Inventors often use animals' adaptations to the environment in applications that benefit humans, from sharky swimsuits to hedgehog-inspired helmets.

Medieval costume was a standard feature of US women’s suffrage parades, often with one participant designated as Joan of Arc.

The wing-cases of gold-enameled weevils hung from necklaces; muslin gowns were embroidered with the iridescent green elytra of jewel beetles.

When did heaviness and curviness in women become connected with the idea of "savagery"? It has a lot to do with 19th-century imperialist world views.

Trained as a printmaker, this artist helped change American tattooing from a fringe behavior into an art form people use to express themselves.

The purse has always been political, a reflection of changing economic realities and gender roles.

A brief history of the codpiece, that mysterious garment favored by 16th-century gents who just may have been covering up their cases of syphilis.

Spider silk is as strong as steel and as light as a feather, but attempts to industrialize its production have gotten stuck, so to speak.

The outlandish "macaroni" style of 18th-century England blurred the boundaries of gender, as well as class and nationality.

According to one historian, the year 1900 was “the zenith of glove-wearing,” when any self-respecting Victorian (British or American) wouldn’t be caught dead without covered hands.