FASHION & CULTURE

 

Clothing and body decoration have been, throughout recorded history, an outer indicator of who we are, where we belong, the type of work we do, and our social standing within the culture to which we belong. But as cultures blend and styles are adapted from one culture to another, fashion has become less an indication of where we belong and more of an expression of artistic individualism. On this page we will look at some of the history of fashion and body decoration, as well as some of the more entertaining aspects of fashion and personal style.

Go Fug Yourself is an entertaining blog that features photos of celebrities dressing very badly indeed!

The Sartorialist features men and women (and a few very stylish children) who have their own unique flair and style on the streets of New York City, Paris, Milan and other cities around the world.

Todd Selby's magazine is part online interior decorating magazine, part who's who of global hip. His web site, theselby.com, is a window into the private realms of those all over the world who meet his definition of stylistically "cool."

Polyvore allows the user to design his or her own "sets" from fashions found at any of the online shopping sites on the web. Create your own dream wardrobe and have fun in the process.

The Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian has an incredibly beautiful exhibit of Native American clothing titled Identity By Design.

Japanese Fashion.net provides a history of Japanese fashion and Japanese Streets Magazine provides hundreds of photos and videos of the weird, bizarre and entertaining world of Japanese street fashion.

Fashion-era is a comprehensive categorized history of fashion from the 1800s through the 1900s.

The American Museum of Natural History has an online version of their exhibition titled Body Art: Marks of Identity.

Tattoos entered the mainstream of the United States back in the 1990s, but the Maori tribes of New Zealand were the masters of this type of body art long before there was a United States!

Cultural Essentials explores 5000 years of Chinese clothing.

The History of Fashion in Ancient Africa has information on African clothing and textiles.

Helmut Newton's work ranks among the most interesting of any of the famous fashion photographers.

Richard Avedon is another master of fashion photography.