Monthly Archives: June 2010

Laundry Day

The findings of a University of Arizona study about the cleanliness of reusable canvas shopping bags has been circulating online for awhile but it’s worth repeating. Basically, researchers tested shopping bags in Tucson, Los Angeles, and San Francisco and found … Continue reading

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The Unending Cycle Of Hipster Fashion

Did you see this chart on Jezebel? I can’t decide if it’s funny or tragic. What do you think?

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The End of Fashion (Again): Some Quotes

The last year or so I’ve been working on a book about the phenomenon of democratization in fashion – why and how fashion became the material sign for an array of liberal democratic rights. (The period I’m working on is … Continue reading

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IN VINTAGE COLOR: “The Infinite Garage Project”

Author of Hit Me With Your Best Shot: The Ultimate Guide to Karaoke Domination and the late-great gaming culture zine 1-Up, Raina Lee is clearing out her parents’ home, including their detached three-car garage, and documenting this process in all … Continue reading

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Filed under FASHIONING RACE, VINTAGE POLITICS

War, And The Clothes Brought “Here” From “There” (Punk Rock Flashback)

I wrote this excerpt for one of my Punk Planet columns (PP 36, March/April 2000) over ten years ago. Apparently, I’ve been writing about the politics of fashion and beauty for a long time. I’m leaving town for several weeks, … Continue reading

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Filed under (AD)DRESSING GENDER & SEXUALITY, FASHION-INDUSTRIAL-STATE COMPLEX, FASHIONING RACE, FASHIONING THE HUMAN

Threadbared in Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies

Sometime last year, the folks at Academichic alerted us to an open query about fashion, dress, and feminism from Eileen Boris, Professor and Chair of the Department of Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Boris asks, Do … Continue reading

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Threadbared’s Haphazard List of Queer Fashion or Style Blogs, Finally Published Due to Peer Pressure & Imminent Departure

I had been working on this list on and off for a few months, and had put it aside until Autostraddle released their list of the “15 Best Fashion Magazines & Blogs, Hand-Picked For Queers.” “Doh!” I said, “I need … Continue reading

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EXHIBITION ANNOUNCEMENT: Of Another Fashion: Claiming America through Dress 

At the end of a previous post about the Black Fashion Museum, I hinted about curating a different kind of fashion exhibition, one that explores the fashion histories of women of color and in relation to women of color. (See … Continue reading

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Filed under FASHIONING RACE, ON BEAUTY, VINTAGE POLITICS

Thai-Cong’s MY PARENTS: An Homage to Fashion, Photography, and Life

German Vietnamese stylist and interior designer Thai-Cong Quach’s My Parents (2002) is a collection of portraits of his mother and father, Lang Leona Le (57) and Huu Thanh Quach (93). Each portrait is a collaboration between the son as stylist, … Continue reading

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Filed under ON BEAUTY

THEORY FLASHBACK: Richard Fung, “Working Through Cultural Appropriation” (1993)

Those who advocate against cultural appropriation often assume the definition of this term to be self-evident; those who disparage the formulation make it into something ridiculous. The critique of cultural appropriation has suffered precisely due to a lack of clarity … Continue reading

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Filed under FASHION-INDUSTRIAL-STATE COMPLEX, FASHIONING RACE, FASHIONING THE HUMAN, THEORY TO THINK WITH