You go right into a thrift retailer and purchase a shirt. It has been washed. However you possibly can nonetheless make out the sweat stains close to the armpit. On the left sleeve there’s a brown espresso stain.
Perhaps there isn’t any means so that you can purchase this shirt.
However a trend historian would have a really completely different reply. They could see the stains and spilled espresso and surprise if the one who used it was in a rush.
They’d really feel the seams crooked and know they have been sewn by hand. Or surprise if it was made within the ’70s due to the saggy bell sleeves.
In different phrases, garments from the previous inform a narrative and the job of a trend historian is to interpret it.
For this installment of our “Ask A” collection, the place we speak to fascinating folks about what they do and why it issues, we spoke to a gaggle of trend historians concerning the energy of what we put on.
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