Once upon a time, when you complimented someone’s skirt or dress, there was a solid chance she’d reply with, “Thanks, it has pockets!” These days, you’re more likely to be met with a different response, or rather a correction: “Thanks, it’s actually a skort.”

Even though Karen Read did not testify in her Massachusetts trial for allegedly killing her boyfriend, her body language and reactions throughout past two months can tell a larger story, according to experts.

When Garrett Spence was in middle school, back in the early 2000s, he made the same appeal to his mom year after year at Christmas: Could she please, in her annual replenishment of his sock and underwear supply, just get him the really short socks? No, not the quarter-length kind that cut a clean, straight line across his ankle an inch or two above his low-tops. Shorter than that. The kind that would be almost entirely obscured by his shoes — crucially, without having to be rolled down.

Bridgerton is back, and Season 3 leading lady Nicola Coughlan is setting the record straight about her waist. The 37-year-old actress, who plays Penelope Featherington on the hit Netflix series, has done a lot of talking about her body since Part 1 of the latest season premiered on May 16. In response to some allegations that her waist was Photoshopped onscreen, she told People that her appearance is actually a result of wearing a corset.

Bridgerton is back, and Season 3 leading lady Nicola Coughlan is setting the record straight about her waist. The 37-year-old actress, who plays Penelope Featherington on the hit Netflix series, has done a lot of talking about her body since Part 1 of the latest season premiered on May 16. In response to some allegations that her waist was Photoshopped onscreen, she told People that her appearance is actually a result of wearing a corset.

At the French Open, Serena Williams wore a custom-made black catsuit. On Aug. 24, the president of the French Tennis Federation said the outfit “wouldn’t be back.” It “went too far,” he continued. It didn’t “respect the game and the place.” Among Williams’ defenders, the pushback was swift – the decision indicative of how female athletes face more scrutiny and are held to outdated dress standards.

A song by pop megastar Taylor Swift has brought new attention to Clara Bow, a major Hollywood film siren in the 1920s who famously left Tinsel Town for Southern Nevada to start a new life with with her cowboy actor husband, Rex Bell.

There are few items of clothing as iconic – or as purely American – as the classic varsity jacket. Yet, lately, it has been making a comeback, thanks in part to Italian powerhouse Prada, who featured a chic all-leather take on it at Milan fashion week in February. It has also been a central piece in much-hyped recent collaborations between Gap and Palace, and Supreme and MM6 Maison Margiela. Not even the digital space is safe: Louis Vuitton has been selling a “phygital” – AKA an NFT (non-fungible token) – version of a varsity jacket from the Pharrell-designed FW24 collection – yours to have and not hold for nearly £7,000.