Research

In todays session we found out a wide range of ways to find research from both Primary and Secondary sources. Establishing the different between both research sources is essential when making a historical accurate costume, since secondary sources are others interpretations of the costumes from the past and won’t always be accurate. Comparing your primary and secondary sources can help you decided on whether the secondary source is a valid one.

Primary sources are things made in that time and secondary are other reproductions and interpretations of that item.

The following is an example of this is:

Here is a primary source, a 1870s fashion plates.

This image can be found at https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281756520408144753/

Here is a reproduction of the pink dress seen on the fashion plates. The dress shows similar frill decoration, silhouette and fabric type to the one seen above. By comparing this dress with the fashion plate I know that this is a good sources to use in my research.

This images is from http://www.koshka-the-cat.com/pink_ballgown.html and is made by the costumer Katherine C-G.

You can visit her blog at http://koshka-the-cat.blogspot.co.uk/

Finding primary research sources is a lot simpler for 1800s and after since a lot of the original clothing can be found on the internet and in museums. But before this time not as much costumes have survived and cameras hadn’t been invented, so in order to find out what they were wearing; fashion plates and portraits can be looked at. These are really good primary source because they were created by someone who was looking at the garment. Sculptures, brass rubbings and stain glass can also be good primary sources.  These primary sources can be compared to secondary by looking at the shape and design, if they are a lot of similarities the secondary source is usually a good source to look at.Looking at books is a really good source of information because the information they contain is usually correct.