What stories can our clothes tell? This week we celebrate the groundbreaking exhibition Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore with curators Kiki Smith and Keren Ben-Horin. The exhibit is the first to display the Smith College Historic Clothing Collection which prizes the everyday clothing of ordinary women, from hard-worn house dresses to psychedelic micro minis and modern suits to fast-food workers’ uniforms.

Can’t see the exhibit in person? Get the book here!

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week, we revisit one our Halloween-themed episodes from 2018 in which we "dissect" the iconic flapper look from head to toe.

For artist Frida Kahlo, clothing, art and identity were inextricably linked. This week, we revisit our 2018 episode that accompanied the V&A exhibition: Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up, which explored the ways Kahlo constructed her iconic image using the clothing and accessories she put on her body.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Amid the French Revolution, a youth subculture became notorious for adopting styles so extreme they were dubbed 'incredible' and 'marvelous.' In this 2018 episode from the Dressed archive, we speak about some of fashion's first hipsters: the incroyablesand the merveilleuses.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Please enjoy this episode from the Dressed archive on fashion, politics and the French Revolution, a tumultuous period when the clothes you wore could be a matter of life or death.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles
• 
  

Researchers rejoice! Today we continue our deep dive on American fashion history with Natalie Nudell, who joins us for an update on her multivalent project analyzing and making accessible the Fashion Calendar. Ruth Finley’s Fashion Calendar served as American fashion’s organizational hub for more than seven decades and is an invaluable record of time, place, commerce and the history of design.

Recommended resources:

Fashion Calendar database

In American Fashion: Ruth Finley’s Fashion Calendar

@fcrd_fit

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week’s deep dive into the history of American fashion begins with a conversation with Nancy MacDonell who joins us to discuss her newest book Empresses of 7th Avenue: WWII, New York City and the Birth of American Fashion which details the pantheon of women behind the rise of American fashion during the 1940s.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

In this week’s two part episode, Dr. Elizabeth L. Block joins us to discuss the cultural significance of hair and hairdressing in 19th century America, introducing us to the spaces and faces that defined this booming industry and profession and are the subject of her new book Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing.

More from Elizabeth L. Block:

• Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing
• Elizabeth's Instagram

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

We've often discussed what stories are woven into the clothes we wear, but what about those braided into our hair? In this week’s two part episode, Dr. Elizabeth L. Block joins us to discuss the cultural significance of hair and hairdressing in 19th century America, introducing us to the spaces and faces that defined this booming industry and profession and are the subject of her new book Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing.

More from Elizabeth L. Block:

• Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing
• Elizabeth's Instagram

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Following up on our wildly popular 2022 episode on obscure fashion terms from history, we bring you an all new two-part episode from A to Z!

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles

Following up on our wildly popular 2022 episode on obscure fashion terms from history, we bring you an all new two-part episode from A to Z!

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles

Based on her one-woman show, WHat I wORE to Work, this week Jo Weldon joins us for a two-part episode to explore the "intersection of fashion, culture and sex work." In part II, we hear about the laws governing what strippers can and cannot wear, what Jo herself wore in her many roles within the sex industry and her ongoing work as a sex worker activist.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles

Based on her one-woman show, WHat I wORE to Work, this week Jo Weldon joins us for a two-part episode to explore the "intersection of fashion, culture and sex work." From the brothels of Ancient Greece to Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's, part I explores sex worker style throughout history and its centuries-long influence on high fashion.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles

Amber-Dawn Bear Robe joins us to discuss the Indigenous fashion on view on and off the runway at this year's SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market.

More SWAIA Fashion:

• Website and Instagram

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Innovation and Indigenous fashion have gone hand in hand for time  immemorial. From the original "couturiers" of America to those that represent the art form today, we explore the past, present and future of Indigenous design innovation with a compilation of past guest interviews.

Guests featured in order of appearance:

• Christian Allaire joined us in 2020 and 2021
• Orlando Dugi joined us in 2022
• Amber-Dawn Bear Robe joined us in 2020, 2023, and 2024
• Korina Emmerich joined us in 2019
• Jontay Kahm joined us in 2022

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

We conclude our original four part series on Dressing the Summer Olympic Athlete with a brand new episode celebrating fashion—and fashion history—at this year’s Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (Paris Olympics 2024).

Recommended reading:

• Vogue World
• Gymnastic Leotards
• Michel & Amazonka Instagram

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

From Sappho to Stonewall-and-beyond, this week we explore than 2,600 years of lesbian fashion history as Eleanor Medhurst joins us to discuss her recently released book Unsuitable: A History of Lesbian Fashion.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week we celebrate six years and 500 episodes of Dressed with a live, two part podcast event featuring surprise past Dressed guests and our beloved listeners. 

Past Dressed guests in order of appearance for part II of this episode:

From Basic Instinct to Bridgerton, a Conversation with Ellen Mirojnick

The Art and Activism of Dress with Michael Sylvan Robinson

Ethics and Responsibility in the Jewelry Industry, an interview with Bliss Lau

Fashioning the Gilded Age: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion with Dr. Elizabeth Block, part I and part II

Fashion Period. An Interview with Dr. Shannon Withycombe

Planning a trip to Paris? You don't want to miss one of our friend Rebecca Devaney's Textile Tours of Paris!!!

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week we celebrate six years and 500 episodes of Dressed with a live, two part podcast event featuring surprise past Dressed guests and our beloved listeners. 

Past Dressed guests in order of appearance:

• Chicago's Fashionable Past with Jessica Pushor, Part I and Part II
• Living History: An interview with Cheyney McKnight, Part I and Part II
• FHN #23 Cutting Portraits with Silhouette Artist Charles Burns
• A Life Lived in Fashion with Halston Model, Muse and Archivist Chris Royer, Part I and Part II
• The Battle of Versailles: 50 Years Later with "Halstonette" Chris Royer

Some highlights from 500 episodes of Dressed:

• Biba, an interview with Barbara Hulanicki and Martin Pel
• The King of Sexy Cling, an interview with Stephen Burrows
• Sonia Delaunay: The Art of Everything, an interview with Waleria Dorogova, Part I and Part II
• Beach Pajamas: From Sleepwear to Sportswear, an interview with Janine D'Agati and Hannah Schiff
• Sporting Fashion: An interview with Christina Johnson and Kevin Jones, Part I and Part II
• The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of America, an interview with Ilise S. Carter, Part I and Part II
• Gordon Parks: The Man of Many Hats
• Fashioning the Philippines: Salvacion Lim Higgins, An Interview with Mark Lewis Higgins
• The Joy of Fashion, an Interview with Pat Cleveland
• The Magic of 1970s Fashion with Pat Cleveland, Part I and Part II

In Memoriam, Dressed’s guests we’ve lost

• Supreme Glamour, an Interview with Mary Wilson
• Fashion Oracle: Trend Forecasting to Paper Dolls with David Wolfe
• Finding Beauty, an Interview with Photographer Tony Vaccaro

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week, we are joined by theo tyson and Emily Stoehrer, the co-curators of the MFA Boston's current exhibition Dress Up, which celebrates the equally significant role that dress and jewelry play in the deeply personal act and art of dressing up.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

In part II of our episode on The Met's exhibition Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, we chat with Associate Conservator Elizabeth Shaeffer and Collections Specialist Bethany Gingrich about their roles at The Costume Institute and the hidden labor that goes into mounting blockbuster fashion exhibitions.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles

Andrew Bolton joins us in part I of this two-part episode exploring The Metropolitan Museum of Art's blockbuster exhibition Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. With more than 220 objects--all united under the theme of the natural world--the show seeks to evoke the sensory and ephemeral nature of fashion.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles

Historian Amanda Wunder joins us in a two-part episode that illuminates the remarkable life and work of Mateo Aguado, royal court tailor to the Queens of Spain from 1630 to 1672. Aguado is the subject at the heart of her book Spanish Fashion in the Age of Velázquez: A Tailor at the Court of Philip IV. 

Further learning:

Sofía Rodríguez Bernis's article "Where Clothing was Kept," in Spanish Fashion at the Courts of Early Modern Europe

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Historian Amanda Wunder joins us in a two-part episode that illuminates the remarkable life and work of Mateo Aguado, royal court tailor to the Queens of Spain from 1630 to 1672. Aguado is the subject at the heart of her book Spanish Fashion in the Age of Velázquez: A Tailor at the Court of Philip IV.  

Further learning:

Sofía Rodríguez Bernis's article "Where Clothing was Kept," in Spanish Fashion at the Courts of Early Modern Europe

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Today we explore one of the most fabulous parties New York City has ever seen, Truman Capote's Black and White Ball. Held at The Plaza hotel on November 28, 1966 as a masked fancy dress ball with a strict dress code of black and white, Capote gathered together a global coterie of artists, intellectuals, politicians and the international jet set for one of the most sought-after invitations of the 20th century.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 140 of our favorite fashion history titles

Penelope Tree, one of the most iconic faces in modeling history, joins us to speak about her recently released novel, Piece of My Heart, a fictionalized account of Tree’s own life, loves and meteoric rise to success as an international It Girl during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 140 of our favorite fashion history titles

Welcome to part 2 of our conversation with embroidery historian Isabella Rosner who joins us to discuss her recently published book/zine Stitching Freedom: Embroidery and Incarceration which explores the embroidery made in prisons and mental health hospitals through the surviving works of twelve individuals. Each of which stand as a testament to the triumphs and sorrows of the human spirit and a reminder of "what can be created when freedom is out of reach."

More from Isabella:

• Instagram
• Website
• Sew What? Podcast

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Embroidery historian Isabella Rosner joins us to discuss her recently published book/zine Stitching Freedom: Embroidery and Incarceration which explores the embroidery made in prisons and mental health hospitals through the surviving works of twelve individuals who are a testament to the triumphs and sorrows of the human spirit and a reminder of "what can be created when freedom is out of reach."

More from Isabella:

• Instagram
• Website
• Sew What? Podcast

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

In this episode we chat about the latest news from Black Barbieland, our thoughts on Bridgerton season 3, an incredible exhibition of textiles woven from Golden Orb Weaving Spider silk threads and the work of Korean artist Choi So Young, who repurposes denim and other garments to create mind-blowing collage works depicting the complex geometries of her homeland's cityscapes.

Recommended resources:

Golden Orb Weaver Spider silk cape

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 140 of our favorite fashion history titles

We explore the fasten-ating history of closing clothes through the lens of three of the most familiar fasteners in our wardrobes today: zippers, velcro, and magnets!

Additional Resources:

Don't Say Velcro! video

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week we open up our listener mail to discuss affordable options for ethically made garments, recommend some additional fashion history books for kids and chat about some listener requested episodes that are currently in the works.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 140 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week fashion historians and vintage collectors Janine D'Agati and Hannah Schiff join us to discuss their book From Sleepwear to Sportswear: How Beach Pajamas Reshaped Women's Fashion which presents groundbreaking new research on beach pajamas as a missing piece of the puzzle in women's adoption of pants in the early 20th century.

Check out Janine's online shop Guermantes Vintage.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 140 of our favorite fashion history titles

We continue our conversation with Keita Motoji and Mark McNulty of Ginza Motoji, Japan's premiere speciality kimono purveyor dedicated to preserving and celebrating the art--and artisans--of kimono. In Part II of this episode, we learn about the different types of kimono and the continued significance of the kimono in Japan today.

Learn more about Ginza Motoji:

• Company's website
• Company’s Instagram: @ginza_motoji
• Keita’s Instagram: @keitamotoji

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Today, we are joined by Keita Motoji and Mark McNulty of Ginza Motoji, Japan's premiere speciality kimono purveyor dedicated to preserving and celebrating the art--and artisans--of kimono. In Part I of this episode, they take us behind the seams of the kimono process to meet the makers responsible for its creation.

Learn more about Ginza Motoji:

• Company's website
• Company’s Instagram: @ginza_motoji
• Keita’s Instagram: @keitamotoji

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

In part II of our episode this with week with Dr. Kate Annett-Hitchcock we chat about some of the 20th and 21st initiatives in the realm of fashion and disability including the work of Helen Cookman's line of Functional Fashions which featured the work of noted American designers Bonnie Cashin and Pauline Trigère.

Recommended reading: Kate Annett-Hitchcock, The Intersection of Fashion & Disability: A Historical Analysis, 2024

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 140 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week Dr. Kate Annett-Hitchcock joins us for a two-part episode to speak about her recently released book The Intersection of Fashion and Disability: A Historical Analysis which spans more than 500 years of dressing for disability.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 140 of our favorite fashion history titles

We continue to meet the singing style icons at the heart of Marcellas Reynolds's book Supreme Sirens: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Music. 

Want more Supreme Women? 

• Supreme Actresses: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Hollywood
• Supreme Models: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Marcellas Reynolds is back to talk about the final book in his fashion forward Supreme Women series: Supreme Sirens: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Music. 

Want more Supreme Women? 

• Supreme Actresses: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Hollywood
• Supreme Models: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion
• 
  

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Recorded live at the recent Project Threadways symposium hosted by the ethical brand Alabama Chanin, we explore four past Dressed topics to underscore the importance of understanding the materials to go into our clothes and valuing the people that make them.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 140 of our favorite fashion history titles

The 2024 Met Gala might go down as the most controversial and most expensive in the event's 75 year+ history. Today we unpack the broader implications of the Gala's The Garden of Time theme while we also explore the exhibition Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, which puts on display 220 masterpieces from The Costume Institute's permanent collection.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 140 of our favorite fashion history titles

Today we tease our Fall 2024 fashion history tour of Paris and detail all of the sartorial delights on our itinerary for the City of Lights. From tours of the most important fashion museums in the world, to private visits to the ateliers of both historic and contemporary makers, this year's tour might just be our best yet! We will visit the Paris Opera and ballet costume workshops after hours on an exceptionally exclusive tour and will wander the 'closed to the public' spectacular home of one of the 19th centuries great (and most fashionable) courtesans, La Paiva. Tune in to see what's in store for you if you join us à Paris September 28-October 5 2024.

More information and detailed itinerary are here. Space is limited and we expect this to sell out quickly. (Once the initial offering fills, we will start a waitlist to assess interest in a second weeklong offering.)

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 130 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week we are joined by Rachel Slade to discuss her book Making It In America which examines the story of the company American Roots which has undertaken the nearly impossible task of manufacturing garments 100% made in the U.S.A. Recorded live at the recent 18th Annual Sustainability Business and Design Conference at the Fashion Institute of Technology, our discussion centers around the challenges faced by American makers.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• More information on our 2024 Fashion History tour of Paris
• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 130 of our favorite fashion history titles

Books are some of the first ways that children are introduced to the fantastical, wonderful, and historical world of fashion. On today's episode, we share some children's books that sparked our own love for fashion history, as well as some more recent publications.

Books discussed in today's episode (some with links to purchase):

• A Treasury of the World’s Greatest Fairy Tales
• Rumplestiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky
• The Lady with the Ship on her Head by Deborah Nourse Lattimore
• Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave by Marianna Mayer
• Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe
• My Dadima Wears a Sari by Kashmira Sheth
• Little People/Big Dreams: Vivienne Westwood
• Little People/Big Dreams: Iris Apfel
• Little People/Big Dreams: Frida Kahlo
• The Story of Fashion Designer Ann Cole Lowe by Deborah Blumenthal
• Only the Best: The Exceptional Life and Fashions of Ann Lowe by Kate Messner and Margaret Powell
• Bloom: A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli by Kyo Maclear
• The Little Red Dress: A Kids Book about Fashion by Jonathan Joseph
• History is Worn: A Story of Fashion by Christine Na-Eun Millar

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

It's time to add Santa Fe to the list of world fashion centers! May marks the debut of SWAIA Native Fashion Week, the very first Indigenous “fashion week” in the US dedicated to showcasing the exciting and dynamic creations of Native American and Indigenous Canadian designers. Amber Dawn Bear Robe, the show's visionary director and producer, joins us to tell us what to expect from this historic event.

Want to attend? Get your tickets here!

SWAIA Native Fashion's Instagram

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

We continue our exploration into the fashion history of the Gucci family, in part two of a two part past episode from the Dressed archive.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Today, the name Gucci, with its iconic double "G" logo, is an internationally renowned luxury fashion label. But what of the Gucci family responsible for its creation? In this week's two-part episode from the Dressed archives, we delve into the fashion history of one of the world's most instantly recognizable brands by centering the family responsible for its creation and its heart.

Waleria Dorgova joins us for for the second part of our episode this week on the artist, interior, fashion and textile designer Sonia Delaunay. Dr. Dorogova co-curated the ground-breaking exhibition with Dr. Laura Microulis, research curator of the Bard Graduate Center, where the exhibition Sonia Delaunay: Living Art is on view through July 7, 2024.

Can't make the exhibition? Check out the exceptional catalog for the show here.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles

Now mostly remembered as a painter, this week we look at the broad spectrum of the work of Sonia Delaunay with a special emphasis on her fashion and textile designs. Waleria Dorogova, co-curator of the exhibition Sonia Delaunay: Living Art which is now on view at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City joins us to speak about the years of research she did with Laura Microulis to deliver this fresh new perspective on Sonia's career.

Can't make the exhibition? Check out the exceptional catalog for the show here.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week, we are joined by Rebecca Seaver, the Director of Museum & Archive Services for Dolly Parton, and the person responsible for the curated selection of special pieces on view in Dolly's recently published memoir Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones. And thanks to the book's audio companion, we even hear from Dolly herself! 

A special thank you to Rebecca and the Penguin Random House Audio team for the sound bytes featured in today's episode!

Recommended Resources:

• Behind the Seams book version
• Behind the Seams audio version
• Rebecca's Instagram

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week, we are joined by Rebecca Seaver, the Director of Museum & Archive Services for Dolly Parton, and the person responsible for the curated selection of special pieces on view in Dolly's recently published memoir Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones. And thanks to the book's audio companion, we even hear from Dolly herself! 

A special thank you to Rebecca and the Penguin Random House Audio team for the sound bytes featured in today's episode!

Recommended Resources:

• Behind the Seams book version
• Behind the Seams audio version
• Rebecca's Instagram

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

In part II of this week's episode in commemorating the 113th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire which occurred in Lower Manhattan on March 25, 1911, we examine how the fire started, hear from some of the survivors and learn about the sweeping labor reforms and worker protections which followed in its wake.

Recommended resources:

Cornell University's The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire online portal

PBS American Experience: Triangle Fire

Department of Labor/OSHA's The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire portal

Dedication of the Triangle Fire Memorial

Von Drehle, David. Triangle: The Fire that Changed America. New York: Grove/Atlantic Inc., 2003.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles

As the 113th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory approaches in a few short days, this week we bring you a two-part episode on the nature of the New York City garment trade at the turn of the 20th century, and how a horrific workplace accident on March 25, 1911 reshaped the landscape of workers rights and protections.

Recommended resources:

Cornell University's The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire online portal

PBS American Experience: Triangle Fire

Department of Labor/OSHA's The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire portal

Von Drehle, David. Triangle: The Fire that Changed America. New York: Grove/Atlantic Inc., 2003.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles

This week we chat about the latest in fashion history news including Norma Kamali training an AI to design her legacy, the Oscar nominees for Best Costume Design, a new YSL bookshop in Paris and some of the spectacular pieces up for sale at recent fashion auctions.

Recommended Resources:

• Vogue Archive
• Killers of the Flower Moon article by Christian Allaire
• The Art of Costume podcasts interview with Holly Waddington
• Light, Camera, Auction results
• Books: Sheer: Yves Saint Laurent and The World According to Yves Saint Laurent
• Norma Kamali trains an AI
• YSL bookshop



Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles

We continue our conversation with Isabel Attyah Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas about nameplate jewelry, addressing its central and even controversial role in both sub and mainstream cultural expressions, including hip hop. 

Recommended resources:

• The Nameplate: Jewelry, Culture and Identity
• Documenting the Nameplate Instagram 

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Isabel Attyah Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas join us to discuss their book The Nameplate: Jewelry, Culture and Identity, which celebrates the myriad of meanings embedded in the multi-cultural and cross-generational phenomenon of nameplate jewelry.

Recommended resources:

• The Nameplate: Jewelry, Culture and Identity
• Documenting the Nameplate Instagram

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

In the wonderful and often bizarre world of fashion fads from history, we ask the question: which should live on to wear another day and which should be left to history?

Recommended resources:

• Bedazzled Beetles
• Hobble Skirt
• Painted knees

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Maison Margiela's Spring/Summer Paris 2024 Haute Couture collection show delivered a haunting jolt that is hard to forget. Whether you loved the show or hated it, it was a moment. And that moment–which will undoubtedly go down in fashion history–was also packed with references to the history of fashion itself. Alexandre Samson, Curator of Haute Couture from 1947 to Contemporary Design at the Palais Galliera in Paris joins us to decode the collection.

April and Cassidy also address John Galliano's troubled history of anti-semitism and his restitutive work with the Anti-Defamation League who have publicly lauded the designer's "arduous work to change his world view."

Maison Margiela Artisanal 2024 collection

Givenchy: The Complete Collections

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles

An exceptionally famous milliner in her day, the life and career of Mildred Blount has been somewhat lost to history. Curator Taylor Bythewood-Porter joins us to shine a light on the first African-American to be admitted to the Motion Pictures Costumers Union and her glorious on-screen creations for films including Gone With the Wind and Gigi as well as her offscreen successes designing hats for Hollywood stars and Harlem high society.

Mildred Blount Millinery Competition

Mildred Blount Scholarship Fund

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles

In the early years of the twentieth century, Madam C.J. Walker built an international, Black hair care empire from the ground floor up, transforming herself from a laundry work making $1.50 a day to the woman Guinness World Records identifies as the “first self-made millionairess.” This week, we learn all about her extraordinary life in an interview with her biographer—and great, great granddaughter—A’Lelia Bundles. 

Recommended Resources:

• On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker by A’Lelia Bundles 
• Madam C.J. Walker’s website 
• A’Lelia Bundles website

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

In part II of our episode on The Costume Institute's exhibition Women Dressing Women, co-curator Mellissa Huber takes us behind the scenes and shines a light on some of the invisible labor which does into mounting a major fashion in a museum. Can't make the show? Grab a copy of the amazing exhibition catalog here!

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles!

This week we are joined by Mellissa Huber and Karen Van Godtsenhoven, curators of The Costume Institute's exhibition Women Dressing Women, which is on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City through March 10, 2024. The exhibition explores more than 100 years of fashion history via the work of women designers and centers their contributions to the industry at large. Can't make the show? Grab a copy of the amazing exhibition catalog here!

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles!

Fourth generation flower maker Adam Brand takes us behind the scenes of his family's business M&S Schmalberg. Founded by his family in 1916, the company is the last of its kind in America.

M&S Schmalberg's website and Instagram

Etsy store with a 20% discount just for Dressed listeners!

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Fifth generation master pleater George Kalajian’s family has been perfecting the art of the pleat since the 19th century. He joins us to discuss the past, present, and future of his family’s renowned pleating enterprise Tom’s Sons International Pleating, a staple of New York City’s Garment District since the 1970s.

Tom's Sons International Pleating's website and Instagram

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles

Our favorite vedette, Dita Von Teese, joins us this for part 2 of our conversation this week to chat about being the first-ever guest star at Paris' legendary cabaret, the Crazy House and her current residency in Las Vegas. Her show Dita Las Vegas: A Jubilant Revue is onstage now at the Jubilee Theater, formerly home to iconic acts including Frank Sinatra as well as the showgirl review Jubilee, which ran for 40 years. Dita chats with us about reviving many of the original Jubilee costumes which were designed by Bob Mackie in the 1970s.

Past Dressed episodes of interest:

Fashion and the Showgirl, part 1

Fashion and the Showgirl, part 2

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles

We are kicking off our seventh season of Dressed in spectacular style as we are joined all this week by the one and only Dita Von Teese!

A longtime vintage collector and star of the neo-burlesque scene, Dita's impact on contemporary visual culture cannot be underestimated. In part one of this two-part episode, we chat about her relationship with vintage style on and off stage and some of the amazing designers she works with to create her unique brand of unparalleled glamour.

Past Dressed episodes of interest:

The Origin of the Poodle Skirt

The Incredible Origin of Cat-Eye Glasses

Fashion and the Showgirl, part 1

Fashion and the Showgirl, part 2

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles

Join us for our now annual holiday party where we 'exchange' some of their favorite gifts from fashion's past and present.

Gifts you can gift!

• Our very first online course What Women Wore to the Revolution
• Books for our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles
• 18th Century Beauty Box
• 18th Century Beauty Spots
• Pressed flower dye kit
• 
  

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website and classes
• Our Instagram

This week marks the 50th anniversary of one of American fashion's greatest moments: the Battle of Versailles. "Halstonette" Chris Royer joins us to discuss her first hand account of modeling in the now legendary fashion face-off between French haute couture and American design.

Want more Battle of Versailles?

• The King of Sexy Cling: An Interview with Stephen Burrows
• The Magic of 1970s Fashion with Pat Cleveland, Part I and Part II
• Invisible Beauty: An Interview with Bethann Hardison
• Eleanor Lambert: Empress of 7th Avenue
• The Battle of Versailles, An Interview with Robin Givhan
• Robin Givhan's New York Time's Bestselling book The Battle of Versailles

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

It's official!!! In today's episode we announce the launch of Dressed: The School of Fashion, chat about Prada's upcoming trip to the moon and recommend some fashion history newsletters to follow.

Recommendations:

• Sign up for our first class: What Women Wore to the Revolution, Part I
• IKEA's Designer Towel Skirt
• Fashion Newsletters: Laura Beltran Rubio, Laura McLaws Helm, Jo Weldon

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles!

Have you ever pondered, 'but, what would Jane Austen wear?' We have all the answers for you in this episode, as Dr. Hilary Davidson joins us to talk about her two books: Dress in the Age of Jane Austen and Jane Austen's Wardrobe.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

In today's episode, we answer some listener mail about what is and what isn't fast fashion, discuss the documentary Unboxing Shein and chat about the latest news from The Met's Costume Institute.

Recommended:

Fashion Revolution Transparency Index

Good On You

The True Cost documentary

Unboxing Shein

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

Custom couturier to brides, debutantes and American socialites, including Jacqueline Bouvier and Marjorie Merriweather Post, The Saturday Evening Post once called Ann Lowe "society's best kept secret." Today, we explore the true breadth of Lowe's career with fashion curator Elizabeth Way who joins us to speak about her exhibition Ann Lowe: American Couturier, which is currently on view through January 7, 2024 at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware.

Recommended reading:  Way, Elizabeth, ed. Ann Lowe: American Couturier, New York: Rizzoli Electra, 2023.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

Just as fashion is more than pretty clothes, basketball is more than just a game. Pulitzer Prize winning author Mitchell S. Jackson joins us to discuss why the relationship between fashion and basketball matters historically and today.

Purchase Fly: The Big Book of Basketball Fashion

Mitchell's website

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

Fashion luminary and trailblazing model, agent and activist Bethann Hardison joins us to discuss her life and legacy as explored in the new documentary Invisible Beauty.

• More on the documentary Invisible Beauty
• Bethann's website
• Our Battle of Versailles interview with Robin Givan

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

In part two of our 2-part episode on the MFA Boston's exhibition Fashioned by Sargent, art historian Dr. Erica Hirshler re-joins us to speak about some of Sargent's most famous works including Madame X and his sensuous portraits of male style icons of the day.

Recommended reading: Hirshler, Erica, et al eds. Fashioned by Sargent. Boston: MFA Publications, 2023.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

All this week, Dr. Erica Hirshler joins us to talk about the sartorial stylings of one of history's great painters of fashion, John Singer Sargent. In part one of this two-part episode, we learn a bit about Sargent's international upbringing and career as well as his sometimes dictatorial role in styling his sitters. The exhibition Fashioned by Sargent is currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston through January 15, 2024.

Recommended reading: Hirshler, Erica, et al eds. Fashioned by Sargent. Boston: MFA Publications, 2023.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

Nothing gets between a woman and her fashion! Dr. Elizabeth Block joins us for part two of our episode on Gilded Age fashion in a discussion on fashionable smuggling, thievery, and the costumes of Gilded Age Season 2!

Get your hands on a copy of Dr. Block's book Dressing Up: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion here.

Relevant past Dressed episodes:

• Smuggled in the Bustle: An Interview with Hind Abdul-Jabbar

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

Dr. Elizabeth Block joins us to discuss her book Dressing Up: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion which celebrates the lesser known figures behind the international success of the French haute couture in the late 19th century, most notably their elite American clientele who were driving forces of Gilded Age fashion.

Get your hands on a copy of Dressing Up: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion here.

Relevant past Dressed episodes:

• The Vanderbilt Ball
• A Vanderbilt House Party--The Gilded Age
• Halloween Costumes and Fancy Dress

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

This week we launch a new segment of Dressed! What's In Your Closet episodes will delve into the items in your closets. In our inaugural episode, we investigate listener Emma P's late 1940s jacket by the obscure brand Jacques Cartier.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

Anticipating the premier of The Gilded Age season 2 next week, we examine the practices and pitfalls of party etiquette of the American elite during the late 19th century.

Past Dressed episode: Call Me: The Perils of 19th Century Etiquette

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

From 19th-century hand-embroidered laundry pillows to the fashion fantasy dreamscapes of Tilda Swinton and Tim Walker, we bring you the latest news from fashion history and fashion history in the making.

Recommendations:

• Laundry pillow featured on @historicembroidery
• Facekinis
• Dressed episode A Brief History of Sunscreen
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Memorial
• Cornell's Remember the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
• Tilda Swinton's Singer Sargent Inspired Fashion Fantasy
• Tilda Swinton in Orlando (1992)
• Tilda Swinton in 3000 Years of Longing (2022)
• Tilda Swinton/Olivia Saillard Impossible Wardrobes

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

We highlight a few of our favorite fashion history titles from the hundreds on the Dressed bookshelf.

Books discussed in today's episode:

• Chinese Dress in Detail by San Fong Chan
• China Adorned: Ritual and Custom of Ancient Cultures by Professor Deng Qiyao
• Patchwork: A World Tour by Catherine Legrand
• Fashion Before Plus-Size: Bodies, Bias and the Birth of an Industry by Lauren Downing Peters
• Creating African Fashion Histories: Politics, Museums, and Sartorial Practices
• Vintage Fashion: A Complete Sourcebook by Nicky Albrechtsen
• How to Be Fabulous: Sustainable, Second-Hand Style on a Shoestring by Charlotte Dallison
• Fashioning Submission: Documenting Fashion, Taste and Identity in WW2 Italy through “Bellezza” Magazine by Silvia Vacirca
• The World According to Lee McQueen
• The World According to Yves Saint Laurent
• Yves Saint Laurent & Art
• Fashion and the Art of Pochoir

Past Dressed episodes discussed in today's episode:

• The Fabric of Life: An Interview with Gee's Bend Quiltmaker Loretta Pettway Bennett
• A History of Stoutwear, an interview with Dr. Lauren Downing-Peters
• Fashion and the Art of Pochoir 
• Africa Fashion with Dr. Christine Checinska Part I and Part II
• Fashion History Now #51: How to Shop for Vintage
• Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse with Clarissa Esguerra and Michaela Hansen
• Favorite Fashion History Books
• Fashion History Mystery #59: In Their Own Words: Autobiographies from Fashion's Greats

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

In part two of our episode with sustainability communicator Clare Press of the podcast Wardrobe Crisis, we discuss a whole host of innovators who are currently plotting fashion's brighter future. Her latest book, Wear Next: Fashioning the Future is out now!

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

Our favorite fashion activist and fellow podcastress, Clare Press of Wardrobe Crisis, joins us in this first installment of this week's two-part episode discussing her latest book Wear Next: Fashioning the Future.

Recommended reading:

What's the matter with Shein?!

CBS News

Time magazine

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? 

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

*due to international distribution quirks Wear Next cannot appear on our bookshelf at this time :/

Costume and production designer Catherine Martin takes us behind the seams of her and her team's work on the 2022 Elvis biopic, directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Austin Butler.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

Four time Academy Award winning costume and production designer Catherine Martin joins us to talk about her illustrious four plus decade long career designing some of the most beloved blockbuster hits of all time, including Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby.

Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?

• Our website
• Our Instagram
• Our bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite fashion history titles!

This week we catch up on the departure of more than one notable fashion designer, recommend a bevy of documentaries out now on the modeling industry, chat about the Sotheby's recent Fashion Icons sale and so much more!

We also give you updates on our New York fashion history day tours...

Dressed's NYC day tours December 7-9th, 2023

Sarah Burton Exits Alexander McQueen

Marc Bohan Passes at Age 97

Sotheby's Fashion Icons Sale

The Supermodels

Invisible Beauty

Donyale Luna

New York Textile Month

Check out our Dressed bookshelf with over 100 of our favorite titles!

This week we address our most requested topic of all time: 'why do women's garments have fewer pockets?!' Dr. Hannah Carlson joins us to discuss her recently released book Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close.

RECOMMENDED READING: Carlson, Hannah. An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close. New York: Algonquin Books, 2023.

You can find Dr. Carlson's book and many more of our favorite fashion history books on our online bookshelf!

Keep abreast of our latest trips and tours at www.dressedhistory.com.

Oh the perils of being a Medieval, tassel loving peasant in the 21st century! In this episode, we meet Tyler Gunther, the peasant behind Greedy Peasant, the queer, Medieval-era fashion influencer, pageant planner, and unlikely social media star who has taken the world by storm. 

For more Greedy Peasant:

• Greedy Peasant’s website
• Greedy Peasant’s Patreon
• Greedy Peasant’s Instagram

From 1520 to 1560, the style-conscious accountant Matthäus Schwarz and his son Veit Konrad immortalized their adventures in dressing in a series of stunning, hand-painted portraits that provide a window into the period within which they lived. Historians Ulinka Rublack and Maria Hayward join us to discuss this extraordinary primary source which was published in full color as The First Book of Fashion: The Book of Clothes of Matthäus and Veit Konrad Schwarz of Augsburg.

In this episode, we go "behind the seams" of Geoffrey Holder's whimsical costume designs for the seven-time, Tony Award winning smash hit The Wiz, which opened on Broadway in 1975 and ran for 1672 performances before closing in 1979.

Recommended Reading:

• The Wiz costumes in the collection of the NMAAHC
• André de Shield's article
• Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

In the conclusion of our two-part episode on the work of Hollywood designer Gilbert Adrian, we turn our attention away from his time at MGM costuming the likes of Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford, and instead look at the rise of his fashion house Adrian, Ltd. Creating both custom made-to-measure looks for individual clients as well as 'immediate wear' which retailed at the finest US department stores, Adrian's took the American fashion scene by storm in the 1940s.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Esquevin, Christian. Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label. New York: Monicelli Press, 2008.

Gutner, Howard. Gowns by Adrian: The MGM Years 1928-1941. New York: Harry N.Abrams Inc., 2001.

Stanley, Leonard and Mark A. Vieira. Adrian: A Lifetime of Movie Glamour, Art and High Fashion. New York: Rizzoli, 2019.

This week we get get the inside scoop on a new fashion history television series coming early next year, chat about France's new incentive to encourage it's citizens to repair and mend their clothing, and shed a few tears over the Loose Ends Project which assists with completing needlework and sewing projects left unfinished by loved ones.

We also detail the itinerary of our December 2023 fashion history trip to NYC.

Recommended links:

Dressed Fashion History Tour of NYC

Loose Ends Project

French Citizens Get Paid to Mend

Take This Token podcast

One of American fashion's greats, the work Gilbert Adrian defined classic Hollywood glamour and pushed high fashion in new directions during the 1930s and 40s. In part 1 of this two-part episode, we examine Adrian's early years, and his role as head costume designer at MGM, where he turned screen stars, like Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford, into fashion icons.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Esquevin, Christian. Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label. New York: Monicelli Press, 2008.

Gutner, Howard. Gowns by Adrian: The MGM Years 1928-1941. New York: Harry N.Abrams Inc., 2001.

Stanley, Leonard and Mark A. Vieira. Adrian: A Lifetime of Movie Glamour, Art and High Fashion. New York: Rizzoli, 2019.

Amber-Dawn Bear Robe joins us to discuss the past, present, and future of Indigenous fashion, including the myriad of fashion design talents seen on the runway of this year's Santa Fe Indian Market (SWAIA).

For more information on the designers featured in this year's events, check out https://swaianativefashion.org/designers.

The work of the late, great designer Lee Alexander McQueen consistently blurred the lines between fashion and art, a fact celebrated in the exhibition Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse which put his work in conversation with artists who drew on similar themes and visual references.

Curators Clarissa Esguerra and Michaela Hansen join us to discuss the exhibition which originated at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2022 and has since been reincarnated at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne as Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec as Alexander McQueen: Art Meets Fashion.

Recommended links:

• LACMA's Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse
• NGV's Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse
• MNBAQ's Alexander McQueen--Art Meets Fashion 

Today's we answer several listeners' requests for an episode on the American womenswear brand Lilli Ann. One of the great runaway success stories of American 20th century fashion, the backstory of the brand takes some twists and turns from its early years in San Francisco's Chinatown, to Lilli Ann's founder's fisticuffs with New York mobsters and his surprising relationship with the French textile industry which garnered Adolph Schuman the prestigious Legion d'Honneur award.

No longer the household name she was during her own time, Dorothy Liebes has been recognized as "one of the greatest designers of the 20th century." Her modernist textile designs were embraced by interior designers and architects including Frank Lloyd Wright and fashion designers such as her dear friend Bonnie Cashin. This week fashion and textile historian Leigh Wishner joins us to talk about Liebes' incredibly influential career and the exhibition A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes now on view at the Cooper Hewitt in New York City through February 4, 2024.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Brown, Susan and Alexa Griffith Winton, eds. A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2023.

Today's episode is all about you, our listeners! We answer a few burning fashion history questions, share some touching stories and chat about the Papa New Guinean bags called 'bilum,' which were recently gifted to us in Paris.

LEARN MORE:

Threads that Bind Us: The Stories of Bilums

Bilum: The Backbone of Papa New Guinea

@handmadelocally @bilumsandbaskets

For centuries, the art and aesthetics of ancient Egypt have captured the imagination of--and served as inspiration for--creatives the world over. Fashion curator Darnell-Jamal Lisby joins us this week to discuss fashion's ongoing love affair with ancient Egypt and The Cleveland Museum of Art's exhibition Egyptomania: Fashion's Conflicted Obsession.

The final episode of our Barbie fashion history series explores Barbie's flowering into a fully fledged fashion icon in the 21st century and what that means in terms of diversity and representation for Barbie, in front of and behind the seams. ; 

Recommended Reading: 

• Carol Spencer's Dressing Barbie 
• Dan Savage's Ken Comes Out (1993)
• Barbie's Time Magazine Article (2016)
• Barbie's Style Instagram
• 1985-2022 Well Known Designers of the Barbie Dolls

Barbie gets the full haute couture treatment in episode two of our Barbie fashion history series which takes us into the 1980s, a period that lays the foundation for her ascension into full fashion icon status.

Recommended Reading:

• Ruth Handler's Dream Doll
• Carol Spencer's Dressing Barbie
• Robin Gerber's Barbie and Ruth
• Black Barbie documentary
• Independent article about the Black Barbie documentary
• "Tracing the History of 'Asian' Barbie" by Kelly Kasulis
• Billyboy* and Mdvanii

From the digitization of a fashion history treasure trove to Cinderella's real life castle, we discuss the latest things happening in fashion history today.

Recommended Browsing:

• Johnson Publishing Co. Archive 
• The Red Dress Embroidery Project 
• Musée Christian Dior Granville
• Christian Lacroix exhibition
• Shakespeare and Company’s book bundle created special for Dressed!
• 
  

Barbie is so much more than a child's toy. Since making her debut in 1959, the Barbie doll has become a full-fledged global phenomenon--and fashion icon. In this two part series, we explore the fashion history and cultural significance of the world's most famous doll and meet the fascinating figures behind her creation. 

Recommended Reading:

• Ruth Handler's Dream Doll 
• Carol Spencer's Dressing Barbie 
• Robin Gerber Barbie and Ruth 

Because one episode could not contain all of our Paris adventures! Today we chat about an exhibition on hair and body hair that we saw at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, three fashion exhibitions at the Palais Galliera, fashion and the French Revolution as seen at the Musée Carnavalet and what the dancers at Paris' famed Crazy Horse did--and didn't--wear on-stage.

https://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr/en/palace

https://madparis.fr/Des-cheveux-et-des-poils-2304

https://www.carnavalet.paris.fr/en

From the houses of the great haute couturiers and courtesans to the oldest haberdasheries and perfume makers in France, this week we take you behind the seams of our recent fashion history tours of Paris.

Recommendations:

• La Galerie Dior
• Fondation Azzedine Alaïa
• Musée Yves Saint Laurent
• Rebecca's Textile Tours of Paris
• Shakespeare and Company’s book bundle created special for Dressed!
• Ultramod
• Annie Bouquet
• La Droguerie
• Mokuba
• Au Ver à Soie
• Palais Garnier
• Musée du Parfum, Fragonard
• La Païva

By popular demand, we bring you our tips and tricks for shopping for vintage clothing. We discuss natural vs. synthetic fibers, how to date garments based on zippers, labels and provide some online resources to help you identify and date the vintage in your closet.

LINKS: FIT Fashion History Timeline

Vintage Fashion Guild

Today we are podcasting LIVE from Paris!

Haute couture embroidery designer, archivist and author Nadia Albertini joins us to discuss her 3-year project (and book!) uncovering the forgotten history of the French embroidery house of Rébé, who created some of the most spectacular embroideries used by Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy and Cristóbal Balenciaga.

RECOMMENDED READING: Albertini, Nadia. Rébé: broderies haute couture. Montreuil, France: Gourcuff Graden, 2021.

Support this podcast or sign up to listen AD-FREE

Advertising Inquiries

Privacy & Opt-Out

Fifth generation Diné (Navajo) weavers Lynda Teller Pete and Barbara Teller Ornelas have been instrumental in rewriting the history and narrative surrounding Navajo weaving, a realm that for too long has been dominated by non-Diné voices. This is exemplified by their two groundbreaking books Spider Woman’s Children: Navajo Weavers Today and How to Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman, as well as their integral role in the creation of the exhibition Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest at the Bard Graduate Center, New York. Curator Hadley Jensen also joins us. Recommended reading and browsing:

Lynda and Barbara's books: Spider Woman’s Children: Navajo Weavers Today and How to Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman

Lynda and Barbara's website: https://navajorugweavers.com/

Shaped by the Loom exhibition website: https://www.bgc.bard.edu/exhibitions/exhibitions/117/n-a

This week we take an indepth look into the sacred cultural practice and art form of Diné (Navajo) weaving with internationally acclaimed authors, educators, and fifth generation weavers Lynda Teller Pete and Barbara Teller Ornelas. 

Recommended reading and browsing:

Lynda's and Barbara's books: Spider Woman’s Children: Navajo Weavers Today and How to Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman

Lynda's and Barbara's website: https://navajorugweavers.com/

In part 2 of this week's episodes about wigs, Jessica Glasscock joins us again to speak about the market for human hair in the 19th century, some of the celebrity hairstylists of the early 20th century, wigs and weaves in black haircare practices and--of course--the importance of wigs in drag culture.

RECOMMENDED READING: Glasscock, Jessica. Wigging Out: Fake Hair That Made Real History. New York: Blackdog & Levinthal, 2023.

Join us all this week to wig out with fashion historian and author, Jessica Glasscock as we explore her recently released book, Wigging Out: Fake Hair That Made Real History.

Recommended Reading: Glasscock, Jessica. Wigging Out: Fake Hair That Make Real History. New York: Blackdog & Levnthal, 2023.

Part two of our interview with Chris Royer who joins us for to discuss her life working alongside the legendary designer Halston and her instrumental role in keeping his legacy alive to this very day.

"Halstonette" Chris Royer joins us to discuss her life working alongside the legendary designer Halston and her instrumental role in keeping his legacy alive to this very day.

From the incredible history of silk marbling to the recent Pet Gala, this week we chat about fashion finds, current museum exhibitions and so much more!

Recommendations: Marbled scarves: https://brittanilocke.com; Pride Month! Instagram recs: @tikkatheiggy, @mattxiv, @alokvmenon, Sasha Velour's The Big Reveal; Asian Civilizations Museum

Perhaps one of the most under-appreciated designers of the 20th century, fashion curator Niloo Paydar joins us to discuss fashion prodigy Stephen Sprouse. Sprouse's fashions defined downtown New York cool during the 1970s and 1980s and set the stage for for so much of what we see in contemporary fashion today.

From groundbreaking covers of Vogue to Beyoncé's Renaissance couture, fashion history is in the making!

RECOMMENDED READING:

Beyoncé x Balmain: https://us.balmain.com/en/experience/renaissance-couture-beyonce-x-balmain

Whalebone corsetry: https://theconversation.com/whales-died-so-women-could-look-like-this-what-shows-like-bridgerton-get-wrong-about-whalebone-and-corsetry-205385?fbclid=PAAaa17wrJb-Qv96smCEwbj5cVoYyTDnjmEv9BSsjsQoHj3fKEIsKraBLxmi8'

106 year old Vogue cover star: https://www.vogue.com/article/apo-whang-od-and-the-indelible-marks-of-filipino-identity

Tilting the Lens/British Vogue: https://tiltingthelens.com/2023/04/18/reframing-fashion-british-vogue-celebrates-disabled-talent-in-historic-new-edition/#:~:text=British%20Vogue%20Launches%20'Reframing%20Fashion,Sinéad%20Burke%20as%20Consultant%20Editor

Exhibitions: Moda Hoy! https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/exhibitions/moda-hoy/index.php

Generation Paper: https://madmuseum.org/exhibition/generation-paper;

Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/a-line-of-beauty

Dressed is back and to celebrate, we are bringing you an annual listener favorite: our Met Gala coverage!

For forty plus years, Anne Sykes (1818-1890) documented her life through fabric, creating a dress diary comprised of two thousand plus textile swatches that made its way into the hands of today's guest, dress historian Kate Strasdin. Kate unravels the fabrics of Anne's life and the world within which she lived in her new book The Dress Diary of Mrs. Anne Sykes: Secrets from a Victorian Woman's Wardrobe.

In part two of our examination of hip hop style, we chat about iconic sneaker looks, high fashion's love affair with hip hop style and some of hip hop's beauty trends across the decades.

RECOMMENDED READING:

• Romero, Elena and Elizabeth Way. Fresh Fly Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style. New York: Rizzoli Electra, 2023.

2023 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip hop! All this week co-curators Elena Romero and Elizabeth Way join us to speak about their book and exhibition Fresh Fly Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style which is currently on view at The Museum at FIT through April 23, 2023.

RECOMMENDED READING:

• Romero, Elena and Elizabeth Way. Fresh Fly Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style. New York: Rizzoli Electra, 2023.

This week, we celebrate Lebanese fashion history, heritage, and craftsmanship with Joe Challita, founder of the Lebanese Fashion History Foundation. Follow along on Instagram @lebanesefashionhistory or https://www.instagram.com/lebanesefashionhistory/

From the most toxic makeup in history to the world's first sunglasses, we discuss all things fashion and Guinness World Records with Senior Editor Ben Hollingum.

More records to be found at www.guinnessworldrecords.com.

This week we discuss the recent Spring/Summer 2023 couture shows, some upcoming fashion auctions and how April and Cassidy both got suckered in by AI sneakers.

Additional Reading:

• Rococco AI sneakers: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn4Czkct6kl/
• Auctions: Augusta Auctions: https://augusta-auction.com
• André Leon Tally: https://www.christies.com/auction/the-collection-of-andre-leon-talley-20995-nyr
• Celluloid Prison Rings article: https://fashionandrace.org
• George Santos' style: Givhan: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/01/24/lying-congressman-his-crewnecks/, Friedman:https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/17/style/george-santos-style.html
• Spring/Summer 2023 Haute Couture week: https://hautecouture.fhcm.paris/en/
• Adidas vs. Thom Browne: https://www.gq.com/story/thom-brown-adidas-stripes-lawsuit-verdict 

Saddle up, Dressed listeners! Today Dr. Sonya Abrego joins us to speak about the multicultural influences in American westernwear and how the style--once considered workwear--made the cross-over into high fashion.

RECOMMENDED READING:

• Abrego, Sonya. Westernwear: Postwar American Fashion and Culture. New York: Bloomsbury, 2022.

We continue to explore the landmark exhibition Africa Fashion with Dr. Christine Checinska, Senior Curator Africa and Diapsora Fashion at the Victoria and Albert museum.

More on the exhibit can be found here:

https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/africa-fashion

We are joined by artist, designer, and master storyteller Dr. Christine Checinska, Senior Curator Africa and Diapsora Fashion at the Victoria and Albert museum and Lead Curator of the museum's groundbreaking exhibition Africa Fashion. Featuring 45 designers from over 20 countries, the exhibition celebrates the creativity, innovation, history, and global impact of the thriving contemporary African fashion scene.

More on the exhibit can be found here: