Fashion at the Library | Topics | Library of Congress

Fashion at the Library | Topics | Library of Congress
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Fashion at the Library
The Threads that Connect Us
“Fashion at the Library of Congress: The Threads that Connect Us” draws inspiration from the Library’s collections, celebrating American history and culture through fashion and style. Throughout 2026, the Library will hold in person and online events exploring the threads that connect all Americans to the Library of Congress through the stories we wear.
Upcoming Events
Fashion at the Library: "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel" Documentary & Conversation
2026-05-14
A screening of Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011) followed by a conversation with members of the Vreeland family about her influence on fashion, publishing, and visual culture in American life. Note: the film is rated PG-13 (brief nudity).
Fashion at the Library: Small Clothes, Big Stories: Fashion Dolls and the American Story
2026-05-21
A celebration and discussion of fashion dolls, clothing, and their generational role in educating children about American history.  The conversation, which will include a good dose of nostalgia, will examine fashion dolls and their clothing as storytelling tools, exploring how style, design, and dress have shaped narratives and perceptions of American history and culture.
Explore the Collections
Fashion weaves through every division of the Library of Congress, reflecting the universal American experience, from 19th-century sewing patterns in the General Collections, to copyright deposits, to classic costume sketches in the Music Division, and to photographs from Vogue’s 100th anniversary in Prints and Photographs. We invite you to explore Fashion items in the Library of Congress digital collections, blogs, videos, research guides, and more.
Look Collection
Federal Theatre Project, 1935 to 1939
Carpenter Collection
Exhibitions
The Gibson Girl’s America: Drawings by Charles Dana Gibson
Grand Illusion: The Art of Theatrical Design
Coast to Coast: The Federal Theatre Project, 1935-1939
Featured Videos
Clothing as Currency: Women and Property after the Revolution
Shopping All the Way to the Woods with Rachel Gross
The Preservation and Presence of Textiles in Library and Museum Collections
Tim Gunn on Disco Fashion
Publicity, Celebrity, Fashion: Photographing Edna St. Vincent Millay
Eleanor Lambert: Still Here
2022 National Book Festival: Black Girls Sew with Hekima Hapa and Lesley Ware
Diane von Furstenberg: National Book Festival 2021
The Will to Adorn: Reflections on African American Identity and the Aesthetics of Dress
African American Dollmaking and Puppetry: Renegotiating Identity, Restoring Community
The Origins of Traditional Palestinian Costumes & Embroidery
Designing "The Wiz"
Research Guides
American Women: Resources from the General Collections
The General Collections of the Library of Congress constitute most of the books and bound periodicals published since 1800. Part of the American Women series, this research guide highlights primary and secondary sources about American women's history.
Art Topics and Resources in the Manuscript Collections at the Library of Congress
Primary sources for research can be found in personal papers, official documents, and written accounts. This guide focuses on various art topics including photography, sculpture, fashion, and design.
Amelia Bloomer: Topics in Chronicling America
An early suffragist and social activist, Bloomer is best known for her work to change women’s clothing styles. This guide provides access to materials related to “Amelia Bloomer” in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.
Bicycle Fashion (1887-1907): Topics in Chronicling America
In the late 19th century, women have caught onto the bicycle fad and fashion designers are accomodating. This guide provides access to materials related to "Bicycle Fashion" in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.
Paul Poiret: Topics in Chronicling America
Paul Poiret became an influential couturier in the early 1900s and is revered as the "King of Fashion." This guide provides access to materials related to "Paul Poiret" in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.
Clothing, Costume, and Fashion: A Guide to Resources
This guide compiles resources about clothing and dress from ancient eras to the current day, including print materials, subscription databases, and external websites.
Fashion Industry: A Resource Guide
Resources for those studying the business aspects of the fashion and apparel industry.
French Women & Feminists in History: A Resource Guide
An overview of French women in history and the evolution of the French feminist movement. It includes English and French-language resources, primary sources and covers the Middle Ages, Witch Trials, Ancien Régime, Revolutionary and Modern eras in France.
Organized Labor Since the 19th Century: A Research Guide
This guide offers resources on the history of organized labor and labor unions in the United States.
Interconnecting Worlds: Weaving Community Narratives, Andean Histories & the Library’s Collections
This guide facilitates research about Andean peoples, cultures, and knowledges. It also connects Library of Congress collections to the Quechua language, storytelling & literature, visual arts, and music.
Blog Posts
VHP WWI Nurses and Fashion Savvy Influence
The following is a guest blog post by Veterans History Project (VHP) staff member Candace Milburn. Working as a Processing Technician for the Veterans History Project allows me to gain and capture a plethora of knowledge concerning American wars and first-hand veteran experiences.  A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to step outside of …
The Parachute Dresses of World War II: A Story of Resilience, Romance and Resourcefulness
This post recounts three stories of formal dresses that were made out of World War II silk parachutes. In two cases, they were wedding dresses, meaning that silk once intended for war had been transformed into a symbol of new beginnings. These stories are striking reminders that history isn’t just found in archives or interviews—it’s stitched into uniforms, tucked into footlockers and woven into parachute silk transformed into wedding gowns. These everyday artifacts speak volumes, capturing emotion, memory and meaning in ways words sometimes cannot. The stories come from the collections of the Veterans History Project.
Chronicling American Fashion: May Manton’s Turn of the Century Designs
If you were to browse newspapers around the turn of the 20th century, you might see May Manton’s (Jessie Swirles Bladworth) fashion commentary or easily accessible sewing patterns. Much of the fashion icon’s advice can be found in the historic newspapers in Chronicling America. Read more about it!
Knit your bit!
As part of the effort for World War I, the Women’s Bureau of the American Red Cross Association organized a nationwide knitting campaign to support soldiers overseas by keeping them warm with handmade garments. Many U.S. newspapers published articles to rally support for these campaigns and provide instructions for creating and shipping the garments. Read more about it!
Eleanor Lambert–Empress of Seventh Avenue
On Thursday February 2, 2012 the Library hosted a lecture with fashion historian John A. Tiffany who discussed his book, Eleanor Lambert: Still Here (Pointed Leaf Press, c2011). Eleanor Lambert, a publicist, changed fashion history and put America on the map in a world dominated by European designers.
First Ladies of Fashion
The intersetion of fashion an politics meets at the First Ladies.
Updated Beauty & Fashion Guides
This is a second post about updates for Business Reference guides, and this post features guides for those studying the fashion industry  and beauty business. I hope that both of them can help those doing research on the current state of the industry, but both also include resources for those wanting to look at the …
African American Fashion Designers – from the Lincolns to the Kennedys and Beyond
African Americans have left their mark in fashion and can include two first ladies as clients.
By Women and For Women
Ida Rosenthal and Sara Little Turnbull share a connection. If you want to know who these women are and what their connection is, read our Inside Adams blog post.
Garfinckel’s Department Store and Julius Garfinkel
Garfinckel’s was a prominent department store chain that catered to elite consumers, including government leaders and their wives, and carved out a high-end retail niche in Washington, DC for 85 years.
From the Dry Goods Economist 1909: Corsets & Undergarments
This is the third post in our series about the Dry Goods Economist, and focuses on undergarments and corsets.
From the Dry Goods Economist 1909: Fashion & Beauty
This is the second in a series of posts about the “Dry Goods Economist” a trade publication for those in the business dry goods business and focus on the fashion and beauty content.
Millinery as a Top Industry for Women
A brief post for those interested in the history of the hat making industry with a cameo from Lilly Daché.
Business Collections Orientation March 25: The Clothing and Fashion Industry
The Library of Congress Business Section invites you to a 30-minute webinar at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25. The session will use examples from the business collections on the clothing and fashion industry.
Fiercely Fashionable: Tobé Coller Davis, Eleanor Lambert, and Virginia Pope
The 20th century saw three women, Tobé Coller Davis, Eleanor Lambert, and Virginia Pope, making a mark on American fashion.
The Style Stakes: How the Kentucky Derby Shaped American Fashion, April 23 Special Event
On April 23, 2026 the Library of Congress is bringing the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby to D.C. with an evening program filled with Derby-themed activities, collection displays, and a conversation with Derby experts about fashion, culture and history of one the most iconic sporting events in the U.S.
Italian Fashion Periodicals and Nation-building in the 19th Century
(The following is a post by Lucia Wolf, reference librarian for Italy, European Division.) Bella figura in Italian literally means “beautiful appearance.” The term is used worldwide to define the essence of Italian style, and refers to Italians’ ability to infuse their daily lives with style and beauty, combined with their natural sense of pleasure …
Asia, Texts, and Textiles at the Library of Congress, Part I: An Urdu Women’s Magazine from during Partition
This piece, which is the first of a two-part blog on textiles and Asia, examines the Urdu women’s magazine “Jauhar-i nisvān̲” from the South Asian Rare Book Collection and what can be gleaned from the magazine about the importance of embroidery to women refugees during the 1947 Partition of South Asia.
Asia, Texts, and Textiles at the Library of Congress, Part II: Hmong Story Cloths
This piece, which is the second part of a two-part series on textiles and Asia, looks at story cloths in the context of the Hmong exodus from Laos at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
What Do I Wear to Court?: Courtroom Appearance and Decorum Standards
A research guide to courtroom attire for lawyers and litigants
From the Serial Set: In Diplomatic Fashion
Every so often, the Digital Resources Division comes across a unique subject of debate. Most recently, the question of “the uniform or costume of persons in the diplomatic or consular service” caught our attention. (S. Exec. Doc. No. 31, 36th Cong., 1st Sess., at 1 (1860) reprinted in Serial Set Vol. 1031.) In an 1860 …
Smuggling French Hats into 17th Century Spain: Worth a Fight?
Intern Samantha Mendoza discusses the Brief on behalf Captain José Figueres versus Captain Julio Grondona, concerning the seizure of Grondona's vessel
17th Century Wardrobe Regulation in the Kingdom of Spain
Intern Francesca Marquez discusses 17th century wardrobe regulations in the Kingdom of Spain
The Hands that Spun the Revolution
A brief history of how the promotion of homespun clothing in the American colonies traces its origin to resistance on the part of colonists to several British laws that required the taxation of imported goods.
What Not to Wear: Clothing Rationing During World War II
A post on clothing rationing during World War II as materials were prioritized for the war.
StoryMaps
Threads and Words
This StoryMap will explore the variety of materials at the Library of Congress that are textile-based or textile-adjacent, including items bound and formed by cloth as well as primary materials that inform research into textiles such as pattern books and images depicting textiles.
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