Have you ever wondered how you can make a pattern? How to combine colours to get that wow ‘fashionista’ look? What is the best textile for the perfect dress, coat or scarf? Well then, wonder no more! The Fairchild Books Library database will take you on an A-to-Z journey where you can find all the answers to your questions and more.
State Library Victoria members can access hundreds of databases from home (if your home is in Victoria). That’s millions of articles, magazines, archives, ebooks, videos, songs, audiobooks and more, available through the catalogue anytime. We’re taking a closer look at new and/or interesting databases as well as hidden gems from our collections. Read on for top picks and tips from Librarians.
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Today we’re looking at the Fairchild Books Library database.
Fashion patterns can be plotted on various papers before the final production pattern is made. In Sourcing and Selecting Textiles for Fashion, E Cadigan, 2014, pp 154-173
What makes this database so great?
The Fairchild Books Library database allows you to read hundreds of books, with subjects sorted in alphabetical order. So if you want to look up everything about Fashion just click on F, or for everything about Patterns click on P, and so on.
Also, you will only be offered book chapters that are relevant to your topic of interest. This is really helpful as you don’t need to scroll through an eBook or even the contents table, you will be taken to the chapters that you need with just one click. You can go straight to chapters about Construction, Sustainability and ethics, Marketing, Advertising and promotion and more.
Fashion marketing and communication, in The Fundamentals of Fashion Management, S Dillon, 2018, pp 110-137
The database has some interesting chapters about customer behaviour that investigate how people perceive fashion, what draws them to it and what it means to the individual. Fashion can make people fit in whilst allowing them to be a bit different. 1. It’s a paradox that works.
Customer behavior, in Retailing Principles: Global, Multichannel, and Managerial Viewpoints, LG Poloian, 2003, pp 93–124
If you wish to have a list of all the books in this database, you can download it on your device as an Excel worksheet.
Many titles contain STUDIO content for fashion students. STUDIO content extends the textbook experience by helping students learn more effectively with online features including:
- self-assessment quizzes with scored results
- vocabulary and image flashcards with definitions and identifications
- videos
- case studies
- timelines
- extra projects and activities
- downloadable files
All content is peer-reviewed by industry and academic experts, ensuring the sources are reliable and authoritative.
The database has also some helpful accessibility features. It supports screen readers; the content is HTML, which makes it easy to resize and reflow; and the video files have synchronised transcripts and closed captions.
Collection highlights
The Survey of Historic Costume: Throughout the Ages timeline is simply beautiful. It takes you from the ancient world to 21st century with timelines of fashion and textiles, decorative and fine arts, economics and trade, politics and conflicts, religion and society, technology and ideas. You can jump from the Renaissance to the 19th century and back to Baroque or Rococo and learn a more about major events, how people used to live and, most importantly, how they used to dress.
Only rarely does Greek art show colours of costumes. Here, a woman wearing a gold-coloured Ionic chiton has a lavender chlamydon over her shoulder. (The Bothmer Purchase Fund, Fletch Fund, and Rogers Fund, 1979. Metropolitan Museum of Art) In Survey of Historic Costume, P G Tortora and S B Marcketti, 2021, pp 39-65
This timeline shows us how important fashion has been to people throughout the ages. It is somehow part of our DNA to try and look nice: feeling the urge to buy those shoes or try on that dress. There is more information available in the chapters about customer research. Discover the fascinating strategies that help us understand what is selling…and, more importantly, what is not and why? 2
Costume made for the wedding of Sir Thomas Isham in 1681. Men’s outer coats had lengthened to the extent that they hid the knee-breeches beneath. (V&A Images, London/Art Resource, NY) In Survey of Historic Costume, P G Tortora and S B Marcketti, 2021, pp 168–190
We hope you enjoy exploring the Fairchild Books Library database.
We always welcome your recommendations for database trials — let us know what you’d like to see. Check out our latest databases on trial, and see a full list of all new and trial databases, by visiting our A-Z Databases page.
Have a research query or questions on how to use our online collections? Ask a Librarian.
Further reading
For more in the suite of databases from Bloomsbury Fashion Central, browse:
- Bloomsbury Digital Fashion Masterclass
- Bloomsbury Dress and Costume Library
- Bloomsbury Historic Dress in Detail
- Berg Fashion Library
More to explore
- Read our State Library research guide on Fashion
- Learn more about the Library’s digitised fashion journals, in Melbourne’s Marvellous Madame Weigel
