History & culture

A silhouette in which the waist seam of a dress sits at or below the hip rather than the natural waistline, characteristic of the loose, boyish flapper styles of the 1920s.

British designer and Savile Row-trained tailor known for dramatic, technically complex runway shows and precise tailoring, who led his own label from 1992 and Givenchy from 1996 to 2001.

Cotton fabric with bold, wax-resist-dyed patterns, industrially produced in Europe from the 19th century in imitation of Indonesian batik and adopted as a distinctive West African fashion textile.

A Vietnamese national dress consisting of a long, fitted tunic with side slits worn over loose trousers, developed in its modern form during the 1930s from earlier court dress.

A wax-resist dyeing technique in which molten wax is applied to fabric to block dye from certain areas, producing intricate patterns; long practiced in Indonesia, especially Java, and recognized by UNESCO in 2009.

A method of making a garment, typically a suit, individually from a unique pattern drafted to one client's measurements, involving multiple fittings and largely hand-sewn construction.

Loose trousers gathered at the ankle, worn under a shorter skirt and popularized by Amelia Bloomer in the 1850s as a practical, controversial alternative to restrictive Victorian dress.

German pattern and fashion magazine founded by Aenne Burda in 1950, distinctive for printing many patterns overlapping on shared sheets; it expanded into an international sewing brand and website.

A framework or padding worn under a skirt to add fullness and projection at the back, fashionable in two main phases during the 1870s and again in the mid-1880s.

A stitch formed by looping thread through a previous loop in a continuous chain; quick to sew but prone to unraveling if pulled from the end, it was used in early sewing machines.

English-born designer working in Paris, widely regarded as the father of haute couture; he founded the House of Worth in 1858 and was the first designer to label garments and show seasonal collections.

American designer credited with founding modern American sportswear in the 1930s-40s, pioneering practical, mass-producible separates such as the wrap dress and using humble fabrics like denim and cotton jersey.

A machine patented by Eli Whitney in 1794 that mechanically separated cotton fibers from seeds, dramatically increasing cotton production and, in the American South, entrenching slave labor on plantations.

A stiffened or hooped petticoat used to hold out a wide skirt; the cage crinoline of steel hoops, introduced around 1856, replaced heavy layered petticoats and dominated 1860s fashion.

Spanish couturier who opened his Paris house in 1937, renowned for sculptural, architectural silhouettes such as the sack dress and balloon skirt built through precise draping and construction.

American tailor who in 1863 introduced graded, multi-size tissue paper sewing patterns sold to home sewers, founding a company that made dressmaking accessible beyond professional tailors.

American inventor who patented a working lockstitch sewing machine in 1846, using a needle with an eye near its point and a shuttle carrying a second thread.

A dress style with a high waistline gathered just below the bust and a slim, flowing skirt, fashionable in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and named for the Napoleonic era.

Third-party certification schemes that verify garment supply chains meet standards for fair wages, safe working conditions, and environmental practices, developed largely from the 1990s onward in response to sweatshop scandals.

An educational movement, formalized in the United States from the 1900s, that taught sewing, garment construction, and household management in schools, shaping generations of home dressmakers.

A skirt held out in a dome or bell shape by a framework of hoops, worn under crinolines and, in earlier colonial and 18th-century forms, related to the farthingale and pannier.

Paris fashion house founded by Charles Frederick Worth in 1858, credited with establishing the couturier as a named creative authority rather than an anonymous dressmaker, dressing European royalty and elites.

A surge from around 2010 of small, independently run sewing pattern companies selling PDF and print patterns directly to consumers online, diversifying styles and sizing beyond major pattern companies.

American manufacturer who patented an improved sewing machine in 1851 and pioneered installment purchasing, making the Singer Manufacturing Company the dominant sewing machine brand of the 19th century.

Japanese designer known for technical innovation, notably the Pleats Please line launched in 1993, which heat-set permanent pleats into finished polyester garments rather than pleating fabric before cutting.

A mechanical loom attachment invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1804 that used punched cards to control individual warp threads, enabling complex woven patterns and influencing early computing.

A brightly printed rectangular cotton cloth from East Africa, worn wrapped as clothing and often printed with a Swahili proverb along its border, used for dress, carrying children, and ceremony.

American company founded in San Francisco in the 1850s; with tailor Jacob Davis it patented riveted denim work trousers in 1873, creating what became known as blue jeans.

DuPont's trademark name for spandex, an elastic polyurethane fiber developed by Joseph Shivers and launched in 1958, which revolutionized fitted and stretch clothing from swimwear to leggings.

French couturier active from 1912 to 1939, celebrated for pioneering the bias cut and draping fabric directly on a miniature mannequin rather than working from flat sketches.

Patterns sold by post directly to home sewers from catalogs or magazines, a distribution model that let rural and small-town customers access current fashions from the 1870s onward.

The manufacture of garments in large standardized batches using factory division of labor and specialized machinery, a shift that accelerated after the sewing machine's spread in the mid-19th century.

A traditional training path in which a novice works for years under an experienced tailor, progressing from basting and pressing to pattern drafting and full garment construction.

American sewing pattern company founded in 1870, known for the long-running McCall's Needlework and Crafts magazine and for pioneering printed, rather than perforated, pattern markings in the 1920s.

An annual online sewing challenge, started in 2010, in which participants pledge to wear garments they made themselves throughout May and document the experience on social media.

Christian Dior's debut collection, presented in February 1947, featuring nipped waists, padded hips, and full calf-length skirts that used yards of fabric, a dramatic break from wartime austerity.

A close-fitting Chinese dress with a mandarin collar and side slit, evolving in Shanghai during the 1920s from the looser Manchu changpao into a modern, tailored garment.

The 2013 collapse of a garment factory building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which killed over 1,100 workers and became a defining catalyst for global scrutiny of fast fashion's labor practices.

A semi-synthetic fiber made from regenerated cellulose, developed in the late 19th century and marketed from the 1920s as 'artificial silk' for its lustrous drape at lower cost than real silk.

A practice and online community centered on altering or reconstructing existing garments into new items, popularized by bloggers in the 2000s-2010s as a creative, low-waste alternative to buying new clothes.