diff --git a/history.md b/history.md
index f941c81..7da477a 100644
--- a/history.md
+++ b/history.md
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ This release is largely API compatible, but makes several breaking changes.
   Set-Cookie, which is special) by joining the values with a comma space,
   compliant with RFC 7230
 - Don't set basic auth header if explicit `Authorization` header is specified
+- Add `:proxy` option to requests, which can be used for thread-safe
+  per-request proxy configuration, overriding `RestClient.proxy`
 
 # 1.8.0
 
diff --git a/lib/restclient/request.rb b/lib/restclient/request.rb
index a40f17b..253a44c 100644
--- a/lib/restclient/request.rb
+++ b/lib/restclient/request.rb
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ module RestClient
   # * :block_response call the provided block with the HTTPResponse as parameter
   # * :raw_response return a low-level RawResponse instead of a Response
   # * :max_redirects maximum number of redirections (default to 10)
+  # * :proxy An HTTP proxy URI to use for this request. Any value here
+  #   (including nil) will override RestClient.proxy.
   # * :verify_ssl enable ssl verification, possible values are constants from
   #     OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_*, defaults to OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_PEER
   # * :read_timeout and :open_timeout are how long to wait for a response and
@@ -35,8 +37,8 @@ module RestClient
 
     # TODO: rename timeout to read_timeout
 
-    attr_reader :method, :url, :headers, :cookies,
-                :payload, :user, :password, :read_timeout, :max_redirects,
+    attr_reader :method, :url, :headers, :cookies, :payload, :proxy,
+                :user, :password, :read_timeout, :max_redirects,
                 :open_timeout, :raw_response, :processed_headers, :args,
                 :ssl_opts
 
@@ -129,6 +131,8 @@ module RestClient
       @block_response = args[:block_response]
       @raw_response = args[:raw_response] || false
 
+      @proxy = args.fetch(:proxy) if args.include?(:proxy)
+
       @ssl_opts = {}
 
       if args.include?(:verify_ssl)
@@ -260,8 +264,17 @@ module RestClient
     end
 
     def net_http_class
-      if RestClient.proxy
+      proxy_uri = nil
+
+      if defined?(@proxy)
+        if @proxy
+          proxy_uri = URI.parse(@proxy)
+        end
+      elsif RestClient.proxy
         proxy_uri = URI.parse(RestClient.proxy)
+      end
+
+      if proxy_uri
         Net::HTTP::Proxy(proxy_uri.hostname, proxy_uri.port, proxy_uri.user, proxy_uri.password)
       else
         Net::HTTP
diff --git a/spec/unit/request_spec.rb b/spec/unit/request_spec.rb
index a6ab316..878fe5e 100644
--- a/spec/unit/request_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/request_spec.rb
@@ -426,6 +426,21 @@ describe RestClient::Request, :include_helpers do
     it "creates a non-proxy class if a proxy url is not given" do
       @request.net_http_class.proxy_class?.should be_falsey
     end
+
+    it "disables proxy on a per-request basis" do
+      RestClient.stub(:proxy).and_return('http://example.com')
+      @request.net_http_class.proxy_class?.should be true
+
+      disabled_req = RestClient::Request.new(:method => :put, :url => 'http://some/resource', :payload => 'payload', :proxy => nil)
+      disabled_req.net_http_class.proxy_class?.should be_falsey
+    end
+
+    it "sets proxy on a per-request basis" do
+      @request.net_http_class.proxy_class?.should be_falsey
+
+      req = RestClient::Request.new(:method => :put, :url => 'http://some/resource', :payload => 'payload', :proxy => 'http://example.com')
+      req.net_http_class.proxy_class?.should be true
+    end
   end