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Anthony Citrano says,

Being an observer (and occasional shooter) of all things fashion, I was just was looking at December's "W" cover [above and left] with Demi Moore.

In the interview she says she'd rather be a "puma" than a "cougar" - but apparently, the clumsy Photoshop artist decided she was looking too strong in the cover shots - and awkwardly chopped off part of her left thigh. Note how the upper part of her left thigh/hip is basically missing (our right). Did she have some sort of weird car accident that left a wedge of meat missing from it? The fabric even magically floats above the missing thigh. Ha!

Hard to believe that made it to the cover.

We've Got Some Work To Do Now by Travis Pitts

And now there's a T-shirt to prove it.

Hiney shirts at CafePress

But it's not just a matter of dressing up. A successful pretending object has to delicately balance pretending affordance with not making you look like an idiot. That's why so many successful pretending objects are also highly functional. As anyone who's been down the Tactical Pants rabbit-hole can tell you it's easy to obsess for ages about exactly the right trouser configuration for your equipment (ooh-er), all with a perfectly straight face. But every now and then you have a moment of self-awareness and realise you're just pretending to be a cop or a soldier from the future or Val Kilmer.

And of course, what you're really doing is both things at once. You're being practical and thinking about function and you're pretending. But you need some plausible deniability - the functional stuff needs to be credible. Which is why pretending objects that are too obvious don't work. You're no longer pretending in your own head, you're play acting in the world.

Another thing - I've always wondered why software/OS makers don't do more with the power of pretending. Look, for instance, at the average desktop. It's using a pretending metaphor - but it's not much of an imaginative leap is it? It's a desktop on your desk. I can see how this would have been useful in the early days, getting people used to interfaces and everything, but surely there's more opportunity to have some fun now - to make software more compelling by adding some pretending value to it.

(Happy()Sad) Diagram Shirt (via Warren Ellis)

Geek Craft: Super Mario knitted flower gloves (via Wonderland)

Newspaper Bags (Thanks, Alice!)

DMCA Takedown T-shirt (Thanks, Dennis!)

1914 BONES 14 EYE BOOT BLACK LAMPER (via Street Anatomy)

A Lithuanian designer team has made a series of edible, wearable bread shoes that can be purchased on their site. They seem like they'd be comfy house slippers.

Bread Shoes via Dezeen

Joy! You can now buy a T-shirt featuring the likeness of everybody's favorite horrific-looking, behind-the-toilet-dwelling, cockroach-eating centipede. Will Bower from the Facebook group House Centipedes Are Your Friends sent a link to these great shirts, available on Etsy (where else?). The centipedes look hardcore, and (as you can tell by looking at the models) simply putting a Scutigera Coleoptrata on your chest is sure to make you appear 10x as hip as normal.

Scutigera Coleoptrata T-shirt
Scutigera Coleoptrata T-shirt, fitted version

Jesse Thorn and Adam Lisagor, who are each best known for internet funnystuff, have stitched together a wonderful non-comedy web video series called Put This On.

I attended the premiere last week in Old Town Pasadena, held inside the building that houses the subject of the pilot episode (embedded above). I loved the pilot, loved the hosts, loved the bespoke retro men's denim + indigo clothing at Rising Sun Jeans. I don't want to give away the goods here, but I have a neologism for you all: denimpunk*.

Adam and Jesse are looking for funding/sponsorship, and I told 'em I thought they'd do well. This is very watchable stuff. There's even a clothing credits page for each ep! Matt Haughey and Ask Metafilter ponied up some dough to help with the pilot. I hope the guys score some dough, and make many more episodes, for two reasons:

1) I want to see more good internet video.
2) I live in Los Angeles, home of the be-flip-flopped hipster slob. I want to see more dudes dress like grownups.

* Here's why that word came to mind. The guys who run Rising Sun Jeans have this period-perfect, retro denim thing going on. They re-create early denim and indigo fashions with loving attention to accuracy and craftsmanship. They also ride very old, lovingly restored cars and motorcycles. This isn't lowrider or rockabilly or hotrod culture, it's something I hadn't seen before. Neat. You should go check out their store if you're in LA.

Hayley and Rachel went out this Hallowe'en dressed, respectively, as Cory Doctorow (as depicted in the XKCD webcomic) and a floppy disk. GREAT costumes, folks!

Look, it's Michael Geist! (Thanks, Rachel!)

The Anatomy Suit Zombie Costume is a $200 one-piece head and body suit with detachable arms. Pretty freaky. They should do a fleece-lined version for skiing.

ANATOMY SUIT COSTUME (via Street Anatomy)

USS Warehouse Captain in Training (via Wonderland)

RAAAAAR!!! by Simon Sherry - $9 (via Geekologie!)

"Check Out These Enormous Sikh Turbans" (urlesque, thanks Stephen Lenz!)

It would make a good companion to Matt Jones's Get Excited and Make Things poster.

Breathe deep and let go of things (via Die Puny Humans)

ThinkGeek has these fun maternity t-shirts perfect for parents who want their kids to be labeled as geeks even before they are born. I love the Loading... Please Wait design — unfortunately, the progress bar does not actually move.

ThinkGeek

From Topatco, this delightful, XKCD-esque "Grapathy" shirt, illustrating inflection point for comedy graphs.

Grapathy Shirt (via Torrez)

The Discovery store has these amazing wild animal hoodies (cobra, raptor, whale, shark) whose sleeves turn into huge fanged mouths when you cross your arms. I wish they didn't just have a boy modelling these -- they are definitely unisex.

Raptor Hoodie Shirt (via Geisha Asobi)

Update: The shirts come from Mouthman, and they're modelled by boys and girls on the site! Thanks to the anonymous commenter who alerted us to this!

Just ran into a Norwegian librarian at Internet Librarian International in London wearing this killer tee-shirt, created in protest of the PATRIOT Act's provision to force librarians to reveal which books their patrons were checking out. The Latin translates as "We know what you read, and we're not saying."

We know what you read, and we're not saying

Filippa Hamilton, the model who Ralph Lauren's ad people crudely photoshopped, is looking for work. Ralph Lauren fired her, she said in an appearance on NBC's Today show this morning, due to her inability to fit into his clothes.

She's 5'10" and 120 lbs.

Update: NY Daily News has a statement from the company:

Polo Ralph Lauren said in a statement Tuesday night that Filippa is a "beautiful and healthy" woman but their relationship ended "as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract with us.

In the same piece, reported by Carrie Melago, her lawyer says that he fears Ralph Lauren's treatment of Hamilton "will be extremely damaging to her."

These unauthorized Transformers skull-and-crossbones shirts are better than any of the licensed shirts I've seen from the franchise. Get 'em before they get sued!

Piratron

(via Geekologie)

On Saturday night, I staggered over to downtown Minneapolis for the 5th annual Zombie Pub Crawl, a celebration of creative horror makeup and playful kitsch. I'd gone to the Crawl once before, in 2007. On that outing, it was enough to just show up in (blood covered) street clothes and zombie makeup. This year, however, featured some fabulous new directions in themed zombies. Thanks to the excellent work of my friend and photographer Leah Shaffer, I'm able to bring you a sampling of the Twin Cities' finest in zombie couture...

What do we want?
Brains!

When do we want 'em?

Brains!

What do you think you know about Brazilian women?

When Racialicious blogger Wendi Muse lived in Brazil she found that the first question her American friends would ask was, "Are the girls hot?"

It turns out, the answer is a little more complicated than you might think. Understanding beauty in Brazil means understanding how the concept intersects with gender, race, and class...in ways that are often very different from how the system works here.

...what we would consider "high maintenance" in the United States is the accepted norm for women's appearance. A woman must always be "bem arrumada." This means that even when one goes grocery shopping, heels, nice clothes, and styled hair is the norm. One of my students once told me that she felt absolutely dirty when her nails were not done, and another informed me she would never leave the house with wet hair because that was super "pobre" ("ghetto").

All three issues affect Brazilian's women's concept of themselves and our concept of them from the outside. Very interesting stuff and worth a read. Check out the posts on Gender, Class, and Race.

I've blogged before about London's Junky Styling, a clothing boutique that features original one-of-a-kind clothes made from hacking together thrift-store finds, salvaged textiles, and whatever happens to be lying around. They made my favorite winter coat, my best suit jacket, and my wife's wedding dress (stitched together from Alice-blue men's work-shirts!).

I just received a review copy of Junky Styling: Wardrobe Surgery, a book written by Junky's co-founders, Annika Sanders and Kerry Seager. The first half of the book is given over to Junky's improbable history, a business started by two young women who knew so little about tailoring that they couldn't produce patterns for their clothes, which meant that each piece they finished was one-of-a-kind. They're naturals, though, and have thrived in the Truman Brewery off Brick Lane in East London. This section is lavishly illustrated with photos of their clothes over the years.

The second section is a detailed HOWTO for recreating several of their basic garments: a suit-sleeve scarf, a "shirt wrap halter top," a "fly top" and others, with copious notes about shopping for clothes to rescue and repurpose, instructions for unpicking seams, a glossary of textile types and strategies for working with each and so on.

Junky's tailors are makers, who dive in headfirst, make lots of mistakes quickly, learn and iterate and improve and surprise, and the book and clothes are infused with that heartening spirit. Makes me want to buy a sewing machine!

Junky Styling: Wardrobe Surgery (Amazon US)

Junky Styling: Wardrobe Surgery (Amazon UK)

Lebert said the magazine would call on German women to put themselves forward as models for fashion and makeup articles.

"We're looking for women who have their own identity, whether it be the 18-year-old A-level student, the company chairwoman, the musician, or the footballer," he said, adding that he wanted a mix between prominent and completely unknown women and would look out for politicians and actresses interested in modelling.

This mini-dress sold on Etsy looks just like a pair of 3D glasses. The seller marked it as a Halloween item, but I think it's actually kind of cute for everyday wear... maybe?

3D glasses dress

Cydwoq

This concept watch Alexandros Stasinopoulos uses three interleaved tapes to tell time. I have no idea if it'd be possible to build this, but man, I want one.

'ora' concept watch by alexandros stasinopoulos (Thanks, Paul!)

Dude, her head's bigger than her pelvis. From Photoshop Disasters (thanks, Antinous!)

Aman Ali, a BoingBoing guest blogger, is the co-author of 30 Mosques, a Ramadan adventure taking him to a different mosque in New York City every day for a month.

My last post generated an interesting discussion (268 comments and counting) on Muslim women covering their hair. But it seemed kind of silly to talk about the subject, without hearing viewpoints from Muslim women.

My friend Mariam Sobh has graciously agreed to chime in. She is editor in chief of Hijabtrendz, the original fashion beauty and entertainment blog for Muslim women. Here's what she had to say:

It's the age old debate that quite frankly I'm sick and tired of. Muslim women and their "oppression".

Oppression is such a loaded word and it conjures up all sorts of negative images, but what people don't seem to want to understand is that Muslim women are just like any other woman. We come in all shapes and sizes, and all sorts of beliefs. You can't paint us all with the same brush.

I'm as American as anyone else, I watch movies, I read celebrity gossip, I shop at Victoria's Secret, I work outside the home, I'm pursuing my dreams, the only difference is that little piece of fabric I wrap around my head. Big whoop.

I'm not harming anyone by wearing a piece of material on my head so what's the big deal?

I myself wear the headscarf and I do so because it's something I believe is mandated in my religion. No one is forcing me and it has no political significance (I have no idea why people keep thinking it does). Believe me if I didn't think it was required I WOULD NOT be wearing it. I hate being bullied all the time by the press or some ignoramus about my scarf. It takes a toll on you emotionally and eventually you have to develop a thick skin. But words will always hurt no matter what.

BB guestblogger Aman Ali's post about a modest bathing suit designed by Muslim women for Muslim women has sparked debate. At the time of this post, I'm also seeing that an anonymous Muslim woman has voiced her thoughts in the thread, and I encourage you to go read. She ends: "I own a burqini and LOVE IT."

Still, some non-Muslim commenters in the related thread take the position that "modest swimsuits" such as the burqini are a form of Muslim oppression against women. I think that's a silly, narrow, and factually inaccurate position.

I thought it might be helpful to point out a few related Western apparel websites:

* Stitchin' Times Women's Swimsuits
* Lilies of the Field: Modest Women's Apparel
* Simply Modest Swimwear Solutions

...and, I want to point out this series of posts about Victorian Bathing Machines, contraptions that allowed 18th century folks in England to bathe in the sea while adhering to the cultural norms of the era. Above, one proponent of modest sea-bathing in that era.

My point, such as it is: why must our first reaction to stuff like a Boing Boing post about burqinis be to judge or condemn? You may or may not choose to wear one, but the world doesn't revolve around you. I believe it is more fruitful to try and learn about and appreciate cultural differences than to get all flustered about whether or not you approve.

The commenter who loves her burqini (or any one of the smiling American customers on this "modesty swimsuit" website) does not care what you think about her garments or her beliefs. Nor should she.

Let all forms of happy mutancy prevail. (Thanks, Clayton Cubitt)

Aman Ali, a BoingBoing guest blogger, is the co-author of 30 Mosques, a Ramadan adventure taking him to a different mosque in New York City every day for a month.

When I first heard of this product a few years ago, I'll admit it made me laugh, even with me being a Muslim. It's a swimsuit called the Burqini that's designed for Muslim women.

Men and women in Islam are both asked to dress modestly but many of the swimsuits designed for women today are too revealing to allow them to do that. As you can see, the Burqini doesn't show any skin but it's not too loose to the point where it's difficult to swim.

No woman should be denied the freedom to have a fun filled day at the pool or beach, which is why this company designed the Burqini. The more I thought about the product, the more I began to realize how awesome it is. It's another way Muslims have been able to adapt to local cultures and customs without compromising their beliefs, an issue many religions face today.

The Burqini has gotten a lot of backlash from governments in Europe. But I don't think any government has a right to tell people how to dress. How come a woman is not allowed to wear a burqini to a pool, but there's no law saying she can't wear a giant panda suit? If she wants to wear either of those outfits, hey go right ahead.

Burqini's official site

iPhone snapshot: an array of vertical lights, Louis Vuitton window display, Macy's San Francisco Union Square, September, 2009. stills | video (embedded after the jump).

These are the shoes that go with the Death Valley-inspired Rodarte collection I blogged about last week. Susannah Breslin pointed me to both. I am rendered textless by the awesomeness of these shoes. More images here. (jakandjil.com)

Library of antique and scrap leather books for the neck - eleven miniature books (via Neatorama)

Above, Jude Law in fab drag. A still from the forthcoming feature Rage, directed by Sally Potter, in which Law plays a female model named "Minx." The short version: A young student uses his phonecam to shoot interviews with the staff of a New York fashion house, and posts them online without the interviewees' knowledge or consent. A runway accident turns into a murder investigation, then, "denial leads to devastation." Here's a New York Times piece about the film, by Guy Trebay.

Zoolander it is not. Here's a Flickr set with more stills.

You'll spot Steve Buscemi, Judi Dench, John Leguizamo, Dianne Wiest, and Eddie Izzard all in the trailer, which is embedded after the jump.

The story begins at a student runway showing, where Linsday is looking on:

Lindsay, it should be noted, has no hands to clap and no feet on which to get up. She had them back in the summer of 2007, when she was tall and thin and had just graduated from VCU with a fashion merchandising degree. Then, to use her words, a blur. When she entered Henrico Doctors' Hospital that summer, the procedure to remove a small piece of inflamed intestine, a nagging complication of her Crohn's disease, was supposed to go routinely. But supposed to go routinely rarely turns out well, and there hasn't been a routine day in Lindsay's life ever since. Not since the leak, not since the sepsis, not since the organ failures, the brain seizures, and not since the coma. Definitely not the coma. Not since one day in August turned to October and then drifted on towards Christmas. Certainly not since the quadruple amputations, the cruel coda to having been so close to death all those months and then surviving. Oh, honey, you know what they're going to do, right? the nurse said. There's no routine to being bathed and fed and dressed like a child mere months after you've graduated college, and no routine to learning how to walk again at the age of twenty-five. No routine in continuing a long-distance relationship with someone who admits to having originally been smitten by your looks, or to being with your mother almost every waking hour. There's no routine for taking a fistful of pills a day--the Pentasa, the Entocort EC, the Lexapro, the Keppra, the Urosidol, the Spiranolactone, the Zolpidem, the Lyrica, not to mention the occasional shot of actual alcohol. There's no routine, no manual, for wishing you were whole again, so that just one morning of your life you could actually wake up and make it to the bathroom on your own, even if the arms and legs you now covet so are made of acrylic and not skin and bone and muscle. And, perhaps most of all, no routine for the long, slow realization that those acrylic arms and legs might not, in the end, be the answer to anything. If you're Lindsay Ess, routine pretty much stopped on August 3, 2007.

(Sports Shooter, via @Glennf)

Images from the Rodarte Spring 2010 collection. The models were literally "kept under wraps" during smoking breaks before the runway show. "Every model had her arms painted with makeup to appear like tribal tattoes, goth lips, and their hair wrapped in webbed wool." The official Rodarte site is here, but it's a slow-loading Flashblob. There's always Wikipedia. (via @reversecowpie)

Steampunk mask. Leather, cuprum, glass. Стимпанк маска. Кожа, медь, стекло.

To create this hybrid corset, I first chose a fabric consisting of same type of rugged cotton canvas found throughout the Carhartt line. Durable, practical, and breathable, the material allows me to get down and dirty with my hammer and drill without fear of damaging my corset.

Next it was important the corset be functional and versatile. I attached holsters for a hammer, drill, tape measure and pliers, as well as pockets to use for assorted needs while working.

All the tool holsters and pockets are attached to the corset with heavy-duty snaps allowing me to change the configuration according to my needs on the job site.

(Image: Nifer in her Carhart corset at Burning Man 2009)

How did I not know about this film-themed online t-shirt shop before? Last Exit to Nowhere has several really nice Bladerunner-themed t-shirt designs. What set you from? Nexus 6. What's yo hood? Off World Colonies. And More Human Than Human is Our Motto. Also, dig this 2001: A Space Odyssey design. I require one of each immediately.

More at Dangerous Minds. Apparently it's somewhere in Mexicali. Pienso que prefiero éste sobre el otro que está en París. (via a number of Spanish-language blogs which trace back to this one: hazmeelchingadofavor/via Tara McGinley + Richard Metzger)

Artist Derek Erdman, whose "Teens Party with Morrissey" painting was blogged on BB, is as fascinated as we are with the animal species known as the Greater North American Juggalo.

He took it a bit further than we have, though, and attended the 2009 Gathering of the Juggalos, shot lots of photo and video, and published it for your enjoyment.

Here are Erdman's photos from the event. And embedded above, and here: video. (very Heavy Metal Parking Lot).

(via Dangerous Minds, thanks, Richard Metzger, and it looks like The Gathering of the Juggalos has a more lenient fair use policy on photography and videos than Burning Man. Interesting.)

Keep It Real (via Kottke)

More photos here [via Zaeega (Japanese)]

Underten - collection 2009 (via Geisha Asobi)