Sign up to get updates from us
DRESS:FANCY is a podcast about dressing up.
Join us for a fashion history lesson, fired from a confetti cannon.
It’s about ordinary people in extraordinary outfits. Not on stage or screen but in real life; weaving together sartorial and social history to tell powerful, surprising stories of identity.
Hosted by author Lucy Clayton together with a selection of special guests from designers, artists, experts, writers, activists and of course, the dresser uppers themselves. This show explores the way we dress, in all its creative, sequinned, and chaotic glory.
From plague masks to plastic tiaras, kitchen table to couture salon, ballroom to battlefield, our listeners are transported to moments in time where the clothes tell the story. Did you know that Drag played an important role in Prisoner of War camps? Who wore what to “The Party of the Century”? What possessed that guy to dress as a budget Viking when he stormed the Capitol? And why are lots of people deciding to live as mermaids in 2021?
Embracing eccentricity and tackling marginalised, beautifully bonkers themes DRESS:FANCY is intellectually curious, playful and tender. Often raucous and always relevant, each episode explores a new theme from ancient to contemporary.
And look out for our bonus episodes "Dressing Up With..." where we showcase an individual's unique perspective on fashioning their sense of self.
Follow @dressfancypodcast on Instagram to see the images that accompany each conversation.
Join us and our amazing community of listeners each season for some costume drama!
Founder, Producer, Co Host
Lucy is the founder, co-host and producer of DRESS:FANCY podcast. Her TED talk on costume as a tool for political protest “The True Power of a Good Outfit” has been watched over 72,000 times but her life highlight is leading a parade to the secret ballroom while podcasting live from the Royal Academy’s epic “Summer Lates” party. Lucy loves dressing up so much she recently wormed her way onto Season 4 of The Crown for the ultimate fancy dress experience in 1980’s nylon, which almost certainly contributed to the show’s BAFTA success. Lucy is a judge for this year’s British Podcast Awards.
As CEO of Community Clothing (founded by Patrick Grant), a social enterprise with a mission to create jobs in the UK garment industry, Lucy was honoured in the Financial Times and HERoes inaugural list of top 50 Women Role Models in Business.
In 2020 she published How To Go To Work (Penguin) a guide for young people starting out in their careers. Passionate about discovering and mentoring talent, she is part of Speakers 4 Schools - a network of leading figures who want to give back to young people in state schools. She regularly gives talks about how to break into fashion in schools and for the British Fashion Council.
Lucy lives in London in a house that also contains her archive of thousands of vintage dresses, her boyfriend, son Kit and new baby Thora.