Dressed: The History of Fashion
Dressed Media
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.
- 671 episodes
- Updated Wednesday
Episodes671
- Dec 26, 2025 · 40 min
- DTDec 24, 2025 · 29 min
'Tis the Season I: Fashion History Gift Hits (and Misses) (Dressed Classic)
Today we revisit our very first 'gift giving' episode from 2021 where we explore and exchange holiday 'It' gifts of yesteryear. 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.fm/adchoices
- DTDec 19, 2025 · 48 min
'Tis the Season V: Fashion History Gift Hits (and Misses)
It's time for our favorite episode of the year! Now five years in the making, we make dreams come true by gifting (and wearing) fantasy items from fashion's past. 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.fm/adchoices
- DTDec 17, 2025 · 57 min
Dressed in NYC 2026 Recap
From Freudian fashion to sumptuous saris, courtly courtesans to iconic opera costumes, we take you "behind the seams" of our recent fashion history-packed day tours of New York City spent at the Fashion Institute of Technology, The New York Historical Society, The Metropolitan Opera and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Further learning: Valerie Steele’s Dress, Dreams, and Desire at the Museum at FIT The New York Sari and The Gay Harlem Renaissance at the New York Historical Discounted tickets for The Metropolitan Opera Antonio Ratti Center Noel Catherine Vorlée 1783 and ca. 1804 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Man’s Jama with Poppies Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTDec 15, 2025 · 50 min
Spanish Fashion in the Age of Velázquez with Amanda Wunder, Part II (Dressed Classic)
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 Wunder's award-winning book Spanish Fashion in the Age of Velázquez: A Tailor at the Court of Philip IV. Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTDec 12, 2025 · 1 hr 2 min
Spanish Fashion in the Age of Velázquez with Amanda Wunder, Part I (Dressed Classic)
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 Wunder's award-winning book Spanish Fashion in the Age of Velázquez: A Tailor at the Court of Philip IV. Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTDec 10, 2025 · 1 hr 4 min
Spanish Style: Fashion Illuminated, 1550-1700 with Amanda Wunder
Historian Amanda Wunder joins us to discuss her new exhibition Spanish Style: Fashion Illuminated, 1550-1770, on view at The Hispanic Society Museum & Library until March 22nd, 2026. In addition to royal portraits, life-size sculptures, and sumptuous textiles and jewelry, the exhibition centers around sixteen rarely seen illuminated manuscripts known as cartas ejecutorias or “letters of nobility. Collectively, these objects reveal how upwardly mobile men and women used fashion as a reflection of status, identity, and power in sixteenth and seventeenth century Spain. Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTDec 5, 2025 · 41 min
Call Me: The Perils of 19th Century Etiquette (Dressed Classic)
Our Dressed Classic episode this week revisits our 2020 deep dive into etiquette manuals, we explore the complex codes of introductions and calling during the 19th century. 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.fm/adchoices
- DTDec 2, 2025 · 51 min
How to Be a Gentleman: Etiquette Tips from the Refined Men of History
In our third installment of our on-going series on historic etiquette practices, we acerbically attempt to solve the 'male loneliness epidemic' with tips for 'gentlemen' on how to interact with ladies on the street, in conversation and when dining. 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.fm/adchoices
- DTNov 28, 2025 · 59 min
Charles James: Genius Deconstructed, an interview with Timothy Long (Dressed Classic)
In this week's Dressed Classic episode, we revisit our 2019 conversation with Timothy Long as he takes us inside the multi-tiered genius of Charles James, the self-taught fashion designer behind some of the most innovative and breathtakingly beautiful designs of the 20th century. 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.fm/adchoices
- DTNov 26, 2025 · 44 min
What's in Your Closet: On the Trail of Charles James
A query from a listener about a recent vintage purchase has us on the trail of the British/American couturier Charles James in our latest--and most bizarre--episode exploring What's in Your Closet. 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 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code dressed at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/dressed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTNov 21, 2025 · 42 min
Clueless at Twenty-Five, an Interview with Costume Designer Mona May (Dressed Classic)
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the iconic fashion flick Clueless, we bring you our 2020 interview with the film's costume designer Mona May. Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code dressed at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/dressed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTNov 19, 2025 · 53 min
Behind the Seams of “Wicked for Good” with Costume Designer Paul Tazewell
Oscar-Award winning costume designer Paul Tazewell is back to take us behind the seams and into the magical and textural world of the new film Wicked for Good. Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code dressed at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/dressed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTNov 13, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
Magic by Design: Behind the Seams of Wicked with Costume Designer Paul Tazewell (Dressed Classic)
The work of Oscar and Tony award-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell spans four decades and is a masterclass in the art of visual storytelling. In this episode from 2024, he takes us behind the seams and into the magical world of the blockbuster sensation Wicked. Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code dressed at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/dressed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTNov 12, 2025 · 1 hr 10 min
Bog Fashion: Dressing the Bronze and Iron Ages with Nicole DeRushie
Ancient textiles scholar-practitioner Nicole DeRushie joins us to discuss her recently released book Bog Fashion: Recreating Bronze and Iron Age Clothes. And as the book’s title suggests, Nicole does more than just study four thousand year old fashion, she recreates it using ancient techniques and materials. Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code dressed at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/dressed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTNov 7, 2025 · 27 min
Fashion History Mystery #58: Alizarin to Zoster: An A-Z of Fun, Strange and Obscure Fashion Terminology (Dressed Classic)
This week our Dressed Classic episode revisits a 2022 episode where we go down the rabbit hole of quirky and little-known fashion terms. Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code dressed at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/dressed Dressed is a part of the AirWave Media network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTNov 5, 2025 · 59 min
How to Start a Fashion Revolution, an interview with Carry Somers
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 Fashion: A Botanical Story of Our Material Lives. New York: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2025. 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 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code dressed at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/dressed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTOct 31, 2025 · 38 min
Fashioning the Enslaved Servant, an interview with Dr. Jonathan Michael Square (Dressed Classic)
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 catalog. Recommended Reading: Miller, Monica, ed. Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2025. 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.fm/adchoices
- DTOct 31, 2025 · 55 min
Marie Antoinette Style, an interview with Dr. Sarah Grant
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 decorative arts, while more contemporary pieces evidence designer's centuries long obsession with the former French queen. Recommended reading: Grant, Sarah, ed. Marie Antoinette Style. London: V&A Publishing, 2025. Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code dressed at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/dressed Dressed is a part of the AirWave Media network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- DTOct 24, 2025 · 45 min
Paul Poiret: The King of Fashion, Part III
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 twentieth century, but transforming the very concept of fashion itself, effectively laying the groundwork for the modern fashion industry that we are indebted to today. Further Reading: Exhibition catalog Paul Poiret: Fashion is a Feast, preorder in the US here, Poiret's memoir King of Fashion 2007 exhibition catalog Poiret Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices