Fashion and the Showgirl, Part I (Dressed Classic)

Dressed: The History of Fashion

Dressed Media

Arts, History, Society & Culture, Fashion & Beauty

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With her towering headwear and sparkling body suit, the showgirl is an instantly recognizable, cross cultural pop icon--and one that is front and center currently with the debut of Taylor Swift's latest album The Life of a Showgirl. In this two-part episode from 2020, we explore the showgirl's lesser known relationship to fashion, a love affair that extends back over one hundred years. Recommended reading: Andrea Stuart's Showgirls Linda Mizejewski, Ziegfeld Girl: Image and Icon in Culture and Cinema Jane Merrill’s The Showgirl Costume: An Illustrated History Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion? Our ⁠⁠website⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠classes⁠⁠ Our ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Our ⁠⁠bookshelf⁠⁠ with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi listeners, it's Jack Bishop. I'm the ingredients guy on America's Test Kitchen's public television show and the host of our award-winning podcast, Proof. Proof combines history, science, and culture to tell unexpected stories about food. Every episode is filled with aha moments that you'll want to share at your next dinner party.
0:23.4	New episodes drop every Thursday.
0:26.0	Subscribe wherever you get your podcast and you might never look at food the same way again.
0:34.9	Love books.
0:35.9	Curious about the publishing industry?
0:37.6	Us too.
0:38.4	I'm Jeff O'Neill.
0:39.4	I'm Rebecca Shinsky, and we host the Book Riot Podcast.
0:42.6	Every week we talk about what's new in the world of books and reading.
0:45.6	Trends, breaking news, book awards, bestsellers, scandals, you name it.
0:49.5	If you care about what people are reading and how the book world really works,
0:53.1	subscribe to the Book Riot podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
0:59.1	Please enjoy one of our favorite episodes from the Dressed we all have one thing in common.
1:27.4	Every day, we all get dressed.
1:29.5	Welcome to Dressed, the history of fashion, a podcast where we explore the who, what, when of why we wear.
1:35.5	We are fashion historians and your host, April Callahan.
1:38.8	And Cassidy Zachary.
1:41.3	Whisper the word showgirl in America, Britain, France, throughout the world, and most people
1:46.6	conjure up at least one, if not a series of potent images from the Moulin Rouge to Las Vegas,
1:53.1	from Miesdunget to Madonna. For some, she is a gorgeous creature emerging in a cloud of
1:58.4	Poudre de Ries from a dressing room decked with sheer silk stockings
2:02.4	and haunted by backstage Johnny's to pose at the back of some spectacular review.
	...

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