The Considered Ensemble is a platform showcasing meticulous outfit choices from individuals around the world. Describe what you're wearing today, and they may post it on the blog. Detailed descriptions give insight into the creativity, coordination, thought and taste (or lack thereof) behind each unique ensemble.
posted by netbros on Dec 8, 2009 - 33 comments

Fast food fashions of the Eighties.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey on Jul 18, 2009 - 53 comments

The Uniform Project - "Starting May 2009, I have pledged to wear one dress for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Here’s how it works: There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day I will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accouterments, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies... The Uniform Project is also a year-long fundraiser for the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots movement that is revolutionizing education in India."
posted by You Should See the Other Guy on Jun 10, 2009 - 74 comments

The Vélocouture flickr pool. Over 1600 photos of stylish (and, uh, "differently-styled") bike fashion, from the hipster to the formal, the casual, the young, the old old-timey, the new old-timey, and much, much more. There's also a blog.
posted by dersins on Apr 23, 2009 - 37 comments

Stylish Gent: Thedaniel provides men with an easy to use shopping blog for fashion with a retroish flair. [via mefi projects]
posted by The Whelk on Feb 22, 2009 - 14 comments

The cult of fashion; the fashion of cults.
posted by fiercecupcake on Feb 11, 2009 - 41 comments

"It's like I used to enjoy firecrackers, but now it takes dynamite to get me high." Brit Eaton takes Outside magazine on a safari for vintage clothing in the wild west. (via)
posted by 1f2frfbf on Jan 21, 2009 - 19 comments

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. [more inside]
posted by Miko on Dec 11, 2007 - 22 comments

Fashion ads from Ebony Magazine, 1970 - '76
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Nov 29, 2007 - 88 comments

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 by Blazecock Pileon on Aug 24, 2007 - 26 comments

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 by mediareport on Feb 4, 2007 - 10 comments

Fabric for Bachelors :: How to Shop for Work Clothes: A Primer for 'Bachelors' of Any Gender
posted by anastasiav on Jan 11, 2007 - 9 comments

The Museum of Kitschy Stitches - A gallery of notorious knits.
posted by dobbs on Dec 5, 2006 - 9 comments

"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 by dobbs on Oct 29, 2006 - 26 comments

The Canadian Design Resource - from Beavertail rockers to Broomball shoes.
posted by dobbs on Sep 28, 2006 - 9 comments

Who needs boots when you can have steel-toed tabi? An overview of Japanese worker clothing.
posted by oneirodynia on Aug 15, 2006 - 29 comments

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 by me3dia on Jun 16, 2005 - 39 comments

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 by nthdegx on Mar 2, 2005 - 20 comments

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 by punkbitch on Feb 25, 2005 - 62 comments

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 by scratch on Jan 28, 2005 - 117 comments

Flexgrid. A flexible LED display developed to be imbedded on a dress for the Milan Triennial 2005.
posted by Hands of Manos on Dec 22, 2004 - 27 comments

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 by papercake on Nov 10, 2004 - 7 comments

Looking for a good dress shirt? A funny, informative (and slightly old) article about what to look for in a dress shirt.
posted by Outlawyr on Oct 19, 2004 - 8 comments

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 by fvw on Oct 11, 2004 - 20 comments

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 by Dome-O-Rama on Oct 26, 2003 - 66 comments

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 by andrew cooke on Jul 13, 2003 - 13 comments

Friday Monday Fun ('cuz we need it now): Hip, very '70s-flavored t-shirts. Fun stuff (and almost totally WarFilter-Free).
posted by Shane on Mar 31, 2003 - 19 comments

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 by acridrabbit on Dec 7, 2002 - 12 comments

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 by Stan Chin on Dec 7, 2002 - 10 comments

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 by rushmc on Dec 4, 2002 - 11 comments

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 by Tystnaden on Nov 6, 2002 - 31 comments

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 by MiguelCardoso on Oct 21, 2002 - 38 comments

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 by oissubke on Oct 11, 2002 - 38 comments

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 by ntk on Jul 21, 2002 - 17 comments

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 by waterfrog on Jan 17, 2002 - 7 comments

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 by MiguelCardoso on Dec 10, 2001 - 23 comments

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 by RylandDotNet on Jun 7, 2001 - 13 comments

Panty hose for men! Throw out the argyle socks, guys. Here's the latest in high style!
posted by dnash on Jun 6, 2001 - 16 comments