This encyclopedia examines the historical significance of fashion trends, revealing the social and cultural connections of clothing from the precolonial times to the present day. This overview of fashion and apparel covers several centuries of American history as seen through the lens of the clothes we wear.

Examines clothing that is symbolic of the people who live in regions all over the world, providing a historical and geographic perspective that illustrates how people dress and explains the reasons behind the material, design, and style.

A three-volume survey of clothing, costume and fashion, presented through 640 essays, arranged alphabetically. Coverage includes the origins of clothing and body adornment, the development of fabrics and technologies, and the social meanings of dress, as well as representative costumes from a wide range of historical eras.

A dictionary of over 20,000 terms. Includes 300 illustrations.

Visual dictionary of clothing and personal adornment.

A concise and systematic exploration of 150 distinct items of ethnic dress, their history, and their cultural significance within the United States.

Provides facts and information about the cultural, religious, and social implications of human decoration and adornment throughout history, with a particular emphasis on the decades of the 20th century. In 500 entries, detailed information about clothing, hairstyles, tattoos, jewelry, body piercing, feet binding, and other types of fashion or style is examined. Entries explain the fashion or style within the context of the traditions, customs, rituals, and practices.

American Decades is a cross-disciplinary source that documents and analyzes periods of contemporary American social history, including entries on fashion.

Learn what men, women, and children have worn_and why_in American history, from the deprivations of the Civil War through the prosperous 1890s. In Clothing through American History: The Civil War through the Gilded Age, 1861_1899, authors Anita Stamper and Jill Condra provide information on fabrics, materials, and manufacturing; a discussion of daily life and dress; and the types of clothes worn by men, women, and children of all levels of society. The volume features numerous illustrations, helpful timelines, resource guides recommending Web sites, videos, and print publications, and extensive glossaries. Among the many topics discussed include: _ The hours that middle class women of the nineteenth century spent making clothes for themselves and their families _ The plain, rough clothes assigned to slaves to ensure that they did not enhance their appearance and their later trouble in buying clothes after emancipation _ The Bloomer dress reform movement in the mid to late 19th century, where women who adopted loose, baggy trousers for practicality were called evil and unnatural _ The beginnings of clothing and department stores