Fashion

Joan Crawford in Letty Lynton (1932)

When Hollywood Glamour Was Sold at the Local Department Store

During the 1930s, the world’s most fashionable looks came not from Paris, but from La-La Land

Channel Parker's vicious wit in the coat she wore for decades.

Fans of Dorothy Parker Can Pay to Wear Her Mink Coat

It’s all in the name of preservation

At the height of their popularity in the 1950s, children's coonskin caps like this one from the Smithsonian collections, sold at the rate of 5,000 per day.

The Invention of Vintage Clothing

It all began with the Davy Crockett coonskin hat craze and a bunch of Bohemians yearning to swathe themselves in decades-old fur

Clerks (right) will no longer have to wear their distinctive wigs in the House of Commons.

British Parliament Is Losing its Wigs

They’re itchy, formal—and part of centuries of tradition

The little black graphene dress

The LBD Gets an Update With the Debut of the First Dress Made with Graphene

Partially made from the world's thinnest, strongest material, lights on the dress change color based on the wearer's breathing rate

Microscope not included.

This Necklace Contains All of the World’s Languages

Because cultural preservation never goes out of fashion

Capt. (Dr.) Tejdeep Singh Rattan (right) checks in a patient during the triage portion of an exercise during the Basic Officer Leadership Course at Camp Bullis, Texas in 2010. Rattan was the first Sikh allowed to keep his articles of faith while in uniform in 23 years.

Muslim and Sikh Troops Can Now Wear Beards, Turbans and Headscarves

The U.S. Army just changed its grooming regulations to accommodate observant soldiers

Marshall Field's was as much a part of Chicago's soul as the Lakefront and the Cubs.

For Generations of Chicagoans, Marshall Field’s Meant Business, and Christmas

The midwestern mainstay transformed commerce into a communal holiday spectacle

Recycling your trash is all the rage this season.

Meet an Environmental Activist and an Artist Who Share a Passion for “Trashion”

One man's trash suit is another woman's work of art

Silkworm cocoons

Feeding Silkworms Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene Makes Super-Tough Silk

A diet rich in graphene or carbon nanotubes causes the creatures to produce a fiber twice as strong as normal silk

Osgood says he can walk peacefully in total anonymity if he leaves his bow tie at home; but people always make him cakes with bow ties.

Charles Osgood's Love Affair With the Bow Tie Began With a Dire Warning About Clip-Ons

As one of his iconic bow ties arrives at the Smithsonian, Osgood reflects on good and bad doggerel and how to tie a good knot

Computer image of Triopticus skull overlaid on the field site where it was found.

Paleontologists Probe the Bonehead that Foreshadowed Domed Dinos

This striking skull shape evolved at least twice. But what was its purpose?

The Shoes With No (Carbon) Footprint

Energy company NRG has made a pair of sneakers from carbon emissions

Fabric containing the same material as plastic wrap was found to make human skin almost 4 degrees Fahrenheit cooler.

Is Plastic the Secret to Clothes That Will Keep You Cool?

Because it allows infrared radiation to escape your body, polyethylene could become key to what we wear in a warming world

This 2,000-year-old scroll is covered with mysterious words in Aramaic.

A Guide to Ancient Magic

In antiquity, love or revenge was just a spell away

A reconstruction of Ötzi the Iceman at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.

DNA Analysis Reveals What Ötzi the Iceman Wore to His Grave

He rocked surprisingly complex fashion for the Copper Age

Robe volante, c. 1730

The Robe Volante, the First Comfortable Dress in France, Sells for $150,000

The sweatpants of its day for courtiers, the style was a rebellion against the elaborate, corseted dresses of Louis XIV's court

Chuck Taylor All Star, circa 1957

How Chuck Taylor Taught America How to Play Basketball

A shoe-in for the first ever basketball game in the Olympics, Converse All Stars have a long history both in and out of sport

A newly promoted group of petty officers stand in formation in Yokosuka, Japan. The blue working uniforms they are wearing will start to be phased out this October.

Navy Bids Goodbye to “Blueberry” Uniform

Aquaflage is <i>so</i> 2010

Pure Human features clothing made from leather that is produced from the DNA of designer Alexander McQueen—and that includes freckles, realistically placed tattoos and even sunburns.

Alexander McQueen Is Being Turned Into Leather

The late designer's DNA is part of a bizarre experiment in fashion ethics

Page 10 of 18