In the 1800s, consumption was the name of a terrible, yet weirdly chic, wasting disease later known as tuberculosis, glamorized in both society and the arts. “I should like to die from consumption,” the romantic poet Byron reportedly said. The novelist George Sand said of her lover, the composer Frédéric Chopin, that he “coughs with […]
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“What beautiful cultural appropriation!” I turned in my seat to look at the fashion editor nodding in approval next to me at Lagos Fashion Week. By that point, I had seen fashion shows in nearly a dozen countries, and I was used to hearing the term “cultural appropriation” whispered around a runway. In Japan I […]
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ImageFidel Castro, in signature military fatigues, being interviewed during his trip to New YorkCreditThe New York Times It was like Sinatra headlining in Vegas. On April 21, 1959 — 60 years ago this Sunday — thousands of adoring New Yorkers gave a tumultuous welcome to a young celebrity emerging from Penn Station: Fidel Castro, leader […]
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There has never been a fashion show inside the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, or in the piazza splayed in front of it, the way there have been in French cultural landmarks like the Louvre, the Palais de Justice and the National Archives. But there might as well have been. It is embedded on the psychographic style […]
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BOSTON — It is a cat suit, not a thesis statement, and yet somehow the snug Rudi Gernreich garment — with its band collar, dot pattern and Julie Newmar aura — emblematizes both the promise and the shortcomings of “Gender Bending Fashion,” a naggingly ill-defined survey of a century of gender blur. Using haute couture, […]
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Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times. By Nichelle Gainer Rose Morgan and her friend Oletha White were driving from Chicago to New York in White’s brand-new 1938 Ford when they began crossing the George Washington Bridge. Morgan looked up and saw the […]
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ImageTonne Goodman at home in Greenwich Village.CreditDaniel Arnold for The New York Times Tonne Goodman has a mantra for when things start to get a little messy: “This is happening for a reason.” She is known for saying it on fashion sets when a model calls in sick or a runway look is stuck in […]
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Every once in a while an image appears that so viscerally frames the human story in a time of social or political paroxysm that it becomes a symbol. Such was the case this week with a smartphone photo taken during a demonstration in Sudan against the repressive regime of President Omar al-Bashir, as the protests […]
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Since she launched her brand in 2012, the New York-based designer Rosie Assoulin has become known for bold statements of color and silhouette. Her eponymous line features Instagram-ready dresses in electric hues, skirts in irreverent prints, sculptural pants and button-up vests with floor-skimming capes. With it, Assoulin has built up a following of loyal customers […]
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The great fleece freak-out of 2019 — the days of crazed excitement around the idea that Patagonia, the outdoor clothing company, was sticking it to Wall Street and Silicon Valley by refusing to make any more of the branded fleece vests that had become a banker signifier — began, as many confused news cycles do, […]
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ImageThe model Naomi Campbell takes a selfie at the inauguration ceremony of the National Museum of Qatar.CreditPatrick Baz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images DOHA, Qatar — Victoria Beckham came from London. Diane von Furstenberg and Alexander Wang from New York. Pierpaolo Piccioli of Valentino flew in from Rome, while Olivier Rousteing of Balmain and Giambattista Valli […]
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A glamorous woman, dressed in jeans, a shirt and a vest, looks into the camera. Her full-on Afro and styling are retro, a homage, perhaps, to 1970s Blaxploitation stars like Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson. But one telling detail, the high-school yearbook she is holding, reminds us that the image is more than a fashion […]
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ImageGov. J.B. Pritzker, center, with Bill Hadley, the Stephenson County board chairman, right, and Pastor Antwon Funches of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, left, during a stop to survey flood damage in Freeport, Ill.CreditScott P. Yates/Rockford Register Star, via Associated Press The news that Anna Sorokin, the New York “party girl grifter” whose story has […]
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When did leggings make the leap from garment to cultural lightning rod? For what are essentially stretchy footless tights in a seemingly endless array of patterns and colors, they have been an unexpected source of controversy. The latest uproar came last week, when Maryann White, the mother of four sons, wrote a letter to the […]
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Three girls in North Carolina were fed up with a school policy prohibiting female students from wearing pants. Skirts, they said, were uncomfortable and restrictive. They wanted to be free to play at recess, do cartwheels with the boys and focus on learning in the classroom — not the position of their legs. So the […]
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Almost two decades ago, before he left the brand that bears his name, Calvin Klein (the man) appeared on “Larry King Live” and discussed, among other topics, the prevalence of copying in fashion. “Oh, I think that’s flattering if we are,” he said. “It’s when they stop copying, that’s when we’re really in trouble.” It’s […]
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As Brian Otieno was waiting to start college six years ago, he spent his days snapping pictures with his phone as he wandered the unpaved streets and alleyways of Kibera, a sprawling shantytown on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Often referred to as Africa’s largest slum, Kibera is home to up to a million […]
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A sudden, striking influx of glamorous non-techies at a tech hub in California. Grumbles about NDAs. Excited, surreptitious glances. Gossip about disruption. A drumroll for a hitherto hush-hush, industry-upsetting announcement. Sound familiar? This is not a description of what is happening today at the Apple event in Cupertino, as the company unveils its new video […]
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ImageThe stylist Law Roach at Bloomingdale’s in New York.CreditVincent Tullo for The New York Times When Ariana Grande stepped on stage at the Times Union Center in Albany for the start of her 80-date Sweetener World Tour this week and began to belt “God Is a Woman,” she did so wearing a mix of haute […]
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As tattooed rockers, tech bros and Instagram influencers pile into the tweedy world of watch collecting, prices for sought-after classics from brands like Rolex, Omega and Patek Philippe are shooting up. In some cases, they have doubled in just a couple of years. These next-generation collectors see old timepieces not just as a subtly stylish […]
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