Fabric & Textiles

FabricLink.com
Handy and informative site on fabrics.

Dictionary of Fabric Terms
The Educational Resource for Fabrics, Apparel, Home Fashion & Care.

Stain Removal
Fabric stain removal guide.

Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute Stain Removal Guide

Lace Fairy
Lace types and identification.

Straus Clothing Co.
The Straus Clothing Company's helpful list of fabric terms, mostly for wool.

Definitions of Fabric & Cloth
This site lists nearly 250 names of kinds of fabric and cloth.

Fabrics Net
Fabrics.net is an information, resource, and referral network.

FabricsNet - Vintage Fabrics
An interesting article on Vintage Fabrics from 1920-1959.

Tartan Finder
Plaid Tartan Finder. Searchable by colors or tartan name.

All-About-Fabrics - US Edition
Very comprehensive fabric dictionary. Also available in separate editions for other countries.

Indonesian Batik
A brief history and information on traditional Indonesian Batik fabric.

Traditional Hawaiian Barkcloth
Info and pictures of vintage Hawaiian Barkcloth.

Nylon-Polyester-Acetate
Handy pages for comparing the properties of these materials.

Ultrasuede
The Science of Ultrasuede.

Kooky's NSA Fibre Burn Chart
Provided by Kooky*Clutter, this is the NSA's Fibre Burn Chart.

Fabrics.net Burn Tests
To identify fabric that is unknown, a simple burn test can be done to determine if the fabric is a natural fiber, man made fiber, or a blend of natural and man made fibers. The burn test is used by many fabric stores and designers and takes practice to determine the exact fiber content. However, an inexperienced person can still determine the difference between many fibers to "narrow" the choices down to natural or man made fibers. This elimination process will give information necessary to decide the care of the fabric.

Sewing & Garment Construction

Lily Abello's Sewing Resource Guide
Links on designers, vintage patterns, costuming, fabric info, notions, tips.

Know Your Clothes!
A phenomenally detailed site covering not only fabrics, but also garment construction terms.

Knitting Stitch Library
In the Stitch Library, you'll find instructions and photos for a multitude of stitch patterns.

Sewing.com
A treasure trove of sewing information, including a dictionary of sewing and fabric terms.

Seam Finishes
A short, concise page with pictures and descriptions of various seam finishes.

Simplicity
Browse new patterns unveiled by season. Good for tracking trends, learning how garments are constructed via pattern packet details available in PDF. Lots of miscellaneous info and links, too.

Bridal Underground
Terrific illustrated chart of gown and neckline types and names.

Vintage Pattern Lending Library
An amazing collection of vintage patterns from 1840 through 1940.

Denim & Sportswear

Levi Strauss and Co - History of Denim
History of Denim A history of denim. Be sure to check the link to their timeline.

History of Levi's Jeans
Includes answers to common questions such as "When did they go from the big 'E' to the little 'e'?" (1971 . . and, the red tabs were added in 1936).

Selecting Jeans
More about hand-picking blue jeans than you ever really needed to know.

Adidas in the 1970s and 1980s
A selected history of the sportswear line.

Shoes & Footwear

The Bata Shoe Museum
Wonderful collections, info on exhibitions - check the Fun Facts while you're there.

A Century in Shoes
Beautifully done website with photos and info on shoes of the 20th century by decade.

Tips 2 Toes
Shoe sizing charts, handy for getting a comparable modern size on vintage shoes.

History of Shoes
Northampton Borough Council's History of Shoes.

Hats & Millinery

Village Hat Shop
Hat glossary of terms.

The Hat Site
Hat sizing and how to measure.

Ties & Neckwear

K.N.O.T. - Kollectors of Nasty Old Ties
Enthusiasts and accumulators of vintage neckties.

Gloves

For the Love of Opera Gloves
Here, you will find many galleries of high-quality images, historical information and commentary on opera gloves.

Handbags

Vintage & Collectible Handbag Archives
The Bag Lady Vintage & Collectible Handbag Archives. A photo collection of handbags.

Fashion & Trends

The Glossarist - Fashion
Fashion A list of links to several fashion dictionaries.

FashionNet
An online fashion guide.

STYLE.COM - Vogue and W Online
Vogue and W Online Need we say more?

New York Metro Fashion Page
The hottest and newest fashion from the streets of New York.

Hint Fashion Magazine
Cutting edge and of the moment.

Fashion & History

Smithsonian National Museum of American History

The costume collection index with photos and dates.

The Costumers Bookshelf
A wide assortment of Research Texts to browse.

Timeline of Modern Fashion
A brief overview of fashion from 1858 to 1990. Note links to "What is Haute Couture?" and "Fashion and Dress".

The Originator of Haute Couture
A brief article on The House of Worth.

US Patent & Trademark Office
This site can be useful in trying to find out the history or information on a label.
Costumer's Manifesto A list of many links to information relevant to vintage clothing.

Costumer's Manifesto
Decade sequential display of photographs of this exhibit at Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Costume Gallery 20th Century Fashion
The history of the two-piece swimsuit.

Absolute Bikini
History of the Two Piece.

Sears Archives
The history of  the catalogue house.

New York Public Library
A world class collection of fashion and fashion related images.

Uniforms & Military

British Utility Clothing
A Brief Introduction to CC41.

Ethnic & Regional Clothing

Aloha Shirt History
History of the Aloha Hawaiian Shirt.

Vintage Hawaiian Shirt Net
One person's website about his personal collection of Hawaiian Aloha Shirts.

Aloha Funwear
Fun facts and history of Hawaiian Shirts.

Designers & Couture

Beverly Birks Couture Collection
Browse through for much info and lovely pics of one of the largest collections of couture.

The Grand French Couture Houses
1 through 10 at the bottom of the page (Chanel, Balmain, Dior, Givenchy, Feraud, St Laurent, Scherrer, Ungaro, Gaultier, Lacroix) with dates and links.

Diane von Furstenberg
Official Website for the designer, includes a timeline.

"Interested at Any Age" - Pauline Trigere
Pauline Trigere A wonderful article on the designer.

Zandra Rhodes
Designer's official website.

Alfred Shaheen
Official website, includes a timeline.

Betsey Johnson
Official designer's website.

Lilly Pulitzer
The Palm Beach maven's humble beginnings.

Lilli Ann Part I       

Lilli Ann Part II

Norma Kamali
Bio and timeline of the designer.

Ralph Lauren
History and timeline with a selection of runway and ad images.

Bonnie Cashin

Fragrance