Dressed Media
500 episodes listed below
Fashion historians April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary dig into garments, letters, and the people who wore them.
Dressed: The History of Fashion is a warm, research-minded show about the stories clothes carry. Its episodes move easily between fashion terminology, famous wardrobes, textile craft, and the social and cultural meanings stitched into what people wear.
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Dressed: The History of Fashion is hosted by fashion historians April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary, who conduct long-form interviews, most running 35 to 55 minutes. The dominant format is a one-on-one conversation with a historian, curator, author, or craftsperson, often split across two-part episodes when the subject matter is dense. Recurring themes include the history of specific garments and techniques (hats, embroidery, pelisses, samplers), the fashion choices of historical and cultural figures (Jane Austen, Whitney Houston, Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Sirikit), and the use of textiles as evidence for histories otherwise undocumented in written records, including the experiences of enslaved and incarcerated people. Guests tend to be museum curators, academic fashion historians, authors of nonfiction books on dress history, and practicing craftspeople reviving historical techniques through experimental archaeology. Episodes frequently reference primary sources such as personal letters, museum collections, and surviving garments rather than secondary commentary. The hosts periodically break format for short solo segments announcing upcoming seasons, guided tours to fashion museums and archives, and related coursework. The show draws on both fashion history and adjacent fields like literary history, craft history, and social history. It suits listeners with an existing interest in costume and textile history rather than casual fashion news. Production is conversational and research-driven, with hosts contributing follow-up questions and context rather than functioning as passive interviewers.
Made for: Listeners with an existing interest in costume, textile, and social history who want in-depth, source-grounded conversations rather than fashion news or trend coverage.
What sets it apart: Unlike broader fashion or style podcasts, episodes are built around primary-source research — surviving letters, garments, and museum objects — often featuring the historians and curators who did the original archival work.
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.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary read clothing as evidence, connecting material detail to power, technology, identity, and the limits of historical certainty.
Dressed: The History of Fashion treats clothing as historical evidence, tracing how silhouettes, cosmetics, textiles, and costume register changes in power, technology, status, and self-presentation.
A stuffed doublet becomes political evidence, and suddenly your wardrobe looks suspiciously under-researched.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Whitney Houston's modeling career shows how one magazine cover made inclusion feel visible to young Black girls.
Part II of Dressed's conversation with Marcellus Reynolds shifts from his Supreme Women series into Whitney Houston's seldom-discussed modeling career, using her appearances in 17 magazine to show how fashion images can teach a sense of belonging.
A moving account of embroidery as hope, memory, and family connection.
Embroidery becomes a record of confinement, hope, and connection in this second conversation with embroidery historian Isabella Rosner about her zine, Stitching Freedom.
Embroidery is framed as a medium for intimate detail and political meaning.
Embroidery becomes a way to think about incarceration, personal detail, and political meaning in the conversation with historian Isabella Rosner.
A thoughtful look at Jane Austen through the clothes she wore, preserved, and was made to symbolize.
The episode uses Jane Austen's clothes as a way into Austen herself, and it works best when it treats wardrobe as evidence instead of decoration. Cassidy Zachary and April Kemp bring in Dr.
A warm preview connects Queen Sirikit's diplomatic wardrobe to Dressed's next fashion-history path.
Dressed: The History of Fashion uses this brief check-in to catch up with April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary before setting up where the show is headed next.
A measured look at hatmaking, with enough craft detail to keep it grounded.
Rachel Frost comes through as a self taught traditional hatter and historian, and the episode keeps that work rooted in archives and museum collections rather than in easy nostalgia.
A vivid, craft-minded conversation about hats, instinct, and the unexpected routes design can take.
A hat becomes a way of thinking in this Dressed archive conversation with a milliner who treats headwear as a meeting point for architecture, film, fashion, and art history.
A focused look at how Delaunay extended her art into film and tapestry.
The second part of Dressed's Sonia Delaunay investigation follows her late-career movement across painting, fashion, textiles, interiors, film, and tapestry.
Multi-part dramatized retellings of scandals like OceanGate's Titan and the Lehman Brothers collapse.
A season-by-season history show pairing dramatized Rasputin and Salem narratives with historian interviews.
Greg Young and Tom Meyers explain how New York City's streets took shape.
Whitney Houston takes over the excerpted conversation.
This episode features an interview with Marcellus Reynolds discussing his book 'Supreme Sirens', which highlights iconic Black women who revolutionized music and fashion.
This episode continues an A-to-Z exploration of fashion history terms, focusing on challenging letters like Q and introducing items such as quizzing glasses in the context of dandy culture.
This episode is a fun exploration of unusual fashion history terms through an alphabet game where the hosts try to stump each other with obscure garment, textile, and accessory terms from the past.
Embroidery historian Isabella Rosner joins Dressed for part two of a conversation about her zine Stitching Freedom: Embroidery and Incarceration, covering three major case studies: Ashley's Sack, an 1850s cotton bag whose embroidered text records an enslaved child being sold away from her mother; Major Alexis Castagli's WWII POW sampler, which concealed 'God Save the King' and 'Fuck Hitler' in Morse code in the border without German guards noticing for four years; and Radha Nikolic, a 19-year-old Serbian anti-fascist who embroidered her fellow prisoners' execution dates onto a handkerchief, leaving only her own death date blank.
Embroidery historian Isabella Rosner joins hosts April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary of Dressed: The History of Fashion to discuss her zine 'Stitching Freedom, Embroidery, and Incarceration,' which profiles 12 people who embroidered while held in prisons, concentration camps, or mental health hospitals.
Dr.
Hosts April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary return briefly to announce season nine of Dressed: The History of Fashion, launching May 6th, and share recent research highlights including a new Victoria and Albert Museum Schiaparelli retrospective book that reveals American licensing deals as early as 1929.
Rachel Frost, a self-taught traditional hatter from the Edinburgh countryside, describes her work reconstructing a European felt hat-making technique that died out in Britain roughly 150 years ago, relying on old manuscripts, museum examinations, and experimental archaeology rather than any living teacher.
Millinery is not everyday language anymore.
Part two returns to Sonia Delaunay.
Around 1907, Paris opens the door.
Laura Beltrán-Rubio is back for part two.
A familiar schoolbook story gets more complicated.
Fashion meets extreme politics.
Schumann's fashion work turns diplomatic fast.
Rhinestones stay central.
Dolly's hair matters here.
This episode explores the history of the dickie, a false shirt accessory, tracing its origins from the Middle Ages to modern fashion.
A hurricane darkens New York City, and Cassie and April turn the weather into a sly question about dressing for the Borogoves.
Tailoring has a geography.
"Start at the top," David Wolfe says.
Red lips start looking like a power move.
Lipstick becomes a visibility problem.
The world felt thrilling, but not exactly easy.
Halston begins as shared shorthand.
This episode explores the history and impact of Pantone, from its 1963 founding to standardize color communication to its role in color forecasting and custom creations like Tiffany's 1837 blue.
Well-dressed listeners, gift season gets weird quickly.
This episode features an interview with Tyler Gunther, creator of the medieval peasant fashion influencer Greedy Peasant, exploring how his background in costume design and Catholic pageantry inspired a queer, joyful reimagining of medieval history.
A family wardrobe turns into a social map.
A holiday party cracks open the archive.
Holiday cheer begins at home.
Holiday ritual takes the lead.
A museum visit turns into a thank-you note.
Velázquez's 1650 portrait opens the door.
Spanish fashion becomes statecraft.
Spanish style starts with missing garments.
Calling had a script, and apparently everyone knew their part.
Gentlemanliness gets a sharper wardrobe check than it may have asked for.
Charles James gets the archive treatment, but with real affection instead of museum glass.
Dressed hosts April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary follow up a listener email from Helen, who found a pair of shorts tagged Charles James Shop Fifth Avenue at an antique store in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and wondered if they were connected to the celebrated couturier Charles James.
This episode features an interview with costume designer Mona May, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Clueless.
Oscar-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell returns to the Dressed podcast ahead of the premiere of Wicked for Good, the sequel to the 2024 Wicked film, to discuss how he designed costumes for the second chapter.
Fashion historians April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary of Dressed interview Paul Tazewell, costume designer for the 2024 film Wicked, about his creative approach to the project and his career path.
Fashion historian Nicole DeRushie discusses her book 'Bog Fashion,' exploring Bronze and Iron Age clothing through experimental archaeology.
Hosts Cassie Zachary and April Callahan explore obscure fashion history terms from A to Z, covering topics like textile dyes, Victorian accessories, and 18th-century hobbies.
Fashion activist Carry Somers discusses her 30-year career pioneering fair trade and transparency in fashion, from early challenges in Ecuador to founding the global Fashion Revolution movement.
This episode features an interview with Dr.
Fashion historian Dr.
This episode concludes a three-part series on Paul Poiret, exploring his peak influence before World War I, his struggles during and after the war, and his eventual decline due to financial mismanagement and changing fashion trends.
This episode explores Paul Poiret's expansion beyond fashion design, focusing on his 1913 American lecture tour, innovative marketing strategies, and ventures into perfume, cosmetics, and interior design.
Cassie Zachary and April Callahan announce their New York City fashion history tours in December, featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes access to institutions like FIT, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Met Museum.
Fashion historians April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary revisit the life and work of Paul Poiret, the early 20th-century Parisian designer they call the King of Fashion, using a major retrospective at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris as a springboard.
This episode explores the complex history of fashion and showgirls, focusing on racialized beauty standards and pioneering black performers like Florence Mills and Josephine Baker.
This episode explores the cultural history and fashion of showgirls from venues like the Moulin Rouge to Las Vegas, examining their iconic imagery and influence.
A fashion history podcast exploring the social and cultural meanings behind clothing throughout history.
This episode introduces the podcast Dressed: The History of Fashion, exploring the social and cultural histories behind why we wear what we wear.
A podcast exploring the social and cultural histories behind why we wear what we wear, hosted by fashion historians.
This episode uses a primary source from an 1884 Harper's Bazaar to explore fashion history.
This episode introduces the podcast Dressed: The History of Fashion, exploring the social and cultural histories behind why we wear what we wear.
This episode introduces the podcast Dressed: The History of Fashion, which explores the social and cultural histories behind why we wear what we wear.
A fashion history podcast exploring the social and cultural reasons behind what we wear, currently on summer hiatus with an archival episode.
This episode is a rerun from the Dressed archive, exploring the history of Navajo textiles and weaving.
This episode is a summer hiatus announcement from Paris, featuring an archived episode about the history of fashion.
This episode is a summer hiatus message from Paris, featuring a promotional ad and a preview of upcoming fashion history content.
A podcast exploring the social and cultural histories behind why we wear what we wear, with a focus on fashion history.
This episode interviews a museum collections manager about her work curating fashion and textile exhibitions.
A podcast exploring the social and cultural histories behind why we wear what we wear, hosted by fashion historians.
This episode features a rare interview with a living legend in fashion design, exploring their impact on fashion history.
This episode features an interview with fashion icon Tim Gunn, discussing his career and contributions to fashion history.
This episode explores the life and legacy of A'Lelia Walker, a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance and daughter of Madam C.J.
This episode introduces the podcast Dressed: The History of Fashion, exploring the social and cultural histories behind why we wear what we wear.
This episode explores the life and legend of Beau Brummel, the world's most famous dandy, within the context of fashion history.
This episode is a conversation with Dr.
A podcast exploring the social and cultural histories behind why we wear what we wear, hosted by fashion historians.
This episode continues a two-part interview with Tate Modern curator Fiontán Moran about the exhibition on genre-defying artist Leigh Bowery, focusing on his role as a fashion designer and performance artist in 1980s London.
This episode is an interview with Fiontán Moran exploring the life and work of Leigh Bowery, a phantasmagoric couturier and performance artist, as part of the podcast 'Dressed: The History of Fashion'.
This episode discusses the first-ever Native Fashion Week Santa Fe, highlighting the thriving indigenous fashion movement and its roots in designers like Dorothy Graham who championed cultural representation.
This episode is part two of an interview with Dr.
This episode explores the historical phenomenon of Cabinets of Curiosities (Wunderkammer) from the 16th century, featuring an interview with Dr.