;

fashion



  • Zelensky's Attire in Congress Wasn't Slovenly, it was Strategic

    by Einav Rabinovitch-Fox

    Zelensky, without military experience, has thread the needle between evoking patriotic fighting spirit and appropriating unearned military credibility with his much-discussed attire in Congress. His outfit is part of a long tradition of dress choices by world leaders. 



  • The History of Fashion's Turn to Embracing Fakery

    Fashion historians Valerie Steele and Einav Rabinovitch-Fox explain the historic push and pull between designers and copycats, and how recent trends have blurred the lines between authenticity and fakeness and exclusivity and popular style. 



  • Will the Era of the Butt Ever End?

    Heather Radke's "Butts: A Backstory" isn't (just) a provocation, but a carefully researched study of how bodily ideals and attractiveness are constructed and reproduced in societies. 



  • Acceptance of Natural Hairstyles a Continuing Front in Civil Rights Struggle

    by Jasmine Nichole Cobb

    Recently signed legislation in Massachusetts prohibits workplaces and schools from banning many hairstyles associated with African Americans, showing that racism can work through sartorial standards to make opportunity and acceptance contingent on conformity to white norms. 



  • America’s Most Hated Garment

    Atlantic writer Amanda Mull turns to fashion historians Marley Healy and Valerie Steele to place the growing social acceptance of sweatpants in a pattern of clothing standards changing in response to cultural influences and social conditions. 



  • How Clothing Can be a ‘Tool of Resistance’

    Professor Tanisha Ford discusses the ways that the clothing choices of civil rights activists in the past and today reflect change and continuity in protest movements.



  • Harris Tweed was Cold War ‘uniform’ for CIA

    WHILE British secret agents of the 1970s were portrayed on TV in tight blue jeans, shirts with huge collars, ludicrous wide ties and brown cardigans – a la The Professionals – their real-life equivalents on the other side of the Atlantic opted for … Harris Tweed.The American hero behind the Iran hostage rescue featured in the film Argo has revealed the fashion style of CIA agents during the Cold War as he was honoured for services to the famous Scots cloth.Tony Mendez was played in the Best Picture of the Year Oscar-winner by Ben Affleck, whose Harris Tweed jacket is giving the fabric its highest-profile Hollywood exposure in years.Former agent Mendez, speaking in New York, confirmed that the movie reflected reality and that Harris Tweed had been “part of what every agent wore” during his time in the service.....