General Costume Books
Most of the history books concentrate on nobility. It's a lot harder to find something about the middle or lower classes. But we can cheat. We use the theory that the middle and lower classes tried to imitate their betters. The differences would be in the type and color of the fabric used (such as wool vs velvet), as well as the amount and type of detail (such as trim or beadwork).
I am a great believer of doing your own research. A lot of costuming information that is passed around at faires is just word of mouth. Rarely does anyone do their own research to prove to themselves that what they hear at faire is indeed historicly accurate. With that in mind, below I present some lists of books about the history of English fashion during the Renaissance.
However, I have a scanner now, and am willing to make available some excerpts from some costuming books. These aren't books you can go out and buy. At least I've never found them in a bookstore. They are out of print. I made copies from a university library.
I'm certainly not the only one with knowledge about costuming. Therefore I also have a list of Web pages (links updated Jan 2011) that deal with costuming. -- Gary Kephart, February 1996
Know any other links to costuming resources on the Net? Thanks.
| Originally created 2 February 1996 by |