The Dress Detective: A Practical Guide to Object-Based Research in Fashion

The Dress Detective is the first practical guide to analysing fashion objects, clearly demonstrating how their close analysis can enhance and enrich interdisciplinary research. This accessible book provides readers with the tools to uncover the hidden stories in garments, setting out a carefully developed research methodology specific to dress, and providing easy to use checklists that guide the reader through the process.

Beautifully illustrated, the book contains seven case studies of fashionable Western garments – ranging from an 1820s coat to a 2004 Kenzo jacket – that articulate the methodological framework for the process, illustrate the use of the checklists, and show how evidence from the garment itself can be used to corroborate theories of dress or fashion.

This book outlines a skillset that has, until now, typically been passed on informally. Written in plain language, this book will give any budding fashion historian, curator or researcher the knowledge and confidence to analyse the material in front of them effectively.

Ingrid Mida is a dress historian and curator. Responsible for the revival of the Ryerson Fashion Research Collection in Canada, Mida has written for various publications including Dress, Clothing Cultures, Costume Journal, Fashion Projects, Modeconnect, Worn, and Worn Through.

Alexandra Kim is a dress historian and museum professional. Kim has worked at the Ashmolean, Chertsey Museum, and Buckinghamshire County Museum and was most recently a curator at Kensington Palace, UK. She now combines research and writing with her work as an editor of Costume, the journal of the UK Costume Society.