Additional Selected Museum, Archives, and Libraries
- The Bata Shoe Museumhrough acquiring, conserving, researching, interpreting and exhibiting material evidence of the history of footwear and shoemaking, the museum illustrates the changing habits, lifestyles, culture and customs of the world’s inhabitants. The BSM’s international collection of nearly 15 000 artefacts spans 4,500 years of history.
- Fashion Museum BathThe Museum of Costume was opened in the Assembly Rooms on 23 May 1963. It was founded by Doris Langley Moore, a designer, collector, writer and scholar, who gave her famous private collection of costume to the city of Bath.
- FIDM MuseumThe FIDM Museum and Library, Inc. collects, preserves, and interprets fashion objects and support materials with outstanding design merit.FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising was founded in 1969. Staff from the Fashion Design Department assembled a fledgling Study Collection for hands-on classroom use in 1973. The nonprofit FIDM Museum and Library, Inc. was established in 1978.
- Kyoto Costume Institute - Digital ArchivesThe collection currently spans the 17th century to the present day, and includes holdings of some 13,000 items of clothing and 20,000 documents. The institute has received donations from some of today’s top designers and fashion houses, including Chanel, Christian Dior, and Louis Vuitton. It was also gifted of approximately 1,000 items of clothing by the Japanese brand Comme des Garçons.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art - Costume Institute CollectionsThe MET: Watson Library Digital Collections
Costume Institute Collections - includes documents on exhibitions, sketches, and more. - The Museum at FITBest known for its innovation and award-winning exhibitions, the museum has a permanent collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the eighteenth century to the present.
- Victoria and Albert Museum - Fashion & Costumes CollectionSpanning five centuries, our Fashion collection is the largest and most comprehensive collection of dress in the world. Key items in the collection include rare 17th century gowns, 18th century ‘mantua’ dresses, 1930s eveningwear, 1960s daywear and post-war couture.
- David C. Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design | UCLA TFTThrough bold research and a robust program of publishing, exhibitions and teaching, the scholarly activities of the Copley Center serves UCLA TFT students, the university, the international community of historians, filmmakers and professional costume designers. The Center provides a home for the study of costume design history, genre research, costume illustration as an art form, and the influence of costume design on fashion and popular culture.
- Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesThe Margaret Herrick Library is a world-renowned, non-circulating reference and research collection devoted to the history and development of the motion picture as an art form and an industry. Established in 1928 and now located in Beverly Hills, the library is open to the public by appointment and used year-round by students, scholars, historians and industry professionals.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art - Costume Institute CollectionsThe MET: Watson Library Digital Collections
Costume Institute Collections - includes documents on exhibitions, sketches, and more. - Universal Studios - Edith Head Costume Research LibraryThe collection offers an easy and convenient resource for the costume community to consult fashion periodicals and reference books for a range of time periods.
- Western Costume Research Library & ArchiveThe Research Library comprises over 20,000 books, catalogs, and periodicals, in addition to 40 filing cabinets of clipping files covering all aspects of dress, both period and contemporary. Our materials cover fashion, documentary photography, military and civilian uniforms, folk dress, religious vestments, occupational attire, and much more.
Clothing and Textile Collections in the United States by ISBN: 9780896725720Date: 2006-05-15Clothing and Textile Collections in the United States is the first guide to list information on more than 2,600 American collections. Included in each listing are location and contact information, and many listings also offer a brief description of the collection.
Fashion and Museums: Theory and Practice by ISBN: 9781472525246Date: 2014-06-19Chapters explore the role of fashion in the museum across a range of international case studies including the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Fashion Museum at Bath, ModeMuseum in Antwerp and many more.
Fashion Curating: Critical Practice in the Museum and Beyond by 
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ISBN: 1350105627Date: 2018-12-21As the practice of fashion curation extends into commercial galleries, public and retail spaces, and even to the individual self, professional concepts of 'curating' are undergoing rapid change.
Fashion, History, Museums: Inventing the Display of Dress by - This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 9781350048997Date: 2019-02-07This book explores the history of fashion displays, highlighting the continuity of past and present curatorial practices. Comparing and contrasting exhibitions from different museums and decades--from the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 to the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011, and beyond--it makes connections between museum fashion and the wider fashion industry.
Managing Costume Collections: An Essential Primer by ISBN: 9780896729575Date: 2016-01-15Managing Costume Collections offers systematic approaches to organization, accessibility, record keeping, safety, and a host of other stewardship concerns related to managing costume collections of every type.
Refashioning and Redress: Conserving and Displaying Dress by ISBN: 9781606065112Date: 2017-02-28A wide-ranging account of the world of displaying dress and costume told through the unique vantage of conservators.
Additional Local Collections
Here is a list of local museums and institutions that have Fashion and Costume related collections or exhibits. Not all of these repositories have their collections available online, but most of them offer a searchable database to find descriptive information.
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesCheck out their Teacher's Guides (which includes a Costume and Makeup Guide and more!)
- Production Art Database (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)Include costume design and production design drawings, animation art, storyboards and paintings.
- Undertaking the Making: LACMA Costume and Textiles Pattern ProjectIncludes free downloadable garment patterns of historic dress in the permanent collection.