Dress: Fancy: The Podcast About Dressing Up

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...

Never 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...

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 Corneli...

Lucy 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 @ dressfancypo...

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-...

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...

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! Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram Follow @mslucyclayton on I...

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…   Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram Follow @mslucyclayton on I...

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.   Follow @dressfancypodcast on In...

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...

In this week's episode, Ben and Lucy are taking their diamanté magnifying glass to the face itself, and thinking about a new fashion coinage: Ugly Make-up, or Brutalist Make-up. Reflecting on the origins and motivations of this creative, conspicuous beauty trend, the Dress: Fancy duo also offer some of their own cosmetic tips. Surely, not to be missed. Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram   Foll...

Peter Brathwaite is a man of many talents but most recently he's been the shining star of the Getty Museum Challenge – the social media sensation that has captivated art lovers, creators and costume fanatics during global lockdown. Using the challenge as platform to explore the history of Black Portraiture – Peter has brilliantly captured the spirit of works of art across the ages and drawn attent...

As the global lockdown eases and we all begin to think about wearing clothes in public, possibly for the first time in three months, Lucy and Ben discuss how the pandemic could change the way we dress. Looking to the past, politicians, and always with an eye to the playful, a range of sartorial options are considered and, of course, judged. Before venturing beyond your four walls, this episode cou...

The past months have been strange, difficult and trying. Fancy dress has been worn by people around the world to provide joy during the pandemic. In this week's episode, Lucy and Ben consider how fancy dress costume performed a similar function in the past as they invite themselves to the first bal costumé hosted by Queen Victoria, a medieval extravaganza celebrating the court of Edward III and Ph...

It's about time! Lucy and Ben wear their smudgiest eyeliner and descend into the subterranean world of the Cabaret. Focusing on two examples from early twentieth-century Europe, in England and Germany, they discover curious parallels between the past and present and reflect on people's universal desire to live as themselves and without fear. Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram   Follow @mslucyc...

For many people, the essential part of any fancy dress costume is a face mask. Concealing one identity and making another possible, face coverings have been a source of excitement and anxiety throughout history. Today, in the midst of a global pandemic, this costume staple now means something very different. In this episode, Lucy and Ben discuss the many and varied meanings of masks in different c...

This week, in the second of our designer-focused mini episodes, Lucy and Ben discuss the bold and beautiful, strong and soft, powerful and playful creations of Molly Goddard. Since 2015, Goddard has won various industry accolades, designed for the Met Gala and for the small screen, combining technical skill with a unique sartorial flair. This episode tells you all you need to know about the fantas...

This week, Lucy and Ben walk towards the precipice and consider the role and meaning of clothes in six different cults. Reflecting on the relationship between fashion and fanaticism, the show considers how distinctive dress is used to control and champion the spread of controversial ideas and behaviours. The nature of this week's discussion means that this is not for the whole family: listener dis...

Lucy and Ben sacrifice comfort to probe the dark, sometimes demonic, always disruptive world of the New York Club Kids, a diverse group who caroused and challenged in the City That Never Sleeps during the 1980s and 1990s. Offering a counterpoise to last week's episode on the Bright Young Things, the Club Kids used their (clothed) bodies to challenge and provoke social norms in a way that would hav...

This week, Lucy and Ben explore the life and times of Dress: Fancy's patron saint, Cecil Beaton. The social upheavals in Europe between the First and Second World Wars created an unsettling mix of expectation and fear. Weary and wealthy, a privileged group of twenty-somethings attempted to turn doubt and despair into delight and delirium. Their antics and fancy dress shenanigans became legendary,...

Series seven commences with a super-niche, and super-indulgent, episode as Lucy transforms herself into Mariella Frostrup and interviews Ben about his new fancy dress-related tome, Carnival to Catwalk . To further allay isolation boredom, the episode also introduces the Dress: Fancy Costume Conundrum competition that will run throughout the series. Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram Follow @ms...

In a suitably festive episode, and to conclude this season's costume shenanigans, Lucy and Ben consider a form of cultural expression that always seems relevant: Victoriana. From the costumes of the Queen and Empress Victoria, via the bravura public readings of Charles Dickins, to a very contemporary interpretation of the 'Victorian Look' with the Japanese Lolita, this episode – possibly more than...

Lucy talks with Egyptologists Dr Colleen Darnell and Professor John Darnell to reflect on the enduring cultural and sartorial appeal of the land and history of Tutankhamen. From rampant consumerism to studied attention to detail, the conversation considers the use, and misuse, of all things Egypt from the Twenties to today. In this trans-Atlantic chat, topics include vintage dress, sustainability,...

Every year from the late-nineteenth century Covent Garden's Royal Opera House opened its doors for a night of costumed revelry. Urbanites from all social levels dressed up in the most creative of costumes and vied for some very special prizes, from grand pianos to bicycles. Lucy and Ben become very excited (more so than usual) as they become historical voyeurs. The episode is presented in conjunct...

In this week's episode, Lucy and Ben begin a new mini-series that looks in-depth at the work of fashion designers whose clothing engages with themes we regularly explore through costume; chiefly identity and representation. We start by looking at the technically accomplished and creatively daring designs of award-winning British designer Craig Green. Appropriately, this episode is brought to you i...