Dressed: The History of Fashion
With over 8 billion people in the world, we all have one thing in common: everyday, we all get dressed. Join fashion historians April Calahan and Cassidy Zachary in celebrating the who, what, when of why we wear throughout history and around the world.
Episodes
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?
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?
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
Our Sponsors:
* Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/DRESSED
* Check out A...
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:
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?
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:
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...
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...
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
Our Sponsors:
* Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/DRESSED
* Check out Artifact Uprising and use my code DRESSED for ...
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
Our Sponsors:
* Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/DRESSED
* Check out Artifact Uprising and use my code DRESSED for a gr...
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?
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 websi...
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:
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 Sponsors:
* Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/DRESSED
* C...
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...
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 bookshe...
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
Our Sponsors:
* C...
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 Blis...
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...
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
Our Sponsors:
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?
The Latest News
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.