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Ann Lowe, Willi Smith, Patrick Kelly: Three Black American Designers Who Changed the Story
A couturier who dressed America’s most famous bride, a New Yorker who invented “street couture,” and a Mississippian who conquered Paris. Three…
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Where New York Learns Fashion: A Guide to the City’s Fashion Schools
FIT, Parsons, Pratt and LIM each grew out of a different idea of what fashion education should be. Here is how they…
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Kente, Thread by Thread: How to Read Ghana’s Most Famous Cloth
It began, the Asante say, with a spider’s web. Kente is a royal cloth, a weaving system and a visual language. Here…
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How New York Became a Fashion Capital: Six Moments That Built Seventh Avenue
A fire, a museum merger, a press week, a school above a high school, a trade council and a night at Versailles.…
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Adire: The Indigo Cloth of the Yoruba Women Who Made It
Blue and white, tied, stitched, stenciled or painted by hand, adire is one of West Africa’s great design traditions. Here is how…
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The Surprising Story of Wax Print, the Cloth the World Calls African
Bold, glossy and instantly recognizable, wax print is worn across West and Central Africa. Its history runs through Java, the Netherlands and…
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La Sape: A Century of Congolese Elegance, from Brazzaville to Paris
Long before street style had a name, the dandies of Brazzaville and Kinshasa were turning dress into art and argument. A short…
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Aso-Oke and Aso-Ebi: Inside Yoruba Ceremonial Dress
At a Yoruba wedding, the cloth tells you who is who. A guide to aso-oke, the hand-woven prestige textile, and aso-ebi, the…
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What Haute Couture Really Means (and Why Almost Nobody Qualifies)
In France, haute couture is not a compliment. It is a legally protected designation with rules set in 1945. Here is what…
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The Fashion Calendar, Explained: Seasons, Show Weeks and What Happens When
Why are spring clothes shown in September? A plain-English guide to the global fashion calendar, from New York to Paris, and how…
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Como, Biella, Prato: A Designer’s Guide to Italy’s Textile Districts
Behind “Made in Italy” stand a handful of towns that have spun, woven and finished cloth for centuries. Meet the silk of…
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Savile Row, Explained: What “Bespoke” Really Means
Fifty hours of handwork, a paper pattern cut for one person and a street with its own slang. A guide to Savile…
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A Walking History of New York’s Great Department Stores
From Herald Square to 58th Street, a self-guided walk through the stores that taught America how to shop, with the dates and…
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Starting a Fashion Label in New York: The Paperwork Nobody Talks About
Before the first sample, there is the business. A plain-English checklist of the registrations, tax steps and labeling rules a new New…
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Fashion Careers Beyond the Designer: Where the Jobs Really Are
Fashion runs on far more than designers. A clear-eyed look at the numbers, the roles that keep the industry moving and how…
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Green Claims, Decoded: A Designer’s Guide to Sustainable Fashion Labels
“Eco-friendly” is easy to say and hard to prove. What GOTS and OEKO-TEX labels actually certify, what U.S. rules say about green…
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Fabric 101: Fibers, Weaves and How to Read a Clothing Label
What does “Super 120’s” mean? When can a sweater be called cashmere? A designer’s primer on fibers, weaves and the U.S. labeling…
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Fashion Photography Basics: Light, Lookbooks and the Rights Every Shoot Needs
Great images sell collections. Who owns those images, and what you can do with them, matters just as much. A practical guide…
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Paris, Decoded: The Official Calendar, the Showrooms and the Prizes That Open Doors
Paris still sets fashion’s clock. Here is how its official calendar is chosen, where young labels sell, and which prizes changed careers…
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On the Calendar, Off the Calendar: A New York Fashion Week Field Guide for Independents
How the official NYFW schedule is built, what happens around it, and how an independent label can use the week without overspending.