The Women's Wear Daily Archive chronicles the business of women's clothing. Updated daily since 1910, it has monitored trends for over a century. You have access to the complete archive of this publication, complete with high quality scans of:
- covers
- articles
- advertisements
So whether you are looking at the typography, layout design, photography, journalistic writing style, fashion, advertising, or the social history of how women were represented and persuaded to present themselves, this archive has something for you. The issues combine a news-style commentary on the business, designers, retailers, models and muses, with interesting and stylistically evolving illustrative content, providing a valuable source for students of retail business, fashion history, popular culture, gender studies, marketing and much more.
Thinking American
It's worth remembering that the magazine is American when searching for content. What do I mean? Well, let's take the history of women's trousers. Trousers are an important topic because they were once considered exclusively to be menswear - and women could be arrested and charged with cross-dressing, which was a crime at the time, until Yves Saint-Laurent revolutionised women's fashion with the introduction of the women's business suit, opening the door to women dressing in the uniform of power. If I search for "trousers" I get 28,222 results, btu if I search for "slacks" I get 55,237, and "pants" finds 95,337 results! You can combine these terms to get a full picture - a search for 'trousers OR slacks OR pants' will find them all but looking at a few issues and noticing the nuances of American English will help you unlock the full potential of this resource.
International reporting and royal wedding chic
Similarly, when searching for the impact of events, people or policies, don't expect to find anything specifically UK-centered. I searched for "rationing" during the 1940s and got some very different results to those I would expect to find in a contemporaneous British publication.With that said, coverage of royal weddings - big and small - was extensive, and plenty of British designers got a mention.
A social history in words and pictures
Despite these geographical differences, all the key moments in the last century of the industry, as well as major designers, brands, retailers and advertisers are covered. With details about the etiquette of wearing white gloves to a wedding, or how long a veil should be when attending a society event, there's plenty here to become immersed in. And if the mentions of royal weddings isn't enough for you, there are quite a few royal photographs which wouldn't have made the British press; Princess Margaret was never pictured smoking in the UK during her youth, for example, whereas within these pages are not only those photographs but captions indicating how they wouldn't be allowed "back home".
As with any archive of such a long-lived publication, it's fascinating to watch the passage of time through the pages. The style employed in the formatting, the tone employed in the articles, and the technology employed in the display of representations all changes as wonderfully as you would imagine.
I'm sure students in Creative Arts will find it a hugely valuable resource, but wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to students from any of the other numerous disciplines I think would find useful content within it too. Go and have a look - you never know what you might find.
Fashion today
If you are looking for contemporary Magazines For Women you can find the latest issues of many lifestyle and fashion magazines on PressReader.