PUBLICATIONS BY THE SCHOOL AND SCHOOL ASSOCIATES

We are now the sole publishers of the whole series of PATTERNS OF FASHION books since the publication rights of the first four volumes were reverted back to us in May 2020. The old editions by Macmillan Publishing are now out of print. Volumes 1 to 4 are now available in revised, augmented and fully-coloured editions, with photos of all the objects.

You can buy our books on our SHOP or directly at our School when it is open for special events or by appointment. They are not and have never been on sale or stocked on any other website or Amazon, that is why they sometimes are labelled as “out of print” on other shops, but we are keeping them in print.

CLICK HERE TO BUY OUR BOOKS.

Available now with tracked Royal Mail 48 hour delivery (after postage) in the UK. International Tracked delivery for the rest of the world. Since Brexit custom fees will incur in countries of the European Union. Please note that we aim to send books within 5 working days of your order but we cannot post orders everyday as there is no permanent staff at the School. Please note that due to weight limit we can only ship up to 7 books in the UK and 3 books per parcel for international orders. Please place multiple orders if you need more books.

For any issues regarding an ORDER for books, courses or events please write to us at booksandcourses@theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk

If you want to pay extra for tracked & signed shipping or if you want to make an appointment to buy books directly at the School, please write to info@theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk

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“These books are a gift to costume designers and costume makers. Fashion designers, like the late, great Vivienne Westwood, might also find them inspiring. They have a natural home on the bookshelves of costume curators and dress historians. In terms of value for money, these books are astonishing – they will last you a lifetime and you will always be learning from them”

DAVID WILCOX, researcher and course organiser of the Performance Costume design course at Edinburgh College of Art.

CLICK HERE to read the full review of Patterns of Fashion 1 & 2 (new edition) and 6 by David Wilcox.

Revised edition, published in September 2021. This new edition has full colour throughout its 134 pages, including a section of photographs of the garments with images of women wearing similar examples from the same time period. A total of 48 scale patterns of garments and accessories feature in the book. The timeframe is slightly changed from the original edition as the 1660 covered stays from Claydon house are now fully covered in POF5 and the 1708 mantua from Shrewsbury has been moved to POF6.

Revised edition, published November 2022. This new edition has full colour throughout its 166 pages, including a section of photographs of the garments with images of women wearing similar examples from the same time period. A total of 41 scale patterns of dresses are featured in the book (all patterns from the original edition in a new layout and now in colour + 1 previously unpublished pattern).

Revised edition, published December 2023. This new edition has full colour throughout its 166 pages, including a section of photographs of the garments with images of men and women wearing similar examples from the same time period. A total of 60 scale patterns of dresses are featured in the book (patterns from the original edition in a new layout and now in colour + 7 previously unpublished patterns).

Revised edition, published December 2023. This new edition has full colour throughout its 166 pages, including a section of photographs of the garments with images of men and women wearing similar examples from the same time period. A total of 84 scale patterns are featured in the book (patterns from the original edition in a new layout and now in colour + 4 previously unpublished patterns).

PATTERNS OF FASHION 5: THE CONTENT, CUT, CONSTRUCTION & CONTEXT OF BODIES, STAYS, HOOPS & RUMPS c.1595-1795

by JANET ARNOLD, JENNY TIRAMANI, LUCA COSTIGLIOLO, SEBASTIEN PASSOT, ARMELLE LUCAS & JOHANNES PIETSCH

The fifth volume of the Patterns of Fashion series, published by the School of Historical Dress in September 2018, includes patterns for 26 pairs of stays, a farthingale, 10 hoops and a rump.160 pages in full-colour, including the patterns.

This publication is the latest new volume in the ‘Patterns of Fashion’ series, published by the School of Historical Dress in May 2022. Patterns of Fashion 6 has 172 pages, with almost 3000 thousand full colour images of the garments and scale patterns in colour. The patterns include those for 28 gowns, 15 petticoats, 8 stomachers, 2 hats and various accessories.

 

ALAN AND VANESSA HOPKINS

HEADWEAR FROM THE HOPKINS COLLECTION c. 1700-1955

TSHD 2020

The third publication features more than 260  items of headwear from The Hopkins Collection, arranged in chronological order to demonstrate the evolution of shapes and styles from c.1700 to c.1955 and include 33 examples for men, 211 for women and 19 for children. The objects are shown with close-up details of their shape, construction and decoration, alongside images of people wearing similar styles from the same time period.

ALAN AND VANESSA HOPKINS

WAISTCOATS FROM THE HOPKINS COLLECTION c. 1720-1950

TSHD 2017

The book features more than 150 waistcoats from The Hopkins Collection, arranged in chronological order to demonstrate the evolution of shapes and styles from c.1720 to c.1950 and exemplify the Hopkins’ interest in the clothes worn by people from all classes of society. The waistcoats are shown with close-up details of its shape, construction and decoration, alongside images of people wearing similar styles from the same time period.

 ALAN AND VANESSA HOPKINS

FOOTWEAR: SHOES AND BOOTS FROM THE HOPKINS COLLECTION

TSHD 2015

The book features more than 200 items of footwear from The Hopkins Collection, arranged in chronological order to demonstrate the evolution of shapes and styles from c.1730 to c.1950 and exemplify the Hopkins’ interest in the clothes worn by people from all classes of society. The footwear is shown with close-up details of its shape, construction and decoration, alongside images of people wearing similar styles from the same time period.

OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED BY THE SCHOOL TEAM OR ASSOCIATES (NOT AVAILABLE TO BUY FROM OUR WEBSHOP)

JENNY TIRAMANI, LUCA COSTIGLIOLO, ARMELLE LUCAS & CLAIRE THORNTON with SUSAN NORTH

Women’s Seventeenth Century Dress Patterns Book One

V & A 2011

This innovative and breathtakingly detailed book from the V&A presents dress patterns, construction details, embroidery, and making instructions (including a knitting pattern and lacemaking) for 15 garments and accessories from a seventeenth century woman’s wardrobe. Step-by-step drawings of the construction sequence and scale patterns for each garment enable readers to accurately reconstruct them. There are scale diagrams for making linen and metal thread laces, silk braids, and embroidery designs. Multiple photographs, close-up construction details, and X-ray photography reveal the hidden elements of the clothes, the number of layers, and the stitches used inside. This first book in a new series takes the physical examination and study of historical clothing to a new depth and degree of detail, using the expertise of designers, tailors, and makers from London’s Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

JENNY TIRAMANI, MELANIE BRAUN, LUCA COSTIGLIOLO, ARMELLE LUCAS & CLAIRE THORNTON with SUSAN NORTH

Women’s Seventeenth Century Dress Patterns Book Two

V & A 2013

Book Two in the V&A’s groundbreaking new series presents 17 patterns for garments and accessories from a seventeenth-century woman’s wardrobe. It includes patterns for a loose gown, a jacket, a pair of stays and a boned bodice, ivory and wooden busks, shoes, a hat, a stomacher, linen bands and supporters, a bag and a knife case. It also features a description of the stay-making process. Full step-by-step drawings of the construction sequence are given for each garment to enable the reader to accurately reconstruct them. There are scale patterns and diagrams for making linen and metal thread laces and embroidery designs. Multiple photographs of the objects, close-up construction details and X-ray photography reveal the hidden elements of the clothes, the precise number of layers and the stitches used inside.

MELANIE BRAUN, LUCA COSTIGLIOLO, SUSAN NORTH, CLAIRE THORNTON & JENNY TIRAMANI

17TH CENTURY MEN’S DRESS PATTERNS 1600-1630

THAMES & HUDSON & V&A

The third pattern book  by four members of the School of Historical Dress, with V&A curator Susan North. This book includes a detailed analysis of four doublets, a pair of trunk hose, a hat, cloak, sword harness and other accessories from the V&A collection.

JANET ARNOLD

Patterns of Fashion 1: Englishwomen’s dresses and their construction c. 1660-1860

Wace 1964

Patterns of Fashion 1 features Englishwomen’s dresses and their construction from 1660 to 1860. Drawings taken from original garment specimens in collections throughout England are supplemented with details showing their construction and scale patterns of them laid out on grid paper along with construction comments and fabric details. From wrapping gowns, riding habits, pelisses, and chemises to sack dresses, morning dresses, and wedding dresses. Contains 180 black and white illustrations. 28 patterns.

JANET ARNOLD

Patterns of Fashion 2: Englishwomen’s dresses and their construction c. 1860-1940

Wace 1966

Patterns of Fashion 2 focuses on the eighty-year period preceding the Second World War. Beginning with a day dress from c. 1861-3 from the Museum of London and ending with a 1938 Evening dress from the V&A costume historian and researcher Janet Arnold traces period and style and draws up scale patterns from the original garments on grid paper with construction instructions. An introduction focuses on patterns published in fashion magazines of the period. Contains 226 black and white illustrations. 34 patterns.

JANET ARNOLD

Patterns of Fashion 3: The cut and construction of clothes for men and women c. 1560-1620

Macmillan 1985

The third volume in Janet Arnold’s groundbreaking series, concentrates on the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Significantly, too, this is the first of Arnold’s books to include patterns for men’s clothing. As well as Janet Arnold’s meticulous scale patterns for these remarkable garments, the book includes 300 black and white photographs ranging from portraits of the period to details of articles of clothing. 56 patterns.

JANET ARNOLD, JENNY TIRAMANI & SANTINA M. LEVEY

Patterns of Fashion 4: The cut and construction of linen shirts, smocks, neckwear, headwear and accessories for men and women c. 1540-1660

Macmillan 2008

A book dedicated to the linen clothes that covered the body from the skin outwards. It contains 420 full colour portraits and photographs of details of garments in the explanatory section as well as scale patterns for linen clothing ranging from men’s shirts and women’s smocks, ruffs and bands to boot-hose and children’s stomachers. An invaluable guide to both the history and the recreation of these wonderful garments. 85 patterns.

JANET ARNOLD

A Handbook of Costume

Macmillan 1973

A guide to the primary sources for costume study intended for everyone who is interested in costume, whether amateur or professional, teacher or student. It is an authoritative guide to the primary sources for costume study, among them painting, sculpture, tapestry, drawings, engravings, photographs and film, outlining some of the problems involved in their use. It explains how evidence can be pieced together from literary and archive sources and a fascinating section explains how costume can be dated accurately and subsequent alterations – for ordinary wear or for fancy dress – detected through details of cut and construction techniques.

JANET ARNOLD

Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d

Maney and Son Ltd Leeds 1988

A study of the clothes worn by Queen Elizabeth I, based on portraits, warrants for the Wardrobe of Robes, and other surviving material. Includes full transcriptions of the inventories of the Wardrobe of Robes prepared in 1600, preserved in the British Library, Public Records Office, London, and the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC. Illustrated with 460 B&W photographs the book is an invaluable reference work for students of the history of dress and embroidery, for social historians, for art historians working in the filed of portraiture, and for those who recreate sixteenth-century fashions for pageants, dance, historic re-enactments, theatre, film and television.

SANTINA M. LEVEY

Lace: A History

Maney & Son 1990

The book covers the period from the early sixteenth century to the First World War and is arranged chronologically to accommodate the underlying changes in fashionable dress and the lace worn with it, but, within each chapter, the different types of lace are dealt with one by one. Greatest attention is given to the leading fashion laces but less important laces are also described; these range from simple domestic trimmings and cheap copies worn lower down the social scale, to ‘fossilized’ versions of once fashionable laces which continued to be made for peasant communities and for some conservative societies in the New World. The distinguishing technical features of each lace are described and particular attention is given to the close copies of historical lace that were made in the late nineteenth century.

SANTINA M. LEVEY & JOANNA HASHAGEN

Fine & Fashionable: Lace from the Blackborne Collection

The Bowes Museum 2006

A guide to the riches of the Blackborne collection recently donated to the Museum. Beginning with an introduction to the firm of A. Blackborne & Co, 19th century lace dealers, it covers the outstanding collection from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Many pieces will be displayed in the new permanent Textile & Dress Gallery due to open late 2008. This is not just a book for the lace enthusiast, but a book which allows the innocent and perhaps rather uneducated eye to be drawn into the luxurious world of lace, to the beauty and skill behind these items of portable property which were at the centre of the world of fashion.

SANTINA M. LEVEY

The Embroideries at Hardwick Hall: a catalogue

National Trust 2007

The Embroideries at Hardwick Hall is the first ever catalogue of one of the most important collections of embroidery anywhere in the world. More than 200 spectacular and rare objects from the late sixteenth century are discussed in terms of their design, matrerials and wider significance in the fields of both social and artistic history. All are illustrated by specially commissioned photography.