Articles from Volume 20 Issue 2

Skinema

Bitches in Uniform

Much like the modern-day hipster with soft hands and manicured nails and the garb of a longshoreman, skateboarders appropriated the style of blue-collar workers two decades ago. Full story

De Nimes

The Long Journey of Blue Jeans

Before we had low-rise, straight-leg, skinny, selvage, stretchy, resin-coated, lotion-infused, or mom jeans, there was simply jean—the fabric. The name likely originated from gênes, referring to Genoa, Italy, where sailors wore a twill blend of cotton, linen, and wool that came i… Full story

The First Wild One

The Genesis of the Motorcycle Jacket

American ingenuity is responsible for the world’s greatest creations. The cheeseburger is the best food ever, LSD is the epitome of drugs, and the internet is godlike in its scope. The same goes for a garment that has been adopted by crusty gutter punks and beer-gutted bikers ali… Full story

Bob Mackie Has Dressed Almost Everyone

And Those Who Haven't Been Clothed by Him Are Unworthy

In the pantheon of American fashion designers, Bob Mackie stands alone with his singular focus on sequined, bejeweled, and hyperbolic outfits for the world’s most ostentatious personalities. Bob has made clothes for Barbra, Whitney, Michael, and just about everyone else who has r… Full story

Wavy Spice

We got Wavy for the Fashion Issue

Valerie Phillips shoots Harlem's new rap queenpin. Full story

A Sweatshop of One's Own

An Exploration of Post-Slave-Labor American Fashion

What if the crap-manufacturing industry collapses and all of the indentured servants the US employs there are no longer able to produce cheaply manufactured garments? What atrocities would Americans be forced to wear? To illustrate this predicament, I made my own wardrobe from sc… Full story

Lil' Thinks

Fashion in the 90s

The 90s were perfect. This isn’t to privilege one set of nostalgics over another; the 1990s reverence felt by three small, semidiscrete generations (X, Y, Millennial) is, of course, no different from anyone else’s nostalgia for what came before, but seriously, the 90s were good f… Full story

Herb Ritter

Photos by Ben Ritter and styling by Annette Lamothe-Ramos. Full story

The Great Lost Expedition Brand

A Conversation with Willis & Geiger's Burt Avedon

In 1903, during an Arctic mineral-hunting expedition, an geologist by the name of Ben Willis discovered that most clothing doesn’t hold up in 100 mph winds and -60 °F temperatures. Ben returned to New York and started designing garments that could withstand the frozen tundra from… Full story

Comics

What Not to Wear

Take a look in this mirror and describe your "look" to us... "I dunno, I guess it's sort of a laid-back rock 'n' roll party stud kinda thing..." Johnny Ryan's comic from The Fashion Issue. Full story

Because the Night

Photos by Samantha Rapp. Styling by Cristian Stroble. Full story

Chop, Drop, and Roll

The Black Barbershop Is an American Institution

The black barbershop is one of the last American sanctuaries and an American tradition. It’s where you go to catch up on the news, debate about butts, play the numbers, watch the game, buy stolen sneakers from a hustler or bean pies from a black Muslim, and generally just shoot t… Full story

Combover

Laugh Pig Laugh

Two hours later: Regret. So much regret. There’s blood all over me. Not my blood. Chicken blood, or so they say. I don’t know where anyone gets all this chicken blood from, and the whole enterprise is definitely far from kosher. Full story

Bulletproof Kids

In December, the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, threw the country into a deep depression, followed by a fiery debate about guns. Companies hawking children’s clothes saw sales skyrocket. One of these vendors, Amendment II, has bulletproof backpacks star… Full story

Colts and Fillies

Photos and styling by Olivia Bee. Full story

Flying American Slobs

I was hanging out in a business-class lounge at JFK airport, waiting for my flight, when I saw two women enter, one American, one Italian. Try to tell me which is which. The first looked relaxed, classy, and very rich. The second woman was wearing Uggs and gray sweatpants. Full story

Why Not Rent Your Head to Advertisers?

We’re not sure if Andrew Lardinois was inspired by his mallrat days or came up with the idea of making extra cash by shaving the logos of local businesses into his hair all by himself. So far, he’s served as a walking commercial for a liquor store, a fashion boutique, and a coffe… Full story

American Gigolo

Photos by Richard Kern and styling by Ian Bradley. Full story

Raggare Love Hot Rods and Rock 'n' Roll

A Chat with One of the Last Original Swedish Greasers

Raggare are modern-day greasers who are as important to Sweden’s national identity as meatballs, ABBA, and blue-eyed blonds. This is despite the fact that the raggare subculture is all about the appropriation of American cars, rock ’n’ roll, and tough-guy leather jackets. Full story

Do People Really Dress Like Shit in Buffalo?

As if the city of Buffalo, New York, didn’t have enough to worry about with its struggling economy and tons of fat people and brutal winters, last year a website called Bundle.com named the town of 260,000 the “least fashionable city in America.” Full story

Anarchy in Hip-Hop

Hip-hop and punk were born at about the same time, in the same place, with the same rebellious; however, their fashion aesthetics have always clashed. But somewhere along the line that changed, because today’s MCs look like first-wavers at CBGB. Full story

Johnny Marr Takes Music and Fashion Seriously

An Interview with the Coolest Guitarist to Ever Breathe Air

Music and fashion go together like pedophiles and children. It’s always been an uneasy, somewhat forced relationship that results from perversion and mental illness. Johnny Marr is one of the few musicians who got it right. Full story

The World's American Dream

International Designers Discuss the USA's Global Fashion Domination (or Lack Thereof)

For this American-themed Fashion Issue we thought it would be interesting to ask our international offices to get in touch with their countries’ most influential designers and fashion icons to see what they thought of our country’s fashion sense. Full story

Bob Odenkirk’s Page

Hey Dame B, Who Are You Hoping to Bump into During Fashion Week?

Who attends these fashion shows? I mean, besides the celebs and models? The answer is rich bastards and wealthy old broads, like this month's guest columnist: Dame Ms. Astler-Bancussi-Freitog! Full story

Snoop Through the Ages

The Clothes Made the Dogg, and Now Make the Lion

Snoop’s looks run along a larger continuum of style that has evolved into a glorious mishmash of whatever makes him look good without pretense. With this in mind, we thought it only proper to revisit Snoop’s looks from years past for this American-themed Fashion Issue and intervi… Full story

Denim All Day

Photos by Richmond Lam and styling by Olivia Whittick. Full story

Disasters Made in Bangladesh

Why Poor People Are Still Dying for Our Cheap T-Shirts

We still don’t know exactly how many of Swapna’s coworkers were killed at the Tazreen Fashions factory on November 24, 2012. She was sewing shorts—“half-pants,” they’re called in Bangladesh—when on the ground floor piles of yarn and acrylic fabric began to burn. Full story

Records

The thing about Young Fathers is they have the entire deck stacked against them: They’re Scottish, and it’s a proven, scientific fact that Scottish people cannae feckin’ rap. Yet this is pretty unfuckwithable. It has all of the cool elements of British grime, but it’s also dubbed… Full story