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Fashion Industry

Textbooks on Reserve

The RCBC Library has many course textbooks on reserve. These books can be reserved for two hours at a time.

You can view which textbooks are available by subject on this guide:

Textbooks on Reserve at RCBC

New Books!

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Blue Jeans

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Few clothing items are as ubiquitous or casual as blue jeans. Yet, their simplicity is deceptive. Blue jeans are nothing if not an exercise in opposites. Americans have accepted jeans as a symbol of their culture, but today jeans are a global consumer product category. Levi Strauss made blue jeans in the 1870s to withstand the hard work of mining, but denim has since become the epitome of leisure. In the 1950s, celebrities like Marlon Brando transformed the utilitarian clothing of industrial labor into a glamorous statement of youthful rebellion, and now, you can find jeans on chic fashion runways. For some, indigo blue might be the color of freedom, but for workers who have produced the dye, it has often been a color of oppression and tyranny. Blue Jeans considers the versatility of this iconic garment and investigates what makes denim a universal signifier, ready to fit any context, meaning, and body. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

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Dress History of Korea

Bringing together a wealth of primary sources and with contributions from leading experts, Dress History of Korea presents the most recent approaches to the interpretation of dress and fashion of Korea. Through close analysis of visual, written, and material sources-some newly excavated or recently re-discovered in global museums-the book reveals how dress and adornment evolved from the period of state formation to the modern era. Authors with a range of academic and curatorial experience discuss the close relation of dress and adornments to the socio-political and cultural history of Korea and place the dress history of Korea within broader contexts in studies of fashion, material culture, museology, and costume design. As in other cultures, modern Korean fashion owes many of its styles to historic dress and this process of adaptation is explored within high fashion and popular culture contexts in ways that benefit historians, curators, and designers alike. With key materials newly available to global readers, Dress History of Korea is the indispensable guide to the study of Korean dress and fashion.

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Barbie Takes the Catwalk

For more than 60 years, Barbie has reflected fashion trends and set them. Now, her iconic outfits are paired with the legendary looks from iconic designers for a fascinating celebration of the relationship between the runway and the toy aisle. Barbie has always been a fashion icon, with a wardrobe of looks inspired by the world's great fashion designers, and inspiring them as well with her signature style. From decade-defining designs by formidable fashion royalty such as Dior, Balenciaga, Yves St. Laurent, Pucci, and Chanel, to skateboard culture and rave fashion, Barbie doll's outfits have reflected the fashion and the time. In Barbie Takes the Catwalk, hundreds of images from designer runways, magazine editorials, and fashion archives are paired with detailed photographs of vintage Barbie outfits to offer an unprecedented examination of the Barbie brand's sartorial impact. Author and costume historian Karan Feder thoughtfully explores Barbie doll's first 40 years to highlight the vast artistry and cultural significance of the doll's fashion canon, and looks at contemporary fashion designers influenced by the Barbie legacy. This meticulously researched and gorgeous book is a must for any fan of fashion, pop culture, and Barbie. MORE THAN 100 FASHION PHOTOS: Hundreds of photos from the runways of designers that have influenced Barbie, including André Courrèges, Bill Gibb, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, Karl Lagerfeld, and Thierry Mugler. 125 ICONIC BARBIE LOOKS: From "Enchanted Evening" to the totally-80s looks of Barbie and the Rockers, Barbie Takes the Catwalk offers a stunning retrospective of the doll's fashion canon. INFLUENCE AND IMPACT: Explores the relationship between the world's great fashion houses and the world's best-selling and most-loved fashion doll. AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR: Karan Feder is an award-winning costume designer, historian, and the curator of the traveling exhibition of Barbie's fashion history, called Barbie®, A Cultural Icon: 60 Years of Fashion and Inspiration. THE PERFECT GIFT for fans of art, fashion, design, or Barbie, Barbie Takes the Catwalk is a fascinating historical record of the fashionable trends and popular-cultural themes inherent within Barbie's vast clothes closet.

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Pockets

A fascinating and surprising social and design history of the sewn-in pocket, from the mid-fifteen hundreds up to today that uncovers what pockets reveal about us, our place in society, and how we move through the world.   Who is allowed pockets and why? Why is it that men's clothes are full of pockets while women's have so few? How is it that putting your hands in them can be seen as a sign of laziness, arrogance, confidence, or perversion? Throughout the medieval era, the purse was an almost universal dress feature carried by men and women alike. But when men's bags, ostentatiously belted at their hips in Western Europe, moved inside clothing and the sewn-in pocket emerged, it ignited controversy and introduced a range of social issues concerning security, sexuality, power, and privilege that we continue to wrestle with today.   In this abundantly illustrated four-color book, Hannah Carlson, who teaches in the apparel design department at the Rhode Island School of Design, asks a question many women are asking every day: Why do men get so many pockets, but women do not? But this pocket history is about a lot more than the politics of gender. Among her other questions: What did Walt Whitman do to usher in a new attitude toward pockets? Why are the contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets the most popular exhibit at the Library of Congress? What is the connection between pockets and pistols? And what else do we hide in our pockets?   The book begins when tailoring receipts for men's sewn-in pockets first show up in the fifteen hundreds, and continues up to today, as hashtags like #PocketInequality, #wewantpockets, and #givemepocketsorgivemedeath have mobilized thousands of women to demand more from the companies they patronize. And The Pockets Book explores whether we will still need pockets when our clothes contain "smart" textiles that incorporate our IDs and credit cards and when our thumbprints replace the keys that open our front doors? The Pockets Book is for anyone intrigued by fashion but also for readers who want to discover the impact that the humble pocket has had on our culture, both high culture and pop culture.  

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A Guide to Fashion Sewing

A Guide to Fashion Sewing, 7th Edition, provides a comprehensive fashion sewing resource for beginning and advanced sewers alike. Readers will learn how to assemble and construct designs of various styles using proven industry methods for more than 100 sewing applications. Chapters cover everything from sewing equipment, measurements, and fabric selection to actual garment assembly. Filled with easy to follow, step-by-step instructions and large, clear illustrations, this book is an indispensable resource for constructing quality garments. Accompanying video demonstrations help readers learn at their own pace for basic sewing skills and techniques such a seams, darts, bias binding, zipper, and garment assembly. New to this Edition: - Discusses sustainable fabrics - Addresses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as it pertains to the fashion industry - Includes troubleshooting tip box which covers common pitfalls and how best to work around them STUDIO Features Include: -Study smarter with self-quizzes featuring scored results and personalized study tips -Review concepts with flashcards of terms and definitions -Watch Video lessons depicting key techniques Instructor Resources -Instructor's Guide to help integrate the text into your classroom -PowerPoint Slides for every chapter

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Red, White, and Blue on the Runway

A behind-the-scenes look at the only fashion show held at the White House and the intersections of fashion and politics On February 29, 1968, the White House hosted its first--and only--fashion show. At the time, the patriotic event was lauded by the press, and many predicted it would become an annual occasion, especially since fashion had grown to become the fourth largest industry in the United States, employing 1.4 million Americans, more than 80 percent of them women. But the social and political turmoil of that particular year--from the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy--cast a shadow over the festivities. Using eyewitness accounts as well as carefully preserved records, artifacts, and previously unpublished images, Red, White, and Blue on the Runway re-creates the once-in-a-lifetime event and explores the reasons why the first White House fashion show was destined to be the last. The politics of fashion touched everyone involved in this landmark occasion in American fashion history, from hostess Lady Bird Johnson and the Johnson daughters to the designers, including Bill Blass, Geoffrey Beene, Mollie Parnis, and Oscar de la Renta, as well as the models and guests. Those guests included the wives of governors and of President Johnson's Cabinet, in addition to dozens of fashion designers and prominent journalists who reported on the event. In our own turbulent political climate, Red, White, and Blue on the Runway takes us back to an equally tense time, providing a unique historical perspective on themes of fashion, politics, protest, and image-making that are immediately relevant today.

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Queen of Fashion

A Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year When her carriage first crossed over from her native Austria into France, fourteen-year-old Marie Antoinette was taken out, stripped naked before an entourage, and dressed in French attire to please the court of her new king. For a short while, the young girl played the part. But by the time she took the throne, everything had changed. In Queen of Fashion, Caroline Weber tells of the radical restyling that transformed the young queen into an icon and shaped the future of the nation. With her riding gear, her white furs, her pouf hairstyles, and her intricate ballroom disguises, Marie Antoinette came to embody--gloriously and tragically--all the extravagance of the monarchy.

Ebooks

Ebooks are accessible directly from the Library catalog. If you're interested in finding ebooks only, head to eBook Collection. To log in, use the barcode located on the back of your student ID and your pin number. You have the option to download ebooks to a device, but we strongly recommend reading them online to take advantage of the full suite of available tools. Create a personal account using your Library barcode and PIN to manage and organize your ebook reading and research.

Need A Book We Don't Have?

  • RCBC Library is part of the Burlington County Library System (BCLS)

    • Your RCBC Library barcode allows you to check out physical material at other BCLS branches. (A separate BCLS Library card is needed to access their online resources.) 

    • If another branch has a book that you are looking for, either call them to place it on hold for you, or as a RCBC librarian to call for you.

    • Note: a book that shows up as being in another branch may be currently in use by another patron. Save yourself a trip and call to double check the book's availability!

  • Inter-library Loans

    • If a book that you want is not available in the RCBC Library or BCLS, we can attempt to order the book from an outside library to be delivered to the RCBC Library. Note: this method may take 2 weeks or longer for the book to arrive at RCBC.

    • To order a book via inter-library loan, please either fill out a blank form from JerseyCat or contact Debbie Kolodziej at dkolodzie@rcbc.edu.

  • Faculty Book Requests

    • For more information, please contact Rachel Pieters at rpieters@rcbc.edu or ext. 1269.
 

Library Services

  • Research assistance - help finding sources, evaluating sources

  • Online workshops for citing and plagiarism are held throughout the semester. To request a citing workshop, please email library@rcbc.edu