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
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Yesterday
Fashion and the Showgirl, Part I (Dressed Classic)
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 ... Show More
31m 37s
Oct 1
Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis: an interview with Dr. Valerie Steele
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 ... Show More
57m 59s
May 2023
Courtcore: from medieval crossdressing to Goop!
In this director's cut episode, Mina taps into celeb "courtcore" aka the way that celebrities dress when appearing in the judicial court. In this special episode, she also dives further into history, starting with Joan of Arc and ending with contemporary films and the way charact ... Show More
1h 9m
Apr 2025
S09E02 - Art Deco⏐Raymond Templier, a passion for speed
Movie stars have always worn jewelry. In the 1920s, the Art Deco style gradually took over red carpets and film reels. Worn by some of the greatest actresses of the day, from Louise Brooks to Brigitte Helm, Art-Deco jewelry was the epitome of modern beauty. Raymond Templier, one ... Show More
14m 23s
Nov 2024
S07E03 - Literature⏐Salammbô, the quintessential femme fatale and the unique brooch by René Lalique
“It was in Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar…”This is the opening sentence of Salammbô, Flaubert’s great historical novel, which has become a cult classic. Just like its heroine … the Carthaginian princess with dazzling finery and a tragic destiny.Salammbô ... Show More
13m 8s
Jul 2024
S05E04 - Perles⏐Les perles de Marilyn
Oubliez les chaînes en or et les grosses pierres : l’un des ornements les plus recherchés pour les célébrités masculines d’Hollywood et d’ailleurs, n’est autre que le collier perles.
A$AP Rocky, Usher, Joe Jonas, Harry Styles, Timothée Chalamet, Shawn Mendes, Pharrell Williams… L ... Show More
14m 36s
Mar 2023
Richard Thompson Ford, "Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History" (Simon & Schuster, 2021)
Dress codes are as old as clothing itself. For centuries, clothing has been a wearable status symbol; fashion, a weapon in struggles for social change; and dress codes, a way to maintain political control. Dress codes evolved along with the social and political ideals of the day, ... Show More
1h 3m
Jul 2021
Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, "Slave Revolt on Screen: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games" (UP of Mississippi, 2021)
Michel-Rolph Trouillot wrote that “the silencing of the Haitian Revolution is only a chapter within a narrative of global domination. It is part of the history of the West and it is likely to persist, even in attenuated form, as long as the history of the West is not retold in wa ... Show More
1h 12m