Ep.1: The Brassiere

The color black has many meanings, often at odds with one another. It’s the color which Sicilian women used to wear for years in sign of mourning, but it’s also synonymous with elegance. It’s a symbol of power and modesty. You should always have something black hanging in your wa ...  Show more

The tank top is a simple garment, an everyday one, and it is also molto italiano. This popular object has been reworked and transformed by the world of film. Guido Bonsaver, professor at the University of Oxford, and Rebecca Bauman, associate professor at the Fashion Institute of ...  Show more

Sophia Loren is the first performer to win the Best Actress Academy Award for a role in a foreign language film. She won in 1962 for her performance in Vittorio De Sica’s film Two Women in which she played a mother trying to protect her 12-year-old daughter in war-torn Italy. In ...  Show more

In this episode I discuss the biography of Isabella d'Este, the Marchesa of Mantua. We will discuss topics including epistolary etiquette, warfare on the Italian peninsula, the Borgias, Leonardo da Vinci, and the rule of a woman consort during the Renaissance. Thank you for liste ...  Show more

Of the many different items of clothing a woman will wear throughout her life, there is perhaps none loaded with so much significance as her wedding dress, and finding the perfect one can be an enormous source of stress. Kim Chakanetsa meets two wedding designers who help wome ...

“I didn’t like my life, so I created my life,” the French fashion designer, Coco Chanel declared. And what a life it was: from her humble beginnings in an orphanage, Chanel blazed a trail as a fiercely independent woman, rising to become the toast of French high society. She mixe ...  Show more