Dressed: The History of Fashion
With over 8 billion people in the world, we all have one thing in common. Every day we all get dressed. Join Dressed as we explore the social and cultural histories behind the who, what, when of why we wear.
Episodes
This week our Dressed Classic episode revisits a 2022 episode where we go down the rabbit hole of quirky and little-known fashion terms.
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November 5, 2025 • 59 mins
Groundbreaking visionary Carry Somers joins us this week to speak about her three decades of fashion activism establishing the world's first Fair Trade Certified fashion brand and her ten years as the co-founder of Fashion Revolution. We also speak about her new book The Nature of Fashion: A Botanical Story of Our Material Lives which is one of our favorite reads of 2025.
Recommended reading: Somers, Carry. The Nature of Fashi...
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October 31, 2025 • 38 mins
This week's Dressed Classic episode revisits our 2020 conversation with Dr. Jonathan Michael Square joins us to discuss some of his object based research into Brooks Brother's coats worn by enslaved servants during the 19th century. Some of the research we discuss in this episode is included in his contributions to the 2025 Superfine: Tailoring Black Style exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and its associated exhibition...
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October 31, 2025 • 55 mins
This week we cinch our corsets and plump our panniers with an inside look into the Victoria & Albert Museum's exhibition Marie Antoinette Style. Curator Dr. Sarah Grant joins us to speak about her exhibition which examines The Queen of Fashion's enduring influence on fashion then and now. Rare examples of Marie Antoinette's personal belongings are featured alongside supreme examples of 18th century fashion, accessories and the de...
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October 24, 2025 • 45 mins
In this series, we are celebrating the prolific life and career of the avant-garde French designer Paul Poiret, who is the subject of a new retropsective exhibition Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Known as "The King of Fashion," Poiret was an incomparable force of personality, vision, and industry, who was instrumental in not just revolutionizing women’s fashion at the dawn of the twentiet...
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October 22, 2025 • 53 mins
In this series, we are celebrating the prolific life and career of the avant-garde French designer Paul Poiret, who is the subject of a new retropsective exhibition Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Known as "The King of Fashion," Poiret was an incomparable force of personality, vision, and industry, who was instrumental in not just revolutionizing women’s fashion at the dawn of the twentiet...
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October 17, 2025 • 19 mins
In this minisode, we break down the itinerary of upcoming, ultra-exclusive day tours of New York City during which we will step back in time and into the beating heart of American fashion and costume history during the holiday season. Our day tours are offered as mix-and-match separates with unique itineraries for each day as we visit fashion exhibitions, go behind-the-seams in museum collections and on a rarified visit to The Metr...
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October 16, 2025 • 70 mins
In this two-part episode, we celebrate the avant-garde French designer Paul Poiret, who is the subject of a new retropsective exhibition Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Known as "The King of Fashion," Poiret was an incomparable force of personality, vision, and industry, who was instrumental in not just revolutionizing women’s fashion at the dawn of the twentieth century, but transforming ...
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October 10, 2025 • 32 mins
Today, we continue our exploration of the century long love affair between fashion and the showgirl.
Recommended reading and viewing:
Es-pranza Humphrey's article “Fashioning the Black Chorus Girl"
Elspeth Brown's Work! A Queer History of Modeling
Marcel Sauvage's Les Mémoires de Joséphine Baker,
Baker's 1931 Casino de Paris performance
Robin Givhan's The Battle of Versaiiles: The Night American Fashion Stum...
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October 8, 2025 • 31 mins
With her towering headwear and sparkling body suit, the showgirl is an instantly recognizable, cross cultural pop icon--and one that is front and center currently with the debut of Taylor Swift's latest album The Life of a Showgirl. In this two-part episode from 2020, we explore the showgirl's lesser known relationship to fashion, a love affair that extends back over one hundred years.
Recommended reading:
Andrea Stuart's ...
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October 3, 2025 • 52 mins
We revisit one of our popular 'etiquette in history' episodes today and examine the complex social codes of party throwing and going in Gilded Age New York.
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
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Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles
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October 1, 2025 • 57 mins
It's Freud x fashion this week as Dr. Valerie Steele joins us to speak about her exhibition Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis which is currently on view at The Museum at FIT through January 4, 2026. The exhibition--which is the first of its kind--explores "key psychoanalytic concepts about the body, sexuality, and the unconscious," by way of 100 items of dress spanning more than 130 years of fashion history.
...
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September 26, 2025 • 34 mins
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?
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Learn more abou...
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September 24, 2025 • 50 mins
This week, we investigate the historical fashion trends written about in an 1884 Harper’s Bazar article entitled “The Follies of Fashion.” Covering everything from Ancient Roman curling irons to Cleopatra’s donkey milk baths to “barbarous” steel corsets, we decipher fashion fact from fashion fiction.
Primary Sources
Box for rouge and patches, 1750-55
Jean de la Bruyère’s translation of The Characters of Theophrastus
Me...
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September 19, 2025 • 49 mins
From the most toxic makeup in history to the world's first sunglasses, in this 2023 episode, we discuss all things fashion and Guinness World Records with Senior Editor Ben Hollingum.
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September 17, 2025 • 32 mins
From clothes curtains to computer microchips to calico doll dresses, in the latest edition of Fashion History Now, we explore the fascinating--and surprising-- stories quite literally woven into the clothes we wear and the technology we use. Other things we love in this episode: Catherine Martin X Upcycled by Miu Miu. Check out Catherine's directorial debut fashion film here. Sarah Espeute's incredible clothes curtains: @sarahespeu...
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September 12, 2025 • 34 mins
Emilie Flöge may best be remembered as the long-time companion of artist Gustav Klimt, but in this week's Dressed Classic episode from 2022, we explore her work as a fashion designer and dress reformer in early 20th century Vienna.
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
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September 10, 2025 • 69 mins
For years, you have heard us singing the praises of today's guest! Haute couture embroiderer, textile expert, and our dear friend Rebecca Devaney joins us to talk about her many contributions to our annual fashion history tours of Paris, which features behind the seams experiences of Paris's most treasured ateliers including UltraMod, Acaba, Annie Bouquet, Au Ver à Soie, and Atelier Caraco.
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September 5, 2025 • 34 mins
The palace of Versailles during the 18th century was one of the most extravagant locales in the world. This week we break down some of the basics of fashion and etiquette at the French court.
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
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Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles
Dressed is a part of the AirWave Media network
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September 3, 2025 • 52 mins
A spectacular summer in Paris for fashion lovers, in part I of this two-part episode, we walk you through some of the fashion exhibitions we visited this year on our 7 day fashion history tours of the City of Lights. You still have time through the end of 2025 to catch the shows at the Palais Galliera and the Musée des arts décoratifs!
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