Tag: Travel Fashion

Photo You Must See: Models Strike a Pose in Karachi

Photo You Must See: Models Strike a Pose in Karachi REUTERS/Adrees Latif
REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Two fashion models pose together before hitting the catwalk during Karachi’s Fashion Pakistan Week.


Photo You Must See: Tokyo Punk Parasol

Photo You Must See: Tokyo Punk Parasol REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao
REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

Japanese girls in punk fashion sit under a parasol in Harajuku, Tokyo’s fashion district.


Photo We Love: The Scarves of South Sulawesi

Photo We Love: The Scarves of South Sulawesi REUTERS/Stringer Indonesia
REUTERS/Stringer Indonesia

A woman tries on a headscarf at a market in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.


Interview With Rose Hamid: Flight Attendant, Hijab Wearer

Interview With Rose Hamid: Flight Attendant, Hijab Wearer Photo courtesy of Rose Hamid

How does she navigate the tensions between her profession and her faith in a post-9/11 world? Andrea Cooper learns more.

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The Traveler’s Shoe Conundrum

The Traveler’s Shoe Conundrum Photo by ilkerender via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by ilkerender via Flickr (Creative Commons)

In his latest blog post, Frugal Traveler Matt Gross reflects on the impossibility of finding the perfect pair of travel shoes. I think most of us who’ve ever tried to pack light for a multi-purpose trip can relate.


The Shanghai Qi Pao Club

Photo by Kellie Schmitt Photo by Kellie Schmitt

They gathered to celebrate the sexy, figure-hugging traditional Chinese dress. Kellie Schmitt joined them for a journey into the country's past -- and future.

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Farewell, Crocs?

Farewell, Crocs? Photo by *hoodrat* via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by *hoodrat* via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Ah, cruel fashion. The Washington Post reports that the company behind the, er, distinctive foam shoes is in major financial trouble—and Crocs, so recently a hot item, could be on their way out. Fine by me. Now, any chance that a few other staples of the ugly tourist uniform—fanny packs, anyone?—could be vanishing, too? (Via Andrew Sullivan)


Bikinis: A History in Pictures

Just in time for the summer holidays, Slate digs up a brief (har har) pictorial history of the bikini, originally put together for the suit’s 60th anniversary a couple years back. There’s also an excellent Magnum photo gallery.


May Day Is Lei Day in Hawaii

May Day Is Lei Day in Hawaii Photo by Nerd's Eye View via Flickr (Creative Commons

May 1, 1928, was the first Lei Day, the holiday that celebrates the Hawaiian tradition of making and wearing leis. Island festivities include lei-making contests and Prom King and Queen-like coronations. After the contests are over, the leis are taken to the tombs of the ali’i—the Hawaiian royalty—and left there as offerings. I’m more than a little delighted to be arriving in Kaua’i just in time for the island’s Lei Day festivities. There’s a rather nice video montage of some older and new Lei Day photos here:

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In Shanghai, What Not to Wear

In my old stomping grounds in Shanghai’s Pudong area, I was always amazed to see grown women wandering the streets in pajamas emblazoned with teddy bears and Mickey Mouse motifs. The Chinese teachers I worked with were embarrassed by the trend—they told me they wouldn’t be caught dead outside in pajamas—but somehow it’s become as much a part of Shanghai culture as soup dumplings and hairy crabs.

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Dora the Explorer: Now Packing Lipstick

Yup, one of our favorite fictional travelers is all grown up. A “teaser silhouette” of the new Dora, released a couple weeks back, stirred up controversy, with parents worrying about the “sexy” image being projected to their children. Now the final image has been made public—and yes, as we suspected, Dora is now clearly packing makeup, accessories, and some serious hair product for her travels. “If the Dora we knew grew up,” laments one parent’s petition, “she wouldn’t be a fashion icon or a shopaholic. She’d develop her map reading skills and imagine the places she could go.”

What do you think? Is the new Dora too sexy, or is this a tempest in a talking backpack?


The Songlines of Key West: Doing the Duval Crawl

Duval Street, Key West Photo by Michelle Thatcher.

In a three-part series, Bill Belleville burrows deep into the spirit of the mythic island.

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R.I.P. Alfred Shaheen, Aloha Shirt Revolutionary

He’s credited with advances in manufacturing aloha shirts and raising “the garments to the level of high fashion with artistic prints, high-grade materials and quality construction.” He also designed the shirt Elvis wore on the cover of the “Blue Hawaii” soundtrack. Shaheen was 86.


What Every Traveler Should Know About Disposable Underwear

onederwear disposable underwear Photo by Frank Murray.

Kelsey Timmerman tells all

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Borat (Er, Bruno?) Busted In Italy

Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen was arrested in Milan this weekend after leaping onto the runway during a fashion show, the CBC reports. The actor is currently at work on a new movie, but this time, his traveling Kazakh journalist Borat will be replaced by another Cohen favorite—roving Austrian fashion reporter, Bruno. The new flick, the catchy-titled “Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt”, is due out next summer. There’s no word yet on another accompanying guidebook.


Don’t Mess with Bavarian Heritage: Cheap, Imported Lederhosen Dubbed ‘Yuppie Outfits’

Photo by 46137 via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Better check your lederhosen and dirndls before heading to the Oktoberfest beer tents: If you’re not sporting a German-made getup you’ll likely fuel the ire of Bavarian purists.

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‘Large Underwire Bra’ Triggers Metal Detector, Woman’s Wrath

Ladies (maybe some gents, too?), I suggest you think twice before donning an underwire bra before flying. At Oakland International Airport, a “big-busted woman wearing a large underwire bra” set off a metal detector, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, prompting what the woman, Nancy Kates, believed was overzealous and humiliating scrutiny during the routine pat down.

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In Defense of Rachael Ray. Again.

Last time, she faced charges of excessive perkiness. This time, she’s been ridiculously accused of being a terrorist sympathizer for wearing a scarf that some bloggers thought looked like a keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress worn by, among others, the late Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. She wore it in an ad for Dunkin’ Donuts (pictured). The company initially “pooh-poohed the complaints,” according to the Boston Globe, but eventually took down the ad “because the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee,” reports the New York Times.

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In Patagonia, In Patagonia

Patagonia logo Photo by Tim Patterson

Tim Patterson packs his fleece and long underwear, and enters the Twilight Zone where corporate branding meets the multilayered reality of place.

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New U.S. Passport Design: The’ Ugly Khaki Shorts’ of Passports?

We’ve written before about the over-the-top patriotic design of the new U.S. passport. Reviews are still trickling in, and I like Karrie Jacobs’s take. “When I travel, I try to be the Complex American—a citizen of the fascinating, nuanced, multicultural, messy and basically decent place I know this country to be,” she remarked yesterday in a short essay on public radio’s Marketplace. “But I feel like this passport blows my cover. It’s like suddenly, against my will, I’m wearing ugly khaki shorts and talking way too loud.” That’s right, Karrie. You might as well be wearing these at every customs checkpoint.