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Radio
"Political Threads," NPR: On the Media by WNYC-NY: Interview with Brooke Gladstone. February 1, 2008: http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2008/02/01/08
TV
"Indo-Chic," Urban Update, WHDH Boston, Ch. 7: October 28, 2001.
Web Media
On the historical appearance of stiletto heels:
The modern connection between fashion and
pain traces to the 1950s, when designer Christian Dior unveiled his "New
Look," pointy shoes with a steep, thin heel. By contrast, World War
II era shoes, says Kathleen McDermott, a fashion historian and instructor
at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, were blunt in the toe, sensible,
and not intended to be sexy. "Dior wanted women to be like flowers,
dainty and feminine," she says. "It was the exact opposite of
the utilitarian design that came before it. And a stiletto heel was a big
part of that change.
"Stylish Shoes Have a Serious Price Tag: BU Study Shows It's Heels
Today, Pain Tomorrow," BU Today, November 16, 2009, by Dan Morrell: http://www.bu.edu/today/campus-life/2009/11/10/stylish-shoes-have-serious-price-tag
The Boston Globe
1. On the difference between Yves St. Laurent and Tom Ford:
"Kathleen McDermott, fashion history professor at
MassArt, insinuates that Ford is out to give investors confidence more than
the people who wear his clothes, and she says the difference between the
namesake and the man who carries the brand into this new century is remarkable.
Saint Laurent was a classic designer with artistic vision; Ford is a stylist."
"'One is painstakingly creating a garment from the ground up,' McDermott
says, 'and the other has a very clever sense of what will sell.'' '
"Vision Can't Be Refashioned," The Boston Globe, January
10, 2002, D3; article by Tina Cassidy.
2. On wearing white before Memorial Day:
"As a fashion rule, the real question is black. Yes, we might have a white color story [this season], but . . . your white suit is not going to last you more than one season before it starts getting ratty-looking. I think what you're seeing is very ephemeral" with the white trend. "People wear black all year long." "It really goes back to what is proper dress set by the upper class, and followed slavishly by the middle class," said Kathleen McDermott, fashion historian at the Massachusetts College of Art. "It's a vestige of very old ideas about wearing clothes. The Season, with a capital 'S' was the time that people would socialize. That was in fall and winter. In the summer, people would go on vacation. That's where they'd wear white. So you'd be in Newport, in Bar Harbor, wherever you were. That continues to be a strong tradition." McDermott noted that wearing whiter clothes in summer is also functional because they reflect the sun. "Shades of a Different Color Define a New Dress Code," The Boston Globe, May 2, 2002, D3; article by Tina Cassidy.
Women’s Wear Daily
On the connection between consumer spending and housing prices:
"We've been in this long boom where people who own homes are getting
breaks from refinancing that, over time, may give them more income to spend
on clothes." "The Consumers behind the Money," WWD,
November 7, 2002, 12.
The Kansas City Star
1. With men out of jobs [in the 1930s], women emerged as a strong force to keep families together. They worked as they could, often taking in laundry and sewing to feed their families. "No woman could afford to be weak." "A Good Front," The Kansas City Star, October 14, 2001, G3.
2. The print explosion is a symptom of today's eclectic postmodern culture with little significance beyond surface decoration. "It's as if designers are rummaging through the closets of fashion history. They're picking what they like and mixing it up. It's an endless recycling and rejuvenation." "Your Prints Have Come," The Kansas City Star, March 11, 2001, G3.
3. Uneven hemlines first surfaced in the 1920s, a period of transition when skirts were on the move from long to short and back to long. "It was a way to accustom the eye to a new length. And women were able to have a little bit of both worlds." "Do You Have a Handkerchief?" The Kansas City Star, July 16, 2000.
4. The 1920s and 1960s were periods when women rebelled against traditional clothing and cast off provincial thinking. Women of the 1960s were "picking up the threads their grandmothers had agitated for" in the late 1910s and 1920s. These "were two periods of enormous freedom, and we are still living with those implications." "From Corsets to Casual: The 20th Century," The Kansas City Star, November 14, 1999.
5. Beading was popular in the 1920s when fashion took a turn toward straight-lined flapper silhouettes. "When shapes simplify, clothes [surfaces] become more ornate." Beading provides "a place for the eye to go." "Getting a Bead," The Kansas City Star, October 10, 1999.
6. The decade of the 1960s "was the first time in our century when
fashion bubbled up from the streets." "Peasant Thoughts," The Kansas City Star, May 16, 1999.
(Articles by Jackie White, fashion editor, The Kansas City Star.)
The Oregonian
On uses of the American flag in fashion history:
"In the 1960s, people started appropriating flag images on T-shirts, incorporating it into clothing . . . using the flag as overt political theater." "Patriotic Fervor Hits Fashion," The Oregonian, September 30, 2001, L7; by Vivian McInerny, fashion editor.
The Boston Globe (My own fashion/design pieces.)
"Design
Coup," Boston Globe Magazine, September 26, 1999.
"E-Commerce
and the Kitsch of Christmas Past," Boston Globe, December
23, 1999.
"Vive la
Difference" and "In Her Fashion," Boston Globe Magazine, February 27, 2000.
"Fashion
Statements," Boston Sunday Globe, April 23, 2000.