The Art of Renaissance Clothes
While Spanish Catholicism and reformatory Protestantism favored black clothing, much of the Renaissance happened in an explosion of color.
Paris’s Wild Costume Balls
As urban growth brought rich and poor Parisians closer together in the 1830s, masked balls encouraged class mixing and costumes that crossed gender lines.
The Existentialism of Style vs. Substance
Camus, Sartre, and Beauvoir were misread, misunderstood, and misperceived by English-speaking readers due to interventions of publishers and editors.
Versatile Velcro™
Velcro is used in many spaces, from spacecraft to shoes. A relatively recent invention, it was inspired by the close observation of nature.
The Complicated History of Pointy Hats
What do sorcerers, bishops, and garden gnomes all have in common? Pointy hats that share a common story deeply enmeshed in European antisemitism.
The Dawn of Kicks
Invented for a faddish game in the 1880s, tennis shoes became fashionable when manufacturers, fearing the tennis boom would go bust, pushed them off the lawn.
Pachuca Rebels in 1940s Los Angeles
Like their zoot suit-wearing male counterparts, young Mexican American women rebelled against white, mainstream culture through bold fashion choices.
Public Paw-licy: Dog Breeding, from Pedigrees to Bans
Harmony between human and canine shouldn’t be difficult to find, but poorly defined policies and breed uncertainties makes mutts vulnerable to public biases.