Skip to Main Content
site header image

Fashion: Researching fashion & trend forecasting

Information about Library and Internet resources for fashion students.

Fashion theory

Subject Headings

Use subject headings from the Library catalogue to find information on different aspects of fashion.

You can search for companies, or try these key terms clothing industry, fashion merchandising, marketing, internet marketing, digital marketing, consumer behavior, 20th century fashion, designers

Researching fashion at the State Library of VIc

A guide to researching Australian and international fashion, designs, designers, industries, textiles and fabrics, patterns, tailoring, dressmaking, uniforms, accessories, and body art using the resources of the State Library of Victoria

guides.slv.vic.gov.au/fashion/research

Referencing your work

Most assignments require you to list the resources you have used for researching a topic and every item used, regardless of format, must be acknowledged. 

Referencing libguide from the library

https://libguides.bhtafe.edu.au/harvard

This includes referencing from social media, images etc

 

Referencing libguide from Melbourne University  library

https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite

 

Research fashion

Everyone can google, but do you know what adding an asterisk to a search does? Or why/how to find the size of a garment in picture research? Make the most out of your online investigations with Amanda Sikarskie's top 5 tips - taken from her book Digital Research Methods in Fashion and Textile Studies.

DISCOVERY CATALOGUE

The library catalogue is Discovery

Use the catalogue to search simultaneously for books in the library, search across multiple databases, ebook collections, and journal databases.

 Discovery will link you to full text resources, ebooks and streaming videos.

Discovery catalogue and database search tips

Basic search: author/title/keyword
The catalogue searches for books on our shelves, eBooks, and some databases for articles related to your search terms.
Most recently published appears first.
You can narrow your search by using the options on the left hand side – limit to full text, catalogue only, publication date, geographical region


Advanced search:  narrow your search 

This allows you to select more search options –search for a particular journal, subject terms

Some tips:
Use a fashion dictionary or history of fashion book to assist you find search terms. 


Use quotation marks to search for a phrase, or words which appear together. Eg. "MET GALA"
Use ? to match a single character. Eg  globali?ation will match  globalisation and  globalization
Use # to match one or no character. Eg colo#r will match color and colour
Use * to match different word endings.  Eg Textile* will match textile and textiles, blog* will find blog, blogs, bloggers and blogging


To locate resources on designers search by name: Christian Dior    Alexander McQueen    Coco Chanel


Use AND/OR/NOT
Eg  Textile* AND innovation, fashion AND history, fashion AND stylists
Add keywords such as 70s OR 1970s, 18th, 19th, .or country or region such as Europe, Australia
Fashion AND Australia       fashion AND (1970s OR 70s OR seventies)
“Supply chain” OR “business logistics” AND fashion


Look at your results to find subject terms. Eg Fashion writing, advertising –fashion, fashion communication, visual communication