Wisdom disconnect: A miscellany of information

Attire d’bacteria: Clothing is now being grown out of a cellulose material made from a stew of yeast, bacteria and sweetened green tea. The technique for making clothes out of this mixture was developed by Suzanne Lee from the School of Fashion and Textiles. This potential fashion trend is known as “biocouture.”

Men the new women? Styles previously worn primarily by women are becoming gender-neutral fashion trends. Pantyhose for men, or “mantyhose,” for instance, are becoming popular in fashionable men in Milan and hunters in Michigan. Other unisex fashion trends include skirts on men and the infamous “murse.”

Inventor of the sewing machine: The sewing machine was invented by Elias Howe. It was patented in 1851 as an “automatic, continuous clothing closure.” The sewing machine allowed clothing to be made by hand at a faster rate than it had been done previously.

Too big: Throughout the tenth century, foot binding was a popular trend in Chinese culture. Women would bind their feet to make them appear smaller because this was deemed more attractive. As a result, women who bound their feet suffered from pediatric-related disabilities.

Too small: In a tribe in southwestern Ethiopia, women stretch their lower lip using a wooden or clay disc called “sigaro.” A women does this when she is getting ready for marriage because “the bigger the lip, the smoother the dowry negotiations between the two families.”

Buttons on sleeves: The buttons on the sleeves of men’s jackets is not just a fashion trend. Instead, supposedly, the sleeve buttons were a result of an order of Napoleon Bonaparte so that soldiers would stop wiping their mouth and runny noses on their sleeves.

The invention of the bra:The bra was patented in 1914. It was invented by Mary Phelps and was first made of handkerchiefs. The trend caught on and later a woman named Ida Rosenthal started designing bras with different cup sizes.

A wise man once said: “Fashion is made to become unfashionable” –Coco Chanel