Fashion History Mysteries: Polka Dots and Artificial Silk (Dressed Silk)

Summary

Dressed: The History of Fashion Episode: Fashion History Mysteries: Polka Dots and Artificial Silk (Dressed Silk)
Release Date: August 15, 2025

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of Dressed: The History of Fashion, hosts Cassidy Zachary and April Callahan delve into two captivating fashion history mysteries: the origins of polka dots and the revolutionary development of artificial silk. Addressing intriguing questions from their listeners, Andrea Schmotzen and Lai Prothero, the duo explores how these elements have shaped and transformed the fashion landscape over centuries.

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Polka Dots: From Ominous Origins to Fashion Icon

Listener Inquiry: Andrea Schmotzen [01:55]

Andrea posed a fascinating question about the origins of polka dots, prompting Cassidy and April to embark on a deep historical investigation.

Historical Associations with Disease:
April explains that during the Middle Ages, spotted textiles were largely avoided as spots were associated with diseases such as smallpox and the Black Plague. "Spots rarely if ever suggested health or vitality," quotes Stephen Conner from the academic journal Textiles [04:58]. Similarly, stripes were stigmatized, often worn by lepers, prostitutes, and prisoners, symbolizing otherness and caution [05:02].

Cultural Significance in Non-Western Societies:
Contrasting Western perceptions, April highlights the positive symbolism of spots in various cultures. In many African traditions, dots painted on the skin during male initiation rites can symbolize power, referencing the spotted patterns of leopards. Ottoman textiles also featured the chintamani, a motif comprising three dots representing a lucky jewel in Buddhist imagery, often accompanied by wavy lines symbolizing flames or tiger stripes, denoting power [06:46].

Industrial Revolution and Roller Printing:
The advent of roller printing in the late 18th century revolutionized textile production, allowing for precise and consistent spotted patterns. April notes, "Before this, spots were irregular and often associated with disease. The Industrial Revolution transformed spotted patterns into a modern and popular motif" [07:23].

Link with the Polka Dance and Marketing Boom:
The polka dance, popularized in the 1830s by Czech peasant Anna Sleza, coincided with advancements in textile technology. This synergy led to the widespread adoption of polka-themed products. Cassidy points out that American fashion magazine Godey's Ladies Book likely coined the term "polka dot," linking the dance's energetic steps with the cheerful dot pattern [09:56].

Modern Perceptions of Polka Dots:
Today, polka dots symbolize fun, frivolity, and innocence, often seen in children's clothing and accessories. April remarks, "Polka dots are a fascinating example of how iconography is culturally constructed, with meanings shifting dramatically over time" [10:15]. Cassidy connects this to flamenco dancers, whose dresses feature dots originally intended as apotropaic symbols to ward off evil [10:47].

Notable Quotes:

• April Callahan: "Spots rarely if ever suggested health or vitality." [04:58]
• Cassidy Zachary: "Polka dots went from signifiers of death and disease to being one of the more cheerfully, universally adored patterns in the world." [09:56]

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Fabrics That Changed Fashion: The Rise of Artificial Silk

Listener Inquiry: Lai Prothero [14:00]

Lai Prothero's question about a fabric that revolutionized clothing led Cassidy and April to explore the transformative journey of artificial silk, now commonly known as rayon.

Silk Industry Crisis:
In the 1840s, the French silk industry faced devastation due to a spore-forming parasite known as peine or pepper disease, which crippled silkworm populations by preventing them from spinning cocoons. By the mid-1860s, silk industries in France and Italy teetered on the brink of collapse [17:22].

Scientific Intervention by Louis Pasteur:
Louis Pasteur was enlisted by the French government to identify the cause of the epidemic. His research traced the disease's transmission to infected mulberry leaves and contaminated eggs, allowing for measures that slowed the spread but did not eradicate it [18:33].

Count Chardonnay’s Quest for Artificial Silk:
Amid ongoing challenges, Count Ilaire de Chardonnay, an American scientist based in France, sought an alternative to natural silk. His innovative process involved transforming wood into pulp and then into fine filaments using glass silkworms and pneumatic pressure. "Count Chardonnay's silk had immense value, claiming to produce artificial silk that matched natural silk in quality," Cassidy explains [20:04].

The Invention and Impact of Artificial Silk (Rayon):
Count Chardonnay's method allowed for the mass production of artificial silk at a fraction of the cost—about one-third of natural silk. By 1889, artificial silk, also known as "art silk," gained significant traction, with its vibrant colors and increased luster rivaling natural silk [23:38]. The term "rayon" began to replace "artificial silk" in the 1920s, with companies like Celanese leading production [26:23]. By 1923, global rayon production surpassed that of natural silk by 30%, marking a pivotal shift in the textile industry.

Modern Reflections and Sustainable Innovations:
Cassidy encourages listeners to examine their wardrobes, as much of modern clothing contains rayon or its derivatives like viscose and Cupra. April adds that contemporary advancements continue to refine cellulose fibers, citing brands like Tencel for their responsible production processes [26:23].

Notable Quotes:

• Cassidy Zachary: "The appearance of the fabrics made of the first products from the chemist's laboratory differed from silk only in the evenness of the colors and the brighter luster of the artificial articles." [24:09]
• April Callahan: "We promise you, it's true. Check your garment labels and consider the legacy of Count Chardonnay and his quest for artificial silk." [27:23]

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Conclusion

Cassidy and April conclude by emphasizing the profound impact of both polka dots and artificial silk on fashion history. They encourage listeners to reflect on how these elements, once laden with significant cultural and economic implications, have seamlessly integrated into everyday fashion. By uncovering these stories, Dressed: The History of Fashion not only educates but also enriches our understanding of the garments we wear daily.

For more in-depth exploration, listeners are invited to visit their website, subscribe to their newsletter, and engage with additional resources on fashion history.

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Notable Highlights:

• Polka Dots’ Evolution: From disease symbols in the Middle Ages to beloved fashion statements.
• Artificial Silk’s Innovation: Count Chardonnay’s groundbreaking creation of rayon saved the silk industry and transformed textile production.
• Cultural Significance: Exploration of how different cultures interpret and utilize patterns like dots and stripes.
• Technological Advancements: Roller printing and chemical processes that enabled new fabric developments.
• Modern Relevance: The pervasive presence of rayon in contemporary wardrobes and sustainable textile innovations.

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Dressed: The History of Fashion continues to unravel the intricate stories behind everyday fashion, making history accessible and fascinating for all.

Transcript

[April Callahan]

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[Cassidy Zachary]

Yeah. Film Vault. We are one of the original film podcasts.

[April Callahan]

That can't be true.

[Cassidy Zachary]

There was like two other film podcasts when we began. Brian, how long are we doing this show? You and I first sat down and did a version of the show over 20 years ago.

[April Callahan]

My God.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Two episodes each week.

[April Callahan]

One we review movies and the first.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Episode the second one different. Top five every week. Movies that made you cry. Worst movie accents, most disturbing movies.

[April Callahan]

All right, the film ball.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Check it out wherever you find a fine podcast.

[April Callahan]

That's right, the Film Vault.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Going on 20 plus years. Dress listeners, bonjour from Paris.

[April Callahan]

Yes, we are currently on our annual summer hiatus from the show as we conduct our summer fashion history tours of the City of Lights. But worry not, we will be back in August with brand new content dedicated to all of the exciting fashion history exhibitions and other behind the scenes experiences we have encountered while here.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Until then, please enjoy this episode from the Dressed archive of over 500 past shows.

[April Callahan]

With over 7 billion people in the world, we all have one thing in common. Every day, we all get dressed.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Welcome to Dressed the History of Fashion, a podcast where we explore the who, what, when of why we wear. We are fashion historians and your hosts.

[April Callahan]

Cassidy Zachary and April Callahan and Cass. As our regular listeners will know, our fashion history mystery minisodes are all about answering your questions. And we have recently received a rather intriguing inquiry from our listener, Andrea Schmotzen. I'm sorry, Andrea, if I butchered your last name. I'm not exactly sure how to pronounce it correctly.

[Cassidy Zachary]

I think she'll forgive you.

[April Callahan]

Okay. But she basically wanted to know about the origins of polka dots.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Yeah, and this got us very excited because despite the fact that we've been fashion historians for a combined 20 plus years, this is something neither April or I have ever really looked into. So this was a fashion history mystery for not only Andrea, but also for us. Yeah.

[April Callahan]

And in these cases where this information is entirely Brand new to us. Oftentimes, our first path of inquiry is to look around and see if there's any other really well respected established scholars who have already published on this topic. And in our case, first we found a really great essay in an academic journal called Textiles that was by Stephen Conner, and he is a professor of modern literature and theory at Birkbeck College in London. And that set us off on the right path and also led us to a lot of other really interesting sources. And one of them is by the art historian Michel Pastoro, who I'm a big fan of, and he's written a lot about the cultural significance of color. He wrote a book on the color of the cultural history of the color black, which is amazing.

[Cassidy Zachary]

That really fascinating because black, as we know, means different things to different cultures.

[April Callahan]

Around the world and at different time periods, too. It may mean something in one century and mean something in a different century, so.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Exactly. And a lot of you have asked actually what goes into researching each episode, and this is really where the digging first starts, sometimes with secondary sources that have used primary sources in their research. And once you keep putting, pulling that thread, more and more great information begins to appear. So I am really excited, April, to hear what you found.

[April Callahan]

Ah, well, first of all, I have to say I was a little bit taken back because I didn't really realize that we needed to take this all the way back multiple centuries, all the way to the Middle Ages. Because during the Middle Ages, apparently the wearing of spotted textile, spotted motifs, was pretty much shunned. And that had to do with the fact that at that time, these visual sites of blotches or dots really signified disease. So we have to remember that at this time, there was this very, very real threat of smallpox, you know, the Black Plague, leprosy, measles, syphilis. And the list goes on and on and on about how spots are related to disease. And Connor even says, quote, spots rarely if ever suggested health or vitam.

[Cassidy Zachary]

And it wasn't only even dots that held somewhat spurious connotations, because stripes also had these connotations as well. And up until the 18th century, for centuries, striped clothing also held these ideas of otherness. So some leper colonies, for instance, were forced to wear stripes, as were prostitutes and prisoners. So stripes really indicated that an individual was to be treated with suspicion and caution. And in pop culture, if you think of characters such as the Hamburglar of McDonald's fame.

[April Callahan]

Yeah.

[Cassidy Zachary]

So his black and white striped ensemble was an outward signifier of his criminal nature, something we would See immediately and associate with crime. Yeah.

[April Callahan]

But part of all of this during the Middle Ages and continuing on into the Renaissance was this relationship of these patterns to the natural world. In the Western world, these crisp, clean stripes reviewed as being highly artificial as a pattern because it was unfamiliar in nature, because that had part to do with the fact that striped animals such as a zebra, they weren't obviously native to Europe. And in fact, they would still be a wonder that incited novelty in Europe 500 years later.

[Cassidy Zachary]

I still get excited when I see zebras.

[April Callahan]

Who doesn't?

[Cassidy Zachary]

So the use of stripes and dots holds very different meanings and abundance of non Western traditions. So in Africa, for instance, many peoples paint the skin of adolescent participants of male initiation rites with dots of paint. And these dots can symbolize power sometimes. That's referring to the incredible spotted animals like the leopard. We've actually already done an episode on the history of leopard print, so if you haven't given it a listen, please check that past episode out. Yeah.

[April Callahan]

And it's really cast. Not only Africa, that had a different take on this motif of spots and even stripes. Ottoman culture, they had a very common design motif in Ottoman textiles that was called the chintamani. And it's basically comprised of a triangle made up of three dots. The three dots themselves were thought to reference a lucky jewel in Buddhist imagery. But these dots were almost always accompanied by two wavy lines that were thought to either represent flames or tiger stripes. I mean, any way you try to interpret this, it's basically a symbol of power.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Right. And so while the east and the west have had very different takes on stripes and spots throughout the years, the spot took on a new meaning during the Industrial Revolution in the west, when major advancements in textile production made spotted patterns based on a geometric grid possible for the first time. So this came with the invention of roller printing at the tail end of the 18th century. And that was just one technological advancement that played into this mass printing of spots.

[April Callahan]

Yeah, because before this, even if one had attempted to do dots or spots on their own, it was going to be somewhat irregular because it was being done by way of hand or eye. And in the past, in all these prior centuries, spots were basically perceived as being ominous. So now, all of a sudden, in the 19th century, this new kind of quote unquote, control over the perfect dotted motif was born again as being new and modern. And this moment actually happens to coincide exactly with more than a few dance crazes that happened across Europe and the Americas around this same time.

[Cassidy Zachary]

And this is where the Polka comes in, which I thought was. Yes, I've never put those two together, polka dots and polka. But I think it's pretty obvious once you think about it. And it's actually polka with a U, if we want to be correct about it. But this is a dance that's based on a half step, and it was purportedly invented by a Czech peasant girl, Anna slezak. And by 1835, was the craze of dance floors in Prague, and it quickly spread to Paris, England, and the US in the 1840s. And this is the exact same moment when the innovations in technology April referenced earlier were allowing the textile industry to grow exponentially.

[April Callahan]

So basically, it wasn't long cast before anybody anywhere that had anything to sell started trying to slap this name polka in front of whatever the thing was. You know, then basically, people were just trying to capitalize on this hot new trend. I mean, we talked about this before in terms of the swimsuit, the bikini even, remember?

[Cassidy Zachary]

I do.

[April Callahan]

Yeah. But basically, all of a sudden, we start to see things, even new music being created to not only dance to the polka steps, but. But things like desserts were starting to be named Pol Polka this or polka that. And, of course, clothing, being a major commodity, also began to be marketed using this term, polka.

[Cassidy Zachary]

It appears it may have been the American fashion magazine Godey's Ladies Book that first coined the term polka dot, associating the quick half steps with the happy dot pattern. So over the next few decades, spotted motifs went from signifiers of death and disease to being one of the more cheerfully, universally adored patterns in the world.

[April Callahan]

Yeah. And. And now the polka dot is really this symbol of. That indicates fun, frivolity, and even sometimes innocence, because it's oftentimes incorporated into children's wear. And I think that, Cass. That polka dots are this really fascinating example of how an iconography basically is culturally constructed. And. And the meaning of these things can shift over time. And that's just like this bigger, overarching language of fashion that you and I examine undressed every single episode.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Absolutely. And that reminds me, actually, of the clothing that flamenco dancers wear. Flamenco being a Spanish dance that has really world. I mean, people come to see it all over the world. But the interesting thing about flamenco is that we're here in New Mexico. We're really an epicenter of the flamenco dance culture. So people come here from around the world every year to study and learn. And so the polka dot is a really pervasive design element on women's dresses. And just A little bit of research. It appears that the dots of flamenco costumes comes from this tradition of putting small round mirrors on clothing to ward off evil. So really interesting.

[April Callahan]

Yeah. So apotropaic symbols basically. And it's not only within Spanish culture that they exist, they also exist in Asian culture as well and even African culture where you would put these little bits of glass or mirrors to ward off the evil eye.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Yeah, really fascinating. Our listeners have been giving us really fascinating questions and we're learning new things every week because of it.

[April Callahan]

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[Cassidy Zachary]

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[April Callahan]

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[Cassidy Zachary]

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[April Callahan]

Sea welcome dress listeners, to yet another edition of Fashion History Mystery, where we answer your queries and questions. And today's question comes to us from listener Lai Prothero, who wrote to us asking or rather saying hi April and Kassity, thanks so much for your fabulous podcast. My favorite thing to do is to listen to it while I do needlework. Best therapy ever. I have a question. Was there any one fabric that changed the way we make and view clothes? And I thought that this was very interesting, Cass, because I realized that while we have of course chatted about when we do see the beginning of stretch and denim in one of our very first minisodes, we haven't really talked too much about some of the the science that goes into creating textiles.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Yeah. And something which is so, so fascinating and interesting. And as our listeners know, you and I are both lucky to have studied this a bit in our graduate program at fit. And we took these classes and these lab courses during that time. And as I think we've mentioned, one of the strengths of our program was how well rounded that course load was. So, for instance, because we both did the curatorial route, but we had to take this wide range of classes that included collections management and conservation. And the latter was particularly rigorous but so fun. I had so much fun using those loops that we we were given that you would like. It's a little tiny magnifying glass that you would put on the fabric and you could literally do a thread count of each individual thread the fabric, which was so fun. So we learned so much in those classes. We learned how to distinguish between synthetic and natural dye stuffs to identifying different typ types of fibers under the microscope for conservation purposes. So this was definitely one of the harder courses in our program, but also one of the most interesting and rewarding.

[April Callahan]

I 100% agree. And I just have to say I still think about this from time to time. My mind was definitely blown when we started talking about how many of the synthetic and man made fibers, how they were and continue to be made today. So, in light of Lai's question, I immediately thought of the scientific quest to create artificial silk, or rather what we now more commonly call rayon. So, Lai, I hope what we're about to say satisfies your query, because more than likely a large portion of your wardrobe is fashioned from wood.

[Cassidy Zachary]

I'm sure that is not what listeners were expecting you to say, but it is so, so fascinating. And we've often referenced the development of new technologies on the show in relationship to the industrial revolution of the 19th century and how these developments really aided in the expansion of the fashion and textile trades. And the story of rayon is no exception, except for the fact that it begins with a bit of a sad tale. As we know, silk was a staple of the luxury fashion industry for centuries. And starting the 1840s, French silk farmers began to notice a disease that was plaguing both their adult and embryo silkworms. And this, this was thanks to a spore forming parasite known as peine, or pepper disease, which prevented larvae from developing properly. It basically left them unable to tackle the task of spinning cocoons. So this epidemic, it spread outside of the French silk farms to other silk epicenters around the world, including Italy and Spain. And by the mid-1860s, both the French and Italian silk industries were on the verge of collapse. It's terrible.

[April Callahan]

Yeah, it was really, really bad. And farmers, scientists and industrialists were both desperate and perplexed by what was happening. And in 1865, members of the French government approached scientist Louis Pasteur to request his assistance in determining the exact cause of this epidemic, which now basically threatened to destabilize the entire economy of the French silk producing regions. And Pasteur got on it right away. And his discovery revealed that the disease was spread both from infected mulberry leaves, which the silkworms depended upon, as well as parents laying infected eggs, which basically led to significant changes. Eventually, once people realized what was happening, how this practice of sericulture, or silkworm farming was done around the world. And so Pasteur's discoveries basically tempered the spread of the disease. But pepper disease was not eradicated. And in 1884, the French Academy of Science once again issued an appeal to scientists to save the silk industry. And among some of the scientists that set out to tackle this task was, I was very surprised to learn this cast the illustrious American scientist Thomas Edison, as well as a lesson are known in the U.S. french scientist, whose name was Count Ilaire de Chardonnay, and he lived in Besancon, France.

[Cassidy Zachary]

So from what we could ascertain from primary sources of the late 19th century, the figure of Count Chardonnay could well have been ripped from the pages of a Gothic novel. Yeah, he's portrayed in the press as this elusive and quite romantic character. The New York Times actually describes him as an independently wealthy nobleman who may have been directly involved in more than one clandestine plot to restore both French and Spanish noblemen to their country's respective thrones. So a little bit more digging maybe could reveal more about those plots. But his vast fortune allowed for him to pursue science as his sole vocation. And rather than cure pepper disease, he actually set out to create an alternative to natural silk. It. Can't you just picture this in the pages of a novel? April.

[April Callahan]

Oh, yeah. The more I was reading about him, I was like, yeah, he was a character and a half, maybe a character and three quarters. But apparently other people at this time were quite taken by this story as well. So in 1889, headlines in the American press screamed, quote, a wonderful discovery, the poor silkworm to be put out of business. And, and also quote, count Chardonnay's silk immense value claimed for this new invention. And the discovery is actually accepted as something far above the ordinary accomplishments of the chemical world. And I'm still quoting in the Land of the Discoverer, AKA France, as is testified by the fact that the only grand Medal of Honor which was conferred at the Paris Exposition was given to Count Chardonnay for his discovery. So this was a really big deal, particularly to the French textile trade.

[Cassidy Zachary]

And in September of 1896, Cosmopolitan magazine, and yes, that Cosmo magazine, although at this time it was not a fashion publication, it billed itself as a first class family magazine. But I digress. So Cosmo published an article which detailed Chardonnay's process for creating artificial silk, and that he did it from wood. Quote, it is very generally known that a large proportion portion of the world's paper supply is made from straw and wood. But the production of silk from wood is a comparatively recent accomplishment. As in the manufacture of paper, the wood is first transformed into pulp. The fibrous texture of the wood is completely obliterated in the pulping process. And pulp, after thorough cleansing, has the appearance and consistency of a thick gum.

[April Callahan]

The gum was in place in cylinders which featured these tiny little glass pipes at the ends which were known as glass silkworms. So when pneumatic pressure was forced through the cylinder, these teeny little minuscule glob lobes of the gum were created, and then each of these tiny little sticky bits were then drawn into very, very fine filaments which were connected to a spinning machine and also, quote, revolving bobbins, turning wood into silken yarns. So, well, this. I just simplified this process. Thanks very much, Cass. I do believe that Chardonnay's specific process also included this other step of which was called denitration. And we don't need to get into that for our purposes today. But at its most simple, this process was basically using liquid wood, and it was being shot through these teeny tiny little shower heads, and then those little filaments were spun into threads which then could be woven.

[Cassidy Zachary]

So needless to say, Chardonnay's process and products spawned massive interest in the textile industry. Among the many advantages of artificial silk at this time was considered the fact that color could actually be added directly at the pulp stage. So it eliminated the need for subsequent dyeing and it also increased the luster of the fibers. So creating artificial or quote, unquote, art silk, as it was also sometimes called, also cost approximately one third of the price.

[April Callahan]

Quote, the appearance of the fabrics made of the first products from the chemist's laboratory differed from silk only in the evenness of the colors and the brighter luster of the artificial articles and every other aspect. It puzzled the wits of experienced silk handlers to discover any difference from the articles from pure silk. And this was published in the New York Times. At the launch of Chardonnay's business enterprise.

[Cassidy Zachary]

In 1889 in the U.S. chardonnay sold rights to pertinent patents for the whopping sum of $500,000, which basically translates to about $15 million today. And that's just the US rights. Many other countries clamor to buy the trade secrets and rights to produce artificial silk in their own regions as well. And the spur to action was also probably driven by the fact that both the Japanese and Chinese silk industries were now also afflicted by pepper disease. By this epidemic, which had plagued European silk farms for decades prior, so many textile manufacturers, you know, they hedged their bets by getting in early into the artificial silk trademark. During the tail end of the 19th.

[April Callahan]

Century, during the 19 teens, we see artificial silks entering the fashion market in mass. First, we typically see artificial silks used for accessories like artificial flowers and hair ornaments. However, by the 1920s, as Women's Wore Daily declared in 1926, quote, gigantic rayon expansion and wide increase in use in the US garment industry, particularly CAS for use in lingerie and undergarments. So while at this time in the 1920s, this term artificial silk was still occasionally used. We increasingly see the terminology being switched to quote unquote rayon, and even rayon as a generic term was sometimes branded even further by the manufacturer, as in the case of Celanese, which was a company that produced rayon in both Britain and the US during the 1920s. And you will oftentimes see this word on garment tags and in print advertisements as Celanese, not specifically as its generic term rayon.

[Cassidy Zachary]

And according to Women's wear daily, by 1923, the global production of rayon fibers outpaced that of natural silk fibers by a whopping 30%. That is huge. This of course, still remained a small fraction of the world's cotton production. But dress listeners go check out your garment labels that rayon, viscous or Cupra residing in your wardrobe. They all belong to this same category of textiles, which are woven from regenerated cellulose threads, which could be wood, cotton or bamboo. New innovations in cellulose fiber technologies during the 21st centuries has led to even further refinement of this fiber. You can head over to Tencel's website, for instance t e n C-E-L.com or Tencel to learn more about their closed loop process for producing cellulose, lyocell and model fabric, which are some of the most responsibly produced textiles on the market today.

[April Callahan]

So listener Lai, we hope that we answered your question about fabrics that changed the way we all dress. And I bet it would have been a hard sell to convince many of you listening that your closet is actually chock full of wooden garments. But we promise you, we promise you that it's true. And like Cass said, check your garment labels and please consider the legacy of Count Chardonnay and his quest for artificial silk. Next time you get dressed, please head to restpodcast on Instagram or Rest Podcast without the underscore on Facebook to check out the visual content associated with each week's episodes.

[Cassidy Zachary]

And remember, we always love hearing from you, so if you'd like to write to us, you can do so@hellorust dressedhistory.com dressedhistory.com is also our website where you can sign up for our monthly newsletter, our in person tours and online fashion history courses. And you can check out whatever else we have up our finely tailored sleeves.

[April Callahan]

We get so many questions from you all about our recommendations for fashion history books, so if you are interested you can always find a link in our show Notes to our bookshop Bookshelf. So that address is bookshop dressed and there you can find over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles.

[Cassidy Zachary]

And do you love Dressed but want to skip the ads? You can now sign up for Ad Free listening with any tier on our Dressed History Patreon where you can also chat with your fellow fashion history lovers and attend one of our live Q&As and so much more.

[April Callahan]

We are also excited to now be part of the Airwave Network and their premium ad free history subscription Airwave History plus, available on Apple Podcasts. The subscription brings dressed and also 27 other popular history podcasts ad free for just 5.99 per month. More information on Patreon and Airwave is available at the link in our bio.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Thank you as always for tuning in and more dressed coming your way very soon. The History of Fashion is a production of Dressed Media. You say you'll never join the Navy.

[April Callahan]

That living on a submarine would be too hard. You'd never power a whole ship with.

[Cassidy Zachary]

Nuclear energy, never bring a patient back to life or play the national anthem for a sold out crowd. Joining the Navy sounds crazy. Saying never actually is. Start your [e-mail] America's Navy forged by the sea have you ever thought about what would happen if your airline window popped out?

[April Callahan]

Or if you could build a jetpack using only machine guns? Turns out you can, but you really shouldn't. Hi, I'm Jill Chacha, host of a podcast that's for weird people who like learning about weird stuff. It's called called well that's Interesting and it's a comedy sciency show that tells the story behind the facts because as it turns out, those stories are funny. The facts are bizarre, the stories are epic, and the laughter is plentiful. So join the flock and listen to. Well that's interesting. Wherever you do podcasts.