2,179 articles
Crop top
Crop top: a short upper-body garment ending at or above the waist, exposing the midriff; also called half-shirt. Known from the Egtved Girl (c. 1370 BC), the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, 1980s aerobics craze, and 2010s 1990s-fashion revival.
Cross-stitch
Cross-stitch is counted-thread embroidery made of X-shaped stitches on gridded even-weave fabric such as Aida, worked from a chart; distinct from freehand surface embroidery and needlepoint, with examples dating to AD 850.
Crossed fingers
Crossed fingers, or crossing fingers, is a hand gesture wishing good luck in the West, or, hidden behind the back, canceling a promise to permit a lie.
Crotch
Crotch: in clothing, the area where the legs join and the pant or underwear part covering it. The four-seam crotch intersection is a garment's highest-stress point, commonly reinforced with diamond or triangle gussets.
Crown (British coin)
Crown (British coin): five-shilling coin first struck in silver in 1551 under Edward VI, named for Henry VIII's 1526 gold crown. Redenominated 25p at decimalisation, £5 from 1990; 38.61 mm, 28.28 g, now commemorative only.
Crowns of Egypt
Crowns of Egypt: the pharaonic regalia, chiefly the White Crown (hedjet) of Upper Egypt, the Red Crown (deshret) of Lower Egypt, and the combined Pschent or Double Crown, plus the Atef, Khepresh, and nemes; known from depictions since Narmer (c. 3100 BC) because no actual crowns survive.
Culottes
Culottes are wide, knee-length or calf-length trousers cut to resemble a skirt, from French culotte (breeches). Known for the 1911 jupe-culotte, Norman Norell's 1960 culotte suits, and the sans-culottes of the French Revolution.
Cultural history of the buttocks
Cultural history of the buttocks: how societies represented, clothed, and politicized the rear of the body, from the Venus of Willendorf and Aphrodite Kallipygos through Renaissance art, bustles, Sarah Baartman's exhibition, and modern body-image and surgery trends.
Cultural views on the midriff and navel
Cultural views on the midriff and navel: from exotic dance wear and Production Code censors to Cher's 1975 TV breakthrough, Indian navel symbolism, Beijing Bikini, and 2025 menswear.
Culture of Africa
Culture of Africa: the continent's social practices, arts, and self-expression, centered here on dress and cloth, including kente, àdìrẹ, aṣọ-òkè, bògòlanfini, Kuba cloth, the grand boubou, ankara wax print, and textile trade and industrialization.
Culture of Germany
Culture of Germany: federal, regionally varied culture of ~83.6 million people, also known as deutsche Kultur. Marked by Länder cultural sovereignty, dialects, Tracht, secularization, immigration history (26%), and a strong culture of remembrance.
Culture of Iran
Culture of Iran (فرهنگ ایران): the layered civilization of the Iranian plateau, blending pre-Islamic traditions like Nowruz with Islamic influence, marked by the Persian language and poetry, ethnic and linguistic diversity, taarof etiquette, and UNESCO-recognized heritage.
Culture of Korea
The culture of Korea is the heritage of the Korean people on the Korean Peninsula, known for hanbok dress unchanged in structure for about 5,000 years and Goryeo-era ceramics and printing.
Culture of the United States
Culture of the United States: Western, English-based national culture shaped by European, African, Native American, and immigrant influences; marked by individualism, religiosity, regional diversity, and globally exported entertainment and technology.
Culture of Ukraine
Culture of Ukraine: the language, literature, folk arts, cuisine, and heritage of Ukraine. Key facts: independence 1991, Soviet suppression and Ukrainization 1923–33, derussification, UNESCO heritage, wartime cultural damage.
Culture of Uttar Pradesh
Culture of Uttar Pradesh, the cultural heritage of India's most populous state, spanning the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, languages such as Awadhi, Bhojpuri, and Braj, crafts like Lucknow chikankari and Banarasi silk, the Taj Mahal and Agra's three UNESCO sites, and festivals including Taj Mahotsav and Ayodhya's Deepotsav.
Cumbi
Cumbi, also spelled qompi or gompi, was the finest cloth of the Inca Empire, a double-faced tapestry weave of camelid fiber and cotton reserved for the ruler and nobility.
Cummerbund
Cummerbund (kamarband, کمربند): broad pleated waist sash of South Asian origin, adopted by 19th-century British officers in India, now black-tie formalwear worn pleats-up; since 2026 also a fashion trend.
Daemokjang (대목장)
Daemokjang (대목장) are Korea's master carpenters of traditional wooden architecture; Important Intangible Heritage No. 74 since 1982 and UNESCO-inscribed 2010, known for nail-free joinery and palace restoration.
Daisy Lowe
Daisy Lowe is an English model, DJ, and cookery-book author, the daughter of Pearl Lowe and Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, known for campaigns for Marc by Marc Jacobs and Agent Provocateur.
Daith piercing
Daith piercing, an ear piercing through the crus of the helix above the ear canal, promoted as a migraine treatment; no clinical evidence supports the claim, and risks include infection and slow cartilage healing.
Damaris Lewis
Damaris Lewis (born 1990) is an American model, dancer, actress, and host from Coney Island, Brooklyn, known for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2009-2011, touring as Prince's muse and dancer 2012-2016, co-hosting NBA Style, playing Blackfire in Titans, and founding the candle company Gorudo.
Damask
Damask: a reversible figured woven fabric formed by contrasting warp-faced and weft-faced satin weaves, named for Damascus, originating in China, woven on jacquard looms in silk, linen, and cotton.
Dan mask
A Dan mask is a carved wooden face mask made by the Dan people of Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, embodying a forest spirit during masquerade.
Dance belt
Dance belt: specialized male dancer's support undergarment, a jock-strap adaptation worn under tights for support, modesty, and a smooth line. Thong and full-seat styles; standard in ballet since the mid-20th century.
Daphne Guinness
Daphne Guinness, The Honourable Daphne Guinness, British heiress of the Guinness brewing and Mitford families, is a fashion collector, designer, muse, filmmaker, and singer-songwriter known for her couture archive, the 2011 FIT exhibition, the Isabella Blow Foundation, and albums with Tony Visconti.
Dapper Dan (designer)
Dapper Dan, born Daniel Day in 1944, is a Harlem fashion designer whose 1982-1992 boutique made custom logo-printed luxury garments for hip-hop stars, closed after lawsuits, and was revived with Gucci backing in 2018.
Dark academia
Dark academia is an internet aesthetic and literary subculture romanticizing higher education, gothic libraries, and classic literature. Emerging on Tumblr around 2014–2015 and popularized during COVID-19, it centers on Donna Tartt's The Secret History and has a lighter counterpart, Light Academia.
Darning
Darning is a needlework repair that weaves new threads across a hole to rebuild fabric, unlike patching or sashiko reinforcement. Covers plain and Swiss darning, tools, darning samplers, Make Do and Mend, conservation use, and the visible mending revival.
Dash (boutique)
Dash (DASH), the boutique chain founded in 2006 by Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé Kardashian in Calabasas, expanded to Miami and New York, featured on their reality shows, and closed in 2018.