Dress: Fancy: The Podcast About Dressing Up

Dress: Fancy has yet to venture off-shore: until now. In this week's aquatic-themed episode, Lucy introduces Ben to the complex and beautiful world of the merpeople, a diverse community who dress as mermaids and mermen to seek personal and communal fulfilment in the water. The episode is brought to you in conjunction with Penhaligon's and their maritime-linked fragrance, Lothair. This intricate pe...

The City of London has many august traditions, but few are as beautiful, striking and good-natured as that of the Pearly Kings and Queens. Exploring the origins of the Pearlies, the meaning of their highly detailed, shimmering garments, Dress: Fancy were lucky enough to attend the Pearlies' most important annual event: the harvest festival.   For episode images see Instagram: @dressfancypodcast. T...

Little Podcast of Horror: Season Six commences on the year's biggest day for fancy dress: Halloween! Always looking to raise the costume stakes, Lucy and Ben consider costume inspiration from some unlikely sources, including the Pre-Raphaelites, Audrey Beardsley and an eighties footwear commercial that Lucy has still not got over. The episode is brought to you in conjunction with Penhaligon's (@pe...

In this indulgent, nostalgic birthday episode, Lucy & Ben review a year's worth of super-niche, sequinned dressing up stories. Talking about the podcast's origins, they revisit their favourite episodes and re-live their most exciting excursions. The start of Season Six also comes with a very special announcement: Dress:Fancy is partnering with historic London perfumer Penhaligon's to make the cost...

In an especially glittering episode, Lucy and Ben discuss the costumes (off stage and on) of the inimitable Rocket Man, Elton John. Reviewing the Star's sartorial choices decade-by-decade, and comparing them to Julian Day's interpretations in the recent blockbuster biopic starring Taron Egerton, this week's show ponders the relationship between costume and character, as well as obviously highlight...

Getting into the summer spirit in central London, Lucy and Ben re-join the Royal Academy for another Lates costumed extravaganza. Talking with revellers, hosting the Georgian Moonlit Promenade and, most importantly, bestowing rosettes on the very best of the best-dressed, the Dress: Fancy duo were in their fancy dress heaven. Indulge, or re-live, the magical experience with our highlights.   Show...

In Pride and Prejuduce Jane Austen extolled the virtues of indulging the imagination 'in every possible way'. With this in mind, Lucy and Ben joined members of the Jane Austen Pineapple Appreciation Society (JAPAS) for a costumed picnic at the National Trust's Mottisfont Abbey on one sunny (and rainy) Sunday. In preparation, Lucy spoke with JAPAS founder Sophie Andrews to discover just what it tak...

Lucy and Ben record live from the front row at the British Museum, listening in on Grayson Perry as he talks with Kensai Yamamoto, and dissecting the fashion and cosplay catwalks inspired by the Museum's current, must-see Manga exhibition. Interviews with participants recreate the special atmosphere and reveal the marvellous, metamorphosing abilities of Manga.  Show links @dressfancypodcast: For i...

On Saturday 20 July, Dress: Fancy will be hosting a costumed parade at this year's Royal Academy Summer Show Lates event. The theme, excitingly, is 'Georgian Pleasure Garden'... To prepare for the festivities, Lucy and Ben provide an essential guide to costuming and getting into your Georgian character. A special visit to the National Theatre's costume department should provide inspiration for eve...

Pristine, pure, powerful, peaceful: the meanings of white are many and various. It should occasion no surprise, then, that dressing in white (and its opposite, black) have long been a popular theme in costumed entertainments. Tracing the history of this colour through clothing, Lucy and Ben discuss some of the more intriguing uses of white in dressing up, from the seventeenth-century royal masque...

If you were to think of your costumed alter-ego as a creature, it's unlikely you'd immediately conjure an image of a bat, and yet as this super niche episode demonstrates, bats have long been – and continue to be – popular subjects for dressing up, and not simply as Batman or Batwoman. Proving that no topic is too small for them to ponder, Lucy and Ben investigate the origins, symbolism and fright...

This week, Dress: Fancy speaks with Professor Therèsa M. Winge from Michigan State University to explore the compelling, complicated and challenging world of cosplay. A distinct form of fancy dress, cosplay is unique for enabling people to explore themselves and their society by adopting the clothing and character traits of favourite (fictional) characters. As Professor Winge explains, few forms o...

Children playing dress-up is age-old and innocent. Or is it? Lucy and Ben go behind the seams to consider if children really do enjoy fancy dress as much the coaxed smiles in family photos suggest. Are these kids really avatars, conduits for the adults in their lives to express their views and to demonstrate their status? One thing's for sure: you'll never look at the children's costume party in t...

In 2011, Teen Vogue drew attention to harmful consequences of insensitively chosen fancy dress costumes that reduce beliefs, cultures and people to garish stereotypes. In previous episodes of Dress: Fancy, Lucy and Ben have considered the painful consequences of badly informed costume choices and in this episode they continue this dialogue, reflecting in far more depth on the widening debates abou...

The pink carpet has been walked and Lucy and Ben reflect on the costume highs and lows of this year's Met Gala held on 6 May 2019. Were the outfits sufficiently camp? Why is Ben falling out of love with Julianne Moore? And why is Lucy falling in love with Kim Kardashian? Dress: Fancy provides 'the' definitive round-up of the year's most fantastical night in fashion. Links All the looks from the Me...

Described, in all seriousness, as the 'Ball of the Century', the Beistegui Ball of 1951 was a fancy dress event like no other: the guest list, the costumes, the late-running pre-party rehearsal – everything was taken to an extreme. But at what cost? As guests partied, they also pondered: 'memorable' the event certainly was; 'merry', perhaps not. Join Lucy and Ben as they discuss the enigmatic host...

Aside from Halloween, the only other date that gets Lucy and Ben excited is the first Monday in May, when the Metropolitan Museum, New York, hosts its gala ball to raise funds for its Costume Institute. Although not strictly a fancy dress event, the couture worn to this shimmering festivity is often fantastical, always exceptional. This year, with the theme derived from the Costume Institute exhib...

In this special 'on location' episode, Lucy and Ben visit the archives of the Chelsea Arts Club to explore the creativity, chaos and controversy that was Chelsea Arts Club annual fancy dress ball. Illustrated invitations, letters of outrage and contemporary newspaper reports, with stories of smoke bombs, arresting costumes and the London social scene, make this the perfect party to bring Season Th...

The adage, 'They don't make them like they used to', is especially apt for the object at the centre of this week's episode: a fancy dress catalogue from London costume supplier Weldon's. Join Lucy and Ben as they leaf through the illustrated pages of costume dramas from the 1920s and 1930s and discover insights – sometimes shocking – that demonstrate the cultural prevalence and enduring popularity...

Love it or loath it, World Book Day has become an important date in family calendars as toddlers, teenagers and just about any other young person under an adult's influence, is dressed up and decorated to resemble a character from literary fiction. The costume fun and frustration of World Book Day provides for some hilarious – and likely scarring – moments, but as Lucy and Ben discover, the purpos...

Gucci's SS19 campaign is an unashamedly glitzy and joyous celebration of 1950s Americana, as relayed through Hollywood and Kodachrome photography. It also looks, and feels, a lot like fancy dress costume. In this mini episode, Lucy and Ben reflect on the inspiration – and impact – of a campaign that has been both lauded and lambasted.     Links: Ryan White's review of Gucci's SS19 campaign: https:...

In the second of two special episodes recorded live at the Royal Academy's Klimt-Schiele Cabaret Night in January, follow Lucy and Ben as they talk with costumed revellers, lead the Academy's first costume parade, and award some incredibly coveted rosettes for the evening's most inspiring fancy dress.   Links Our venue: @royalacademyarts Our photographers: @emmiefin @gregclaytonphotography @maxmie...

Join hosts Lucy Clayton & Dr Benjamin Wild live at the Royal Academy, as part of the RALates series for a discussion about Klimt, Schiele & the Viennese Secession - in this special, mini episode we explore the crossover between fashion, costume and the art of the period.    Links https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/page/ra-lates

In this Season's finale, Lucy and Ben talk with Levi Higgs about the jewellery worn at three of the twentieth-century's most lavish and exclusive costume balls. Following Dress: Fancy's patron saint, Cecil Beaton, who attended each of these events, this episode examines the significance of haute joaillerie and costume jewellery worn by the likes of Daisy Fellowes, Gloria Guiness and the inimitable...

Fancy dress may be inherently unfashionable but it has found a home in the seasonal wardrobe of many people the world over – the British in particular – in the form of the Christmas sweater. On 14 December, Save the Children encourage mass festive sweater wearing to raise awareness and funds for their charitable work. If you're going to take part, listen in: Funny and fearsome, the Christmas sweat...