FD 480 - Fashion Collection Research

A Dictionary of English Costume by C. Willett Cunnington, Phillis Cunnington and Charles Beard was originally published in 1960. A monumental achievement and encyclopaedic in scope, it was a comprehensive catalogue of fashion terms from the mid-medieval period up to 1900. It was reissued and updated several times, for the last time in 1976. For decades it has served as a bible for costume historians.

Fashion is ever-changing, and while some styles mark a dramatic departure from the past, many exhibit subtle differences from year to year that are not always easily identifiable. With overviews of each key period and detailed illustrations for each new style, How to Read a Dress is an authoritative visual guide to women's fashion across five centuries.

The European Textile Forum was founded as an annual meeting for academics, craftspeople, re-enactors and enthusiasts to share their experiences and compare notes. The conference takes place over a week, which not only allows time to learn new techniques and discuss new findings, but to also undertake lengthy experiments that require a large number of experienced specialists.

Combining an artist's eye with an in-depth knowledge of textile techniques, Victoria Rivers has spent more than a decade in her quest for the most spectacular examples of this universally appealing phenomenon. Drawing on an extraordinary array of specialist and inaccessible anthropological research from every continent, she examines the lustrous qualities of silk and the special dyeing techniques and other treatments that give fabric surfaces shimmering qualities