Greene, J. and McCrum, E. 1990. ‘‘Small clothes’: the evolution of the men’s nether garments as evidenced in The Belfast Newsletter Index 1737-1800’, Eighteenth-Century Ireland, V, 153-171.
Describes The Belfast Newsletter index project, then demonstrates its usefulness by focusing on a particular item of eighteenth-century dress (men’s ‘small clothes’).
Halls, Z. 1970. Men’s Costume 1580-1750. London, H.M.S.O.
Catalogue of the costume collection at the Museum of London.
Halls, Z. 1972. Women’s Costume 1600-1750. London, H.M.S.O.
Catalogue of the costume collection at the Museum of London.
Harrison, J. 2006. ‘Stay & gumps’, The Journal of the Family History Society of Cheshire, 36(3), 18-19.
Hart, A. 1993-4. ‘Origins of the mantua’, Cutters’ Research Journal, V(3), 1, 5, 10.
Illustrated with photographs and a diagram of a 1730s mantua in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Hart, A. and North, S. 1998. Historical Fashion in Detail: the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. London, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Harte, N. B. 1976. ‘State control of dress and social change in pre-industrial England’. In: D. C. Coleman and A. H. John. eds. Trade, Government and Economy in Pre-Industrial England: Essays Presented to F J Fisher, London, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 132-165.
Hashagen, J. and Levey, S. M. 2006. Fine & Fashionable: Lace from the Blackborne Collection. Barnard Castle, Bowes Museum.
Hayden, P. 1988. ‘Records of clothing expenditure for the years 1746-79 kept by Elizabeth Jervis of Meaford in Staffordshire’, Costume, 22.
Hefford, W. 1992. The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Textile Collection: Design for Printed Textiles in England from 1750 to 1850. London, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Huggett, J. 1999. ‘Rural costume in Elizabethan Essex: a study based on the evidence from wills’, Costume, 33, 74-88.
An examination of rural clothing in Essex, England, in Elizabethan times, using evidence from wills. The wills used are from the periods 1571-77 and 1597-1603, and there are no gentry among the testators, most of whom were yeomen, husbandmen, tradesmen, craftsmen, laborers, and the widows of such men. The wills provide a general picture of people with two or three sets of clothes, one of which was set aside for best or for Sundays. These were made of the same few inexpensive but hard-wearing fabrics, mainly russet and frieze, with leather and canvas as well for men; good-quality wools seem to have been nearly as little worn as silk. Information on colors is sketchy, but red petticoats and brownish colors of russet must have marked much of the female costume, and anyone who could afford it had black for their best clothes. Most clothing was apparently plain and unadorned, with the fashionable ruffs barely mentioned, and only the very richest people owned anything with any kind of trimming or wore any jewelry.
Huggett, J. 2006. Children’s Clothes: 1580-1660. Bristol, Stuart Press.
Hunnisett, J. 1986. Period Costume for Stage and Screen: Patterns for Women’s Dress, 1500-1800. London, Bell & Hyman.
Janaway, R. C. 1998. ‘An introductory guide to textiles from 18th and 19th century burials’. In: M. Cox. ed. Grave Concerns: Death and Burial in England 1700-1850. CBA Research Report 113, York, Council of British Archaeology.
Jaster, M. R. 2006. ‘‘Clothing themselves in acres’: apparel and impoverishment in medieval and early modern England’, Medieval Clothing and Textiles, 2, 91-99.
Jefferys, T. 1757 and 1772. A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Ancient and Modern. London, Thomas Jefferys.
‘A collection of the dresses of different nations, ancient and modern. Particularly old English dresses. After the designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar, and others. With an account of the authorities … and some short historical remarks … to which are added the habits of the principal characters on the English stage …’
Johnston, F. 1999. ‘Jonet Gothskirk and the ‘Gown of Repentance’’, Costume, 33, 89-94.
An investigation into the history and use of a ‘sackcloth’ gown as an instrument of ‘ecclesiastical discipline’ during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Johnson, K. K. P., Torntore, S. J. and Eicher, J. B., eds. 2003. Fashion Foundations: Early Writings on Fashion and Dress. Oxford, Berg.
Kaminsky, A. K., ‘Dress and Redress: Clothing in the Desenganos amorosos of Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor’, Romanic Review, 79 (1988), 2, pp. 377-91.
King, S. 2002. ‘Reclothing the English poor, 1750-1840’, Textile History, 33(1), 37-47.
The writer discusses the clothes provided to the poor under the communal welfare system in England from 1750 to 1840. Defining ‘the poor’ as those dependent on communal relief under the old poor law and the first decade of the new poor law, he examines brief case studies from various parts of the country. He argues that absolutely and in comparison to the wider populations, the poor on relief were ‘well clothed’ and that clothing the poor ‘well’ became one of the basic tasks of the communal welfare system, pointing out that the poor law was at places and at times, generous and sensitive to the relationship between actual and perceived poverty. He suggests that the poorest clothing was associated not with those who received communal relief but with the marginal poor who struggled to avoid dependency.
Lambert, M. 2004-05. ‘‘Small presents confirm friendship’: the ‘gifting’ of clothes and textiles in England from the late seventeenth to the early eighteenth centuries’, Text, 32, 24-32.
Levey, S. M. 1983. Lace: A History. London, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Comprehensive survey of European lace with over 600 monochrome plates.
Levey, S. M. 2000. ‘References to dress in the earliest account book of Bess of Hardwick’, Costume, 34, 13-24.
Litten, J. W. S. 1998. ‘The English funeral 1700-1850’. In: M. Cox. ed. Grave Concerns: Death and Burial in England 1700-1850. CBA Research Report 113, York, Council of British Archaeology.
Litten, J. W. S. 2002. The English Way of Death: The Common Funeral Since 1450. London, Robert Hale.
Reprint with corrections, originally published in 1991.
References to funerary textiles throughout the text. Includes a chapter on shrouds and winding sheets.
Llewellyn, S. 1995. ‘‘A List of ye Wardrobe’ 1749: the dress inventory of John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu’, Costume, 29, 40-54.
Based on research for the author’s MA thesis, The Dress Inventories of the 2nd Duke and Duchess of Montagu, 1749 and 1747. Includes an Appendix comprising a transcription of ‘A List of Ye Wardrobe’.
Llewellyn, S. 1997. ‘‘Inventory of her Grace’s things’ 1747: the dress inventory of Mary Churchill, 2nd Duchess of Montagu’, Costume, 31, 49-67.
Based on research for the author’s MA thesis, The Dress Inventories of the 2nd Duke and Duchess of Montagu, 1749 and 1747. Includes a Select Glossary, also an Appendix comprising a transcription of the ‘Inventory of Her Grace’s Things – 20 June 1747’.
MacTaggart, P. and MacTaggart, A. 1973. ‘Some aspects of the use of non-fashionable stays’. Strata of Society: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Conference of the Costume Society April 6-8, 1973, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 20-28.
MacTaggart, P. and MacTaggart, A. 1979. ‘Ease, convenience and stays, 1755-1850’, Costume, 13, 41-51.
Maeder, E. 1983. An Elegant Art: Fashion and Fantasy in the Eighteenth Century. New York and Los Angeles, Harry Abrams and Los Angeles County Museum.
Malcolm-Davies, J. 2002. ‘‘And at the Plastron Push’: the historical development of fencing kit’, Costume, 36, 100-111.
Investigation of the development of specialized garments for the sport of foil fencing from the late sixteenth century to the First World War. Paper given at the Costume Society Symposium, Royal Armouries Museum, 2 July 1999.
Marshall, R. 1974. ‘Three Scottish brides 1670-87’, Costume, 8.
Martin, M. 2003. ‘Casanova and Mlle Clairon: painting the face in a world of natural fashion’, Fashion Theory, 7(1), 57-77.
In the second half of the eighteenth-century fashions were radically altered. The towering wigs and thick layers of face paint worn by the aristocracy and copied by the masses came under attack. Men and women were encouraged to adopt simpler styles of clothing and to rely only on their own natural traits. This shift away from artifice was espoused most strongly by enlightened philosophers, who advocated a social structure based on transparency and merit, rather than finery and blood. Cosmetic masks were an obvious sign of Old Regime corruption and needed to be erased. This paper looks at how this shift in fashion affected two prominent painters of the face: the libertine Casanova and the actress Mlle. Clairon. Their memoirs illustrate the complications that arose out of such an extreme shift in fashion. Though both led unrepresentative lives, their attempts to conciliate their own desires for artifice (for themselves and in the case of Casanova for his conquests) with the ascendancy of natural beauty, has resonance for the lives of other eighteenth-century coquettes and petit maîtres. Neither succeeded in eliminating the stigmas attached to old age and primping, but they did succeed in painting themselves as vibrant, enthusiasts of a youthful, natural Enlightenment, despite visible traces of rouge.
McNeil, P. ed. 2008. Fashion: Critical and Primary Sources. Oxford Berg.
Mee, S. 2004. ‘The clothing of Margaret Parnell and Millicent Crayforde, 1569-1575’, Costume, 38, 26-40.
The writer discusses the clothing of Margaret, Parnell, and Millicent Crayforde from 1569 to 1575. The probate accounts of Edward Crayforde, gent of Great Mongeham in Kent, England, offer information relating to the provision of clothing for his three orphaned daughters. One of these accounts consists almost entirely of monies paid for their clothing for the period 1569 to 1575 until each girl, in turn, reached the age of 18. This detailed clothing information is of particular interest as it relates to a period covered by frequent sumptuary legislation, which aimed to stipulate the types of fabrics and trimmings that could be worn by members of each level of society. The writer examines in detail the clothing of the Crayforde girls in the order that they would have been dressed, as well as discussing hose, shoes, and other accessories. She concludes, among other things, that the type of outfits made for the three sisters, particularly Millicent, suggests that they had considerable pretensions to fashion.
Mikhaila, N. and Malcolm-Davies, J. 2006. The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing Sixteenth Century Dress. London, Batsford.
Mitchell, D. and Sonday, M. 2000. ‘Printed fustians, 1490-1600’, CIETA Bulletin, LXXVII.
Morris, R. 2005. Textiles and Materials of the Common Man and Woman, 1480-1580. Bristol, Stuart Press.
Morris, R. and Huggett, J. 2003. Clothes of the Common Man, 1480-1580. Bristol, Stuart Press.
Morris, R. and Huggett, J. 2003. Clothes of the Common Woman, 1480-1580. Bristol, Stuart Press.
Morse, H. K. 1934. Elizabethan Pagentry: A Pictorial Survey of Costume and its Commentators from 1560-1620. London & New York, Studio.
Monochrome plates and useful descriptions of costume from contemporary sources.
Nevinson, J. L. 1934. ‘New material for the history of seventeenth century costume in England’, Apollo, 20, 315-319.
Monochrome plates of items in the collection at Claydon House, near Aylesbury.
Nevinson, J. L. 1936. ‘English embroidered costume: Elizabeth and James I’, Connoisseur, XCVII(1 & 2), 25-29 & 140-144.
Nevinson, J. L. 1939. ‘English embroidered costume in the collection of Lord Middleton: Part II’, Connoisseur, CIII, 136-141.
Nevinson, J. L. 1967. ‘Shakespeare’s dress in his portraits’, Shakespeare Quarterly, XVIII(2), 101-116.
Nevinson, J. L. ed. 1973. Designs of Modern Costume, 1812, engraved for Thomas Hope of Deepdene by Henry Moses. Costume Society Extra Series No. 4. London, Costume Society.
Nevinson, J. L. ed. 1977. Mundus Muliebris, The Ladies Dressing-Room Unlock’d, 1690, by Mary & John Evelyn. Costume Society Extra Series No. 5, London, Costume Society.
Nevinson, J. L. 1978. ‘The dress of the citizens of London, 1540-1640’. In: J. Bird, H. Chapman and J. Clark. eds. Collectanea Londiniensia: Studies in London archaeology and history presented to Ralph Merrifield, London, London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, 265-286.
Nevinson, J. L. 1981. ‘A sixteenth-century doublet’. In: M. Flury-Lemberg and K. Stolleis. eds. Documenta Textilia: Festschrift für S. Müller-Christensen, Munich, Deutscher Künstverlag, 371-375.
Discussion of satin doublet at Hever Castle, Kent.
O’Brien, E., ‘Visualising Women of Early Modern Spain: Maria de Zayas, Mariana de Carvajal, and the Frame-Narrative Device’, paper given at the SINRS Symposium on ‘Renaissance Senses’, University of Stirling, 2.05.2009.
Pyne, W. H. Pynes’s British Costumes: An Illustrated Survey of Early Eighteenth-Century Dress in the British Isles, 1805. Ware, Wordsworth Editions.
Ribeiro, A. 1983. The Visual History of Costume: The Eighteenth Century. London, Batsford.
Ribeiro, A. 1984. The Dress worn at Masquerades in England, 1730 to 1790, and its Relation to Fancy Dress in Portraiture. New York & London, Garland.
Ribeiro, A. 1986. ‘Dress and undress: costume and morality in the 18th century’, Country Life, 11 (September).
Ribeiro, A. 1987. ‘Dress in Utopia’, Costume, 21, 26-33.
The article offers an introduction to the subject of dress in ideal societies. Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) is considered and other literary works from the sixteenth to the twentieth century are discussed.
Ribeiro, A. 1991. ‘Fashion in the eighteenth century: some Anglo-French comparisons’, Textile History, 22(2), 329-345.
Ribeiro, A. 1995. The Art of Dress: Fashion in England and France, 1750 to 1820. New Haven & London, Yale University Press.
Ribeiro, A. 2000. The Gallery of Fashion. London, National Portrait Gallery.
Ribeiro, A. 2002. Dress in Eighteenth-Century Europe 1715-1789. New Haven & London, Yale University Press.
A revised enlarged edition of the original publication of 1984.
Ribeiro, A. 2005. Fashion and Fiction: Dress in Art and Literature in Stuart England. New Haven & London, Yale University Press.
The Stuart period is particularly rich in the variety of dress among the wealthier classes, ranging from the complex, sometimes ‘metaphysical’ clothing of the Jacobean elite and the romance of Arcadia at the court of Charles I to the influence of Puritan moral and religious discourses, the extravagance of Restoration fashion and new concepts of gentility and modernity in the early eighteenth century. Relatively few garments survive from before the eighteenth century, and the history of costume in the preceding centuries therefore has to rely to a great extent on literary and visual evidence. This book examines Stuart England through the mirror of dress. It argues that both artistic and literary sources can be read and decoded for information on dress and on the way it was perceived in a period of immense political, social and cultural change. Focusing on the rich visual culture of the age, including portraits, engravings, fashion plates and sculpture, and on the many and varied literary sources – poetry, drama, essays, sermons – the author creates an account of Stuart dress and reveals the ways in it reflects and influences society. Supported by a wide range of images, she outlines the main narrative of clothing, as well as exploring such themes as court costumes, the masque, fanciful and ‘romantic’ concepts, the ways in which political and religious ideologies could be expressed in dress, and the importance of London as a fashion centre.
Rose, C. 1989. Children’s Clothes Since 1750. London, Batsford.
Rose, C. 1996. ‘A group of embroidered eighteenth-century bedgowns’, Costume, 30.
Rose, C. 2000. ‘Quilting in eighteenth century London: the objects, the evidence’, Quilt Studies, 2, 11-30.
Rosseau, B. 2005. ‘Early-seventeenth-century English embroidered jackets’, Piecework, 13(1), 30-34.
The writer discusses early-17th-century English embroidered jackets. She focuses on a jacket worn by Margaret Laton for a portrait and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which features an embroidery pattern consisting of a scrolling vine arrayed with flowers, fruit, birds, and insects.
Rothstein, N. ed. 1987. Barbara Johnson’s Album of Fashions and Fabrics. London, Thames and Hudson and V&A.
Rothstein, N. 1990. Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century. London, Thames and Hudson and V&A.
Rothstein, N. 1994. The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Textile Collection: Woven Textile Design in Britain from 1750 to 1850. London, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Rothstein, N. 1994. The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Textile Collection: Woven Textile Design in Britain to 1750. London, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Rothstein, N. ed. 1999. Four Hundred Years of Fashion. London, Victoria and Albert Museum.
Rublack, U., Dressing Up Cultural Identity in Renaissance Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Russell, S. 2006. ‘Restoration Londoners: a rare view of the City and its inhabitants in 1660’, Apollo, 164, 48-55.
The writer examines a previously unknown, enormous painting that depicts a crowd of Londoners watching the ceremonial arrival of the Prince de Ligne in 1660. She explains that the painting, which still hangs in the Chateau of Beloeil, the Belgian home of the De Ligne family, records the scene on Tower Wharf as the prince arrived to convey the congratulations of Philip IV of Spain to the newly reinstated Charles II. She asserts that this hitherto unrecognized major work provides a unique view of London in the years before the Great Fire, and may also prove to be the most important known source of information relating to English contemporary dress at the Restoration. Discussing the artist’s identity, she suggests that it is the work of Brussels artist Francois Duchatel. She argues that, both as a social document and as a topographical record, the painting is clearly a unique, eyewitness account.
Saunders, A. S. 2002. ‘A Bedlam gown’, Costume, 36, 45-49.
Discussion of the provision of clothing for a poor parishioner who was admitted to the Royal Bethlehem Hospital in the mid 17th century.
Saunders, A. S. 2006. ‘Provision of apparel for the poor in London, 1630-1680’, Costume, 40, 21-27.
The writer discusses London parishes’ provision of clothing for the poor between 1630 and 1680. Using parish records and other documents, she shows the various forms of relief given by parish vestries to the poor; the type of apparel provided for men, women, and children; the sums spent by both richer and poorer parishes; and some of the citywide institutions that cared for orphans and foundling children.
Sorge, L. 1995. ‘The engineering of stays and hoops: laying the foundation for the eighteenth-century aesthetic’. Exquisite Details: Women’s Dress of the 18th Century (Symposium Papers), Wilmington, Delaware, Winterthur Museum, 1-11.
Provides details of how stays pattern pieces were designed to produce the cone-like shape, including change over the course of the century.
Sorge, L. 1998. ‘Eighteenth-century stays: their origins and creators’, Costume, 32, 18-32.
Includes patterns.
Spiers, C. H. 1973. ‘Deer skin leathers and their use for costume’, Costume, 7, 14-23.
Covers the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Spufford, M. 1984. The Great Reclothing of Rural England: Petty Chapmen and their Wares in the Seventeenth Century. London, Hambledon Press.
Spufford, M. 2000. ‘The cost of apparel in seventeenth-century England and the accuracy of Gregory King’, Economic History Review, 53(4), 677-705.
Spufford, M. 2003. ‘Fabric for seventeenth-century children and adolescents’ clothes’, Textile History, 34(1), 47-63.
Staniland, K. 1990. ‘An eighteenth-century quilted dress’, Costume, 34, 43-54.
Discusses a mid-eighteenth-century dress acquired by the Museum of London, with particular focus on the design and technique of its embroidery.
Staniland, K. 1997. ‘Getting there, got it: archaeological textiles and tailoring in London, 1330-1580’. In: D. Gaimster and P. Stamper. eds. The Age of Transition: The Archaeology of English Culture 1400-1600, Oxford, Oxbow Books, 239-249.
Staniland, K. 1998. ‘Tailored bodies: Medieval and Tudor clothing’. In: A. Werner. ed. London Bodies: The Changing Shape of Londoners from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day, London, Museum of London, 72-79.
Discusses textiles discovered during excavations in London.
Staniland, K. 2005. ‘Samuel Pepys and his wardrobe’, Costume, 39, 53-63.
A discussion of the clothes worn by Samuel Pepys from 1660 onwards. On June 27, 1660, Pepys had been promoted to the post of Clerk of Acts, that is Secretary, to the Navy Board. Launching himself into this new life, Pepys was initially prudent in his spending. He occasionally replenished his wardrobe, acquiring new shirts, hats, gloves and caps, but his spending was modest. The writer goes on to quote extensively from Pepys’s diary on topics such as his silk suit, velvet coat made for the coronation of Charles II in April 1661, his decision to wear a muff in November 1662, and his uncertainty as to whether he should wear a wig or not.
Stern, E. 1981. ‘Peckover and Gallyard, two sixteenth century Norfolk tailors’, Costume, 15, 13-23.
Tailors’ bills and purchases of materials from household accounts of the Stiffkey Bacons for 1587-97.
Styles, J. 1994. ‘‘Clothing the North’: the supply of non-elite clothing in the eighteenth century north of England’, Textile History, 25(2), 139-166.
Styles, J. 2002. ‘Involuntary consumers? Servants and their clothes in eighteenth-century England’, Textile History, 33(1), 9-21.
The writer discusses the issue of servants’ clothing in 18th-century England. In the opinion of the elite at this time, no group of workers was more guilty of sartorial extravagance than servants, primarily female household servants. Historians have generally endorsed these opinions, but some have argued that it does not necessarily follow that servants contributed directly to an expansion in the overall demand for clothes, as their access to expensive fashions was only made possible by hand-me-downs from their employers. The writer goes on to examine the evidence of the records of Robert Heaton, a Yorkshire worsted manufacturer and small landowner in the later 18th century. He asserts that, if Heaton’s servants were representative, most female servants bought not only cheap everyday clothes but also decorative and stylish items, without having to rely on hand-me-downs. He concludes that female servants at this time thus comprised a financially circumscribed but huge and free-spending market for new and fashionable clothing.
Styles, J. 2007. The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England. New Haven & London, Yale University Press.
Retrieves the story of ordinary consumers in eighteenth-century England and what they wore. This book reveals that ownership of new fabrics and new fashions was not confined to the rich. It extended far down the social scale to the small farmers, day labourers, and petty tradespeople who formed a majority of the population.
Swain, M. H. 1972. ‘Nightgown into dressing gown: a study of men’s nightgowns, eighteenth century’, Costume, 6.
Sykas, P. A. 2009. ‘Fustians in Englishmen’s dress: from cloth to emblem’, Costume, 43, 1-18.
This paper examines the nature of the textiles known as fustians, originally imported but later manufactured in England. The focus is on eighteenth-century England when fustians underwent further development into modern cloth types. Evidence of the use of fustians for men’s dress, and the status of those who wore them, is explored to shed further light on the developments leading up to the association of fustian with working-class men. The paper is based on a presentation delivered at the Costume Society Symposium: ‘Town and Country Style’ in 2007.
Sykas, P. A. 2009. Identifying printed textiles in dress 1740-1890. (http://www.dressandtextilespecialists.org.uk/Print%20Booklet.pdf)
This is an information pack produced to accompany a workshop held on 1 November 2007, but intended to have a life beyond the workshop. The notes take the form of twenty catalogued examples that illustrate dating points gained from research in the literature and archives of calico printing. The booklet is now available online.
Tarrant, N. E. A. 1994. The Development of Costume. Edinburgh, Routledge in association with The National Museums of Scotland.
Includes a detailed account of the re-installation of the costume galleries at the National Museums of Scotland.
Tarrant, N. E. A. 1995. ‘Kilt or petticoat breeches?’, Bulletin of the Costume Society of Scotland, XXXV, 11-14.
The author discusses the error of confusing mid-seventeenth-century petticoat breeches with a kilt.
Taylor, L. 1983. Mourning Dress: a Costume and Social History. London, Allen and Unwin.
Taylor, L. 2002. The Study of Dress History. Manchester, Manchester University Press.
Outlines the full range of current academic approaches to dress history, from object-centred research, to study based on oral history, art history, ethnography, the use of literature, photographs and film, material culture and cultural studies methods.
Taylor, L. 2004. Establishing Dress History. Manchester, Manchester University Press.
A study of the historiography of dress and of dress collections in a museum context.
Tobin, S., Pepper, S. and Willes, M. 2003. Marriage à la Mode, Three Centuries of Wedding Dress. London, National Trust.
Vincent, S. 1999. ‘To fashion a self: dressing in seventeenth-century England’, Fashion Theory, 3(2), 197-218.
Clothing occupied a very particular place in 17th-century English culture. At that time, dress awareness was not limited to middle- and upper-class women but equally–if not more so–to men. Clothing became a key determinant of economic identity, as sartorial state was repeatedly described by those who sought to make their pecuniary position clear. The way an individual dressed had therefore the potential power to determine placement in the social ranking while also potentially affecting the expression of personality and even producing forms of differently gendered behavior. Analysis of the circulation of clothing clarifies the effects of gifted garments on the relationship between the giver and the recipient, and an examination of gloves illustrates the variety of meanings that could adhere to a specific item of clothing.
Waugh, N. 1954. Corsets and Crinolines. London, Batsford.
Waugh, N. 1964. The Cut of Men’s Clothes, 1600-1900. London, Faber.
29 pages of plates, 42 cutting diagrams and 27 tailor’s patterns.
Waugh, N. 1968. The Cut of Women’s Clothes, 1600-1930. London, Faber.
71 pages of plates, 75 cutting diagrams and 54 tailor’s patterns.
Weatherill, L. 1991. ‘Consumer behavior: textiles and dress in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries’, Textile History, 22(2), 297-310.
Includes a discussion of the evidence offered by household accounts and probate inventories.
Yallop, H. J. 1992. The History of the Honiton Lace Industry. Exeter, University of Exeter Press.
This is a revised edition of the author’s 1987 Ph.D thesis. The first section covers the rise and decline of the industry from the late sixteenth century to 1940; the second section considers the people involved in the industry (manufacturers, lace-makers, designers, and retailers). Illustrated with numerous monochrome plates.
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