Arms and Armour

(With thanks to C. Otis Sweezey and the USITT)
• Christian Fletcher Armor. Excellent source. Lots of pictures.

• Emperial Austria: Treasures of Art, Arms and Armor from the State of Styria. "Arms and Armor as Art Form and the Decorated Surface."

• Medieval Weapons and Armour. A single page site maintained by Pred S. Bundalo at Northwestern University. Some good examples of (mostly) medieval armor.

• Swords and Armor. "Swords, weapons, armor, Japanese Samurai, medieval knights, Scottish Claymore, battle ready shields, helmets, civil war sabers," etc. In short, an excellent resource for costumers in search of authentic period battle gear.

• The Imperial Armoury at the Kunst Historische Museum, Vienna, with its excellent History of the collection and selected masterpieces on display.
  

• Medieval Collectibles A commercial site with period arms, armor and clothing.

Sites and Collections

• Nicole Cargill-Kipar's Late 17th Century Clothing History. An extremely rich site, including resource links, history and a valuable gallery of illustrations.

• 18th Century Clothing web site of Colonial Williamsburg. Basic, with lots of good illustrations.

• Bluemoon Venice. Offers a great variety of hand crafted Venetian masks, with a short history based on excerpts (in English) from Danilo Reato: "Le maschere veneziane", Arsenale Editrice

• Butler Library

• The Children's Clothing Collection, Wisconsin Historical Society Collections on line. More than 2000 articles of children's clothing, from 1800 to the 1990s. The pictorial representations are searchable by decade, gender, etc. A wonderful resource. [Appears to no longer be on-line 1/11/2019] i

• Cool Old Stuff, "An Antiques and Collectibles Shop;" with many links to vintage clothing, antique and collectible resources.

• Costume Gallery and Costume Gallery Hair Styles. "A Central Location on the Web for Fashion and Costume since 1996."

• The Costume Museum: Costume History in Japan

• The Costume Page: Costuming Resources on Line. An extremely interesting collection of costuming links, developed by Julie Zetterberg Sardo. Includes links to just about every aspect of costume imaginable.

• English Actors at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Superb color costume plates, from Players of the Day, George Newnes, ca. 1902.

• Fashion-Era. Over 700 pages of fashion, costume clothing and social history.

• Fashion Through Time. The text at this commercial site is rather thin but there are some good reprodutions of clothing through the ages.

• The History of Costume by Braun & Scheider, c. 1861-1880. Excellent illustrations.

• Ten Little Known Traditional Theatre Forms of India. O.K. text, excellent costume details.

• A History of Japanese clothing and accessories. Well written and richly illustrated site of Japanese clothing mostly related to Medieval Japan; created by the late Anthony J. Bryant. Includes an Armor Manual, clothing accessories and various essays.

• Kent State University Costume History Directory. An excellent collection of costume links and references..

• Historical Clothing Guides for Theatre Costumes Excellent collection of links pointing to museums and historical collections.

• La Couturière Parisienne. "This site is all about period costume, from the Middle Ages up to the early 20th century. Access 4000 costume pictures through a database . . ." This is a superb resource!

• The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs (P&P) Reading Room. The collection is searchable, a veritable treasure trove of information depicting clothing, decoration, artifacts, etc., much of which is in the public domain. The interface is Byzantine, but the rewards are worth the effort.

• Mardi Gras Costume Shop Not scholarly, but an excellent resource for period costumes, accessories and masks.

• Memorial Hall Museum Online: American Centuries . . . View from New England. Use the "Search the Digital Collection" link.

  Motley Collection of Theatre and Costume Design, a site maintained by the University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Chamapaign. This excellent resource is housed in the Rare Book and Special Collections Library.

• Digital South Asia Library American Institute of Indian Studies. Excellent slides of dress, architecture, etc., from India.

  Regency Ara: Fashion History, Culture and Lifestyle Not scholarly, but with some good links.

• "Founded in August 1997, Reconstructing History is one woman’s dream to bring information on historic clothing to the public and make this data available worldwide" reads the biographical information of Kass McGann, owner and founder of Reconstructing History. Unfortunately, this site is marred by navigational links that often don't work, or which take the viewer to unexpected locations. Probably the easiest way to navigate the site, which contains illustrations and patterns from virtually every historical period, is to use the navigational bar at the bottom (rather than the top) of each page. This is a commercial site, but contains good pictorial information and patterns for costumers.

• Truly Victorian, site featuring Victorian clothing patterns and history of clothing.

• Carta Alta Venetian Mask Shop. Source for a variety of Venetian masks, theatrical and carnival. An excellent resource.

• USITT's Wading On the Web

• World Wide Arts Resources. Comprehensive listing of museums, many with clothing and cultural artifacts.

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  The following is a contribution from costumer Jami Borek, which I include here with links and Ms. Borek's commentary.
  It is focused on 18th century clothing and costuming.

  The Colonial Williamsburg site has some good information, but it can be hard to find. .

  The Costume Gallery's Research Library, a comprehensive site, requires a subscription payment for use. [I haven't payed yet, so can't attest to the value of the site. JRW]

  La Couturiere Parisiènne covers clothing from several periods. Excellent pictorial resource, with commentary. The site is in English and German.

  The 18th Century Notebook a site maintained by Karen Larsdatter, with information regarding clothing in the Middle Ages, Renaissance and 18th Century.

  Links to clothing in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and to others. The structure of this data base makes searches trying, but some will find the effort worthwhile.

  All things Regency: An excellent resource maintained by Nancy Mayer, Regency Researcher.

  The best costume book I've seen for theater purposes. It covers everything in a reliable way based on real clothing, but without overloading the details - is Costume in Detail 1730-1930 by Nancy Bradfield.

  And finally, in my opinion the best pattern books available today are to be found at Amazon.com: The Cut of Womens Clothes -- 1600-1930 by Norah Waugh (she has "cut of mens' clothes" also); and Patterns of Fashion 1: Englishwomens Dresses and their Construction c. 1660-1860.

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  Last updated 9/11/2022

  ©Jack Wolcott 2022