The Economic Wardrobe

No. iii The 1990s The Most Influential Decade in Fashion Was Broke the Whole Time Recession minimalism, grunge, and hip hop — three economic realities sharing one wardrobe-defining decade. Read the essay →

No. ii Medieval Europe How the Black Death Gave the Working Class Their First Taste of Luxury The plague that doubled wages and put dyed cloth on the people the law had dressed in undyed wool. Read the essay →

No. i Byzantine Empire The Color You Could Be Executed for Wearing Tyrian purple, sumptuary law, and scarcity weaponized by the wealthiest state of the medieval world. Read the essay →