A few months ago I discovered a video of 8- and 9-year-old girls in a national dance contest, athletically gyrating to the Beyoncé hit "Single Ladies" (a.k.a."Put a Ring on It"). Prepare yourself:

As a young woman who has atypically looked forward to turning shocking silver (I've even promised myself to grow my pixie haircut at that time to accentuate it), I've read with some curiosity but ultimate skepticism, the rash...

As I alluded in previous posts, adopting aspects of menswear had a direct relationship with the Women's Movement, socially and politically. For hundreds of years wealthy and impoverished women alike had worn heavy floor length dresses, even...

After reading the recent NYTimes article highlighting Eddie Feibusch's zipper business in New York's Lower East Side, I was reminded of -- what else? -- the history of the not-so-humble zipper. This now-ubiquitous device that fastens and unfastens our pants, dresses, and bags, is a relatively recent invention,...

A long standing fan of director / writer John Waters, I am delighted that the Pope of Trash is appearing with greater frequency in periodicals these days due to his new book

I recently gave a lecture on cross-dressing to a terrific sociology class at FIT, and I had such ridiculous fun (and stress!) researching it that I thought I'd share with the blogosphere to spread the wealth. You don't get the pleasure of my witty repartee, but you do get a...

Picking up from where I left off, I'm going to address mannequins' evolution in the second half of the 20th century.

The revolutionary '60s came as a shock to the world, the American youth rebelling against the traditions of their conservative parents who desired normalcy and stability after...

I happened to run across an old issue of Hue, FIT's alumni magazine, and read a surprisingly interesting article on "The Life and Times of Mannequins" by Alex Joseph. Though I have not previously...

Fashion inevitably looks to history to interpret and re-interpret previous fashion trends. At the recent SAG Awards, I noticed 2 Egyptian-influenced dresses, worn by Toni Collette and Nicole Kidman:

Toni Collette at SAG Awards, 2010:
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I stumbled upon the contest, Cheap-ChicWeddings.com, for the most impressive wedding gowns made of--wait for it--toilet paper! Yes, this humble stuff is the focus of an annual challenge, to use it as the sole...

As friends and family already know, I love me some anatomical charts, grotesque dissections of the intricate layers of the human body, old-timey skeletons and medical charts of muscle groups and the nervous system, etc. It appeals to my love of...

After reading the New York Times article "Can a Boy Wear a Skirt to School?," exasperation and a wee bit of fury rumbled in my belly. As presented by Jan Hoffman, increasing numbers of school children are pushing the boundaries of so-called acceptable attire by cross dressing-- a...

I am embarrassed to say I failed the now vintage Huffington Post test on guessing who Yulia Tymoshenko is when presented with a collection of photos of her. For all you fellow dunces, she is the...