How to begin? Abruptly, apparently.
I know a lot about clothes--the psychology, the sociology, the history, the construction. I know more than just about anyone I know, and that's being honest and not arrogant. I've never taken a class in costuming or clothing history but I seem to have a profound affinity for the subject. I can retain information about clothing like nobody's business (example: I know that the metal eyelet wasn't used on corsets until 1828), I can reason out a history of suspenders based on what I've read, and I can tell you all about calf-padding and bust improvers. At one time in my life, I had to shut up about clothing around Usurper because she insisted to the point of ridiculousness that she was right about everything and I didn't have the energy to argue with her. I don't know everything and I really need to get back into research-mode, but here is just a partial list, from memory with the help of Amazon, of books (good and bad) I've read or am familiar with:
The Encyclopedia of World Costume
The Corset: A Cultural History
In a Glamorous Fashion: The Golden Years of Hollywood Costume Design
Screen Style: Fashion and Femininity in 1930s Hollywood
Hollywood and History
The Language of Clothes
The Social Psychology of Clothing
What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America
Women's Wardrobe (Chic Simple)
Men's Wardrobe (Chic Simple)
Chic Simple Dress Smart for Women: Wardrobes That Win in the Workplace
Dress For Success
Color Me Beautiful
Chic Simple What Should I Wear?: Dressing For Occasions
Work Clothes (Chic Simple): Casual Dress for Serious Work
Chic Simple Dress Smart Men: Wardrobes That Win in the New Workplace
Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion
Sex and Suits: The Evolution of Modern Dress
How to be a Gentleman
How to be a Lady
Wardrobe Strategies for Women (12 volumes)
The Dress Doctor
The Universe of Fashion (not all of them, but several in the series)
Edith Head's Hollywood
Chromophobia
European Costume: 4000 Years of Fashion
Haute Couture
Costume of the Western World
20000 Years of Fashion
Fashions of a Decade (probably all of them)
The Art of Haute Couture
Historical Fashion in Detail
19th Century Fashion in Detail
Fashion in Detail: From the 17th and 18th Centuries
Costume in Detail: 1730-1930
High Fashion Sewing Secrets From the World's Best Designers
100 Years of Fashion Illustration
Style is Not a Size
50 Years of Fashion: New Look to Now
The Fashion Book
Chanel (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications)
Couture Sewing Techniques
Fitting and Pattern Alteration (I helped with the second edition of this)
The Complete History of Costume and Fashion: From Ancient Egypt to the Present Day
Costume and Fashion: A Concise History
History of 20th Century Fashion
Fashion, the Mirror of History
The History of Underclothes
I Do: 100 Years of Wedding Fashion
Survey of Historic Costume: A History of Western Dress
Patterns of Fashion I and II
The Concise History of Costume and Fashion
Victorian and Edwardian Fashion from "La Mode Illustree"
Fashion and its Social Agendas: Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing
Fashion Through the Ages
History of Men's Costume
Victorian and Edwardian Fashion: A Photographic Survey
English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century: A Comprehensive Guide with 1117 Illustrations
Vanity Rules: History of American Fashion and Beauty
As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising
Advertising to the American Woman
After a Fashion: How to Reproduce, Restore, and Wear Vintage Styles
The Costume Timeline: 5000 Years of Fashion History
Racinet's The Complete Costume History
Art and Fashion: The Impact of Art on Fashion and Fashion on Art
Fashion (A Crash Course)
Mirror, Mirror: A Social History of Fashion
The Medieval World
The Fine Art of Fashion: An Illustrated History
History of Fashion: A Visual Survey of Costume From Ancient Times
The Button Book
Shoes: A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers and More
Handbags: The Power of the Purse
Hats
The Language of Fashion
The Visual History of Costume
The End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Forever
The Evolution of Fashion: Pattern and Cut From 1066 to 1930
Everyday Fashions. . . As Pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs (series)
Fashion in Costume 1200 to 1980
History of Costume and Fashion
Fashioning the Bourgeoisie
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew
The Fashion Sourcebooks Series by John Peacock
The Culture of Clothing: Dress and Fashion in the Ancien Regime
The Culture of Fashion: A New History of Fashionable Dress
Art Deco Fashion
Dress Code: The Hidden Meaning of Women's Clothes
The Red Dress
Chronicle of Western Fashion
Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion (3 volumes I wish I had)
The Century of Hats: Headturning Styles of the Twentieth Century
Corsets and Crinolines
Inventing Beauty: A History of the Innovations That Have Made Us Beautiful
Fabulous Fit
The History of Hair: Fashion and Fantasy Down the Ages
Looking Good: A Comprehensive Guide to Wardrobe Planning, Color & Personal Style Development
Inside Out: A Brief History of Underwear
World Textiles: A Concise History
Quite honestly, I don't think this is all I've read, and I've read approximately 95% of this list. I'd have to look at the bibliographies of the papers I've written about clothing to get a more comprehensive list. I know I've read more but I can't remember titles right now.
Now, after going over that, do I really need to PROVE I know what I'm talking about? I started reading about clothes when I was 12, I went through an intense image management training when I was 27 (and had already read more on the subject that anyone else in my class), my senior thesis was all about the last 200 years of women's clothing and how our messed-up views of that have affected our current unrealistic physical ideal. . . and people still don't believe I know my stuff. Do I have to get a PhD to prove it? On the other hand, I don't think I have to prove anything. I know what I know and that's all there is to it. I'm perfectly willing to admit when I'm wrong, but so far very few people have "outsmarted" me when it comes to clothes.
It's annoying.
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