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Frequently Asked Questions about Dressing Up Info
This site is brand new, and therefore hasn't had a chance to actually accumulate
frequently asked questions. But, in anticipation, we will use the FAQ format
anyway, and add to it as questions come up.
Q: What is the purpose of this site, why these decades in history?
A: There are many men (and women who make clothes for men) who would like to
research men's costume, but there are few good books on the subject. However,
there are many books on costume that are full of women's clothes, and have only
one or two male figures. If all of these bits of artwork showing male figures
are collected here, in one place, it will be as good as having a book on the
subject. The mid-19th century was chosen to start with because, since CA was
settled then, there are many local organizations and events looking to
reconstruct and display this time in history.
Q: Where did the pictures come from?
A: In the San Francisco Bay area, there is a group of friends who frequent
Victorian balls and make costumes for such; over the years we have each
collected antique prints and/or real antique garments, and these have been
photographed or scanned to go on the site. Also occasionally when a costume book
is intended as a women's reference, but there happens to be one man in it, we
have scanned him in and added him too. Friends have (and will) collect from
friends and pass things in, so that the site can grow.
Q: How can I send you one of my pictures?
A: Please send an email to dressingupinfo at yahoo, and describe what you have. We
are looking for original source material, so please no pictures of reproduction
costumes, no matter how good, nor redrawings of period styles. Scans of fashion
magazine pages or tailoring ads are ideal, as are photographs of real antique
garments that show their seams.
Q: I have a book with tons of men's costumes. Why don't I see any of those pictures
here?
A: We are very careful to respect books' content and their copyrights. If a museum
publishes a book with photographs of their costume collection, all those photos
are copyright to the museum so we don't want to use them. Or, when someone has
written a book specifically on men's costume, and gone through the trouble of
collecting many pictures and lablelling them, we are not going to just swipe
them all. That would be rude and disrespectful, not to mention illegal. So books
on men's costume we leave entirely alone. We would rather focus on tracking down
stray drawings from odd sources; for example, a book on the history of medicine
might have a picture of a Victorian doctor. The costume is incindental to the
purpose of the author but very useful for us, so the author is likely to let us
borrow it. If anyone ever finds that a photo of your garment or a scan of your
image has found its way here without your permission, you are welcome to email
us, dressingupinfo at yahoo, and we will take it down.
Q: What books are these, that have more than a few good pictures for men?
A: Let's start a bibliography/further reading list for you, and watch that grow
too:
- A History of Men's Fashion, Farid Chenoune, isbn 2-08013-536-8
- The Cut of Men's Clothes, Norah Waugh, isbn 0-87830-025-2
- Four Hundred Years of Fashion, Victoria and Albert Museum, isbn 1-85177-116-6
- L'Album, Musee de la Mode & du Textile, isbn 2-7118-3475-1 (good 1700s, not much 1800s)
- 20,000 Years of Fashion, Francois Boucher, isbn 0-8109-1693-2
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