THEA 3541: Theatre Costume Design

This collection contains images of hundreds of opera and ballet costumes created for productions at London's Royal Opera House.

This collection from the Metropolitan Museum of Art contains digitized fashion plates from the Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library. The plates feature men's, women's, and children's fashion and date between 1700 and 1955. The original items are contained in more than one hundred binders and boxes organized by date and/or topic.

The Library of Congress has an extensive collection of digitized photos, prints, and drawings covering the 1800s, 1900s, and 2000s (with some limited older content).

LIFE Magazine was best known for its extensive photo essays about contemporary culture, arts, politics, and more. The archive contains images created between 1860 and 1971.

The Motley Collection features costume designs created by Margaret Harris, Sophia Harris, and Elizabeth Montgomery between 1932 and 1976. These women designed costumes for the major theatres and opera houses in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Among the many images in the New York Public Library's digital collections are historic costumes from theatrical productions, musicals, and operas.

Pinterest is a fast way to comb through the internet for historical costume references, pattern making, sewing, and other topics.

This international organization publishes regular articles about topics in contemporary and historic clothing. They also collect and share resources for costumers.