Define your time period. 

Know your dates – 1558-1603. For example, 1558 can be the 1500s, the mid-1500s, the 16th century, the Elizabethan period, part of Tudor England, part of the Renaissance, etc. 

It can be helpful to know what period comes before and after – the Jacobean period follows the Renaissance,  for example.

Define any “terms of art” that you might be able to use while I’m searching – these are a word or phrase that has a precise, specialized meaning within a particular field or profession.

For example:

If you’re looking for Elizabethan men’s jackets, and know they are called “doublets” search on both of those terms.

 More broadly, if you are looking for women’s hats, you might search “hats”, but also might want to use the term “millinery” (the design, making and sale of hats), or “haberdashery.”

Try “fashion” but also “costume,” and/or “dress”.

Search on specific elements of dress to find books devoted to those topics: 

Jewelry

Accessories

Shoes

Millinery/Haberdashery

Tailoring

Subject Headings are like "tags" -- Library Catalogs use Subject Headings to allow the person searching for items in the library a way to find information by the topics that are covered in those items. Try searching on one or more of these headings (including the dash!) to find items in the Catalog:

Fashion – History

Costume – History

Clothing and dress – History

Women’s clothing – [the country] eg. Women’s clothing -- France

Men’s clothing – [the country] eg. Women’s clothing -- France