While New York Fashion Week is filled with designers who have probably been making their own clothes for decades, I’m lucky if I can hem a pair of pants! Fortunately for me, I don’t have to make my own clothes. That wasn’t the case though for families who lived in the 1700s and 1800s. This […]Read more "Lerner Fashion Week Day 4- Homespun and Homemade"

Hundreds of cartoonists flocked to the annual Small Press Expo last weekend, including Graphic Universe’s Carol Burrell, Colleen Venable, Zack Giallongo, and Shelli Paroline. While attending this usually happy event we received some shattering news: beloved publisher Dylan Williams had passed after battling cancer. Dylan was the driving force behind Sparkplug Comic Books, one the […]Read more "Comic Lovers Mourn the Passing of Dylan Williams"

We’re half way through Lerner Fashion Week, but we’ve kept some of the best looks for last! Today, we’re taking a closer look at Civil War Fashions with Hoopskirts, Union Blues, and Confederate Grays: Civil War Fashions from 1861 to 1865.Although I love a cute skirt from time to time, the cover image above makes […]Read more "Lerner Fashion Week Day 3- Who Wears the Pants?"

Welcome to Lerner Fashion Week day #2! Now that we’ve all learned how to make our buckskins look best, it’s time to focus on some “rugged looks for rugged men” from our new book Calico Dresses and Buffalo Robes: American West Fashions from the 1840s to the 1890s. If you’re looking for warm clothing this […]Read more "Lerner Fashion Week Day 2- Rugged Looks for Rugged Men"

With all of the buzz about New York Fashion Week, we’ve decided to host our very own Lerner Fashion Week here on the blog. However, our fashion week won’t be filled with the latest styles from huge designers. Nope! Our fashion week will be filled with historical looks and trends from our new series Dressing […]Read more "Lerner Fashion Week!"

I do not doubt that there has been enough on the television/radio and in the newspaper/blogs/twitter/ether that we are all well aware of the tenth anniversary of 9/11/2001. I find I have no words. I cannot articulate anything that hasn’t already been said by somebody, somewhere. Yet neither can I blithely post about anything else. […]Read more "A Moment of Silence"

  When I woke up on September 11, 2001, to the radio announcing that the Twin Towers had been hit, I was safe in bed in a Minnesota dorm room. I hadn’t been to New York or Washington, D.C. in years, nor did I have any close connections with people there at the time. Yet […]Read more "Ten Years Later"

“Imagine me, reader; I shall not exist if you do not imagine me.” -Nabokov (I know, I know, you’re all shocked.) The word “believe” and its derivatives come up a lot when readers and reviewers evaluate fiction–especially realistic fiction. I certainly have used it, and I probably will slip up and do so fifteen minutes […]Read more "Believe or imagine"

Fall is definitely in the air here in Minnesota! The air is a little crisper, the days are getting shorter, and class is in session for all of those happy students. In honor of going back-to-school we want to give you free copies of Back-to-School Rules and Fall Mixed Up! To win a copy of […]Read more "Back-to-School Book Giveaway"