Textiles

A close-up of fabric in a loom

Taking a Cue from Textile-Making to Engineer Human Tissue

Researchers in search of a faster, cheaper way to engineer human tissue found success in traditional textile production methods.

An illustration of a prosthetic hand.

Sensors Designed for Prosthetic Hands Could Lead to New Textile Standards

Haptic sensors might help figure out if thread count really matters

Here’s Why Men’s and Women’s Clothes Button on Opposite Sides

Thank outdated fashion statements and swordfights for the odd switch

A Brief History of Plaid

From highlanders to hipsters

Pacchanta's Maria Merma Gonzalo practices weaving techniques that have changed little in 500 years.

In a Small Village High in the Peruvian Andes, Life Stories Are Written in Textiles

Through weaving, the women of Ausangate, Peru, pass down the traditions of their ancestors

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Handicraft Heaven: Nine Unique Gifts to Buy Along the Inca Road

Leave room in your suitcase for these irresistible items

Today, where the concept of “disruption” has become so popular in business, those developing apps and new startups can look to the Singer Sewing Machine as one of the original disruptive technologies.

How Singer Won the Sewing Machine War

The Singer Sewing Machine changed the way America manufactured textiles, but the invention itself was less important than the company’s innovative business

“The [museum] is a beautiful example of the strategic ‘borrowing’ that created the rich cultural environment we have all inherited from the African continent.”

Is Architecture Actually a Form of Weaving?

David Adjaye, architect of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, approaches building design as creating "fabric"

Zsanett Szirmay draws on traditional Hungarian embroidery and cross-stitch patterns in "Soundweaving."

This Music Is Made of Embroidery

Here’s what happens when you feed historical cross-stitch through a music box

Spider Silk is a Fine-Tuned Alert System

Web fibers can send a wide range of messages

Small lungs made out of felt, infused with the DNA from killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria.

An Artist Dyes Clothes and Quilts With Tuberculosis and Staph Bacteria

Anna Dumitriu combines bacteria and textile design to explore our relationship with microorganisms

Paris, Frills and Button Flowers, Autumn/Winter 1971

For Perusing Pleasure, Zandra Rhodes’ New Online Fashion Archive

The honored Brit—50 years in the business—goes for the bold in her designer collections

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The Perils of Wearing Clothes

From toxins in textile dyes to torturous corsets, beauty has a long history of coming at a high cost

A History of Sequins from King Tut to the King of Pop

As you don your sparkly holiday fashions, think of the trend's start in an Egyptian tomb

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The Best in Fashion History: Penny Loafers, Forgotten Suitcases and Hermès Scarves

Three good reads to accessorize your daily routine

Matchbook in the shape of a folded men’s shirt, with incised checkerboard-patterned weave, cuffs and bib, smiling child’s head peering out from opening at collar. Reverse inscribed “New York Clothing House, 102 & 104 Baltimore St., Baltimore.” Upper curved section swings open to reveal match compartment, c. mid-19th century.

Favorites From the Cooper-Hewitt’s New Online Collection

The museum's clothing and textiles are unwrapped for view as never before

Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors original label featured a topless cowgirl (left) who got a fringed bolero in 1963.

As a Matter of Fact: Jockeys, Tartans and Cowboy Glam

The real stories behind some fashion fads and classics hold some surprising twists

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Orlon! Dacron! Antron! The Great American Knits of Fall 1965

As this old newspaper ad supplement shows, in the heydey of synthetic knits, DuPont advanced its chemically made fibers as a key to "Better Living"

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Stockings Series, Part 3: Ads from the Archives, 1890-1939

For decades, Ivory sold itself as the suds that made legwear last longer

Living Better Now

Q&A: Jayson Musson Breaks Down Coogi Sweaters

With the '80s and '90s status-symbol clothing a bargain on eBay, the Brooklyn artist buys, disassembles and reconstructs them to make abstract "paintings"

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