0:00:12.014,0:00:17.093
I'm going to talk about[br]political protest and papier mache.

0:00:17.205,0:00:18.306
(Laughter)

0:00:18.406,0:00:22.755
But for any of this to make sense,[br]I first need to confess something to you,

0:00:22.962,0:00:26.584
something that might not be obvious[br]just by looking at me.

0:00:26.958,0:00:30.109
My name's Lucy,[br]and I'm a sensible grown-up.

0:00:30.714,0:00:31.997
I work hard.

0:00:31.997,0:00:33.682
I'm a decent mother

0:00:33.682,0:00:36.047
and a responsible member of my community.

0:00:36.795,0:00:39.689
But I much prefer dressing up[br]as someone else.

0:00:40.175,0:00:45.303
You see, I have always loved fancy dress.

0:00:46.045,0:00:47.607
And since this picture -

0:00:47.607,0:00:48.902
(Laughter)

0:00:49.896,0:00:53.986
But since this picture was taken,[br]I've ramped things up a bit.

0:00:54.442,0:00:58.252
I've commissioned made-to-measure armor[br]from a workshop in the Ukraine,

0:00:58.414,0:01:00.835
imported professional Hollywood blood.

0:01:01.336,0:01:05.089
I've nurtured a collection of 36 tiaras.

0:01:05.600,0:01:08.727
I've had a fake wedding,[br]complete with fake bridesmaids,

0:01:08.727,0:01:10.986
fake vicar, fake husband.

0:01:11.747,0:01:13.804
I hospitalized myself once

0:01:13.804,0:01:17.087
after an incident with a Roman toga[br]and some very hot glue.

0:01:17.190,0:01:18.358
(Laughter)

0:01:18.520,0:01:21.932
And I once sent my son to school[br]looking like this.

0:01:22.470,0:01:24.369
(Laughter)

0:01:27.268,0:01:30.990
Now, the kind of fancy dress[br]that I love is not the same as cosplay

0:01:30.990,0:01:34.424
with its discipline[br]and immersiveness and accuracy.

0:01:34.738,0:01:35.966
They're the real deal.

0:01:36.530,0:01:39.736
But what I adore[br]is the peculiar eccentricity

0:01:39.736,0:01:44.704
of cardboard cut-outs,[br]dodgy sewing, stapled seams.

0:01:45.251,0:01:47.405
It's kitchen-table couture.

0:01:47.762,0:01:51.552
The for-one-night-only aspect,[br]falling into bed drunk

0:01:51.552,0:01:54.588
and danced out and still[br]wearing the face paint.

0:01:54.941,0:01:57.057
And there's nothing[br]disciplined about that.

0:01:57.695,0:02:01.557
So in order to have[br]more fancy dress in my life -

0:02:01.557,0:02:03.332
because, honestly, it's awful -

0:02:03.332,0:02:07.211
you can't do it in supermarkets[br]or on average Wednesdays.

0:02:07.590,0:02:09.448
So I created a podcast about it.

0:02:09.448,0:02:14.545
The only podcast about fashion,[br]fantasy, and fancy dress.

0:02:14.545,0:02:17.130
Or costumes, as they prefer[br]to call it in the US.

0:02:18.283,0:02:21.540
It's a place to explore[br]the elaborate themes,

0:02:21.540,0:02:25.461
intricacies, and influence[br]of costume in real life.

0:02:26.201,0:02:27.621
Because I'm interested

0:02:27.621,0:02:31.819
in the distinction between[br]the performative and the personal.

0:02:32.197,0:02:36.006
Ordinary people in extraordinary outfits.

0:02:36.593,0:02:39.094
And what struck me[br]more than any other subject

0:02:39.114,0:02:40.833
we've encountered on the show

0:02:40.833,0:02:45.291
is the way people use costume[br]as a tool for protest.

0:02:45.807,0:02:47.284
Now, you might be thinking,

0:02:47.284,0:02:50.841
"What does dressing up have to do[br]with the important business of politics?"

0:02:51.802,0:02:53.012
(Laughter)

0:02:53.364,0:02:55.496
And it does seem counterintuitive.

0:02:55.496,0:02:58.910
Why dress silly in order[br]to be taken seriously?

0:02:59.280,0:03:02.543
But from caped crusaders[br]to modern suffragettes,

0:03:02.543,0:03:06.179
people are getting creative with costume[br]to express their outrage

0:03:06.179,0:03:08.260
and garner global attention.

0:03:08.290,0:03:09.512
And it's working.

0:03:10.358,0:03:14.663
It's worth saying here that fashion[br]is often treated as a flimsy,

0:03:14.663,0:03:18.509
generally female distraction[br]from the real issues of the day,

0:03:18.509,0:03:21.380
and despite being[br]a three-trillion-dollar industry,

0:03:21.380,0:03:25.744
it's often marginalized or dismissed[br]in commentary about current affairs.

0:03:26.471,0:03:30.534
And yet, every day each one of us

0:03:30.564,0:03:34.535
uses what we wear as a tool[br]for constructing our sense of self,

0:03:34.535,0:03:36.753
for literally fashioning our identities.

0:03:37.816,0:03:42.301
If fashion is considered frivolous,[br]then fancy dress is really frivolous.

0:03:42.301,0:03:43.400
Right?

0:03:43.789,0:03:49.489
But actually, it allows us to express[br]the most extreme version of ourselves.

0:03:49.819,0:03:52.313
It allows us to be something other.

0:03:52.640,0:03:56.146
Something in-between,[br]something in development.

0:03:56.560,0:04:01.201
And historically, it's always[br]had a relationship with hot topics.

0:04:01.585,0:04:06.092
Here's a gown by Worth worn[br]by Mrs. Vanderbilt in 1883,

0:04:06.110,0:04:08.991
representing the spirit of electricity.

0:04:09.650,0:04:13.169
More recently, there's been[br]a decidedly less beautiful trend

0:04:13.169,0:04:16.798
for dressing as the Millennial's[br]favorite, the avocado.

0:04:17.030,0:04:20.022
(Laughter)

0:04:25.085,0:04:26.169
Sorry.

0:04:26.169,0:04:27.663
(Laughter)

0:04:27.887,0:04:32.237
Over the years, fancy dress has[br]playfully depicted controversial moments,

0:04:32.267,0:04:35.507
from this matchgirl factory-strike dress

0:04:35.536,0:04:39.271
to Urban Outfitter's[br]Halloween "Influencer" costume.

0:04:40.316,0:04:43.774
It's satire and disruption[br]and provocation.

0:04:44.119,0:04:47.568
So I'm going to take us[br]beyond slogan T-shirts

0:04:47.789,0:04:50.826
to look at the ways[br]bonkers subversive garments

0:04:50.826,0:04:53.325
are being used to take on[br]the establishment.

0:04:53.995,0:04:56.515
Here, we can see an anarchic continuity

0:04:56.515,0:05:00.266
from gunpowder plot[br]through to Occupy Wall Street.

0:05:00.266,0:05:03.305
These masks taken from[br]the comic book "V for Vandetta,"

0:05:03.305,0:05:05.985
are used as a public face[br]of the anonymous movement.

0:05:06.105,0:05:09.115
They're a variation on a Guy Folks theme,

0:05:09.115,0:05:12.005
and they hark back[br]to ancient carnivals and masquerades

0:05:12.005,0:05:14.956
where the usual societal[br]rules don't apply,

0:05:14.956,0:05:17.474
and everything is temporarily topsy-turvy.

0:05:18.336,0:05:22.236
Here, "Handmaid's Tale" costumes[br]are appropriated for demonstrations

0:05:22.236,0:05:24.119
against the Trump administration,

0:05:24.119,0:05:26.619
and we saw a lot[br]at the Kavanaugh hearings -

0:05:26.619,0:05:31.009
taking a moment in fiction[br]from Margaret Atwood's 1985 dystopia,

0:05:31.009,0:05:33.518
and applying it[br]to a very current conflict,

0:05:33.918,0:05:39.418
lines of silent, highly visible women[br]outside courtrooms and the Capitol.

0:05:40.469,0:05:44.559
Hilariously, later, in a complete[br]misjudgment of the cultural mood,

0:05:44.559,0:05:47.601
the retailer Yandy prompted[br]wide-spread disgust

0:05:47.601,0:05:50.860
when they launched[br]a sexy version of the Handmaid.

0:05:51.041,0:05:52.690
(Laughter)

0:05:55.310,0:05:57.051
I don't think they'd read the novel.

0:05:57.051,0:05:58.680
(Laughter)

0:05:59.330,0:06:02.541
Elsewhere, the visual language[br]of the suffragettes

0:06:02.541,0:06:04.311
is borrowed from new battle,

0:06:04.311,0:06:08.111
purple for dignity,[br]white for purity, green for hope.

0:06:08.120,0:06:12.516
Powerful Pantones and a pre-hashtag way[br]of building momentum.

0:06:12.850,0:06:15.497
Sentiments like[br]"Same shit, different century"

0:06:15.497,0:06:17.268
are rendered ever so lady-like.

0:06:17.268,0:06:18.407
(Laughter)

0:06:18.547,0:06:22.309
The campaign group Fathers for Justice[br]uses a range of costumes in their stunts

0:06:22.309,0:06:24.289
from Batman to Santa.

0:06:24.289,0:06:26.690
Clear statements in a contentious debate.

0:06:26.690,0:06:29.626
By using classic icons of good,

0:06:29.629,0:06:33.307
by hijacking the visual grammar[br]of superheroism,

0:06:33.307,0:06:37.104
they're trying to invoke[br]an almost an instinctive, nostalgic,

0:06:37.104,0:06:39.415
sympathetic response in the viewer.

0:06:40.623,0:06:43.993
The Pink Pussyhat Project[br]took a traditional domestic skill

0:06:44.263,0:06:47.333
and rendered it the opposite[br]of calm or comforting.

0:06:47.333,0:06:51.977
This open-source knitting pattern,[br]this moment of craftivism -

0:06:51.977,0:06:55.527
originally conceived the people[br]who wanted to march but couldn't -

0:06:55.527,0:06:59.087
was quickly embraced[br]by women's activists all over the world.

0:06:59.207,0:07:00.457
Sarah Mower called it

0:07:00.457,0:07:04.497
a global cheerful symbol[br]of feminist defiance in British Vogue,

0:07:04.497,0:07:07.647
and it's considered so important[br]a moment in fashion history

0:07:07.647,0:07:12.155
that the V&A's brilliantly titled[br]Rapid Response Collection

0:07:12.155,0:07:13.867
have already acquired one.

0:07:15.387,0:07:21.728
Now, imagine if you took[br]the costumes away in all these examples.

0:07:22.248,0:07:26.548
If they were just standing there[br]in jeans and anoraks.

0:07:27.095,0:07:29.765
What does that do the occasion,

0:07:29.765,0:07:32.735
the atmosphere, the news cycle?

0:07:33.595,0:07:36.485
Each of these examples[br]uses cultural referencing

0:07:36.485,0:07:39.185
to make a statement without saying a word.

0:07:39.185,0:07:41.075
It's free speech without speech,

0:07:41.075,0:07:44.235
the messages writ large on the body.

0:07:44.235,0:07:47.385
And how do you express[br]your feelings about issues

0:07:47.399,0:07:49.409
that are so complex,

0:07:49.409,0:07:52.899
so shifting, so delicate, so divisive

0:07:52.899,0:07:54.879
that sometimes language eludes

0:07:54.879,0:07:56.692
even the very best of us?

0:07:58.949,0:08:01.679
I just love her face in that picture.

0:08:01.679,0:08:03.659
(Laughter)

0:08:05.569,0:08:11.614
At a time when the words of experts[br]are ridiculed and critics are trolled,

0:08:11.614,0:08:14.784
when fake news rebrands truth as fiction,

0:08:14.784,0:08:18.307
perhaps we need tools[br]that are beyond language

0:08:18.307,0:08:21.007
to securely assert our values.

0:08:22.014,0:08:26.528
I think there's a link[br]between fancy dress and ambition.

0:08:26.528,0:08:28.012
It's why we love it growing up.

0:08:28.012,0:08:30.152
You can be a ballet dancer[br]and a firefighter,

0:08:30.152,0:08:31.752
all in the same afternoon.

0:08:31.752,0:08:33.152
But for the game to work,

0:08:33.152,0:08:35.619
you have to do more[br]than just put the clothes on.

0:08:35.822,0:08:38.962
You need to aspire into those costumes.

0:08:39.392,0:08:42.692
Fancy dress isn't just a tool[br]to passively join in,

0:08:42.692,0:08:46.799
but an opportunity[br]to project our future selves,

0:08:46.958,0:08:48.082
our hopes.

0:08:48.864,0:08:50.624
And I believe there's a relationship

0:08:50.624,0:08:54.231
between the way we dress[br]and how brave we feel.

0:08:54.231,0:08:57.342
I know that because it took me weeks[br]to decide what to wear today.

0:08:57.342,0:08:58.352
(Laughter)

0:08:58.352,0:09:03.822
Perhaps, dressing up gives us courage[br]to behave in ways we wouldn't otherwise.

0:09:04.010,0:09:06.800
Here are some extreme[br]illustrations of that.

0:09:07.652,0:09:12.132
During the American Civil War,[br]Frances Clayton dressed as a male soldier,

0:09:12.132,0:09:14.074
becoming Jack Williams.

0:09:14.074,0:09:18.428
She fought with the Missouri[br]Regiment in 17 battles

0:09:18.744,0:09:20.946
before her identity was revealed.

0:09:21.680,0:09:25.812
She used uniform[br]first to disguise her gender,

0:09:25.812,0:09:30.001
second as armor, a layering[br]of costume that allowed her

0:09:30.001,0:09:31.422
to elude the male gaze

0:09:31.422,0:09:35.562
and instead train her eye[br]to fight alongside them.

0:09:35.832,0:09:37.765
Which, I wonder, was the more dangerous?

0:09:38.972,0:09:41.312
By wearing her warrior status,

0:09:41.312,0:09:45.312
Frances was dressing up[br]in order to be allowed in.

0:09:45.652,0:09:48.037
A whole life born out of those clothes.

0:09:49.512,0:09:52.166
The women of the 18th century[br]often used the masquerades

0:09:52.166,0:09:55.060
as an opportunity to elope or escape.

0:09:55.060,0:09:59.399
Being masked and unchaperoned[br]gave them an unusual freedom,

0:09:59.399,0:10:02.719
a socially sanctioned moment of disguise

0:10:02.719,0:10:05.649
to pursue a life beyond[br]the one ascribed to them.

0:10:06.526,0:10:09.716
The mask made them dangerous and daring.

0:10:10.342,0:10:13.406
We know how extreme[br]the psychology of this can be

0:10:13.406,0:10:17.380
because the worst imaginable atrocities[br]have been committed masked

0:10:17.380,0:10:19.131
and in a kind of costume.

0:10:20.310,0:10:22.085
A corrupt courage.

0:10:22.085,0:10:25.360
Cloaked and criminal.

0:10:25.360,0:10:29.100
A group united[br]as a chilling icon of hatred.

0:10:29.699,0:10:32.279
Costume isn't intrinsically innocent.

0:10:32.279,0:10:36.279
And a disguise can free[br]an innermost evil, too.

0:10:37.672,0:10:41.672
Costume for unity can be seen[br]in a completely different way here:

0:10:41.822,0:10:42.870
where it says,

0:10:42.870,0:10:46.075
"She is getting married, so we're having[br]organized compulsory fun."

0:10:46.075,0:10:48.012
(Laughter)

0:10:48.012,0:10:49.375
We've all been there.

0:10:50.245,0:10:52.373
Or here, at the State of the Union,

0:10:52.373,0:10:54.765
where it says we are part[br]of an empowered tradition

0:10:54.765,0:10:57.039
honoring the suffragettes' legacy.

0:10:57.939,0:11:02.519
Simply put, when an activist[br]puts their identity alongside a placard,

0:11:02.519,0:11:06.109
they show that they,[br]as an individual, express a view.

0:11:06.109,0:11:09.639
If they want to connect it with a wider[br]movement, they can use a signifier,

0:11:09.639,0:11:10.944
like the suffragette colors

0:11:10.944,0:11:13.404
or the "hi-viz" vests[br]of the French "Gilets jaunes."

0:11:13.404,0:11:15.484
It's tribal.

0:11:15.484,0:11:20.904
Whereas in fancy dress, the costume[br]subsumes the individual entirely

0:11:20.904,0:11:22.794
into the view they're expressing.

0:11:23.084,0:11:27.514
It's as if, bizarrely,[br]when someone is concealed,

0:11:27.514,0:11:30.884
their true values[br]become completely visible.

0:11:31.764,0:11:34.104
The arresting protest images[br]I've shown you today,

0:11:34.104,0:11:35.751
and of course there are many more,

0:11:35.751,0:11:39.234
all, unequivocally,[br]communicate collective hopes.

0:11:39.624,0:11:43.014
By protesting in costume,[br]these people are giving voice

0:11:43.014,0:11:47.144
to their democratic right[br]to imagine a potential future,

0:11:47.144,0:11:48.944
to identify with each other,

0:11:48.944,0:11:50.694
and to express their freedom.

0:11:51.034,0:11:55.168
So costume has real potential[br]to challenge and confront,

0:11:55.168,0:11:57.298
for disruption and dissent.

0:11:57.298,0:12:00.495
By dressing outside ourselves,[br]we trick the eye,

0:12:00.495,0:12:03.943
attract the focus, demand recognition.

0:12:03.943,0:12:08.874
We creatively tell the people in power[br]that we're not comfortable conforming,

0:12:08.874,0:12:13.354
that the collective issue is bigger[br]than our personal perspective.

0:12:14.257,0:12:20.538
Fancy dress is not bound[br]by who you are or how you identify

0:12:20.538,0:12:23.194
but by the message you want to embody.

0:12:23.583,0:12:28.453
And those messages aren't constrained[br]by the limits of your experience

0:12:28.453,0:12:29.943
or your environment.

0:12:30.423,0:12:32.523
Only by your imagination.

0:12:33.206,0:12:37.686
And we have to imagine our utopias[br]before we can build them.

0:12:38.222,0:12:40.172
It is imagination that sells

0:12:40.172,0:12:43.892
thousands of cheap and cheerful[br]Marilyn Monroe dresses every year.

0:12:43.892,0:12:48.282
Imagination that sends kids to school[br]clutching Harry Potter wands,

0:12:48.282,0:12:52.882
and sales figures for grotesque rubber[br]presidential candidate masks

0:12:52.882,0:12:57.353
have correctly predicted[br]U.S. election outcomes since Nixon.

0:12:59.372,0:13:00.882
Isn't he handsome there?

0:13:00.882,0:13:02.425
(Laughter)

0:13:03.343,0:13:06.083
Unlike any other kind of getting dressed,

0:13:06.083,0:13:09.887
fancy dress is fundamentally[br]about infinite possibility.

0:13:10.087,0:13:12.132
That's why we keep it alive,

0:13:12.332,0:13:15.464
even when technology offers up[br]far more sophisticated vehicles

0:13:15.464,0:13:18.055
for experimenting or escapism.

0:13:18.515,0:13:20.675
We still throw another party,

0:13:20.675,0:13:25.955
hand down our treasured dressing-up boxes,[br]those time capsules of ideas

0:13:25.955,0:13:27.805
and interpretations.

0:13:28.444,0:13:33.294
So if dressing together[br]as one brilliant rainbow crew

0:13:33.294,0:13:36.274
gives you a sense[br]of strength and belonging,

0:13:36.274,0:13:39.696
a palette just about big enough[br]to celebrate your pride,

0:13:40.194,0:13:42.054
then use all the colors.

0:13:42.334,0:13:47.664
Or if you wake up one morning thinking[br]Brexit is a job for Wonderwoman ...

0:13:48.034,0:13:49.671
(Laughter)

0:13:49.951,0:13:51.490
you might be right.

0:13:52.150,0:13:57.270
Or if you're moved to rise up[br]in solidarity in a crowd of pink hats

0:13:57.270,0:14:03.098
that say in glorious, loving shorthand[br]how your body is equal,

0:14:03.658,0:14:06.062
how it is not there for grabbing,

0:14:06.062,0:14:09.743
how it belongs fiercely to yourself,

0:14:10.343,0:14:12.153
then get knitting.

0:14:12.583,0:14:16.835
Just as children dressing as astronauts[br]aren't trying out a future career,

0:14:16.835,0:14:19.573
they're playing[br]with an alternative reality.

0:14:19.573,0:14:24.003
So we can use the freedom of fancy dress[br]to communicate an imagined,

0:14:24.003,0:14:26.178
better version of our lives.

0:14:26.178,0:14:30.988
Because fancy dress says, "This tawdry[br]reality isn't good enough for me."

0:14:30.988,0:14:34.998
Think of it as dressing up for the job[br]you want, not the job you have.

0:14:35.268,0:14:37.290
Or for turning one night only

0:14:37.290,0:14:41.308
into a blueprint[br]for a magical tomorrow, too.

0:14:42.669,0:14:43.824
Lets remember,

0:14:43.824,0:14:48.360
fancy dress has a grown-up role to play[br]beyond stag parties and Halloweens.

0:14:48.360,0:14:51.550
Its principles even have a place[br]at the State Opening of Parliament

0:14:51.550,0:14:53.340
and the State of the Union.

0:14:53.340,0:14:59.130
From full get-up to subtle signifiers,[br]this is about being emboldened.

0:14:59.575,0:15:03.225
Massive movements[br]are born of micro demonstrations.

0:15:03.225,0:15:08.533
Things that seem trivial or frivolous[br]can be potent symbols

0:15:08.533,0:15:12.473
of what you stand for,[br]or what you won't stand for.

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There's real power in putting[br]on those knitted ears,

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in choosing to wear a cape[br]for good versus evil.

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Fancy dress has a unifying quality[br]that we can use to fight for change,

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armed only with glue guns and gumption.

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And if costume makes up braver,

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it gives us the courage[br]to explore imaginative alternatives.

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The courage not just to turn up[br]but to be noticed.

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So I hope we never grow out of it.

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Thank you.

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(Applause) (Cheers) (Whistles)