I have decided that my new pet project will be to archive and publicly share the fashion plates from 19th century Peterson's Magazines. This idea was born from my frustration over the fact that literally thousands of fashion plates exist from the Victorian era, but so few of them are readily available for study. A few other websites have also posted fashion plates online, but some sites just pick and choose a few of the nicer color plates and engravings to post, and others charge a fee to be able to see the images at all. Both of these decisions are entirely understandable since it takes so much time and money to scan and host the images, but I would like to do what I can to share even more images with costumers who are interested in this area.
For my archives, I am including all of the women's dresses, head dresses, undergarments and some of the more interesting accessories from these issues. Looser coats or mantles and children's costumes (except for some teenage fashions) have been omitted, but if there is a great interest in these areas, I may go back and add them at a later date.
These images are over 100 years old and no longer covered by copyright laws. They are part of the public domain, and you are free to use them in any way that you wish. However, it would be very nice if you included a link or reference as to where you found the images so that others can enjoy this resource as well.
There is also a wealth of written information that goes along with these fashion plates, so if you are interested in a particular illustration and want to know what the original text said, I would be happy to send this to you for a small fee to pay for my time and to help support this project. For $2, I will type up the description and send a high-resolution scan with backing paper behind the print to eliminate bleed-throughs. Feel free to email me for more information.
The Peterson's books average about $50 per issue, and since I am hoping to eventually post a copy from every year that I can get my hands on, you can see that this will be a fairly expensive hobby. The books that I have bought so far have been made possible by gifts from a few wonderful friends and family members who have helped me get this started. And although they have asked to remain anonymous, I just wanted to thank these people again for all of their generosity!
In addition to the bound Peterson's books, I have also started accumulating a variety of single issue magazines from the Victorian and Edwardian periods. I have decided to make a seperate gallery to share these assorted issues as well. I have a Demorest's, a few Harpers Bazars', a few Delineators, and a New Idea pattern catalog that I plan on webbing when I get the chance. I also have some scans that are being sent in by a wonderful person who has taken the time to share her collection with us. If you have some fashion magazines that you would like to be archived on this site, please feel free to send me an email! We'd love to see them!