It seemed like a good idea at the time?

I adore MSN Now because they deliver all the news I care about (the weird and ridiculous stuff) and provide snarky commentary on it. I must thank them for drawing my attention to a recent faux pas by Vice magazine. Vice decided that depicting famous female writers offing themselves was a good way to market designer clothing. Cause what everyone must have said when they pulled Virginia Woolf out of the water was "Oh my gaw, look at those shoessssss."

Apparently, Vice has now yanked the offending article off their website, but click on the link above for the MSN Now page which includes a picture of a model portraying Sylvia Plath. She sits on the kitchen floor contemplating her open oven while wearing just the cutest little print dress. Just kidding...I mean she really is sitting there staring at the oven, but the dress is hideous. I wouldn't be caught dea--yeah never mind.

Hoopskirts, Union Blues, and Confederate Grays

Hoopskirts, Union Blues, and Confederate Grays by Kate Havelin is a complete look at what Americans were wearing during the Civil War. It's a book intended for youngsters, but is capable of holding the attention of history buffs and fashionistas of all ages.

Illustrated with period photos punctuated with bright backgrounds, Hoopskirts is as visually pleasing as it is informative. From underwear to parasols, every conceivable item worn by men, women, children, soldiers and slaves is covered in full, but easy to understand, detail. The reader will learn about fashion in the days leading up to the Civil War, as well as the ingenuity it required just to create clothing during wartime privations. In the years following the war, American fashion was greatly influenced by England and France, something still true to some extent today.

Havelin's descriptions only occasionally dip below an adult level of understanding, but for most of us not accustomed to wearing pantelets or crinolines, the explanations are necessary and helpful to an understanding of what our ancestors wore.