Renaissance Beauty: hair, makeup and skincare...

Greg Jenner is joined in ancient Rome by Professor Mary Beard and comedian and actor Patton Oswalt to learn all about Emperor Nero. Nero has gone down in history as one of Rome’s most infamous rulers – the villain in any number of films and television programmes, and the man who ...  Show more

Greg Jenner is joined in the 18th century by historian Professor Katherine Astbury and comedian Jen Brister to learn about French queen Marie Antoinette.Born an Austrian princess, Marie Antoinette went on to be the last queen of France before the Revolution and the abolition of t ...  Show more

How did the 14th-century Black Death influenced fashion trends? And were medieval bald men considered 'hot' because their hair burned off due to their masculinity?From clear skin and youthful appearance to the controversial make-up practices of the period Dr. Eleanor Janega and D ...  Show more

Early Modern Italy birthed artistic giants like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, saw architectural marvels like Florence's dome and St. Peter's Basilica, and pushed scientific frontiers in astronomy. This same vibrant era was also home to Bologna's uniquely regulated sex wo ...

When we think about Greek and Roman beauty, we think of marble statues of huge men with tiny...feet.

But what did it mean to be a beautiful woman? What role did their ideas of ugliness play in these ideas? And how did Christianity throw a curveball in all of this?

This week, we investigate the historical fashion trends written about in an 1884 Harper’s Bazar article entitled “The Follies of Fashion.” Covering everything from Ancient Roman curling irons to Cleopatra’s donkey milk baths to “barbarous” steel corsets, we decipher fashion fact ...  Show more