Puzzled about what to get the history buff, throwback or Luddite on your holiday shopping list? Explore the sutler's wares in the world of historic reproduction clothing! Strut your eighteenth-century style with Jas. Townsend & Son, or dress for the Lewis & Clark expedition with Smoke & Fire. USHist.com provides the finest in Mexican War and Cavalry/Indian War apparel, as well as fashion to end all wars in theWWI collection. Don't forget the ladies (and weak-minded gents) left at home - Blockade Runner offers fine Civil War civvies.
posted on Dec 11, 2007 - View this thread

Fashion ads from Ebony Magazine, 1970 - '76
posted on Nov 29, 2007 - View this thread

The Near-Fame Experience: A fascinating interview with former contestants of Bravo reality television shows Project Runway and Top Chef, presenting the fickle nature of fame and how it can come at significant professional and personal cost, if at all.
posted on Aug 24, 2007 - View this thread

The Rålamb Costume Book. Illustrations of Turkish officials, various important occupations and just plain folks, obtained by Claes Rålamb, Swedish ambassador to the Ottoman Court, in 1657. More about Rålamb and Sultan Mehmet IV.
posted on Feb 4, 2007 - View this thread

Fabric for Bachelors :: How to Shop for Work Clothes: A Primer for 'Bachelors' of Any Gender
posted on Jan 11, 2007 - View this thread

The Museum of Kitschy Stitches - A gallery of notorious knits.
posted on Dec 5, 2006 - View this thread

"Sonic fabric (woven from 50% cotton and 50% audio cassette tape) emits sound when you run a tape head over it. Because the tape retains its magnetic quality through the weaving process, it acts as a big wide band of tape." Here's an interview with the creator. {via Apartment Therapy}
posted on Oct 29, 2006 - View this thread

The Canadian Design Resource - from Beavertail rockers to Broomball shoes.
posted on Sep 28, 2006 - View this thread

Who needs boots when you can have steel-toed tabi? An overview of Japanese worker clothing.
posted on Aug 15, 2006 - View this thread

Stuck to their prom dates. Since 2001, Duck brand duct tape has sponsored a scholarship contest, open to any high school students willing to go to prom in outfits made of duct tape. This year's fashions range from the classic silver to wilder colors and patterns, and occasionally veer into the just plain strange. Dip into the archives for more.
posted on Jun 16, 2005 - View this thread

A Loosening of Ties by Willy J Spat. "For over two thousand years... the necktie... has been the most widely used, and the most multicultural of all phallic symbols." Neckties throughout the ages from invention to rebellion.
posted on Mar 2, 2005 - View this thread

Condoleeza Rice's Hot Dominatrix Outfit "Rice looked as though she was prepared to talk tough, knock heads and do a freeze-frame 'Matrix' jump kick if necessary. Who wouldn't give her ensemble a double take -- all the while hoping not to rub her the wrong way?" "Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power -- such a volatile combination, and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal. When looking at the image of Rice in Wiesbaden, the mind searches for ways to put it all into context. It turns to fiction, to caricature. To shadowy daydreams. Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power can only co-exist in a fantasy." (Washington Post)
posted on Feb 25, 2005 - View this thread

Dick Cheney, Dressing Down I can't decide if this is interesting cultural criticism or ridiculous nitpicking about something that isn't very important. Maybe it's both. Side note: It's a nice change to read about a male politician's appearance and wardrobe for once.
posted on Jan 28, 2005 - View this thread

Flexgrid. A flexible LED display developed to be imbedded on a dress for the Milan Triennial 2005.
posted on Dec 22, 2004 - View this thread

Mr. Green Jeans died and all I got was this lousy sweater. A packrat unearths his collection of hideous late 80s sweaters and shamelessly models them for all to see. A fashion cautionary tale. [via TheMorningNews]
posted on Nov 10, 2004 - View this thread

Looking for a good dress shirt? A funny, informative (and slightly old) article about what to look for in a dress shirt.
posted on Oct 19, 2004 - View this thread

Lonely Socks. Have you ever rifled through your socks drawer to find only three socks. One green, one blue and the other yellow? Where did the other one go? Post your single socks here and help them find their partners.
posted on Oct 11, 2004 - View this thread

What is old is new again, unfortunately. Wholesome Wear (boy that name just makes you cringe eh?) makes modern, and even less revealing, duplicates of what your Grandma or Great Grandma used to swim in - for the thoroughly modern Mormon (or other religious zealot wackos who cant accept girls have knees). God hates females in swimsuits, I guess.
posted on Oct 26, 2003 - View this thread

Pixeltees - use a (shockwave) editor to produce t-shirt designs. The low resolution, restricted palette and video-game connotations give interesting restrictions - a lot of designs are terrible, but some are pretty neat.
posted on Jul 13, 2003 - View this thread

Friday Monday Fun ('cuz we need it now): Hip, very '70s-flavored t-shirts. Fun stuff (and almost totally WarFilter-Free).
posted on Mar 31, 2003 - View this thread

Chiengora is the fancy term for dog hair used to make mittens, hats, sweaters, and more. This site will teach you all about chiengora and how to hand spin it into yarn. If you'd rather just brush your dog and send the fur to someone else to knit, check out Rover's Comb.
posted on Dec 7, 2002 - View this thread

Everybody has a hobby. Mine is collecting images of pantyhose packages, as well as pantyhose ads from magazines and catalogs. (geocities, NSFW? Guess.) We've previously discussed vintage skivvies for men here, but the gallery of packages is kind of interesting. Or maybe you just Hate Pantyhose.
posted on Dec 7, 2002 - View this thread

The shoestring (string and shoe holes) was first invented in England in 1790. But there is nothing so simple that man cannot complicate, and so some calculate the optimal way to tie a shoe, some seek zen enlightenment through shoe-tying, and others craft Shoelace Parables to improve psychological health. Contrarians find their peace by eschewing the tying altogether.
posted on Dec 4, 2002 - View this thread

Polo Cited For Forcing Employees To Buy Polo "Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., in a court filing, has denied allegations that it requires store employees to buy and wear the company's clothing at work..." Probably many Mefi readers have had retail jobs, and count me as one of them. At the department store where my mother and I worked, we probably spent about 30% of our wages on the store's merchandise in order to keep up with the dress code. After reading this I see that it might be a widespread practice. Has this happened to you? Is this a trend in how retailers treat their employees? Do you have any other examples?
posted on Nov 6, 2002 - View this thread

Damn La Difference! Europe (and apparently Japan) seem to be going through a Dickies craze. You say work wear; we say American blue-collar chic. You pay $20 for an industrial shirt; we pay $100. Should we call the whole thing off? [More inside.]
posted on Oct 21, 2002 - View this thread

Modest, Style-Conscious and Frustrated No More It's hard to be modest in contemporary America without coming off like a sack-wearing frump, so two moms and Nordstrom teamed up to offer some shockingly non-shocking alternative attire. "All are thrilled with the idea...It's snowballed almost out of control." Might dressing like a hooker go out of style someday?
posted on Oct 11, 2002 - View this thread

The Burqa Incident. British freethinker Sarah Lawrence dresses in a burqa to make a point at the US Libertarian Party Conference, and causes a hotel-wide security alert. Looks like one of those systemic sense-of-humour failures that conspire to spiral out of control these days. But isn't it a bit worrying when even Libertarian Party officials start threatening to report their own conference speakers to the FBI for suspicious dress sense?
posted on Jul 21, 2002 - View this thread

Bin Ladin, the fashion label. Forget Prada, forget Monica, Yeslam Binladin, one of Osama bin Laden's 53 siblings, is planning to launch a clothing line under a label that might carry a marketing challenge: "Bin Ladin."
posted on Jan 17, 2002 - View this thread

Women's Bodies or Women's Fashions: What Should Come First? Comfort in Western dress is a relatively modern and liberal concept. In the last few years, though, it seems to have been forgotten by increasingly unforgiving - even sadistic - designers. Or is it just Art? Last Wednesday, the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened a new exhibition called Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed. Judith Thurman, in the current New Yorker, suggests things have gone too far. The question is: should leading designers be free to be absolutely creative - as they seem to be at the moment - or should they adapt their creations to the actual shape of women's bodies? Has "haute couture" finally become an art in itself, with no pretence of actually clothing real women? Is, in fact, a certain hatred of women involved?
posted on Dec 10, 2001 - View this thread

Disney cast members no longer have to wear dirty underwear. Apparently those Mickey and Goofy suits come complete with a set of undergarments that the employee had to wear, and turn in at the end of the day to be laundered -- that was the plan, anyway. Turns out those undergarments weren't being washed thoroughly. "Some workers had complained about getting pubic lice and scabies. 'Things have been passed around,' said Gary Steverson, a stilt walker at Animal Kingdom. 'I know I don't want to share my tights and I don't want to share my underwear.'"
posted on Jun 7, 2001 - View this thread

Panty hose for men! Throw out the argyle socks, guys. Here's the latest in high style!
posted on Jun 6, 2001 - View this thread