FASHION Magazine

When they say “Kiss the ring,” it’s not a wedding band they’re talking about. Neither is it an engagement, purity, mourning, adultery, poison-concealing squirt or any of the many other kinds of signifying rings that proliferated from the Middle Ages through to the Victorian era. No, the ring that lackeys press their lips to in […]

The post The Surprising History of Signet Rings appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

In the acclaimed fashion film The Devil Wears Prada, the Anna Wintour-inspired character Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) delivers a nearly two-minute monologue on the significance of the colour blue — or not blue. Stylists, eager to impress their cutthroat boss, bounce frantically from rack to rack as the fashionably unaware assistant Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) […]

The post What’s the History Behind Fashion’s Most Recognizable Signature Colours? appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Oscars night is the pinnacle of red carpet fashion. It’s where the glitz and glamour of Hollywood is on full display as celebrities dress up in custom designs and haute couture. But sometimes the simplest style choices are the most memorable. Such was the case at this year’s Oscars, when the humble white button-up shirt […]

The post The History of the White Shirt at the Oscars, from Sharon Stone to Zendaya appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

A new coffee table book from Rizzoli titled Dior Hats: From Christian Dior to Stephen Jones features hats from over seventy years of the brand's history.

The post This New Book Looks Back at the History of Statement-Making Dior Hats appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Her first children’s book, 'Killer Style: How Fashion Has Injured, Maimed & Murdered Throughout History', is out today.

The post How <em>WORN Journal</em>’s Serah-Marie McMahon Went from Fashion Magazine Editor to Writing Children’s Books appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Berets are the most elegantly timeless style of hat – at once capable of being tidy and astute, feminine and intellectual, unassuming and intriguing. Whenever I happen to spot a round cap with that tiny woolen sprout, I can’t help but feel a flutter of whimsy and charm – it is, after all, the same […]

The post The Surprising Secret History of Berets appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

The ruffle’s watershed moment in pop culture likely occurred when Jerry Seinfeld, the founding father of normcore, debuted his ostentatious “puffy shirt” on national television to great LOLs and general SMHs (for the record it was a poet blouse, and it was amazing). Outside of that, the ruffle’s claim to fame has pretty much been […]

The post Charting the Unlikely History of Ruffles appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Alice Janssens is a fashion economist and historian at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Upon learning of the existence of a job title called “fashion economist,” I immediately wanted to know more about what she does for a living. Somewhat unsurprisingly, its fascinating.   FASHION: So, what exactly does a fashion economist do? AJ: I’m […]

The post “Fashion Is the Manifestation of a Sentiment”: An Interview With a Fashion Economist appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

T-shirts have always been political. Even 100 years ago, when they were marketed as undergarments, they were part of the U.S. military uniform during the First World War. During the 1950s, wearing them as outerwear or under a leather jacket, à la Marlon Brando or James Dean, became a subversive act. But to participate in […]

The post The T-shirt Revolution: How a Wardrobe Basic Became a Sign of Protest appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

A plain white T-shirt isn’t usually the kind of thing that gets put on display, but this year, the basic crewneck will get a piece of the spotlight as one of the star features in a new exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Items: Is Fashion Modern? (on display until January […]

The post <em>Items: Is Fashion Modern?</em> Curates All of Fashion’s Historic Must-Haves appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

In celebration of Michael Kors’ 35th fall show, we took a deep dive into his life and career. Sequins for day might not sound like a big deal now but when Michael Kors sent them down his spring 1990 runway, they sure were. His cotton shorts covered in transparent sequins were a head-scratcher. So were the […]

The post Michael Kors 101: See the Designer’s Most Memorable Moments appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

10 of the deadliest fashions of the 19th Century »

Oh, the things we do for fashion. While the connection between pain and beauty seems as strong as ever today, the truth is that women have been suffering for style since well before the corset days. Today, Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum opens Fashion Victims: The Pleasures and Perils of Dress in the 19^th Century, an exhibit that looks back at some of the most dangerous dresses, shoes and accessories of the Victorian era.

Much like the advances that came a century later with the advent of American sportswear in the 1920s, the Industrial Revolution saw a number of drastic changes to they way women dressed, including flats, high-waisted skirts and loose dresses. Not all of these changes came easy though; “The problem with flats is that they were incredibly narrow and they were made as straights, which means that pairs of shoes did not have distinct lefts or rights,” says Bata’s senior curator Elizabeth Semmelhack. What’s more, many were dyed with hyper-poisonous arsenic, a chemical that while responsible for some of the most vibrant hues of the day, could kill.