Pleats Please: the Story of the World's Oldest Fashion Technique

There's a fashion technique that's been in continuous use for over five thousand years – proof, if proof is needed, that there is nothing new in fashion. We have tunics that survive from the time of the Pharaohs in Egypt that use it and you can see it still in the catwalk collections of today. It's incredible to think that the simple pleat has pleased the human eye for so long and in so many different ways. Pleating adds movement and life to garments and often signals wealth and abundance. Each culture has found its own way to use them, from the stitched smocks of early English farm workers to the glorious billowing dress Marilyn Munroe wore above the subway grating in the 1950s. This episode tells the story of the pleats on the world's oldest surviving garment, hears from an expert modern pleater in New York, and tries to unravel the mystery behind one of the world's most famous pleated garments. For more information about this episode and pictures of the people and places mentioned in this episode please go to . And if you would like to find out about Friends of Haptic & Hue with an extra podcast every month hosted by Jo Andrews and Bill Taylor – here's the link:

You can listen to Pleats Please: the Story of the World's Oldest Fashion Technique online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Pleats Please: the Story of the World's Oldest Fashion Technique is an episode from Haptic & Hue by Jo Andrews.

This episode is 41:55 long.

This episode was published on Mar 6, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Haptic & Hue when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.