The following books should get you started. Also note, that we have many books in the library that look at fashion by decade. You can search the catalog for your decade or just try using the subject: clothing and dress united states history.
If you'd like to browse, most of our materials that cover fashion history are located in the GT section (in oversize, stacks, and reference). In particular, the GT500 - GT900 area has good coverage of the history of dress/fashion.
20,000 years of fashion by 
The pictorial encyclopedia of fashion by 
The visual history of costume by 
Clothing through American history: the federal era through Antebellum; 1786-1860 by 
Survey of historic costume: a history of Western dress by 
Clothing through American history: The Civil War through the Gilded Age, 1861-1899 by 
400 Years of Fashion by 
Cut of women's clothes: 1600-1930 by Getting started can be the most difficult part! First, stop and write down all of the information you know about your garment. Include information such as:
You can use the Woodbury library catalog to search for books, articles, and videos. Try searching by designer, type of garment, or fabric; or just try searching for clothing history, costume history, or clothing and dress history. You can also search by time period by searching for fashion, dress, costume, or clothing and adding a time period like "1910" as an additional search term.
Many of the books spotlighted on this page will be good resources to get you started. They may also contain bibliographies that will lead you to further sources to use.
You may also wish to try some of our databases, described below.
What do you do if a book you want is not available at Woodbury?