Monthly Archives: August 2010

Fashion and Race: Running (from) the Numbers Game

Thus far, I’ve read only a very small number of September issue fashion magazines: American Vogue (chock full of great or more precisely, useful, evidence for my research on the democratization of fashion), Teen Vogue, and New York Magazine. I … Continue reading

7 Comments

Filed under FASHIONING RACE

The “Blogging Muumuu” is Genius

Jezebel somewhat cheekily calls FLOTUS’ garb the “blogging muumuu” – and I couldn’t agree more! I could write for days in that thing! I don’t know why so many photos of bloggers show them perched at their laptops decked out … Continue reading

5 Comments

Filed under OUR JUNK DRAWER

Semester’s Start Takes Me By Surprise, Again

My semester began this last Monday, and although I’m on teaching leave, I’m still working — there are all-day faculty meetings, for instance, as well as the usual committee service (in my case, for two programs because of my split … Continue reading

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Filed under LINKAGE, SARTORIAL INDULGENCES

What’s Beautiful in Eco-Disaster Chic?

The latest contribution to “oil spill-inspired” fashion has come from a small footwear company called Bed|Stü.** The boat shoes (pictured above and available for purchase in November) are from their “Gulf Coast Cleanup” collection. The shoes aren’t yet listed on … Continue reading

5 Comments

Filed under DEMOCRATIZATION OF FASHION, ON BEAUTY

The “Beauty Penalty” in Academia

About a year ago, I wrote a post called, “Mind over Malls, or Does Academia Hate Fashion?”. There’s a lot I would revise about this blog post – it’s been more than a year since I wrote it, after all! … Continue reading

7 Comments

Filed under ON BEAUTY

New Book Alert: The Fat Studies Reader

I just got an email announcement about Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solovay’s latest edited volume titled, The Fat Studies Reader (NYU Press) this morning. I haven’t read the book but reading the description and the Table of Contents, I thought … Continue reading

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Filed under IN THE CLASSROOM, THEORY TO THINK WITH

Meet Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, author of The Beautiful Generation: Asian Americans and the Cultural Economy of Fashion

We’re over the moon about this profile post on NYU professor Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, whose fabulously smart book, The Beautiful Generation: Asian Americans and the Cultural Economy of Fashion, is due out this Winter from Duke University Press. Longtime … Continue reading

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Filed under IN THE CLASSROOM, LABOR AND THE CREATIVE ECONOMY, THEORY TO THINK WITH

Sartorial Classification as a Weapon of War

ONE afternoon earlier this month, David Tabbert, wearing Ray-Bans and glinting metal earrings, headed out on a shopping trip to one of his usual Brooklyn haunts: Islam Fashion Inc. on Atlantic Avenue. Though Mr. Tabbert, 28, personally prefers G-star denim … Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under (AD)DRESSING GENDER & SEXUALITY, FASHION-INDUSTRIAL-STATE COMPLEX, FASHIONING RACE, FASHIONING THE HUMAN, STYLE POLICE & STYLE GURUS, THEORY TO THINK WITH

About Face (Burcu Buyukunal)

I’m a little fascinated by these subtle, face-altering jewelry pieces by Turkish designer Burcu Buyukunal. I do often like work that allows us to consider the effects of disrupting the certainty of the face — whether for communicating (“face-to-face”), for … Continue reading

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Filed under LINKAGE, SARTORIAL INDULGENCES

Fashion Commerce and Community, We the People Fashion Collective

There’s certainly no shortage of women’s clothing boutiques in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, but Vera Ng’s We the People (156 Stanton, at Suffolk) is unique because its reason for being isn’t simply to sell clothes. “Ng created We the People … Continue reading

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Filed under OUR JUNK DRAWER, SARTORIAL INDULGENCES