Dress

The Journal of CSA

Our Mission

Dress, the journal of the Costume Society of America, has been in publication since 1975 and represents the highest level of scholarship. The scope of the journal encompasses many diverse areas of study including dress in art, social history, anthropology, material culture, and museum studies. The journal also invites work on fundamental concerns such as theory, research methods, and analytical and interpretative papers that describe and place dress in cultural or historical context. 

Dress at 50

To mark the 50th anniversary of Dress, our editors curated a collection of articles that celebrates the breadth of research in costume, material culture, and fashion studies as seen through its pages. From its early years to the more recent present, Dress has showcased the best scholarship in the field, pushed boundaries, and set standards of rigorous research. From an article on “Levi’s” in the first issue, to more recent examinations of gender and disability in fashion, the journal has foregrounded work that explores the potential of what it means to study dress.

Areas of interest include for Dress:

  • Material culture studies
  • Dress in its many contexts: social, cultural, historical
  • Scholarship related to the exhibition of dress
  • Art and design of dress
  • Dress historiography, research methodology, and theory
  • Forums for topics that shape the field of dress scholarship


Dress includes articles, book and exhibition reviews, letters to the editor, and short reports. The complete archive for Dress from Volume 1, 1975 is available online for institutional subscribers and CSA members through instructions that can be found on the members-only website. The public Taylor and Francis website can be found here.

  • How to Submit an Article

    Manuscripts are accepted in English only. There are no submission fees, publication fees or page charges for this journal.


    Dress welcomes submissions of research articles, research reports, and visual essays. 


    Research Articles: This type of critical article represents original research with strong theses and conclusions and is approximately 6,000 to 10,000 words in length, including citations.


    Research Reports: The shorter research reports focuses on a narrow topic, artifact, or archival collection and can be more descriptive, but still needs rigor in the methodology and presentation of the findings, as well as how those findings fit into dress study. Research Reports are approximately 3,000 to 6,000 words, including citations.


    Visual Essays: The visual essay format is intended to create publication options for original creative contributions related to dress that push new boundaries or generate new knowledge or insights in the field.  This format of submission must feature dress or costume used as a vehicle for original creative expression with 8-10 high quality photographs or illustrations (300 dpi) for which the author/artist owns copyright. The supporting text of up to 2,000 words (including citations) must articulate the aims, background, and context for the work, explain the formal decisions that guided the creation thereof, and articulate the knowledge generated by the project. 


    Submission Guidelines:

    All manuscripts should be submitted electronically, using a Word document file (not a pdf), double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman font. Authors must follow the formatting guidelines of the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. All pages should be numbered. 


    This journal uses Routledge's Submission Portal to manage the submission process. The Submission Portal allows you to see your submissions across Taylor & Francis' journal portfolio in one place. To submit your manuscript please click here.


    Authors with questions for Principal Editor/Acting Deputy Editor Einav Rabinovitch-Fox are welcomed to contact her by email: dress@costumesocietyamerica.com. 


    No hard copy submissions will be accepted. 


    All submissions should include the following:  

    • A separate cover sheet with the author(s) name, address, email address, phone number, title of the manuscript, and a brief (100-150 words) biographical statement 
    • In order to protect the anonymity of the author during the anonymous review process, the first page of the article should include ONLY a title and an abstract (100-150 words) summarizing the content of the paper.
    • Articles should include 5-7 keywords for online indexing
    • Descriptive subheadings in the body of the text
    • 5-10 low resolution images with captions should be embedded into the document. Black-and-white and colour illustrations and images, as well as maps and other supporting materials, are welcomed. High-resolution images (minimum 300 dpi) will be requested prior to publication. Image permissions are the responsibility of the author. 
    • Endnotes using numerals and formatted following the Chicago Manual of Style.
    • Disclosure statement of any financial or non-financial interest that has arisen from the direct applications of your research.
    • Acknowledgements should be omitted in the initial submission but may be added if the manuscript is accepted for publication. 

    Criteria for Review of Research Articles and Reports: 

    Contributions will be assessed in a double-anonymous peer review based on the following criteria:

    1. Does the manuscript fit the aims and scope of the journal? 
    2. Significance of the subject: Is it original? Does it contribute to new knowledge? Does it answer the “so what?” question? Has the author grounded their work in a larger context? 
    3. Strengths and weaknesses of the approach or argument: Are the thesis and objectives clear and followed through? 
    4. Sound methodology: Is the author thoroughly acquainted with the secondary literature on the subject? Does the author make appropriate and thorough use of primary sources? Are the figures appropriate? Does the author provide evidence for each claim? 
    5. Clarity and organization: Does the paper introduce the topic and develop a thesis? Does the conclusion pull together the findings of the article? Does the organization of the body of the paper follow a logical and consistent sequence? 
    6. Quality of writing: has the author a good grasp of grammar and sentence structure? Is the writing style clear and concise; sentence structure is varied; tone is consistent and appropriately professional/scholarly; transitions are made between paragraphs and sections? 

    Criteria for Review of Visual Essays:

    Contributions will be assessed in a double-anonymous peer review based on the following criteria:

    1. Does the project present an original and rigorous creative response to dress or fashion? 
    2. Does the project produce new knowledge/insights or push boundaries as an artistic response to dress?
    3. Are the research aims, background, methods and outcomes clearly stated?
    4. Does the author offer appropriate critical reflection?  
    5. Are the images selected to illustrate this project representative of the work and of high quality? Are the images compelling and appropriately captioned? 

    More information regarding submission, including format, style, and language can be found on the Taylor & Francis website.


  • Book and Exhibition Reviews

    The journal also publishes book and exhibition reviews (1,000 to 1,500 words). Do not send unsolicited reviews. If you want to write a book review or offer a review copy of a book for consideration, contact the book review editor at bookreviews@costumesocietyamerica.com. If you want to write an exhibition review, contact the exhibition review editor at exhibitionreviews@costumesocietyamerica.com. 

    For other conferences and media reviews, contact the Principal Editor at dress@costumesocietyamerica.com.


Principal Editor

Einav Rabinovitch-Fox (Case Western Reserve University)

Deputy Editor

Sonya Abrego

Copy Editor

Nancy Janzig

Book Review Editor

Nazlı Alimen (Birmingham City University, UK)

Exhibition Review Editor

Jean E. McElvain (Goldstein Museum-UMN)

Editorial Board

Heather Marie Akou (Indiana University, USA)


Amber-Dawn Bear Robe (Institute of American Indian Arts, USA)


Laura Camerlengo (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, USA)


Daniel James Cole (New York University, USA)


 Sha'Mira Covington (University of Georgia, USA)


Carmen Keist (Bradley University, USA)


Abby Lillethun (Montclair State University, USA)

Nazanin Hedayat Munroe (City University of New York, USA)


Victoria Rose Pass (Maryland Institute College of Art. USA)


Stephanie Saunders (Lyon College, USA)


Pravina Shukla (Indiana University, USA)


Monica Sklar (University of Georgia, USA)


Petra Slinkard (Peabody-Essex Museum, USA)


Juanjuan Wu (University of Minnesota, USA)


Christina Bates (Canadian Museum of History), Editor Emerita


Patricia Cunningham (Ohio State University, USA), Editor Emerita


Sally Helvenston Gray (Michigan State University, USA), Editor Emerita


Linda Welters (University of Rhode Island, USA), Editor Emerita


Issues of Dress Are Available for Purchase

To order current and past issues, please contact the Taylor & Francis Customer Services team at Adhoc@tandf.co.uk.