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. Heddy Lamar and Halloween costume Esquire’s best Halloween costumes  Bats Out of Hell, History Today article For all of your (brilliant) personalised sartorial needs  Guardian review of Hilary Mantel’s Giving up the Ghost Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram  Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram  Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram  

Dress: Fancy

Dress: Spooky

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. Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram Follow @volker.hermes on Instagram Volker Hermes’s website   Follow @suzannejongmans on Instagram Follow @isabelledeborchgrave on Instagram MVC Magazine interview with Volker Hermes  Short analysis of the ‘Rainbow Portrait’ of Elizabeth I   Dr Chelsea Nichols 

Dressing Up In Art

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 Instagram Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/7604/lessons-we-can-learn-from-the-rothschild-surrealist-ball ;  Contemporary discussion of the Rothschild Ball  Salvador Dalí’s cookbook    

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

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 Instagram Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram /The Modernist Masquerade: Stylizing Life, Literature and Costumes in Russia/ , by Collen McQuillen /Carnival to Catwalk: Global Reflections on Fancy Dress Costume/ , by Benjamin Wild 

You Crazy Fool

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 Instagram Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram Follow @andreltalley on Instagram The Chiffon Trenches  The Gospel According to Andre Anna Wintour apologises for not giving space to black people at Vogue Lizzo on body image 

The Chiffon Trenches

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. Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram  Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram  Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram  Follow @historicroyalpalaces on Instagram Historic Royal Palaces   When Cher played _every_ role in West Side Story 

Masqued Realities

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  Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram  Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram  Follow @uglymakeuprevolution on Instagram Follow @makeupbrutalism on Instagram Ugly Makeup: the Trend Highlighting What's Beyond Conventional Beauty, by Katy Kelleher The Ugly Truth: What’s Behind Fashion’s Current Thing for Fugly?, by Jamie Huckbody Ugly Fashion is Big Business, by Grace Cook "Ugly" Fashion isn't Just a Passing Trend, by Aemilia Madden Faking it: How Selfie Dysmorphia is Driving People to Seek Surgery, by Elle Hunt The Age of Instagram Face, by Jia Tolentino Lisa Eldridge: Face Paint - The Story of Makeup Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star 

Vive la Révolution: Make-up Gets Ugly

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 attention to stories that have been too long neglected or considered marginalised. Join Lucy and Peter as they discuss the process behind this extraordinary project. Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram  Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram  Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram  Follow @PeterBrathwaite on Twitter Peter Brathwaite's website Wayward Lives To vote for us in the British Podcast Awards, visit britishpodcastawards.com/vote, type "Dress Fancy" into the search box and follow the instructions. Thank you!

Black Portraiture & the Getty Museum Challenge

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 could contain some essential dressing up pointers... Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram Follow @volker.hermes on Instagram (when past fashions meet pandemic) Priya Elan's article BFC and CFDA call for a ‘fashion industry reset’ Noodle hats in Germany, anyone? Baby signs on prams: “Keep your distance” Faldan bags 

Episode 46: Keep Your Distance

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 Philippa of Hainault. Gold, glitter, silks and furs: what could be more joyous than this… Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram  Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram  Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram  Victoria: A Life, by A.N. Wilson Queen Victoria’s Buckingham Palace, by Amanda Foreman and Lucy Peter Radio Times feature on ITV’s Victoria and its reconstruction of the 1842 ball Sir Edwin Landseer’s painting of the 1842 ball UK users can access Queen Victoria’s diaries online 

Episode 45: A Truly Splendid Spectacle

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 @mslucyclayton on Instagram  Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram  Follow @barbicancentre on Instagram Into the Night: Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art Barbican exhibition Exhibition catalogue Cabaret (1972) The Berlin Novels, by Christopher Isherwood 

Episode 44: Bienvenue, Willkommen, Welcome!

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 cultures and across chronologies. Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram  Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram  Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram  PowerMask - Wereld Museum exhibition Gillian Wearing and Claude Cahun: Behind a Mask, Another Mask - National Portrait Gallery Exhibition Should All Fashion Brands be Selling Masks? - Business of Fashion Where to Buy Face Masks Online That are Stylish - Vogue Make your own face coverings and support local communities 

Episode 43: Hide and Seek

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 fantasy and force of her work. Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram Follow @mollygoddard on Instagram Molly Goddard's website Molly Goddard at Matches Fashion How to Go to Work (by Lucy) Molly Goddard at the Camp Met Gala  Watch Killing Eve Clothes on Film 

Episode 42: Thoroughly Modern Molly

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 discretion is advised. Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram The Girls, by Emma Cline The White Album, by Joan Didion The Centre Will Not Hold on Netflix Tiger King on Netflix The BBBC's Jonestown documentary Cults: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know, by Herb Lester 

Episode 41: The Darker Side of Dress

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 have intimated Beaton and his crew. Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram  Follow @mslucyclayton on Instagram  Follow @benjamin__wild on Instagram  Walt Cassidy's website Walt Cassidy: New York – Club Kids 

Episode 40: New Kids on the Block

Dress: Fancy explores the popularity, prevalence and power of fancy dress. Hosted by Lucy Clayton and Dr Benjamin Wild, the series looks at the social significance and psychology of people in costume. Episodes consider why fancy dress has been a constant theme throughout history; sometimes as an act of celebration or escapism, on other occasions as a form of protest or disruption.

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Dress: Fancy

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