Episodes

On 11 and 13 February 1903, the Winter Palace, St Petersburg, was the venue for one of the most opulent costumed entertainments hosted by a Russian Tsar. It was also to be the last. In reviving the spectacle of the …

For Heidi Klum, and many more people besides, Halloween is ‘the’ fancy dress event of the year. Since the 1950s, the opportunity to wear bold and brash, creative and creepy costumes on 31 October has inspired fun, provoked fear and …

Like fancy dress, movies are adept at conveying the zeitgeist. And just like fancy dress, the Silver Screen can reassure us, motivate us, and inspire us. It is no wonder, then, that movie-themed dress up has become a staple of …

Today Lucy and Benjamin analyse how people’s social, political and gendered roles are disrupted by war. Fancy dress costume, which offers escapism and self-reflection by enabling its wearer to become somebody or something else, can mediate these tension

Join Lucy Clayton and Dr Benjamin Wild for another eye-opening episode, as they explore a British phenomenon in popular culture, stating that fancy dress costume is inherently unfashionable and frequently in questionable taste. Photographs of authority fi

In the second episode of a new series that explores the prevalence, potency and politics of fancy dress costume, Lucy Clayton and Dr Benjamin Wild discuss the Devonshire House Ball. Held on 2 July 1897 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee …

In the first of a new series that looks at the social significance and psychology of dressing up, Lucy Clayton and cultural historian Dr Benjamin Wild discuss the global prevalence of fancy dress protests. From slogan covered T-shirts to city-wide …