Fashion Library Guide

Best Bets for Fashion

Berg Fashion Library - Content types: books, images, reference. Includes the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, as well as e-books, reference info, and images. Learn More.

Business of Fashion (BoF) - Content types: articles, reference. BoF provides journalism with practical business advice, online learning, career-building tools, and online events. To access, sign up with BoF for a free account. See below for details. Learn More.

Stephens Library Catalog - Content type: books, video. Search the traditional catalog for Stephens College books, videos, and more.

Stephens Library Quick Search - Content types: articles, books. Search across most all of Stephens Library holdings as well as millions of additional books and articles using the EBSCOhost Discovery Service. Learn More.

WGSN - Content types: articles. WGSN is a leading fashion and style forecaster. Provides daily access to news, business and retail strategy reports.

Women's Wear Daily (WWD) - Content types: articles. A fashion-industry trade journal providing breaking news, comprehensive business coverage and trends in the areas of fashion, beauty and retail. You can Create your own WWD User Account using your Stephens email address.

Librarian for Fashion

Anne Cox
acox@stephens.edu
(573) 876-7181

Book a meeting

Library Contact Info

library@stephens.edu
Front Desk: (573) 876-7182
Text the Library: (573) 475-4211
Chat (when available)

Anne Cox
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Finding Fashion Books

Library Resources

Stephens Library Catalog - Search the traditional catalog for Stephens College books, videos, and more.

MOBIUS Library Catalog - Search the MOBIUS Consortium catalog and request physical/print books be sent to Stephens for pickup. Books are generally ready to be picked up in two to three work days.

eMO Electronic Books - Search and view over 250,000 electronic books. Entirely full-text.

Fashion Book Locations

Fashion books are located in the following sections (second floor of the Stephens Library):

  • GT 500-2370 - Costume. Dress. Fashion.

  • TT 490-695 - Clothing manufacture, Dressmaking, Tailoring.

Note that many fashion books are oversized, especially those with images. Be sure to also browse fashion call number ranges in the “q” and “f” oversized sections, which are also on the second floor of the Stephens Library.

Finding Articles on Fashion

Library Resources

  • Berg Fashion Library - Includes the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, as well as e-books, reference info, and images. Learn More.

  • Textile Technology Index - Indexes and abstracts of over 470 journals covering the scientific and technological aspects of textile production.

  • Stephens Library Quick Search - Search across most all of Stephens Library holdings as well as millions of additional books and articles using the EBSCOhost Discovery Service. Learn More.

Search Tips

Consider using one or more search terms in these categories:

  • Designer’s name

  • Style, period, culture, or school

  • Date or era

  • Medium, material, technique, work type, or form

  • Geographic location

  • Subject

  • Title of a specific work, show, or exhibition

When searching these databases, you will likely come across articles that are not immediately available. In such cases, choose to “Request It” and complete the process. Articles usually become available within one business day, although it can take as many as five days. You can review your request history and make requests from scratch by using the following link:

Finding Fashion News & Forecasting

Library Resources

  • Business of Fashion (BoF) - Content types: articles, reference. BoF provides journalism with practical business advice, online learning, career-building tools, and online events. To access, sign up with BoF for a free account. See sidebar on this page for details. Learn More.

  • NewsBank: Access World News Research Collection - Content types: newspaper articles. Includes current and archived news content from more than 12,700 sources spanning 200+ countries and territories.

  • U.S. Major Dailies - Content types: newspaper articles. Contains New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune. Full-text from the 1980s to the present.

  • WGSN - Content types: articles. WGSN is a leading fashion and style forecaster. Provides daily access to news, business and retail strategy reports.

  • Women's Wear Daily (WWD) - Content types: articles. A fashion-industry trade journal providing breaking news, comprehensive business coverage and trends in the areas of fashion, beauty and retail. You can Create your own WWD User Account using your Stephens email address.

Accessing BoF

Business of Fashion provides complimentary memberships to students and thus the library does not purchase access as we do other databases and resources. However, getting signed up for it can be cumbersome. Here’s the process:

  1. “Sign Up” (or “Log in” if previously initially registered). You can do this by clicking on the person icon in the upper right of the BoF Homepage.

  2. Register for the complimentary student membership. You can do this by going to the BoF Membership Page and scroll down to where it says “Are you a student? Activate complimentary access.” This should then take you to an area where you can fill out a few fields to complete the student membership (be sure to use your Stephens email address).

Websites

FAS 315 Readings in Berg Fashion Library

  • Eicher, Joanne B. "Clothing, Costume, and Dress." The Berg Companion to Fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele. Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Benhamou, Reed. "Sumptuary Laws." The Berg Companion to Fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele. Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Mbow, Marie-Amy. "Prehistory to Colonialism." Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: Africa. Ed. Joanne B. Eicher and Doran H. Ross Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2010. 35–43. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Lee, Mireille M. "Ancient Greek Dress." Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: East Europe, Russia, and the Caucasus. Ed. Djurdja Bartlett and Pamela Smith. Oxford: Berg, 2010.442–445. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Tortora, Phyllis. "Toga." The Berg Companion to Fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele. Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Medvedev, Katalin. "Social Class and Clothing." The Berg Companion to Fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele . Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Steele, Valerie. "The Birth of Paris Fashion." Paris Fashion: A Cultural History. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2017. 18–41. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Vincent, Susan J. "Genitals and Legs." The Anatomy of Fashion: Dressing the Body from the Renaissance to Today. Oxford: Berg, 2009. 97–132. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Root, Regina A. "Latin American Fashion." The Berg Companion to Fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele. Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Cross, Louisa. "Fashionable Hair in the Eighteenth Century: Theatricality and Display." Hair: Styling, Culture and Fashion. Ed. Geraldine Biddle-Perry and Sarah Cheang. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2008. 15–26. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • David, Alison Matthews. "Brummell, George (Beau)*." The Berg Companion to Fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele . Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Cicolini, Alice. "Dandyism." The Berg Companion to Fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele . Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Gage, Kelly Mohs. "Nineteenth-Century Afro-Brazilian Women’s Dress." Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion: Latin America and the Caribbean. Ed. Margot Blum Schevill. Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2005. 406–412. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.

  • Summers, Leigh. "Corsetry, Advertising, and Multiple Readings of the Nineteenth-Century Female Body." Bound to Please: A History of the Victorian Corset. Oxford: Berg, 2001. 173–208. Dress, Body, Culture. Bloomsbury Fashion Central.