Podcast Summary

Dressed: The History of Fashion

Episode: Imperio de la Moda: Spain's Empire of Fashion with Laura Beltrán-Rubio, Part I (Dressed Classic)
Date: February 27, 2026
Host(s): April Callahan & Cassidy Zachary
Guest: Laura Beltrán-Rubio (fashion historian, College of William & Mary)

Episode Overview

In this Dressed Classic episode, hosts April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary welcome fashion historian Laura Beltrán-Rubio to discuss the "Empire of Fashion" created during Spain’s colonization of the Americas, with particular focus on the Spanish colonial viceroyalty of New Granada (now Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela). The episode explores how dress and fashion intersected with colonialism, identity formation, social hierarchies, indigenous dress practices, and global trade networks. This is part one of a two-part exploration.

Key Topics & Insights

1. Reframing Colonial Histories ([02:33])

• Challenging Myths: Cassidy opens by critiquing the conventional US history narrative (“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”) and emphasizes that millions of Indigenous people already inhabited the Americas long before Spanish colonizers.
• Legacy of Colonization: April highlights the cultural, religious, sartorial, and devastating disease impacts of Spanish conquest, with effects that still resonate, as evidenced by ongoing protests against Columbus monuments and holidays.

2. Spain’s Early Colonization in the Americas ([06:07])

• Setting the Scene: Laura details how early Spanish colonies in present-day Venezuela, Panama, and Colombia were established at the start of the 16th century. Permanent colonial cities, like Cumaná (Venezuela, 1515) and Santa María la Antigua del Darién (Colombia, 1513), became footholds for further expansion.

• Bourbon Reforms: She explains that the viceroyalty of New Granada was only officially established in 1717 in the context of 18th-century Bourbon reforms designed to revitalize Spain’s declining empire.

  “The viceroyalty of New Granada was a product of all of this… officially founded in 1717… existed until it became independent from the Spanish empire in the nineteenth century.”
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([08:52])

3. Extraction & Economic Motives ([10:18])

• Resources Targeted: Laura, with her economic history background, analyzes colonization as a means for Europe to access new resources—natural (water, wood), luxury (gold, gems, pigments, silver), labor, and knowledge.

• Myths to Justify Conquest: Legends like El Dorado fed colonial appetites and “justified” exploitation.

  “This quest for gold and wealth... fueled this colonial enterprise.”
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([11:59])

4. Indigenous Dress: Diversity & Technology ([15:38])

• Rejecting Homogeneity: Laura cautions against lumping all Indigenous dress together, emphasizing rich diversity.

• Andean Textile Primacy: She describes the Incan and broader Andean cultures’ highly technological weaving traditions, with “very fine textiles, very dense counts of fibers”—demonstrating both artistry and social hierarchy.

  • Nobility wore the finest fabrics (alpaca, vicuña), while commoners used coarser materials.
  • Indigenous cotton production predates colonialism (contrary to North American-centric narratives).
  • Garments often involved wrapped textiles instead of tailoring, creating gendered and status-divided wardrobes.

  “Textiles were basically the primary means of culture and they were super important...
  In dress we see a very strict hierarchical structure in which people were supposed to basically dress for their rank.”
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([17:03])

5. The Arrival and Adaptation of Spanish Dress Culture ([21:25])

• Transplanting European Fashions: Spanish colonizers fostered European-style clothing industries—including the guild system of tailors, weavers, embroiderers, and shoemakers—across their colonies.

• Indigenous Involvement: Many guild members were Indigenous or of Indigenous descent, with colonial economies leveraging native textile skills and materials (e.g., cotton, eventually sheep’s wool after its introduction by Spaniards).

  “The tailor's guild was one of the first guilds to be created... Many were indigenous artisans or had indigenous heritage.”
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([23:01])

6. Cultural Collision & Blending ([28:36])

• Globalized Trade Networks: The Spanish empire’s vast reach facilitated a global circulation of luxury goods—textiles and garments flowed between China, the Philippines (Manila), the Americas, and Europe.

• Smuggled Luxuries: Despite legal restrictions, Asian luxury textiles remained in American colonies, inspiring local imitations (calicoes/“Indianillas,” Puebla ceramics).

• Melting Pot of Styles: Colonies became spaces for creative blending of European, Asian, Indigenous, and African aesthetics.

  “America became a sort of melting pot of cultures where all of these tastes... got together and that gave... a lot of creativity for design and the arts.”
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([31:40])

7. The Manton de Manila: An Emblem of Global Exchange ([32:24])

• Cultural Synthesis: The iconic fringed silk shawl (Manton de Manila), now a symbol of Spanishness and flamenco, actually originated from Chinese silk, featured Asian motifs, and may have absorbed influences from Arab traditions.

• Multicultural Object: This accessory—named for Manila yet Chinese in origin, with Arabic techniques—epitomizes the entanglement of trade, fashion, and identity.

  “It basically embodies all of this transatlantic and transpacific trade… It came to signify Spanish culture… but as you rightly mentioned… it uses Chinese silk… It’s really multicultural all in just one object which I think is fascinating.”
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([33:02])

• Speculation on Techniques: Laura wonders if the macramé fringe has links to Arab or Chinese knotting traditions, reflecting Spain’s own history of Islamic rule.

8. Gaps in Scholarship & Future Research ([36:00])

• Need for More Research: Both Laura and Cassidy note that much remains to be studied and clarified regarding fashion and dress in the Spanish American empire.

  “I think this is also where history gets really confusing... the history of dress and... the Spanish empire generally hasn't been very thoroughly studied.”
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([36:00])

Notable Quotes

• "I think about the invasion and colonization of the Americas as this way that the Europeans found to sort of shift their entire productivity output because they found all of these resources that they no longer had in Europe... and of course human labor."
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([10:18])

• "Textiles were also very important—among other things, because they started to be made before ceramics, which is quite rare... scholars of the ancient Andes have talked about this textile primacy that existed there."
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([16:18])

• "The tailor's guild was one of the first guilds to be created there, so this was super important."
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([23:01])

• "America became a sort of melting pot of cultures where all of these tastes, including Indigenous American tastes, got together."
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([31:40])

• "The Manton de Manila basically encapsulates all of this huge empire and huge trade networks in just one garment and that's why it's so important and fascinating."
  — Laura Beltrán-Rubio ([34:16])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:33]: Challenging the “discovery” myth and reframing the Spanish colonial enterprise
• [06:07]: The establishment of Spanish colonies and the Bourbon Reforms
• [10:18]: Economic motivations—resource extraction, gold, and El Dorado
• [15:38]: Andean and Indigenous dress technologies, textile hierarchies
• [21:25]: The bringing and adaptation of Spanish dress—guilds, artisan networks
• [28:36]: Globalized trade and the circulation of luxury goods
• [32:24]: The story of the Manton de Manila and its multicultural symbolism
• [36:00]: The state of research and ongoing questions in the field

Memorable Moments

• The hosts and Laura discuss how globalization is not new—early modern Spanish colonies were part of vast transoceanic trade networks, influencing everything from ceramics to fashion.
• The Manton de Manila’s journey from Chinese silk to Spanish symbol offered a vivid example of how fashion is a multidirectional, multicultural process—not simply a marker of identity, but a product of global entanglement.
• Laura’s caution against homogenizing Indigenous dress, emphasizing the diversity and specificity of different Andean and Mesoamerican textile traditions.

Further Resources and Episode Continuation

• Cassidy encourages listeners to “join us Thursday” for part two, focusing on Laura’s own research into dress in 18th-century New Granada.
• Listeners are invited to explore Laura’s work at imperiodemoda.com, the Fashion and Race Database, and the Cultura de Moda digital humanities project.
• Spanish-speaking listeners can check out Laura’s own podcast.

This episode offers a dynamic, engaging, and deeply researched exploration of Spanish colonial fashion, global circulations of luxury, the politics of dress, and the enduring legacies of imperial history. A must-listen for fashion historians, cultural scholars, and anyone interested in how clothing shapes—and is shaped by—empire, culture, and identity.