The Thames & Hudson Dictionary Of Fashion & Fashion Designers

The Thames & Hudson Dictionary Of Fashion & Fashion Designers, by Georgina O'Hara Callan, was first published as The Encyclopaedia Of Fashion in 1986. Fifty new entries were added by Cat Glover in 2008. The Dictionary includes more than 1,000 entries covering designers, clothing, fabrics, and the media, followed by an extensive bibliography. Most entries are a paragraph or two in length, though a few run for more than a page, the longest being those for Coco Chanel and Charles Worth.

This is one of several authoritative Thames & Hudson dictionaries, including Photography, Art Terms, and Graphic Design & Designers. It's also part of their long-running World of Art series.

The three-volume Encyclopedia Of Clothing & Fashion (edited by Valerie Steele) is a more comprehensive reference, and The Fashion Book has larger illustrations, though the Dictionary was the first A-Z guide to fashion designers. It covers the same period as The History Of Modern Fashion (by Daniel James Cole and Nancy Deihl), from the mid-nineteenth century (the sewing machine and the House of Worth) onwards.