Recommended Reading List for Designers

The List

At the top of the list are The Costume Designer’s Handbook and The Costume Technicians Handbook by Rosemary Ingham and Liz Covey. These are fantastic resources and used as textbooks by many colleges and universities. I don’t know of a professional designer, or costume shop, who doesn’t own these.

The next important book is a costume-specific dictionary. It’s vital when you are working on a project that references costume pieces that you may be unfamiliar with. I have A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion by Mary Brooks Picken, though there are many other options out there to choose from, and the internet is filling up more and more every day with resources from around the world.

It’s also extremely important to have a sewing book of one type or another. I have one from the 1950s by Better Homes and Gardens that is a simple “how to” for home sewing. It’s a great desk reference for simply adjusting patterns, guiding the fit of the garment, how to put in a hem. I’m sure there are more modern versions of this, but I’ve found this book just as useful as any more current versions out there. And since I found it in a local used book store for 50 cents, I’ve found no reason to replace it with a $20 version.

After these books, I have a large collection of more specific books that I reference. And I still enjoy browsing the local library. Here’s a list of the ones I frequent the most:

20,000 years of Fashion

National Geographic: Fashion

Fashion: The Collection from the Kyoto Costume Institute

The Art of Dress

Life: a Century of Change

In Focus: National Geographic Greatest Portraits

100 Years of Adventure and Discovery (National Geographic)

The World in Vogue

Harper’s Bazzar:100 years of the American Female

The New Look: The Dior Revolution

The Cutting Edge: 50 Years of British Fashion

Grand Illusions

Gentleman

Corsets and Crinolines

The History of Underclothes

Complex Cloth

Art History vol. 1 and 2

Patterns of Fashion by Janet Arnold (now 4 vol.!)

Julie Parker’s Fabric Reference series (3 vol. set)

Stage Makeup: Step by Step

The Timetables of History by Grun

Clearly this is a serious investment of money. The best suggestion I can give is to keep your eyes open at library book sales, flea markets, and yard sales. Look for books that have good first-source material and good quality photographs rather than a single person’s renderings of fashion or art history.

If you are serious about this career, start building a library of inspirational books by single artists (like Dorothy Lange), comprehensive catalogues (like the 100 years of fashion), and books specifically on technical elements that you would like to increase your proficiency on (like a guide to embroidery).

Start small and build steadily. I like to add one book for every show I work on. I find that when I plan on spending $X of my design fee on one or two books with each show, I can budget better and I can save up across a couple of shows if I really, really want a book that’s in the multiple-hundred-dollar range. Yes, there are several of those that I really want.

And don’t forget the library. If you’re lucky enough to have access to a university library, you can likely find a treasure trove of reference materials. Or if you live in a large city or in an area where your local library is very well-supported, you can find books there too. You don’t have to own them to access them.

But I’m the first to admit to having a book addiction, so yes, I admit to acquiring more than I borrow.

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