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
August 27, 2025 • 44 mins
International best selling author Justine Picardie joined us in this 2022, two-part episode to discuss the life and legacy of Christian Dior's beloved sister Catherine, a WWII French resistance fighter, concentration camp survivor, and inspiration behind Dior's most famous scent Miss Dior.
Recommended reading: Justine Picardie's Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
Our website...
Mark as Played
August 22, 2025 • 20 mins
This week we revisit a 2020 Fashion History Mystery where we answer a listener query about the origin of women's shorts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
August 20, 2025 • 40 mins
Fashion history and true crime come together in this 2022 episode where we explore a scandal of the 1860s involving a British cosmetics maven who bilked her clients out of fortunes with the promise to halt the aging process and make them beautful forever.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
August 15, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode, we revisit two past Fashion History Mystery minisodes from the Dressed archive where we explored the fascinating origin stories of polka dots and artificial silk!
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
Our website and classes
Our Instagram
Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles
Dressed is a part of the AirWave Media network
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m...
Mark as Played
August 13, 2025 • 48 mins
We return to a 2019 interview with Clarissa Esguerra, Curator of Textiles and Costume at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), who taught us all about the sophisticated resist-dying ikat technique responsible for the resplendent textiles and garments on display in the LACMA exhibition Power of Pattern: Central Asian Ikats.
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
Our website and classes
Our Instagram
Our booksh...
Mark as Played
August 8, 2025 • 32 mins
In part-two of our 2022 exploration of the career of American fashion designer Claire McCardell, we discuss her work during WWII which yielded some of her most iconic designs.
For additional reading, check out Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson's recently released biography Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free (2025).
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
Our website and classes
Our Instagram
Our bookshelf...
Mark as Played
August 6, 2025 • 39 mins
Called the "designer's designer," Claire McCardell turned the American fashion industry on its head starting in the 1930s with her fresh modern take on sportswear. This week we examine her career and legacy in a two-part episode from 2022.
For additional reading, check out Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson's recently released biography Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free (2025)
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? ...
Mark as Played
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-Navajo 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...
Mark as Played
This week we travel into the Dressed archive to revisit a two-part episode on 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.
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
Our website and classes
Our Instagram
Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles
...
Mark as Played
July 25, 2025 • 37 mins
In part two of our 2022 two-part episode, we continue our deep dive into the inner fashion sanctoms of nineteenth century "dudedom," exploring everything from dude fashion trends to the epic, nationally publicized battle to be "King of the Dudes."
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
July 23, 2025 • 38 mins
In this two-part episode from 2022, we travel back in time to a bygone era when "dude" meant "dandy" and learn all about the now lost fashionable connotations of one of the most popular slang terms in modern parlance.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
Nothing gets between a woman and her fashion! Dr. Elizabeth Block joins us for part two of our 2023 episode on Gilded Age fashion in a discussion on fashionable smuggling, thievery, and the costumes of Gilded Age Season 2!
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
Our website and classes
Our Instagram
Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles
Dressed is a part of the AirWave Media netwo...
Mark as Played
French haute couturiers reigned supreme during the late 19th and 20th centuries--but they did not achieve this status on their own. This week we revisit our two-part interview with Dr. Elizabeth Block, who joined us in 2023 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, including their elite American cli...
Mark as Played
July 11, 2025 • 45 mins
In this 2021 episode, Barbara Flood joined us to discuss her passion for fashion that spans her 1960s and 70s modeling career as a "Gernreich Girl" into the present day.
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
Our website and classes
Our Instagram
Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles
Dressed is a part of the AirWave Media network
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...
Mark as Played
July 9, 2025 • 66 mins
Recorded live at the Chicago History Museum, “librarian of clothing” Jessica Pushor takes us behind the seams of her exhibition Dressed in History: A Costume Collection Retrospective. On view at the museum until July 27th, 2025, the exhibition celebrates the museum’s incredible 50,000+ fashion and textile collection, but also the many people who have shaped its existence for the past 100 years.
Recommended Listening: Jessica's ...
Mark as Played
July 4, 2025 • 35 mins
The Dressed Bookshelf has over 150 fashion history titles and counting! This week, we highlight some our favorite recent additions.
Books discussed in the episode:
Azzedine Alaia: A Couturier’s Collection
Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free by Elizabeth Evitts Dickenson
Dress History of Korea: Critical Perspectives on Primary Sources, ed. Kyunghee Pyun and Minjee Kim
Fashion & Motherhood: Image, Ma...
Mark as Played
Is it pink for girls and blue for boys OR is it pink for boys and blue for girls?!! Professor Jo B. Paoletti, author of Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys From the Girls in America, joins us to discuss the history of childrenswear and the role clothing plays in children's developing concepts of gender.
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
Our website and classes
Our Instagram
Our ...
Mark as Played
June 27, 2025 • 63 mins
Fern Mallis joins us today to speak about her career which spans six decades of shaping, supporting and championing first American fashion, and later turning her expertise towards developing fashion weeks around the globe.
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
Our website and classes
Our Instagram
Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles
Dressed is a part of...
Mark as Played
June 25, 2025 • 50 mins
Internationally beloved teacher, mentor, and fashion authority Tim Gunn returns to Dressed to discuss his sixteen seasons at Project Runway and the origins of his famous catchphrase "Make it work."
Want More Tim Gunn:
Tim's Instagram
Tim's 2022 Dressed Interview
Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?
Our website and classes
Our Instagram
Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titl...
Mark as Played
June 20, 2025 • 26 mins
One of the most iconic dresses in fashion history, the finely pleated, Grecian-inspired "Delphos" gown is synonymous with Mariano Fortuny, but it should be credited to his partner in life and work Henriette Negrin. This is her story.
Recommended resources:
"More than a Muse" article
Google Arts & Culture article on the Delphos
"The Knossos Scarf"
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mark as Played
The Latest News
Popular Podcasts
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
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.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!