This is the first installment of my new Substack newsletter, which was sent to subscribers on April 23.
I’ve moved my newsletter from MailChimp to Substack and resolved to keep it up. I’ll try to send out a new one each weekend. For now at least, this won’t be the kind of Substack where I write posts and try to get people to pay to subscribe. It will just be a way to let you know what I’ve been up to.
My latest article is a deep dive into recent textile history, answering the question posed by my editor Sam Bowman of Works in Progress: How did polyester go from the awful faux pas fiber of 40 years ago to the wearable, silky feeling fabric of today? The article involved a lot of interviews with polyester pioneers.
Two bits that didn’t make it into the article:
My former WSJ colleague Ron Alsop’s classic 1982 lead: “Pity poor polyester. People pick on it.” I quoted one of the interviews from his article, which he kindly dug up for me when I was researching The Fabric of Civilization. Remembering Ron’s research when we were young reporters in the long-defunct Philadelphia bureau helped me set the scene for my article.
John Updike’s ode to polyester, “IN PRAISE OF (C10 H8 O4),” originally published in 1958. Polyester as we know it today was called by terylene by its British inventors (read about them in my book). The poem begins:
My tie is made of terylene, Eternally I wear it. For time can never wither, stale, Shred, shrink, fray, fade, or tear it.
I do a lot of podcasts these days, mostly interviews about The Fabric of Civilization. But on this economics podcast, we talked about The Power of Glamour. (NPR listeners may remember Cardiff from Planet Money.)
Yet another interview about an old book, in this case The Future and Its Enemies, whose 25th anniversary is coming up next year. I’m a big fan of Jim’s (subscribe to his Substack!) and it was an honor to talk with him.
Meanwhile, at Bloomberg Opinion…
Prompted by Shein’s $100 million valuation, I talked fast-fashion, past, present, and future with my friend and colleague Adam Minter (buy his great books).
You can find my most recent Bloomberg columns here. Bloomberg has a paywall that comes down after, I believe, three articles. So choose judiciously. After 90 days, you can also read them in my website archives.
Upcoming Appearances
Thanks to Covid, most of my “book tour” was via Zoom, but I’m now starting to make some in-person appearances.
Sunday, May 1, Torrance Cultural Arts Center, Torrance, CA: I’ll be selling and signing The Fabric of Civilization (including the Spanish edition) at the Southern California Handweavers’ Guild’s Weaving & Fiber Festival, aka WeFF. Admission is $1, with free parking, and it’s a fun day with demos, workshops, and lots of great fiber-arts-related shopping. (I’m also in charge of the Silent Auction and the Workshops. This is what happens when your research gets too hands-on and you need an outlet for executive talents.) Full details here.
Friday, May 13, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD: I’ll be giving a talk on The Fabric of Civilization, complete with as many show and tell items as I can fit in my luggage (definitely including examples of magnetic core memory and a Jacquard punchcards). Info on the JHAPL symposium series here.
Friday, May 20 to Sunday, May 22, Princeton University: No talks, no books, just a lot of orange and black, as Steve and I attend our 40th Reunion. Hope to see all our college friends there! Stay tuned for photos in ridiculous getups that encourage bonding.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on May 20, 2022 • Comments
Following up on my previous video, on the history of cochineal, once the world's most valuable red dye, I tried my hand at using it and learned first-hand a few things I'd previously only known from books.
To see all my videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on January 25, 2021 • Comments
To promote The Fabric of Civilization, I've been doing lots of podcasts and Zoom talks from a makeshift studio in my kitchen. I use block-printed fabric I bought in India as a backdrop to cover the doors to my washer and dryer. You can get an idea of how it looks from these screen shots of a Zoom talk where I'm sharing my screen and one where I'm answering questions, or check out the videos.
Podcasts have replaced radio interviews as the book tour's bread and butter publicity, and I've been doing loads of them. (Even actual radio interviews turn into podcasts once they're archived.) They're generally a satisfying experience, because hosts have read the book and you can have a real conversation. Check these out:
The people who wear them have given bandanas countless meanings and a deep cultural heritage. The iconic scarves also have a hidden history woven into the cloth itself. Find out what it is in my latest video, inspired by The Fabric of Civilization.
Under normal circumstances, I'd be planning extensive travel and many in-person talks to promote The Fabric of Civilization when it comes out November 10. Instead, I'm doing Zoom appearances and podcasts. Knowing they won't be seeing me in person, several people have asked how they can get a signed copy. There are two options:
1) Pre-order a copy from any of the links to the right or buy it from your local bookstore. Email me at vp at vpostrel.com with the receipt, your address, and the name you want the book inscribed to and I'll mail you a signed bookplate.
2) Pre-order a copy through Chevalier's Books in L.A. When they receive their books, I'll sign them and they'll mail your copy to you. It will not, however, be personalized. If you want a particular name as part of the inscription, you need to get a bookplate.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 27, 2020 • Comments
Along with making this video trailer (an entirely DIY enterprise) and the short teaser below, I've been working on a series of short video tales from textile history to release along with The Fabric of Civilization (pre-order today!).
To make sure you see them, subscribe to my YouTube and Vimeo channels.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on September 09, 2020 • Comments