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Reposted by Cora Harrington

Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

The ebook edition is currently $5.99 on iBooks and Kindle 📚💐

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Did you have a chance to click the link?

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

"Unlike other industries, these dresses cannot be made in the United States," the National Bridal Retailers Association wrote earlier this year in a lobbying letter, "as there is zero labor pool of skilled craftsmen that can hand-bead gowns with as many as 200,000 sequins, beads, and crystals."

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

The ebook edition is currently $5.99 on iBooks and Kindle 📚💐

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

There were soooo many North Beach Leather looks.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

There are still a few more days left in Pride, so I just want to take a moment to let everyone know that my book about lingerie, In Intimate Detail, is gender-neutral and contains intimate apparel advice for trans folks, disabled folks, and other communities. Available wherever books are sold! 🌈

Cover of In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, and Love Lingerie by Cora Harrington. Book cover has pastel pink background with black lace lingerie set front and center. Text is black. Book is surrounded by baby’s breath flowers on neutral background.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

I’ve loved this show for as long as I can remember, but she was not a direct inspiration for my current path.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

I was so surprised that she seems to have never been an invited guest!

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

I cited your article in my paper 😊 I was genuinely surprised there was so little information out there about Debra Pugh! She’s working as a mascot designer now, but I haven’t seen her name come up anywhere for cons or interviews or articles or anything.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Neither of them does. Jem is really underappreciated as a fashion cartoon compared to those.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Debra Pugh is explicitly titled as a Fashion Designer for the cartoon, which I’m not sure has happened for any other animated series?

IMDB line credit for Debra Pugh as fashion designer for Jem and The Holograms

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Not just the main characters had unique costumes, but so did side and secondary characters and even the “extras” like audience members.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Not yet! But I thought about turning into something that could be formally shared.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

It was a vibrant time in fashion

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

It’s not, but I may turn it into something that could be publicly accessible later.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

It took a long time, but got a lot of surprisingly good feedback in presentation, even from people who’d never heard of the cartoon before!

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

I may turn this into a longer paper or project, so nothing to share right now other than smaller pieces like this.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Even then, Naoko did far, far, FAR fewer costumes than Pugh.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

I’ve only looked at a small sample of costumes, but based on what I’ve seen so far, I don’t.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

I also learned about JemCon while researching this, and if they ever invite Debra Pugh - who went on to be an animator for Gargoyles, All Dogs Go to Heaven, X-Men: Evolution, Animanicas, Batman: The Animated Series, My Little Pony Tales, and The Care Bears - I’ll make a point to go. #dresshistory

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Shana is the fashion designer

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Here are several examples of the looks she referenced in Jem. The breadth and depth of familiarity Debra Pugh had with fashion is astonishing. This barely scratches the surface. I wonder if we’ll ever see this level of dedication in a cartoon again. I truly believe this makes her one of the greats.

Side by side image of ad for North Beach Leather in American Vogue March 1985 issue featuring two models in purple: one in spaghetti strap ruched dress and the other in blazer and pants. Right is of main character Shana in the ruched dress with white blazer on top.

Side by side comparison of model in green North Beach Leather dress from American Vogue September 1986 featuring front zip, two side pocket zips, and upper zip. Right side shows Stormer in pink version of dress.

Side by side comparison of model with cartoon. Model wears a red sequin evening gown with beaded fringe and sequined epaulettes by Valentino from American Vogue October 1983. Comparison image shows Jem in floor length red evening gown and fringe epaulettes.

Side by side comparison of North Beach Leather as from American Vogue April 1985 showing two models in blue. One wearing mini dress with back turned, one wearing bustier and pants set with hat. Pizazz wears the bustier and pants set with added stole and red scarf tied around leg.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

For my final project, I focused on the main characters - Jem/Jerrica, Aja, Shana, Kimber, Pizzazz, Roxy, and Stormer - in the 1st season for 443 total unique costumes. Then I went through 4 years of American Vogue - January 1983 to January 1987 - for fashion references Debra Pugh would have used.

Individual American Vogue covers for the dates indicated in the post

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Jem is a fashion cartoon, and I believe its Costume Designer, Debra Pugh, deserves more credit for the thousands of costumes she designed over 3 seasons and 65 episodes, pulling extensively from fashion magazines, trade journals, and advertisements to tell characters’ stories through fashion.

24 individual and unique costumes from Jem and the Holograms in a variety of colors and silhouettes for the main characters.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Last semester, I had the opportunity to take a class on costume design in fantasy, sci-fi, and supernatural film and television. And for my final project, I chose to analyze the costumes in Jem and The Holograms! ✨

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

It’s been two years since the first iteration of this paper! 😆

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Thank you! That means a lot to me.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

You can access the entire journal issue - for free! - here: www.fashionstudies.ca/special-issu... And you can directly access a pdf of my article, which is a bit easier to read, here: static1.squarespace.com/static/59121...

fashionstudies.ca

Special Issue Volume 5: Unravelling Fashion Narratives — Fashion Studies

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

My first academic article is live!! Published with Fashion Studies, “What is a ‘Worth’ Worth? Developing a Methodology of Historical to Modern Day Price Conversions for Dress” asks how we can better explain clothing prices in the past to people in the present. The approach explored is wage data.

Historical price conversions are a core area of concern and interest in costume studies. For fashion historians, curators, or reenactors, the question is: how does one explain the equivalent price of something worn in the past to someone in the present? I suggest a more quantitative understanding of historical prices will help researchers, professors, writers, and others better interpret the garments they examine, both within the field of costume studies as well as other disciplines such as literature, art studies, and sociology. The ambition of this paper is to showcase an alternative tool for fashion researchers to translate and explain historical fashion prices to a contemporary audience beyond simple Consumer Price Index tracking. The instrument this paper proposes is called Measuring Worth, which offers the possibility of wage tracking over time as another way to interpret historical prices.

Image 1: Purple silk velvet and satin court gown made by Charles Frederick Worth for Frances Fairchild, wife of Wisconsin Governor Lucius Fairchild.

Image 2: Black and white photographic portrait in front of painted backdrop of Frances (Bull) Fairchild (1845-1924), wife of Wisconsin Governor Lucius Fairchild, wearing a court gown designed by Charles Frederick Worth of Paris, France. Worn at the Spanish court of King Alfonso XII and Queen Teresa, Madrid, Spain, 1880.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Tonight’s opening reception dress! ✨✨✨

Cora stands to the side of a lettering that reads in cursive script “All That Glitters.” She wears a black sequined, just below the knee dress, with large gold bugle bead bow. The dress has sleeves to the elbows. Her hair is down and she’s wearing large crystal earrings.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

They’ve had a super long relationship, way before she got as wealthy as she is now. It’s a good bra and I’m happy for all involved.

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Reposted by Cora Harrington

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 19/02/2025

"We didn’t become the greatest shirtwaist factory in the world by resting on our laurels. That’s why we’ve brought in a new efficiency czar, Noel Skum, whose job is to cut unnecessary spending and roll back overly restrictive safety regulations." www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/tha...

mcsweeneys.net

Thanks to Our New Efficiency Czar, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Is Saving More Money Than Ever

“Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration…. Sources told CNN the ...

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Also, I’m one of the students giving press tours next week if you’re a journalist who’s received an invitation!

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

I can’t believe a museum exhibition I wrote for is opening in a couple of weeks! ✨✨✨ www.fitnyc.edu/museum/exhib...

Rectangular image featuring large size text “All That Glitters…” in elegant cursive script with February 26-March 25, 2025 in smaller type beneath it. To left of text is image of dressed mannequin wearing white cheongsam with large gold sequin flowers and curves.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Something like Queen Victoria’s underwear is definitely a super special case!

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

For something like gelatin sequins, yes gloves, because of body heat. But a clean, dry pair of hands is just fine for a lot of things, I think. And you’re also more likely to wash your hands repeatedly than change gloves repeatedly.

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Cora Harrington @cora.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

It’s funny because in my program we’re actually trained not to use gloves so we can have full sense and dexterity in our fingertips when examining textiles. And something like a rough cotton glove could actually damage a very delicate textile!

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