Stay ConnectedA smart, playful and interrogative take on contemporary fashion and its context – weaving together sartorial and social history to tell powerful, surprising stories of identity.
Hosted by Lucy Clayton together with a selection of special guests including designers, artists, writers, activists, academics and of course, the dresser uppers themselves, this show explores the way we dress in all its creative, sequinned and chaotic glory.
Copyright: © 2019 Lucy Clayton
In this episode, the stars of the show are the bits of the human body - from heads down to toes – that tend to get neglected in our daily clothing, but which take on new prominence and meaning when dressed creatively and fantastically in costume. Think diamond studded stag's head and curled shoes, and you get the idea. Join Lucy and Ben as they talk about the possibilities and problems of dressing the body's periphery.
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Linked archive episodesNever slow to come forward, and certainly not shy, Lucy and Ben throw their costumes to the wind this week and talk Playboy. A brand very familiar with dressing up and stripping off. Questioning how far the brand has been a force for emancipation or entrapment, they chat with ad man Jason Berry, sharing a never-to-be-forgotten encounter with Hugh Hefner at the (in)famous Playboy mansion. For one week only, this might be costume drama NSFW…
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This week, Lucy and Ben take a trip to gilded age New York and rub shoulders with robber baron-socialites, the Vanderbilts. They examine a battery-powered costume and reflect on the trauma and tantrums of being one of the privileged '400' to critique the parallels between America's pioneering plutocrats and today's popularity-seeking pin-ups. Just how does Kim Kardashian measure up against Cornelius 'The Commodore' Vanderbilt?
ReferencesLucy and Ben are back for yet more costume drama, announcing season 9 of the Dress: Fancy podcast, and something to slake your thirst for vintage couture until the first episode arrives in mid-June:
Moth Tales
Join Ben in playing dress detective as he examines – with searing judgement – something from Lucy's vintage archive. Watch on Instagram Live every Tuesday at 8pm, by following @dressfancypodcast.
As the self-proclaimed experts, arbiters and arch-judges of dressing up, Lucy and Ben take to the airwaves for a special episode to provide the definitive guide to the dressing up equivalent of Christmas: Halloween. Ever topical, slightly tawdry, and full of scary costuming tips, the podcasting duo aim to rouse the spirits (pun intended) of even the most weary of people to make this year's fright-fest suitably festive, and COVID-19 proof.
This week's theme is a broad and beautiful one: Lucy and Ben explore the role of dressing up in art with special guest, artist Volker Hermes. The conversation is framed (pun intended) by considering the work of Suzanne Jongmans and Isabelle de Borchgrave, which pursues similar themes to that of Volker's art. The episode is sure to provide inspiration aplenty until the Dress: Fancy duo are back for more costume drama next season.
Appropriately for a summer quite unlike any other, this week Lucy and Ben invite themselves to a series of surrealist balls. Tagging along with Salvador Dalí, they discuss the Rothschild Ball of 1972 and the pros and cons of installing a maze in your hallway and serving still-living food on faux-fur plates. Top hosting tips as ever!
This week, Lucy and Ben ponder the enduring appeal, and representation, of the duelling relationship between the fictional frenemies, the harlequin and pierrot. From plays and paintings, to fashion and of course fancy dress, the comic duo reveal much about shifting social values and confirm that many a true word is spoken in jest…
This week, Lucy and Ben tweak their normal designer-focused episode to review Andre Leon Talley's memoir, The Chiffon Trenches. Reflecting on Talley's exuberant and complex life – in and out of fashion's spotlight – the book provides a rare opportunity to peel back the industry's polished veneer and to consider how the pursuit of fashion rarely comes without cost.
This week, Lucy and Ben are off to the court to enjoy the spectacle that was the masque. Propaganda par excellence, this short-lived entertainment during the seventeenth century glorified monarchy, and could give contemporary leaders a PR tip or two. Discussing the tense creative partnership between poet Ben Jonson and architect Inigo Jones, the show takes you to a world of sensory excess that was fit for a king - and his queen - in every sense.
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