One of the hardest things for a teacher is to know when to keep quiet and when to let go. It is a terrible thing to hold someone back from success, or to insist on...

Until the sixteenth century, men–priests, academics, judges, merchants, princes, and many others–wore skirts, or robes. For men, the skirt was a ‘sign of leisure and a symbol of dignity,’ writes Quentin Bell. This is still...

I believe that treating other people well is a lost art.

The message sent by this policy is that if women are to be accepted into the exclusive ranks of men, then they have to look like men: buttoned up, stuffy, and no-nonsense. As if to...

I love the word ‘fashion.’ That’s why I’m using it in the title of this book. Fashion is about change and about creating clothes within a historical context. To me, dismissing fashion as silly or...

The work is at such a high level and is so well executed, it really is a matter of taste… [Source: Project Runway — but consider, applied to the theme of book reviews, it seems...

Just the way it never rains when you have an umbrella, you’ll never run into people if you look fantastic. But go outside in pajamas, and you’ll run into every ex you have.

I would certainly rather the industry not go broke, but if that’s what it takes for everyone to acquire some values and lose that sense of entitlement, maybe a little belt-tightening wouldn’t be so tragic.

You can be too rich and too thin, but you can never be too well read or too curious about the world.

In my typical way, I declined to respond, saying that I didn’t want anyone to run to a store just because I endorsed a trend. Besides, a trend is good only if it works for...

A T-shirt is a T-shirt. Spending hundreds of dollars on it doesn’t elevate it. He was under-dressed, even if his casual outfit did cost more than my suit and tie.I once had another fashion victim...

Whether they come from Brooks Brothers or a thrift store, the sweaters we wear have a magnificent ancestry. Their history spans the worlds of Irish fishermen, French knights, World War I soldiers, busty Hollywood ‘sweater...

Few activities are as delightful as learning new vocabulary.

In 1916, Infants’ and Children’s Wear Review insisted upon pink for boys and blue for girls. In 1939, Parents magazine claimed that pink was a good color for boys because it was a pale version...

When I took over as chair of the fashion program, I was horrified that only the faculty member was allowed to speak in a critique. I’m talking about perfectly nurturing teachers. But the rule was...

Speaking of high-end shoe designers, in 2011 it was fascinating to see the design company of Christian Louboutin try to stop the company Yves Saint Laurent from producing high heels with red soles, claiming that...