

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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 25, 2025 • 39min
The Gilded Age "Dudes" of Fashion, Part II (Dressed Classic)
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

Jul 23, 2025 • 40min
The Gilded Age "Dudes" of Fashion, Part I (Dressed Classic)
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

Jul 18, 2025 • 32min
Fashioning the Gilded Age: Tariffs, Thieves, and TV with Dr. Elizabeth L. Block (Dressed Classic)
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?
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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

Jul 16, 2025 • 50min
Fashioning the Gilded Age: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion with Dr. Elizabeth Block (Dressed Classic)
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 clientele which were driving forces of Gilded Age 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
Dressed is a part of the AirWave Media network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 11, 2025 • 46min
An Interview with "Gernreich Girl" Barbara Flood (Dressed Classic)
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.fm/adchoices

Jul 9, 2025 • 1h 9min
Dressed in History: 100 Years of Collecting Fashion with Jessica Pushor
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 two-part 2021 Dressed interview about Chicago fashion history can be listened to here and here.
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

Jul 4, 2025 • 37min
On the Dressed Bookshelf
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, Material, Identity, ed. by Laura Snelgrove, Lauren Downing Peters and Darnell-Jamal Lisby
Fashion in American Life, \ ed. Hazel Clark and Lauren Downing Peters
Perfection: 400 Years of Women’s Quest for Beauty by Margarette Lincoln
The Modern Venus: Dress, Underwear and Accessories in the late 18th Century Atlantic World by Elisabeth Gernerd
The Red Dress: Conversations in Stitch by Kirstie Macleod and voices from the embroidery project
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

Jul 2, 2025 • 51min
Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys From the Girls in America, an interview with Jo B. Paoletti
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 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

Jun 27, 2025 • 1h 6min
Mayor of Fashion Town, an interview with Fern Mallis
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 the AirWave Media network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 25, 2025 • 52min
25 Years of "Make It Work" with Tim Gunn
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 titles
Dressed is a part of the AirWave Media network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices