By Lisa Hix — In the last days of disco, everyone wanted to be that one-of-a-kind butterfly—particularly after Bionic Boogie’s 1978 mellow-disco tune “Hot Butterfly,” written by Gregg Diamond and sung by Luther Vandross, hit the clubs. Two years later, Chaka Khan covered the song, retitling it "Papillon," the French word for butterfly. "The two-sided sequined butterfly pattern let everyone at the club see you shine—whether you were shimmying toward him or fluttering away." The 1970s disco...

Leading the Charge Against Casual Style, Armed With Antique Clothes and a Bike

By Lisa Hix — Tziporah Salamon is used to being photographed—by everyone from New York City tourists to famous "New York Times" street-fashion photographer Bill Cunningham. She's impossible for shutterbugs to resist, when they catch her riding around the city on her turquoise Bianchi, often a symphony of lush colors, decked head-to-toe in exquisite, embroidered, antique fabrics. Salamon also caught the eye of 30-year-old photographer Ari Seth Cohen, who made waves in the fashion world when he launched his...

Good Girls and Bad Boys: How to Achieve That Cool '50s Rockabilly Look

By Maribeth Keane and Brad Quinn — Jayne Mansfield is buried in my hometown. You could drive past the cemetery and see her heart-shaped headstone from the road. We had our own historical society, a tiny little museum, if you can even call it that. I remember going on a class trip there once. Some of her things were displayed, like long sequined cocktail dresses and some of her little personal effects. That stayed with me into my adult years: “Wow, as cheesy as my little hick town is, Jayne Mansfield is buried...

Dress Hound Cherie Federau Explains How She Makes Vintage Work for Her

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — I’ve pretty much always been a little bit fashion-nutty, ever since I was about 16 years old and I discovered Vogue. I started like a lot of other people, buying vintage to recreate the looks that I saw but couldn’t afford as a teenager. Then slowly over the years, as my hobby turned into more of an obsession, I became interested in the designers behind the labels and it just snowballed from there. Everyone I knew was constantly coming to me to dress them and lend them vintage clothes....