- Angle of Perception
- The visual angle that shows off the silhouette of a garment to its best advantage.
- Appliqué
- A fabric detail or design applied onto a base fabric as decoration.
- Art Deco
- A design movement and decorative style known for bold geometric shapes, inspired by technological advancements of the early 20th century. Usually associated with the 1920s and 1930s.
- Art Nouveau
- A design movement and decorative style characterized by its use of organic lines and flowing shapes inspired by nature, such as plants and flowers. Popular in the 1890s and early 1900s.
- Atelier
- An artist’s or fashion designer’s studio or workshop.
- Bias
- The diagonal direction across a length of fabric, at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal (weft) and vertical (warp) threads. The bias has stretch and drapes well.
- Bodice
- The part of a woman’s outfit that covers the upper body. Can include the sleeves and collar.
- Brocade
- Fabric with a raised floral or figured design on the face of the fabric.
- Bustier
- A form fitting female garment that shapes the upper body. It can be worn as underwear or as outer garment depending on the fashion of the time.
- Bustle
- A structured undergarment used to support fullness at the back of the hips in women's dresses.
- Chiffon
- A very light drapey fabric that is translucent.
- Cotton
- A natural plant fiber spun from the fluffy fiber that surrounds the seed of a cotton plant.
- Crepe de chine
- A fine crepe-weave silk or similar fabric, achieved by weaving a high-twist thread to create a subtle pebbled texture.
- Crinoline
- A stiffened or structured petticoat. Originally, crinoline was the name for a stiff fabric woven from horsehair and linen. Later, the term came to be used for the underskirt or petticoat made from that fabric.
- Cross-grain, or weft grain
- The heavier weaving thread that runs selvage to selvage or perpendicular to the fabric’s warp threads.
- Damask
- Fabric with flat woven reversible design.
- Empire waistline
- A waistline that sits just below the bust. The fashion developed in the late 18th century imitating Greek and Roman styles.
- Foulard
- A soft light twilled silk.
- Garters
- Used to hold up stockings. It was originally a band of fabric tied at the knee. Eventually the word was used to describe straps with clasps that hung from a belt or a corset.
- Go-Go Boots
- Calf high boots with low heels and a zipper. Often white in colour. First introduced in the 1960’s by André Courrèges.
- Gore
- A triangular or wedge-shaped piece of fabric, usually inserted into a vertical seam to increase the volume and movement of a garment.
- Gown
- A full-length garment originally worn by both men and women. It remained the word for women’s dresses. Now used to describe formal dress.
- Gussets
- Inserts of fabric to allow for shaping in a garment i.e. the bust and hips of a corset.
- Lamé
- A fabric made by wrapping metallic fibers (like aluminum, gold, or silver) around a core of natural or synthetic materials such as silk, nylon, spandex, or polyester.
- Metal fashioning hooks
- Now known as hooks and eyes.
- Moire
- A surface effect applied with heat and rollers to silk or silk-like material, creating a watermarked or wood-grain appearance as it reflects light.
- Obi
- A traditional Japanese sash worn to hold a kimono closed.
- Panniers
- A structured undergarment that supported the side width of women’s skirts, while leaving the front and back relatively flat. The name comes from a French term for the wicker baskets slung on either side of a pack animal. They were made from linen or cotton and were stiffened with cane or whalebone.
- Petticoat
- Originally the word for the skirt or visible underskirt, the word describes an underlayer that supports the skirt.
- Power mesh
- A 4-way stretch fabric that has high compression. It looks like fine, stretchy netting.
- Radial or sundial pleats
- A type of pleat used on wedge-shaped gores or semicircular/circular fabric pieces. They start small at the top and gradually get bigger towards the outer edge of the gore.
- Rayon
- Created from natural plant fibers, such as wood pulp and put through a chemical process to create fabric. Invented in the 1880s and named Artificial Silk, it became known as Rayon in the 1920s.
- Selvedge
- The side edge of a woven length of fabric. The selvedge edge gives stability to the fabric and keeps the threads from raveling.
- Shift
- A simply shaped knee-length linen “dress” worn directly against the body under other layers of clothing. Also worn as nightwear.
- Shoulder Pads
- Padding of foam or batting to create extra width at the shoulder. Normally found in men’s suit jackets but they go in and out of fashion in women’s wear, especially the 1940’s and the 1980’s.
- Silk
- A natural protein fiber, primarily produced by silkworms. Their cocoons are unravelled and woven into textiles.
- Spencer jacket
- A very short, fitted jacket worn in the 1780s continuing into the Empire period. Styled on men’s wear of the period.
- Taffeta
- A crisp, shiny, plain-weave fabric originally made of silk, now also made of artificial fibres. It is a stiff fabric which can create dramatic shapes because it does not sag.
- Trousseau
- Clothing and household linens collected by a woman in preparation for her marriage.
- Twill
- Fabric woven with a distinctive diagonal rib.
- Warp and Weft
- In weaving cloth, the warp are the long threads set on the loom and the weft are the threads that are woven across from edge to edge. The warp is strong and straight. Garments are cut with attention to these directions.
- Wool
- A natural textile fiber created from the fleece of sheep and other animals like goats and llamas and alpacas.
