Virginia Postrel is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. Her latest book is The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World (Basic Books).
When Your Outfit Is Made Illegal
When fabulous clothes are outlawed, only outlaws will be fabulous.
Virginia Postrel
Latest from Virginia Postrel
How Bills of Exchange Went from a Way to Bring Textile Proceeds Home to the "Foundation of Modern Commercial Banking"
Many textile merchants wound up as bankers. These useful IOUs were a major reason why.
Pen-and-Paper Arithmetic Is Useful When You're Selling Textiles
Somebody had to invent those techniques you learned in elementary school.
When Cloth Was Money, Literally
Before industrial production, textiles could make excellent currency.
Four Thousand Years Ago, Textile Traders Invented a Basic Social Technology: Mass Literacy
When there's business to be done over long distances, you don't want to depend on a scribe.
The History of Textiles Is the History of Human Ingenuity
But any sufficiently familiar technology is indistinguishable from nature.
Welcome to the New World Civilization
Even as specific states or regions rise and fade in prominence, their inhabitants continue to enjoy the benefits of their civilization's cumulative experience and knowledge.
Face Mask Volunteers DIY Their Own Kind of Division of Labor
Making masks, face shields, and other protective equipment is the bottom-up, COVID-19 version of rolling bandages or knitting socks for the troops.
Reason Once Tried To Predict the Future. How Did We Do?
A generation later, three major themes still resonate.
Before Drug Prohibition, There Was the War on Calico
In 18th century France, wearing the wrong fabric could get you in big trouble.
Umbrellas: The iPhones of the Victorian Age
New technologies help create a sense of personal privacy in public.
Glamour and the Art of Persuasion
What Barack Obama has in common with a cellophane candy wrapper
Consumer Vertigo
A new wave of social critics claim that freedom's just another word for way too much to choose. Here's why they're wrong.
Don't Impede Medical Progress
Science is about exploring the unknown and cannot offer guarantees.
Electoral Beauty Myths
It's OK to judge a politician's looks. Just don't confuse them with character.
Impure Thoughts
Waiting for perfectly "clean" opportunities to apply your principles means you could lose them altogether.
Prescription for Trouble
Online pharmacies challenge traditional medical models, and the regulatory backlash threatens broader Internet freedoms.