1971-1979
“The Clothed Image: Picture and Performance”, New Literary History II (1971), pp. 477-93
“Erte: Art Deco’s Designer of Dreams”, Saturday Review of the Arts, January 1973, pp. 55-6
“Costume and Convention”, The American Scholar XLII (1973), pp. 671-5
“Clothes Make the Man Uneasy”, The New Republic, September 7, 1974, pp. 15‑17
“Art Deco’s Back and New York’s Got It”, New York Magazine, November 11, 1974
“Thong of Thongs”, New York Magazine, November 18, 1974
“The Gatsby Look and Other Costume Movie Blunders” – New York Magazine May 27 1974
“Movie Clothes”, The New York Times Magazine, December 1, 1974, pp. 68-71
Dressing Up and Down”, New York Magazine, January 20, 1975
“Fabric of Vision: The Role of Drapery in Art”, The Georgia Review, Summer 1975, pp. 414‑55
“What a Piece of Work Is a Man!”, Harper’s, April 1975
“Fashion in Nudity”, The Georgia Review, Fall 1976, pp. 642-82
“When Fat Was in Fashion”, New York Times Magazine, October 23, 1977
“The Issue of Skirting”, The New Republic, December 17, 1977
“The Fabric of Life”, New York Times, November 28, 1978
“Vintage Clothes”, Vogue, April 1979
1981-1988
“Shades of Meaning”, Gentleman’s Quarterly, January 1981
“The Reagan Style–What Is It?”, Washington Post, February 2, 1981
“The 20th Century Shape”, New York Times Magazine, March 1, 1981
“Reflections on Little Women”, Children’s Literature 9 (1981), pp. 28-39 *
“Fashion’s Conservative Thread”, Gentleman’s Quarterly, January 1982
“Esprit de Corps”, Gentleman’s Quarterly, August 1982
“When Worth Was King”, Connoisseur, December 1982
“The Appeal of Military Detailing”, New York Times Magazine, February 27, 1983
“Chanel”, Connoisseur, February 1983
“Dressing with Drama”, New York Times Magazine, August 28, 1983
“Illuminating Accessories”, New York Times Magazine, August 26, 1984
“The Little Black Dress”, Connoisseur, December 1984
“Moving Pictures”, Raritan, Winter 1986, pp. 82-102
“The Power of Artifice”, New York Times Magazine, September 21, 1986
“The Unacknowedged Brothel of Art”, Grand Street, Spring 1987, pp. 118-140
“The Subtle Beauty of Scarves”, Avenue, December 1988
“Making the Man”, American Heritage, December 1988
1990-2008
“Swimsuits Illustrated”, American Heritage, July-August 1990
“Fashion Art”, Aperture, Number 122, Winter 1991 *
“The Modernization of Fashion”, Design Quarterly, Winter 1992
“Dance Costumes”, Dance Ink, Winter 1992/1993
“Little Women Through the Ages”, The New York Times, January 15, 1995 *
“Madame Gres”, Dance Ink, Summer 1995 *
“Official Looking” – City Journal Winter 1995
“Elizabeth Taylor”, New York Times Magazine, November 24, 1996 *
“Fashion: Dress in the World” and “Fashion: La Haute Couture”, in Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Michael Kelly, ed., Oxford University Press, 1998
“Fashion Trend”, American Heritage, May-June 1998
“Clothes Sense”, Columns for Slate Magazine 1996-1999 NOTE: This links to twenty-six essays.
Clothes: We’ll Still Be Wearing Them”, Washington Post, January 2, 2000
“Elizabeth Taylor”, Citation for Kennedy Center Honors, 2002
“The Art of the Possible”, The Sunday Telegraph, February 16, 2003
“Nude and Mode”, Omnivore, Autumn 2003
* Reprinted in Feeding the Eye