Fashion History Plays Role in Costume Design and Collection

By Karen Lawson
Fashion Design School Review Columnist

A Civil War reenactment or Victorian tea would not be complete without period costumes and accessories. People who participate in historical reenactments demand historically accurate costumes, props, and accessories. If you are interested in fashion and history, your fashion design education can include courses in the history of fashion.

Fashion Styles Mark Historical and Cultural Trends

Study of the humanities teaches us that artistic and cultural trends are connected to what’s going on in history. Teenagers wearing today’s revealing fashion trends may laugh at the many layers of lingerie worn by their peers 150 years ago, but many people are intrigued by capturing the fashion of more formal times.

If you are one of them, you might consider focusing your fashion education on the history of fashion. As an aspiring historical fashion specialist, you’ll take courses in textile manufacture and design, and learn how fashion design and manufacture played significant roles in history.

Think of the one known photograph of Emily Dickinson wearing a flowing white dress with a ribbon at her neck. What about stodgy Victorian fashions, or the lavish bejeweled capes and crowns worn by European royalty? Of course, modern fashion has had its moments, too. Poodle skirt to mini skirt, Beatle boots, to bell bottoms, platform shoes, leg warmers…

Your study of fashion history can enhance your understanding of what drives fashion, and of historical eras significant to fashion. What influences fashion? Why do fashion trends come and go, and come back again?

Fashion Careers in Entertainment, Costuming, and Wardrobe Collecting

Fashion historians often work in the entertainment industry. They design historically accurate costumes for visual media, and may consult with production staff to ensure accurate costuming and wardrobe styling. Of course fashion extends beyond clothes, and you can also study historical trends in fields such as interior design. Your fashion design education can help you turn your passion for fashion history into a career.

Sources:

All Dressed Up
Historical Wardrobe

About the Author

Karen Lawson is a freelance writer whose interests include topics in higher education and the humanities. She holds an MA degree in English from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Posted on May 11, 2007 at 03:10 PM