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Hello, chicken.
natural history museums

See the World’s Most Ordinary Animals as You Never Have Before

Inside a new exhibit that gives dogs, cats, and chickens the full-on natural history museum treatment.
Sarah Laskow September 25, 2017
A man wearing Oxford bags, c. 1930.
fashion

Oxford Bags, the Ridiculously Wide-Legged Trousers of the 1920s

Many decades before JNCOs, British rowers took their pants to extreme dimensions.
Dan Nosowitz September 22, 2017
Increasing education for girls, like this group of students learning to write around 1915, created a generation of women looking to be more than good wives and mothers.
literature

The Banned 1910s Magazine That Started a Feminist Movement in Japan

"Seitō" showed women how to leave their husbands.
Sarah Laskow September 22, 2017
Spanish tennis player Lili de Alvarez shows off her divided skirt at the North London Tennis Tournament in Highbury, London.
sports

How the Skort Went From Rebellious Garment to Athleisure Staple

The skort has always been a divisive piece of clothing—literally.
Tanya Basu September 21, 2017
The <em>Penny Pictorial Magazine</em> was one of a few publications to run features on these 'lasses'.
mines

The Women Miners in Pants Who Shocked Victorian Britain

"The article of clothing which women ought only to wear in a figure of speech."
Natasha Frost September 21, 2017
This famous 1882 portrait of Oscar Wilde shows him in clothes he had commissioned and designed himself.
fashion

How Constance and Oscar Wilde Helped Get Women Into Trousers

One small step for clothing historians, one giant leap for womankind.
Natasha Frost September 20, 2017
A trolley tour in Miami.
transportation

The Curious Rise of Historic Trolley Tours

How did these nostalgic vehicles become fixtures in cities across America?
Daniel Richards September 19, 2017
Steve McQueen lounges in a corduroy jacket, 1967.
fashion

The Long and Bumpy History of Corduroy

It may be most closely associated with the '70s, but the ribbed fabric's pedigree goes back many centuries.
Ernie Smith September 19, 2017
Stockings were a necessary leg covering in the 18th century.
fashion

A Machine That Made Stockings Helped Kick Off the Industrial Revolution

Queen Elizabeth I wanted none of it.
Sarah Laskow September 19, 2017
An 18th-century illustration of the legs of a frog.
features

Scientists Once Dressed Frogs in Tiny Pants to Study Reproduction

In the 18th century, fertility research got particularly creative.
Robert Lamb September 18, 2017
Necropants.
witchcraft

Necropants and Other Tales of 17th-Century Icelandic Sorcery

Magic wealth and goat's milk could be yours—if you could stomach the rituals.
Eric Grundhauser September 18, 2017
This 1885 painting by Cecilia Beaux, <em>The Last Days of Childhood</em>, shows a little boy being cuddled by his mother in the lead-up to his breeching.
rites and rituals

For Centuries, People Celebrated a Little Boy’s First Pair of Trousers

Literally a party in your pants.
Natasha Frost September 18, 2017
Marchers at the 2014 Gay Pride Parade in Istanbul, Turkey. The pride march was banned in 2016.
linguistics

The Changing Nature of Lubunca, Turkey's LGBTQ Slang

The language has long kept vulnerable groups protected, but is now being used for fun and visibility.
Pesha Magid September 15, 2017
A miniature watercolor on ivory from c. 1840.
objects of intrigue

19th-Century 'Lover's Eye' Jewelry Was the Perfect Accessory for Secret Affairs

The more brazen paramours walked around wearing a piece of their illicit beloved.
Carly Silver September 15, 2017
Jennifer Higgins showing the Gaza Circus School trainees some tricks on silks.
circus

A Women's Circus School Is Growing in Gaza

If all goes as hoped, hundreds of Gazan girls will soon be swinging from trapezes.
Mousa Tawfiq September 14, 2017
Oscar James Dunn, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana.
history

Oscar Dunn, America's Forgotten First Black Lieutenant Governor

The New Orleans pioneer's legacy has been overshadowed, and an intended monument never built.
Chelsea Adams September 13, 2017
<em>Pinna nobilis</em>, the clam from which sea silk is produced, grows up to a yard in length.
mythology

You’ll Probably Never Get to See, Let Alone Touch, Sea Silk

Untangling the mysteries of the world’s rarest thread.
Natasha Frost September 13, 2017
The site of the American camp, as a farm in the 19th century.
maps

In 1859, the United States and Britain Almost Went to War Over a Pig

Hundreds of soldiers and sailors faced off over one tiny island in the Pacific Northwest.
Sarah Laskow September 13, 2017