Dressed: The History of Fashion

Episode: Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis

Special Guest: Dr. Valerie Steele

Date: October 1, 2025
Hosts: Cassie Zachary & April Callahan

Overview of the Episode

In this groundbreaking conversation, hosts Cassie Zachary and April Callahan interview the eminent fashion historian Dr. Valerie Steele about her new exhibition "Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis," currently on view at the Museum at FIT. The episode delves into how psychoanalytic theory—from Freud to Lacan—illuminates the deeper, often unconscious emotions and desires that shape why and how we dress. Dr. Steele discusses the origins and organization of the exhibition, its key theoretical underpinnings, and the larger social and cultural meanings of clothing, desire, gender, sexuality, and the self.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Genesis of the Exhibition and Its Unique Approach

• [03:06] The exhibition is the first of its kind, merging more than 100 garments over 130 years with central psychoanalytic concepts: the body, sexuality, and the unconscious.
• [03:45] Dr. Valerie Steele: Explains her focus on the "unconscious significance of fashion and our unconscious emotions, which may influence how we feel about ourselves or our appearance."

  “What I’m interested in with psychoanalysis is the unconscious significance of fashion and also our unconscious emotions, which may influence how we feel about ourselves or our appearance…” ([03:45])

2. Organization of the Exhibition

• [05:31] The show features around 19 thematic sections, including "Freud and Fashion," "Desire and Sexual Differences," "The Naked Dreamer," and "The Phallic Woman."
• The first gallery provides a cultural history of fashion and psychoanalysis, showing intersections over time, such as the 1920s' liberated sexuality vs. the 1950s' conservatism.
• The main exhibition applies psychoanalytic ideas to specific clothing items, referencing theorists like Freud, Jung, Lacan, and Anzieux.

3. Foundational Psychoanalytic Theories in Fashion Context

• [06:55]
  • Freud as the father of psychoanalysis: sexuality and the unconscious.
    • “For all its mistakes and dead ends, psychoanalysis provides unique insights into the power and allure of fashion as well as the hostility that fashion also often faces.” — Dr. Valerie Steele ([07:22])
  • Lacan: revolutionized Freudian theory with the influence of Surrealism and a focus on images, the mirror stage, and fragmented identity.
  • Other theorists highlighted include Melanie Klein (object relations), whose ideas relate to the emotional roots of shopping and consumption.

4. Psychoanalysis, Shopping, and the Hunger to Acquire

• [10:13] Melanie Klein’s ideas on psychic hunger explain retail therapy, with buying as a means of filling a sense of lack or loss.
  • Freud’s anxieties around shopping and assimilation as a Jewish man in Vienna are tied to deeper feelings of insecurity and longing.
  • Lacan’s “object cause of desire” is discussed: people want what others want, as a way of affirming self-worth.

5. Shame, Nudity, and Cultural Contexts

• [13:54–16:27] The concept of shame in nudity isn’t exclusive to Judeo-Christian societies; most cultures have forms of ‘fashioned’ nakedness.
  • Notable quote:

    “A sense of shame about the unfashioned body is in fact quite universal and has to do perhaps with something frightening as well as desirable about the naked body...” — Dr. Valerie Steele ([15:10])

  • The Moschino fig-leaf swim trunks in the exhibition humorously reference the biblical Adam and Eve story.

6. The Arc of Revealing and Concealing in Dress

• [18:27] Dr. Steele discusses the shifting boundaries of appropriate exposure, how they oscillate over time, and how psychoanalysis views the framing of skin as eroticization.
  • [20:45] Dr. Valerie Steele:

    “If you frame a piece of naked skin, you’re automatically making it special and in a sense eroticizing it... it’s that movement back and forth—you see a flash of thigh, it’s hidden again... That is the kind of fetishistic striptease fluctuation which is really what’s attracting attention...”

• Cites the “shifting erogenous zone” theory, the influence of censorship laws, and examples like the Versace safety pin dress and the Jennifer Lopez dress.

7. The Mirror, the Gaze, and Vulnerability

• [24:03–26:50] Explores the psychological tension in being seen vs. unseen, and the vulnerability fashion can expose or protect.
  • Quote from Pascal Navarre:

    “What the look of fashion exposes is simultaneously our vulnerability about being seen and also not being seen.” ([24:03])

  • The “mirror stage” and the “evil eye” are considered metaphors for internalized self-doubt and the armor of clothing.

8. Schiaparelli: Fashion as Armor and Narcissism

• [27:29–31:01]
  • Schiaparelli’s biography—her mother's critiques, her own difficulties with mirrors—are reflected in her designs, which both attract gazes and act as defenses.
  • Her collaborations with Surrealists (Dali, Cocteau) deeply embed psychoanalytic symbolism: mirrored jackets, pansy purses (sexual symbolism), gloves (libido for looking/touching), butterfly-adorned gowns (psyche).
  • Fashion’s role in weaponizing narcissism to withstand external judgments.

9. Surrealism, Symbolism, and Dreams

• [31:35] The exhibition explores the translation of Freudian sexual symbolism into fashion (top hats, high heels, purses).
  • Freud’s influence on Surrealist artists and fashion is discussed, and Jung’s divergence toward universal archetypes.
  • Example: Moschino’s Hershey’s chocolate bar dress embodies pleasure and desire, merging Freud's and Jung's theories.

10. Gender, Sexuality, and the Masquerade

• [35:51–42:15]
  • Joan Riviere’s "Masquerade of Womanliness": Women perform exaggerated femininity as self-protective and strategic, blurring the line between “real” and “performed” gender.
  • Lacan and Judith Butler’s extensions: all gender is performance; men’s fashion as a potential “masculine masquerade.”
  • Designers like Jean Paul Gaultier and Mugler subvert and reinterpret gender norms, exposing fashion’s performativity.
  • [42:09] Dr. Valerie Steele:

    “The thing about women in fashion is women hold up the mask and say, ‘Don’t you think this mask I’m holding up is interesting? And I bet you can’t guess what’s behind it.’ Whereas men, when they dress up, they want you to accept, this is me.”

11. Sexuality, Emancipation, and Queer History

• [42:35–46:22]
  • Freud’s focus on pleasure divorced from reproduction was emancipatory for women and queer people; sexuality as driven by fantasy, not biology.
  • The exhibition features many gay designers; discussions of theorists Magnus Hirschfeld and Krafft-Ebing’s impact on early LGBTQ+ liberation.
  • The long struggle against homophobic and transphobic thinking in psychoanalytic and psychiatric communities is acknowledged.

12. Fetishism and Fashion

• [46:54–50:48]
  • The concept of the fetish shifts from “primitive object” to a sexual fixation; in fashion, items like high heels and boots enter mainstream as “fetish wear.”
  • Freud’s assertion that “all women are clothes fetishists” is unpacked and critiqued.
  • The mainstreaming of fetish aesthetics in fashion from the 1970s onward is traced, with a discussion of contemporary designers referencing such motifs.

13. Clothing as Second Skin and Emotional Armor

• [51:20]
  • Didier Anzieux’s “skin ego”: clothing as not just a social façade but a psychic protective layer.
  • Designers like Alber Elbaz (“clothes like a hug”) and Yohji Yamamoto (“clothes as armor”) embody these ideas.
  • Bill Cunningham’s maxim: “fashion was armor to help you face the world.”
  • The self as evolving, gender and sexuality as spectrum—reflected in modern fashion’s embrace of non-binary and transgender expressions.

14. Favorite Exhibition Pieces

• [52:50]
  • Dr. Steele’s favorites include: Schiaparelli pieces, Victor & Rolf’s “anger dress,” John Galliano’s Freud vs. Fetish pieces for Dior, Alexander McQueen (for his use of emotion/sexuality), and garments that confront both the pretty and the frightening.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:45 | Dr. Valerie Steele | “What I’m interested in with psychoanalysis is the unconscious significance of fashion and also our unconscious emotions...” | | 07:22 | Dr. Valerie Steele | “For all its mistakes and dead ends, psychoanalysis provides unique insights into the power and allure of fashion...” | | 15:10 | Dr. Valerie Steele | “A sense of shame about the unfashioned body is in fact quite universal and has to do perhaps with something frightening as well as desirable about the naked body...” | | 20:45 | Dr. Valerie Steele | “If you frame a piece of naked skin, you’re automatically making it special and in a sense eroticizing it... it’s that movement back and forth... that is the kind of fetishistic striptease fluctuation...” | | 24:03 | Pascal Navarre (quoted by Cassie) | “What the look of fashion exposes is simultaneously our vulnerability about being seen and also not being seen.” | | 26:50 | Dr. Valerie Steele | “Fashion can make you stand out. It can also make you fit in if you're too nervous about standing out. If you're dressed correctly, at least you can fit in.” | | 27:29 | Dr. Valerie Steele | “Schiaparelli... is making, in many ways, mirror clothes that will attract attention, but which will also be in some way hard and bounce it back at you.” | | 42:09 | Dr. Valerie Steele | “The thing about women in fashion is women hold up the mask and say, ‘Don’t you think this mask I’m holding up is interesting?...’ Whereas men… want you to accept, this is me.” | | 51:20 | Dr. Valerie Steele | “Just as the skin holds your body together and protects it, so also does this sort of psychic aspect of your mind help hold you together… This can be applied to clothing as well.” |

Suggested Listening Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction to Dr. Valerie Steele and Exhibition Context: [00:59] - [05:31]
• Psychoanalytic Framework—Freud, Lacan, Klein: [06:55] - [13:21]
• Shame, Dress, and Cultural Perspectives: [13:54] - [18:27]
• The Gaze, Vulnerability, Armor: [24:03] - [27:29]
• Fashion, Surrealism, Dream Symbolism: [31:35] - [35:51]
• Gender, Sexuality, and the Masquerade: [35:51] - [42:15]
• Fetishism and High Fashion: [46:54] - [50:48]
• Second Skin, Non-Binary Fashion, Exhibition Highlights: [51:20] - [53:31]

Episode Tone and Atmosphere

Eloquent, intellectually rigorous, and deeply engaging, the conversation flows between academic theory, historical context, and emotional resonance. Dr. Steele, with authority and warmth, brings the world of psychoanalytic fashion history alive, while Cassie and April guide with curiosity and enthusiasm.

Final Thoughts

This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in the deeper psychological currents of fashion. Dr. Valerie Steele’s insights position dress not merely as surface or spectacle, but as a meaningful practice that performs, protects, reveals, and transforms. The exhibition at FIT, and its companion book, promise a riveting exploration into the unconscious life of clothing.