Americans hate their cable companies - for bumbling installers, on-again-off-again transmissions, peculiar channel selections, and indifferent customer service. The only thing cable… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
With its fluctuating forms and needless decoration, fashion epitomizes the supposedly unproductive waste that inspired 20th-century technocrats to dream of central planning.… — Virginia Postrel Art Copy Share Image
In post-Vietnam, post-Watergate America, skeptical voters demand full disclosure of everything from candidates' finances to their medical records, and spin-savvy accounts of… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
As a general rule, durable-goods production tends to be the most volatile sector of the economy. Since people usually have a stock… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
The Taliban outlawed wearing polish in the late 1990s, punishing some offenders by amputating a fingertip. Importing polish was banned only in… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
Our demand for good looks, expressed in the biting comments that ensue when public figures fall short of perfection, puts enormous pressures… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
As borrowers, we may feel guilty about running up debt, anxious about making payments, and resentful of the constraints that old obligations… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
“Design is not style. It’s not about giving shape to the shell and not giving a damn about the guts. Good design… — Virginia Postrel Beauty Copy Share Image
When 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' premiered on the WB Network in 1996, American culture was in trouble. Americans were bowling alone, pursuing… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
Loft living is the antithesis of suburban domesticity, if only because the open spaces don't easily accommodate family life. Lofts also offer… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
The Dallas model, prominent in the South and Southwest, sees a growing population as a sign of urban health. Cities liberally permit… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
Glamour is a beautiful illusion - the word 'glamour' originally meant a literal magic spell - that promises to transcend ordinary life… — Virginia Postrel Beautiful Copy Share Image
Airline glamour never promised anything as mundane as elbow room, much less a flat bed, a massage, or an arugula salad. It… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
Chains do more than bargain down prices from suppliers or divide fixed costs across a lot of units. They rapidly spread economic… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
The Internet exposes a diversity of opinion, experience, and taste we'd been led to believe didn't exist. If you were unusual in… — Virginia Postrel Anomaly Copy Share Image
'CSI' has not only remained a top-rated show through seven seasons; it has had real-world consequences. Police and prosecutors complain of a… — Virginia Postrel College Copy Share Image
The history of the Internet is not, as some people have tried to make it, a libertarian just-so story. It is a… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
'The Matrix' is a movie that is all about glamour. I could do a whole talk on 'The Matrix' and glamour. It… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
Although people often equate them, glamour is not the same as beauty, stylishness, luxury, celebrity, or sex appeal. It is not limited… — Virginia Postrel Aesthetic Copy Share Image
Americans born since World War II have grown up in a media-saturated environment. From childhood, we have developed a sort of advertising… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
The elements that create glamour are not specific styles - bias-cut gowns or lacquered furniture - but more general qualities: grace, mystery,… — Virginia Postrel Audience Copy Share Image
How we feel about the evolving future tells us who we are as individuals and as a civilization: Do we search for… — Virginia Postrel Civilization Copy Share Image
Many different relationships among patients, doctors, and drugs are possible and desirable. As in so many other areas of life, the Internet… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
Socialism is about claims of justice, and it is also about money: about wealth, income, physical and financial capital. It is an… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
Unlike painting, sculpture, or music, typefaces must be useful to someone. Fortunately for designers, the digital age has produced new problems to… — Virginia Postrel Age Copy Share Image
Like the skyscraper, the automobile, and the motion-picture palace, neon signs once symbolized popular hopes for a new era of technological achievement… — Virginia Postrel Abundance Copy Share Image
By giving unusual people an easy way to find one another, the Internet has also enabled them to pool rare talents, resources,… — Virginia Postrel Copy Share Image
