Someone said, “What are we supposed to do…recycle the same outfit for years?”
And that’s the truly the fundamental disconnect because I’m like, “Yes! You should wear stuff for years!”
Cora Harrington
@lingerie_addict
Formerly The Lingerie Addict - Aspiring Fashion Historian - Queer - Author of In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, and Love Lingerie - Kinda Nerdy
Cora Harrington’s Tweets
Police departments get hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but children have “school lunch debt.”
Make it make sense.
“Statues like this typically depict a married couple. It was unusual for two women to be sculpted side by side. The relationship between these two women is not specified.”
Obviously, they were roommates.
Nice is not the same as kind.
Nice is not the same as ethical.
Nice is not the same as moral.
The older I get, the less interested I am in “nice.”
Nice is the gift wrap; it says nothing about what’s inside.
What Margot Robbie *should* wear to the Barbie premiere
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Ever since I was told these good-old-days, Western fetishization Twitters with marble profile photos were fashy accounts meant to onboard people into white supremacy through “aesthetics,” I haven’t been able to unsee it.
My husband went to the gym at 5:30, then we met up at 7, got coffee together and walked to the farmer’s market for fresh cherries. It’s really nice being married to someone you enjoy.
Random Person: Lol...why don’t you have kids? Don’t you want them? 🤪
Me: I’m infertile.
Them: *stare*
Me: *stare back*
Them: Well, I didn’t expect all that.
Me: And now you know not to ask.
Sometimes I just think about how there’s absolutely no silver lining to Shein. The clothes are full of lead. The clothes are made in exploitative conditions. The clothes are contributing to pollution and global warming. The clothing designs are stolen. And the clothes fall apart.
Marie Antoinette decided to wear lingerie as outerwear which increased demand for cotton which made it the primary crop of the South which instigated a dramatic rise in American slavery.
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What is the dumbest way a huge turning point in history began?
I just saw a commercial that was like, “Do your clothes still smell bad when they come out of the dryer? Add our scent beads!”
If your clothes smell bad when they come out of the dryer, the solution isn’t to cover that smell up with fragrance. It’s to adjust the way you wash.
When visiting someone’s home, never open a closed door. twitter.com/YungYinkv/stat
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I’m in a FB group for the emergency identification of plants and mushrooms in case of ingestion/poisoning, and it’s one of the most fascinating places. There’s an international team of botanists & experts on call 24/7. And you can’t comment in the group unless you’re one of them.
I really need white people to understand that by the time a Black person speaks up and speaks out about racism, things have gotten really really bad. Intolerably bad. Unconscionably bad. Because if we spoke up about every little, small thing, we would do literally nothing else.
The difference in quality btwn the clothes I bought a decade ago and the clothes I’m buying now is unbelievable. I have stuff - not expensive stuff, just things like leggings - I bought 12 years ago and still looks new. Then I have stuff I bought 2 years ago that’s falling apart.
I remember when it came out that Cheddar Man (Britain’s oldest human skeleton) had dark skin + blue eyes. White people were ready to riot. They’ve since discovered other European skeletons with the same combo. Maybe it’s time to rework those models of Stone Age humans in museums?
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A nearly 6,000 year old piece of chewing gum, found in Scandinavia, perfectly preserved the DNA of its chewer. She was a young, hunter-gatherer girl, with dark skin, brown hair & blue eyes, who had recently eaten a meal of hazelnuts & duck. Archaeology is amazing.
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Honestly, the crux of the fast fashion conversation, for most consumers, is that they think it’s beneath them to have one winter coat they wear for five years or one dress they’ve worn so often, people recognize it. The underpinnings are rich people cosplay.
Honestly, the fact that I say things like “wear your clothes as long as possible, wash them properly, don’t overuse laundry detergent, don’t use dryer sheets, don’t do hauls,” and ppl will still scream shows the real issue - for a lot of folks - is not wanting to change ANYTHING.
Old money has dress codes that normal people can neither recognize nor imitate. It’s a language you have to be brought up in, and 99% of us don’t speak it. twitter.com/youlovenomi/st
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I can’t stop thinking about how we’re all about to be stuck at home for months and no one wants re-watch Game of Thrones. Biggest television screwup of the decade.
So many people citing The Hunger Games and The Handmaid’s Tale today, forgetting the meta critique of both books is that they are founded on the conceit of, “What if we treated white people the way we already treat people of color?” Irony thick enough to stand a spoon in.
I think about this Thom Browne coat on Lizzo a lot. 22,000 hours of skilled, physically taxing, hand-embroidered labor. Actual human beings were paid to create a work of art.
Why dryer sheets and fabric softeners are bad:
They “work” by putting a thin film of lipids or waxes over the fabric to make it feel soft to the touch.
But that waxy coating can build up on clothes. It also holds on to moisture…which is why some clothes smell bad after awhile.
I think a lot of parents don’t realize, that when they put a chokehold on their kids lives, all their kid is gonna do is fantasize about getting as far away as they can as soon as possible. And that feeling won’t go away just because they’re in their 30s or 40s.
I just learned it can take as long as 20 years between when you’re bitten by an animal and when you show your first rabies symptoms, and that is one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever heard in my life. Because as soon as you’re symptomatic, you’re dead.
How many folks never progressed beyond high school emotionally.
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What part of adult life surprised you most?
The “outside clothes” to “inside clothes” to “dust rags” sustainable fashion pipeline
At this point, Shein could sell clothes made of human skin, and folks would get on this app and say, “Poor people deserve clothes made from human skin too. Where else am I supposed to find cheap clothes made from human skin? It’s classist to tell me not to wear human skin.”
I went street bazaar where someone was selling shawls their Mom made with handwoven fabric and hand embroidery for $40, and there were people walking by saying it was too expensive and I felt so sad because they were practically a steal and people couldn’t recognize it.
Re: Bridgerton discourse, why anyone is looking for perfect historical accuracy from a show that is the definition of “vibes” and “aesthetic” is wild to me.
It’s a great day to remind people that silk and satin aren’t the same.
Silk is a fiber. Satin is a weave.
These sheets are (polyester) satin. Not silk satin.
Very important to know what things are called so that if you’re wanting silk, you’re buying actual *silk.*
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Sometimes I think about how the landlord in my first NYC apartment turned off the gas to drive out rent-controlled tenants (which meant no heat + couldn’t cook). The market rate renters moved but the rent-controlled tenants stayed because a bad apartment is better than none.
“I’m not being paid enough to afford brands that pay their people ethically.”
You’re so close to figuring out the real issue. So close.
I honestly wonder how many people don’t keep a journal as a result of this. I rarely think of it as a trauma, but never writing down your thoughts and feelings anywhere because you weren’t “entitled to privacy” and punished for even making the attempt has some lingering effects. twitter.com/ITSNINARIVERA/
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The idea of wearing something for years being a negative thing baffles me. Because why wouldn’t you want to hang on to your clothes for as long as possible? It’s time for my velvet pajamas and fleece-lined leggings to make their annual appearance, and I’m excited.
Who knew that running hospitals as for-profit entities on the razor’s edge of viability might backfire?
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BREAKING: U.S. hospitals are warning that they are so strapped for cash that without some financial relief, they will be unable to meet their payrolls in a matter of weeks and some could be forced to close just as coronavirus cases are surging. washingtonpost.com/national/healt
“Shein has lead in their clothes.”
“Other brands have lead in their clothes too! Why are you always picking on Shein!”
Like…if you know of other brands using lead or uranium or mercury or whatever, add them to the damn thread!
Thrifting discourse has gotten so weird.
I once wore a shattered silk party dress from the 1920s to an apocalypse party.
The dress had no historical value. It was irreparably damaged. And since clothes should be worn, I wanted to give it one last, 1920’s style party hurrah.
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a girl made a video where she got a 1970s dress & retooled it to be modern while still keeping the vintage feel & ppl are losing their gd minds. Bc she had the audacity to cut up a dress no one is wearing
the internets obsession w preserving unused items as is is unhealthy
“You’re blaming poor people for Shein!”
Listen, poor people are not to blame for the rise of Shein, because poor people are, presumably, not making hauls.
Your work wardrobe or occasional party dress is not why they currently have a $70 billion valuation.
Stuff I do that’s “sustainable” that doesn’t involve buying from sustainable brands:
1) Wear clothes until they wear out - first as outerwear, then as house clothes
2) Only buy things I’m sure I’ll wear for the long term, instead of trends
3) Check sites like Poshmark and eBay
I’m glad Betty White knew how much she was loved and treasured while she was still here to see it.
This is part of why people lose their minds at the possibility of considering something other than fast fashion.
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This garment does not exist
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Not sure if i could pull this off but i would sure as fuck try
Every fabric that isn’t made from a natural fiber (silk, cotton, linen, rayon, wool, etc.) or material (leather, fur) is made from petroleum. Polyester, acrylic, nylon, spandex...they’re all fossil-fuel derived plastics.
The wedding day is not the day for couture knockoffs slapped together by the local dry cleaners.
Everybody was wrong. The bride for wanting a knockoff. The seamstress for taking a commission she knew couldn’t deliver. And you never wait until the final day for the garment.
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“Friends”
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Ready to be a fake woman foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
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A real woman is ready to sacrifice her career for the man she truly loves.
One of my favorite historical examples of this, for intimate apparel, is how open-crotch underwear was once the norm and closed-crotch underwear was seen as scandalous…when it is very much the opposite today.
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The issue of respectability in dress, and what constitutes "proper" attire in public, has raged for as long as people have worn clothes. People who take this position fail to recognize that their own clothes were once the "yoga pants" of their day. I will run through examples
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It truly distresses me when people describe bras as some patriarchal plot invented by men because apart from being an ahistorical denial of reality, it also ignores the fact that pretty much every major innovation in bras was done by women.
Over the weekend, I learned my husband has been tipping 100% on all takeout and to-go orders since the pandemic began which 1) explains why everybody at the local pub knows his name and 2) is also just a really cool thing to have done?
The most honorable thing to do would be to pay her family.
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Nearly 70 years after her death, Henrietta Lacks — whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge or consent and led to world-changing advances in medical and scientific research— was honored by the World Health Organization. nyti.ms/3iZjPad
There’s “Soul Food is bad” discourse going around the feed today, and I wonder if the folks saying that have some generational distance from the South and don’t know what soul food is, because I never ate so many fresh vegetables and good cuts of meat as when I lived in Georgia.
I remember how someone said young people on the internet today don’t have a metaphorical sandbox to be privately stupid in for a few years, and I think about that whenever one of these <25s go viral for saying something ridiculous.
I’ll say it again - one of the reasons that people with breasts and vulvas know so little about how they work and how to keep them healthy and what’s normal and abnormal, is because even the most casual discussion about our bodies is seen as pornographic.
One of the funnier things about saying 35 looks old (apart from the usual caveats that it isn’t old and there’s nothing wrong with looking old), is that, compared to our parents and grandparents, we are the youngest-looking 35 year olds that have ever existed.
Reminder that you don’t need a “good” reason to block people. Getting too familiar is a reason. Being annoying is a reason. Responding with a joke when you’re being serious is a reason. You are under no obligation to allow strangers into your space, including online spaces.
Hey, you don’t have to “feel thin” to have thin privilege.
Thinness isn’t a feeling. If other people perceive you as thin, you are thin. If you are able to walk into any clothing store and expect to see a wide range of options in your size, you are thin.
One historical fabric I’m currently obsessed with is French soufflé, which is a ultra fine French silk weave that gave the most *amazing* nude effect, but was so flammable it had to be outlawed. Some of the most iconic dresses in fashion history used it.
I would believe literally any story so long as it takes place in a Waffle House. Waffle Houses exist at the intersection of all dimensions. Anything is possible once you step in.
Adults are so condescending to children. Just a complete dismissal of their feelings, interests, likes, and dislikes as unimportant and silly. Children can tell when you don’t think of them as real people.
I don’t want to QRT Lex because I don’t have a problem with her or her opinion, but I think reducing these books to “slave” stories, as many in the comments are, ignores that only the first book is about slavery, and the rest of the series is about being newly free up North.
Hey, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and it is 100% okay to wear your fanciest lingerie, eat the finest chocolate, and drink the most expensive bottle of wine at home by yourself because you deserve to love yourself & treat yourself to good things all the time, not just w/ a partner.
Today is May 1st. Also known as the first Monday in May. Also known as Met Gala Day. Also known as the day thousands of people decide they hate museum fundraisers because this one funds something they think of as valueless: the archive and preservation of fashion history.
For as long as I am on this app, I am never going to forget that one person who was like, “Human rights abuses at Shein are okay because otherwise my friends and I can’t get alt clothes,” and they - and all the people agreeing - called themselves communists.
I’ve gotten a lot of new followers lately, so it’s a good day to urgently remind everyone that ALL clothing is handmade. It doesn’t matter if it’s a $2 t-shirt or $20,000 couture, someone had to make it. We don’t have automatic clothes-sewing machines.
The scream that just arose from deep within my chest at this stunning embroidery 😭
I hope all the people who were tripping all over themselves to celebrate that hug keep that same energy for this.
A face off implies a competition.
I am begging and pleading for everyone to understand that using a sewing machine doesn’t mean the garment is being made automatically and a human is sitting there chilling and smoking a cigarette instead of doing the work of sewing.
He’s right.
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Mark Bryan is a 62-year-old heterosexual, cisgender robotics engineer from Berlin who 5 years ago started wearing stilettos and skirts to work simply because he likes to dress like that. He thinks that clothes should not have gender.
A city underwater, and somehow there is still always more money for the police.
They are weak. Their bloodline is weak. And they will not survive the winter. t.co/DQj6TUkrUy
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Selfless people don’t become billionaires. twitter.com/KimberlyNFoste
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Having a thread about a stone age girl going viral and having a thread about the fashion industry going viral makes me want to do a thread connecting both of these subjects to talk about one of my favorite prehistoric articles of clothing: the Lendbreen Tunic.
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I’ve been cutting back on sugar this month (not cutting it out entirely, but trying to keep my “added sugars” category near zero as much as possible), and I am so annoyed with how much better I feel. Truly distressing when “health advice” works.
One of the more annoying things about laundry and dryer discourse is how many Europeans pop up to tell Americans they’ve NEVER owned dryers and it’s SO EASY to line dry everything and why can’t you just stop using a dryer IMMEDIATELY,
I’m seeing a lot of calls to make Bridgerton and Our Flag Means Death “more realistic,” and I don’t know what to tell y’all except that I’m not looking to romance for “realism.”
Sometimes I think about how we were having “take your shoes off in other people’s houses” discourse on here, and I was like…yes, take off your shoes. And someone said “tell me your apartment is inaccessible to wheelchairs without telling me,” and I was like…I live in a walkup.
There's a lot that can (and should) be said about Hugh Hefner, but the fact that he hired a black woman to design this is still incredible. twitter.com/lingerie_addic
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I wish some folks had never heard the phrase “No ethical consumption under capitalism” because it’s getting watered down to nothing.
No ethical consumption under capitalism means perfect ethics aren’t possible under the current system. It doesn’t mean throw away ALL the ethics.
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“I must be a mermaid...I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.” ~ Anais Nin
Robe by
Probably a controversial opinion, but it’s okay to have unremarkable personal style. Not everyone’s aesthetic is flashy or memorable, and that’s fine.
Niecy Nash’s bras are always on point.
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People saying they absolutely cannot offer a beverage to guests when tea - a refreshment that can be served hot or cold, unsweetened or sweetened, comes in a myriad of flavors, and is inexpensive - is wild to me.
I’m a big believer in doing what you can, even when not perfect.
During slavery’s heyday, there were abolitionists & other liberals who refused to buy cotton made by enslaved people. Did they single-handedly destroy the cotton industry? No. Was their choice still worthwhile? Yes
Everytime I see her skintone match tulle, I start sobbing.
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Me: Hating babies is bad, actually. We should not be coming up with reasons to despise an entire category of people for just existing.
Weird People: How dare you suggest something’s wrong with me because I said I want a dropkick a bucket of babies off a cliff???
On a more serious, historical note, one thing that’s rarely acknowledged in terms of time saving devices and technological advances is the washing machine. Laundry going from an all-day/multi-day affair into something that could be handled in a few hours was revolutionary.
You deserve a partner that is actively invested in your happiness.
This is the best dance performance of all time. The best. No exaggeration.
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Brothers Fayard and Harold Nicholas dancing in the 1943 film “Stormy Weather.” Years later, Harold recalled that they never rehearsed the jumps over each other’s heads but still managed to do the routine in just one take.
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*whispers* People really seem to think that all clothes would be even cheaper without capitalism as though clothing wasn’t one of the the most valuable and expensive parts of an average person’s belongings prior to capitalism.
Here’s the other thing about the Shein conversation…even if that’s all you can afford, that doesn’t mean you have to go to bat for the company.
Needing to buy gas doesn’t mean you have to be a passionate defender of Shell/Mobile/Exxon.
Marriage, to be blunt, is primarily a legal union. We attach a lot of emotion and affection to it - which is fine - but the government does not care about love. It cares about death and taxes. I admire these women for not legally tying themselves to men unless they are certain.
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Why are all of these beautiful young talented sisters: Rihnna, Keke and Naomi not married to these young black men? I do not get it. They share a child/children. Clearly there is love and union. Why not get married?? Is marriage just out now--not an option? Educate me. twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/st…
If you can afford 3-4 figure Shein hauls, you can afford to shop more ethically. That’s just the truth.
If all you can afford is Shein, why defend them? They’re not an underdog. They’re not a hero. They’re not selling $2 tube tops because they care about the plight of poor ppl.
Eartha Kitt twitter.com/danielcrosby/s
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SHEIN deserves this investigation because why are jeans costing 22 pennies?
The holy trinity of men who should be cast as the leads in romcoms and aren’t yet:
1) Rahul Kolhi
2) Manny Jacinto
3) Oscar Isaac




















