Shows
Sighs and WhispersMolly Haskell: Feminism and the MoviesFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with movie critic and author Molly Haskell.
A legendary film critic, with her first book, ‘From Reverence to Rape: the Treatment of Women in the Movies’ (1973) Molly Haskell fundamentally changed the way we look at women in film and basically started the whole field of feminist film theory and criticism. Starting her career in the mid-1960s at the French Film Office in New York, writing press releases about French films and translating for visiting directors, Molly began reviewing in the late 1960s. Over the next five decades, she went on to writ...
2026-01-2849 min
Sighs and WhispersBarry Zaid: An Artistic Journey from 1960s London to Push Pin, Celestial Seasonings to MexicoFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms in conversation with illustrator and graphic designer Barry Zaid.
Canadian self-taught artist Barry Zaid had had a long, fruitful career that has taken him all over the world. While living in London in the mid-to-late-1960s, his stylized 20s-inspired art and graphics were a vital part of the nascent Art Deco revival; they can be seen on the cover of ‘The Beatles’ First’ and the book that gave the movement its name, Bevis Hillier’s ‘Art Deco.’ Barry then brought his inimitable illustrations to New York and Push Pin Studios, where he worked under graphi...
2026-01-151h 07
Sighs and WhispersPeter Coyote: The Counterculture, Zen, and HollywoodFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back with a conversation with writer, actor, narrator, Zen Buddhist priest, and countercultural icon Peter Coyote.
As the narrator for many of Ken Burns’ documentaries, Peter Coyote has been described as the “voice of America,” yet his life and career are far most interesting and diverse. He came to screen acting and fame in his 40s, leading a wild and colorful life of adventure on the edges of society before that. Coyote was a founding member of the Diggers, a San Francisco anarchist collective. Once the Diggers evolved into the Free Family, Coyote...
2026-01-021h 23
Sighs and WhispersSally Ann Parsons: A Costume Maker's ArtFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with Sally Ann Parsons.
Sally Ann Parson is the grande dame of the Broadway, dance and theatre costume worlds. Now in her 80s, she has been involved with the theatre since she was a small child—first as an actress, then as a costume designer for downtown dance troupes and ballets and, since 1980, the owner of a costume workshop. Parson-Meares is a Premier Broadway costume shop known for its excellence in artistic and fantastic costumes, and still after 45 years, New York City’s largest. Among the many Broadway hits for which she has...
2025-12-091h 01
Sighs and WhispersSteven Thomas: Big Biba, Branding, and ArtAfter a two-year break, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back with a conversation with artist Steven Thomas.
After studying at the Chelsea School of Art in the mid-60s, Steve started his career in Swinging London, modelling, painting the façade of Chelsea boutique Dandie Fashions, and designing album artwork for bands, including the Rolling Stones. In the late 1960s, a girlfriend introduced him fashion illustrator-turned-fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki and her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon of Biba, which began a very fruitful and inspirational collaboration. He began working with Biba first on smaller projects, like a makeup poster, t...
2025-11-251h 23
Sighs and WhispersStan Herman: Over Seventy Years in the Fashion IndustryAfter a two-year break, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back with a conversation with fashion designer Stan Herman.
Stan Herman is a living legend in the American fashion industry. At 97-years-old, Stan been designing and working in the New York fashion industry since the early 1950s. After becoming a youthquake fashion star as head designer for Mr. Mort in the late 60s, starting in the 1970s, he became the designer of choice for corporate uniforms. Through his uniform designs for many different airlines, McDonald’s, FedEx, Amtrak and more, as well as his many-decade career selling robes an...
2025-11-061h 01
Dressed: The History of FashionFashion History Now #59It's official!!! In today's episode we announce the launch of Dressed: The School of Fashion, chat about Prada's upcoming trip to the moon and recommend some fashion history newsletters to follow. Recommendations:
Sign up for our first class: What Women Wore to the Revolution, Part I
IKEA's Designer Towel Skirt
Fashion Newsletters: Laura Beltran Rubio, Laura McLaws Helm, Jo Weldon
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Our bookshelf with over 120 of our favorite fashion history titles!
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/dressed-the-history-of-fashion/donation...
2023-11-2334 min
Sighs and WhispersWhitaker Malem: Leather as Sculpture in Fashion, Art & FilmFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with leather artisans and costumers Whitaker Malem.
The British leather-making duo Patrick Whitaker and Keir Malem having been loving, working, and living together for over 35 years. Its more than likely that you are well acquainted with their work, even if the name Whitaker Malem rings no bells. If you’ve ever watched Die Another Day, The Dark Knight, Hobbs and Shaw, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Troy or Aquaman, then you’ve seen Whitaker Malem’s expert leatherwork. They started their career in fashion—their unusual, molded leather bustiers and jackets soon becoming a favori...
2023-10-061h 44
Sighs and WhispersAllen Jones: Pop Art, America in the 1960s, and the Process of CreationFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with pop artist, painter and sculptor Allen Jones.
Allen was born in Southampton in 1937 and grew up in the London suburbs. He studied painting and lithography at Hornsey College of Art between 1955 and 1959, after which he entered the Royal College of Art alongside what was to become the first generation of British pop artists. After teaching art and exhibiting for a few years, in 1964 he moved to New York for a year, before going on an extended tour of the United States by car. This trip proved to be incredibly influential in...
2023-07-121h 21
Sighs and WhispersLetty Cottin PogrebinFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks author, journalist, activist and founding editor of Ms. Magazine, Letty Cottin Pogrebin.
From Queens, Letty grew up in a conservative Jewish family. At age 20 in 1960, she became the director of publicity for the publishing company Bernard Geis Associates—later rising to vice president. There she was instrumental in making books like ‘Valley of the Dolls’ and ‘Sex and the Single Girl’ into mega-bestsellers. In 1970, she wrote her first book, ‘How to Make it in a Man’s World’; after its success, she left her job to focus on writing and raising her family. She was...
2023-06-171h 01
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 37 ft. James FritzhandFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with author, screenwriter and TV producer James Fritzhand.
Originally from Brooklyn, James Fritzhand published his first novel in 1971, ‘Son of the Great American Novel.’ He then went on to publish seventeen further novels, across many genres and using several pseudonyms—from showbiz roman a clefs to sagas to gothics to adventure novels and more. In the early 1980s, Fritzhand became a television screenwriter—writing for many of the major prime time soaps of the era: ‘Falcon Crest’, ‘Flamingo Road’, and ‘Hotel’ (which he also produced for a season). Around 2000, he retired from showbusiness and mov...
2023-05-311h 03
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 36 ft. Steven HellerFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with art director and author Steven Heller.
An incredibly creative and prolific individual, Steven is the author, co-author or editor of over 200 books on graphic design, illustration and political art. I interviewed him in the fall, around the publication of “Growing Up Underground: A Memoir of Counterculture New York,” which details his teens and early 20s working in the counterculture press. At 17 he became the art director at the counterculture weekly, the New York Free Press. He then went on to work for Screw, the East Village Other, Rock, Gay, Mobster Times, and...
2023-05-051h 15
Sighs and WhispersE35 ft. Bess MottaFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with aerobics instructor and actress Bess Motta.
Bess Motta was born and raised right outside Los Angeles, and began acting in school plays at a young age. After high school, she went on to star in “The Great American Backstage Musical” on stage in San Francisco and London—arriving back from her British sojourn thirty pounds heavier. Needing to lose weight for auditions led her to join a gym and try aerobics; within months she had lost the weight and was leading sixteen classes a week. She was elevated to fitness fame as one...
2023-03-241h 57
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 34 ft. Emanuel SchongutFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with artist and illustrator Emanuel Schongut.
Manny Schongut has had a long and diverse career as an illustrator. From upstate New York, Schongut studied and taught at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute before becoming a freelance illustrator. During the 1960s, Schongut became known for his distinctive book covers, often for science fiction and crime novels, that brought together watercolour and pen-and-ink in intriguing graphics. In the early 1970s, he was represented by Push Pin Studios, the legendary graphic design and illustration firm founded by Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast. Taking a more traditional fi...
2023-02-091h 27
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 33 ft. Pat Runningbear EvansFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back this week with a conversation with former model and artist Pat Runningbear Evans.
One of the most memorable models of the late 1960s and 1970s, Pat Evans was born and raised in Harlem. After she shaved her head, her modeling career became highly successful with Pat starring in ad campaigns, editorials and on the cover of three legendary Ohio Players albums. Unwilling to put up with the way Black women were treated as models, she moved into designing – creating handmade leather clothes that were worn by superstars like Isaac Hayes. Pat al...
2023-01-251h 12
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 32 ft. Joan Agajanian QuinnFashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back this week with a conversation with art collector, muse, journalist, and editor Joan Agajanian Quinn.
Joan Quinn has been a major force in the Los Angeles art scene for 70 years, as a collector, promoter, advocate, and friend to generations of artists. While amassing a large “accumulation” of art, her passion and collecting zeal also made her a muse for artists—what started as some artist friends painting and sculpting her portrait in the seventies, has now grown into a collection of over 300 portraits of Joan. In the late 1970s, Andy Warhol asked...
2022-11-041h 13
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 31 ft. Rory Trifon of the Estate of Richard BernsteinAfter a little hiatus, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with the president of the Estate of Richard Bernstein, Rory Trifon.
Known for his saturated, highly glamorous covers for Interview magazine, Richard Bernstein was born in New York in 1939; he passed away from AIDs-related complications in 2002. Richard created the cover for every Interview magazine up until Warhol's death in 1987—a prodigious volume of work that serves as an archive of 1970s and 1980s celebrity culture. In the late 1970s, Richard Bernstein became friends with Grace Jones, helping to mold her visual identity as she first emerged as a si...
2022-09-2025 min
Follow FridayDanielle Friedman (Let's Get Physical): Cooking in the nude, human footballs, no filtersOn the internet, body shaming is alive and well, nutrition advice can be wildly inaccurate, and it's a lot easier to scroll through Instagram for hours than to get up and go for a run. But Danielle Friedman, who literally wrote the book on women's fitness, says there's one extremely good thing that social media has done for our bodies, which we shouldn't ignore."Body acceptance activist Virgie Tovar told me that social media has given a voice to the people who have always been the majority in number, but not in influence," Danielle says. "...
2022-04-2940 min
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 30 ft. Edina RonayReturning for a new season, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with fashion designer, actress and model Edina Ronay.
Born in Budapest to a family of successful restaurateurs, Edina Ronay fled to London with her parents after the war. There her father opened a restaurant and then founded what became a very successful and influential series of guidebooks, starting with Egon Ronay's Guide to British Eateries in 1957. As a teen Edina became an actress, appearing in a number of cult British films. She was a key member of the hip London scene and dated Michael Caine before she...
2022-03-291h 09
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 29 ft. Susan WoodReturning for a new season, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with photographer Susan Wood.
Susan Wood is a New Yorker born and bred. She started her career in the early 1950s, working in the lab at LIFE magazine before having her first photo published in Harper’s Bazaar in 1955. Over the subsequent decades Susan photographed for everyone and truly across all genres. Fashion, interiors, portraits, food, travel, crafts, documentary, and movie stills—Susan did it all at a time when there were very few female photographers in the industry. Among the magazines she worked for were Vogue, New...
2022-02-152h 17
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 28 ft. Hugo VickersHugo Vickers is a writer, historian and broadcaster who discovered his interest in history and the royal family while still at school. He is the author of many books about the royal family, the British aristocracy, Cecil Beaton and other related topics. In his twenties he began researching a famed beauty he had seen mentioned in a book as a teenager—according to all reports she had disappeared but Hugo found her living in a geriatric psych ward. Thus began the several year process of interviewing her and researching Gladys’ life as the Duchess of Marlborough—his biography of her was pu...
2021-10-241h 25
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 27 ft. Shirley LordShirley Lord is a journalist, beauty editor and expert, and novelist, who rose from working-class Cockney lass to one of the most influential people in the beauty industry through grit, good humor, and a passion for journalism. A features editor for a British women’s magazine by age 24, three years later she married the carpet tycoon Cyril Lord. Weaving easily between high-class entertaining and a high-powered career, Shirley worked for British Harper’s Bazaar and the Evening Standard in London before leaving her marriage in the early 1970s to move to New York. After a stint as beauty director of Harp...
2021-10-071h 02
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 26 ft. Tere TerebaThis week on Sighs & Whispers, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with fashion designer, actress, writer and all-around creative Tere Tereba. As a teenager Tereba began designing for Arpeja, the largest LA-based multi-brand fashion company who owned Young Edwardian, Young Innocent and many others. Quickly making a name for herself, over the next twenty years Tereba designed for all of the major Los Angeles fashion companies (including Malibu Media and Jody T.), before starting her own eponymous high-end line in the late 1980s. Alongside her high-powered fashion design career, Tere maintained a very busy social life among the...
2021-09-161h 24
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 25 ft. Meryl MeislerMeryl Meisler is an acclaimed photographer known for her street and documentary work. Meisler began photographing in the mid-70s, focusing on the Jewish community in her hometown on Long Island as well as the nightlife scene in NYC. After becoming an art and photography teacher at a public school in Bushwick, Brooklyn, she continued to shoot the world and people around her. Following her retirement in 2007 that she began to delve into her old, boxed-up contact sheets and negatives—revealing a New York that was long gone, captured in a totally individual and unique manner. Since then Meisler’s phot...
2021-09-091h 19
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 24 ft. Carole Bell FordCarole Bell Ford is an educator, historian and writer. Born to Jewish immigrant parents in Brownsville, Brooklyn, in 1934, Carole’s choices led her away from the narrow options available to her in Brownsville at the time, eventually leading her to get her master’s and her doctorate, live in Europe, start writing and launch a whole new career. For many years she worked at Empire State College, a SUNY school for adult students that is centered on individualized study—there she taught in addition to developing curriculum and special programs. She started a second whole career after retirement and has since...
2021-06-121h 22
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 23 ft. Penny ArcadePenny Arcade is a performance artist and provocateur. “A runaway at thirteen, a reform-school graduate at sixteen, a performer in the legendary New York Play-House of the Ridiculous at seventeen, and an escapee from Andy Warhol’s Factory scene at nineteen, Penny Arcade emerged in the 1980s as a primal force on the New York art scene and an originator of what came to be called performance art.” She joins host Laura McLaws Helms to discuss the winding road of her life, family history, artistic influences, becoming a performance artist, her personal life and healing journey, in addition to her though...
2021-06-111h 33
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 22 ft. Charlie MorrowCharlie Morrow is a sound artist, composer, musician, producer, conceptualist, performer, magazine editor and former jingle writer. He joins host Laura McLaws Helms to discuss all aspects of his life, work and creative process. A true multi-hat, his creative projects have included chanting and healing works, museum and gallery installations, large-scale festival events, radio and TV broadcasts, film soundtracks, advertising jingles and commercial soundscapes. Among his many projects he organized a Summer Solstice celebration annually in NYC from 1973 to 1989.
For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of photographs, head to https://sighswhispers.com/ episode-22-charlie-morrow
Produced and hosted...
2021-06-031h 19
Sighs and WhispersEpisode 21 ft. Barbara NessimBarbara Nessim is an artist, teacher, and creative visionary. She joins host Laura McLaws Helms to discuss all aspects of her life, work and creative process. From the personal—her childhood in a Jewish neighborhood in the 1940 and 50s, through life as a single woman making her way in New York in the 60s and 70s, a later marriage and her decision not to have children—to the artistic—her inspirations, mentors, how she developed her unique and instantly recognizable style, her early adoption of computer art and more.
For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of photographs, head t...
2021-05-271h 21
Sighs and WhispersE20 ft. Martha ClarkeThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with dancer, choreographer and director Martha Clarke—known for transcending dance and theater to make deeply evocative moving spectacles of beauty steeped in history. After studying at Julliard, dancing with Anna Sokolow’s company, having a baby and moving to Rome, Clarke became a founding member of the highly innovative dance troupe Pilobolus in 1971. Her own work from 1980 on was noted for its dreamlike quality—nonlinear, they invite the viewer into an illusory world of fantasy. The most famous of her works is 1984's The Garden o...
2020-05-211h 18
Sighs and WhispersE19 ft. Veronica VeraThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with Veronica Vera. Opening up about her multifaceted career as a sex journalist, porn star, erotic model, prostitutes’ rights activist, co-founder of the first porn star support group, and the head of the world’s first cross-dressing academy, Veronica is incredibly insightful about the effect that her sexual awakening had on her life and choices. This intimate conversation covers everything—love, sex, porn, the creative process, writing, art, New York from the 1960s to now, AIDs, death and friendship.
For full show notes, episode resources and a sl...
2020-01-071h 45
Sighs and WhispersE18 ft. Robert FarberThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with photographer and filmmaker Robert Farber. Rising to prominence as a nude and fashion photographer in the mid-to-late 1970s, Farber is known for his signature soft focus aesthetic which he developed by experimenting with different films, filters and development processes with the goal of creating a painterly effect on film. With an innovative approach that produced atmospheric images tinged with nostalgia, since 1976 Farber has balanced highly successful careers in both the fine art and commercial photography worlds. A must listen for anyone interested in photography, Ro...
2019-10-261h 50
Sighs and WhispersE17 ft. Rick GilletteThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with makeup artist, hairstylist, interior decorator and gallery owner Rick Gillette. Passionate about beauty and transformation, Rick arrived in NYC in the late 1960s. In great detail, Rick vividly brings to life the many worlds of New York—from downtown hip salons to luxury fashion magazines to the gay scene. Soon a star makeup artist and hairstylist, Rick was a favorite with famous photographers like Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. In the late 1980s he shifted his career to photography, before later focusing on interior desi...
2019-10-112h 36
Sighs and WhispersE16 ft. Mel OdomThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with illustrator and doll creator Mel Odom. An acclaimed illustrator known for utterly captivating and totally unique drawings suffused with a beauty and mystery that were unmatched, Mel worked extensively in the 1970s and 1980s for publications like Playboy, Time, Viva, OMNI, and Blue Boy. In 1995 he launched his labor of love—Gene Marshall, a fashion doll based on classic Hollywood starlets, who took the toy world by storm. Now focused primarily on painting, Mel is a total Southern gentleman and a joy to speak with...
2019-09-271h 34
Sighs and WhispersE15 ft. Willie ChristieThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with photographer and filmmaker Willie Christie. A wonderfully gossipy conversation, Willie discusses his career from photo assistant to photographer to commercial director to screenwriter to today. Full of interesting stories and memories about his time as a fashion photographer in the 1970s when he was married to Grace Coddington and shooting primarily for British Vogue, Willie then went on to direct videos for Pink Floyd and have a highly successful commercial directing career that spanned decades.
For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of...
2019-09-201h 11
Sighs and WhispersE14 ft. Barbara DalyThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with make-up artist Barbara Daly.
Barbara’s long and illustrious career includes working with such photographic greats as Helmut Newton, Barry Lategan and Norman Parkinson, in addition to designing the makeup looks for two of Stanley Kubrick’s films, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Barry Lyndon.’ She then went on to found her own beauty school and launch two cosmetics brands, but her most famous work was doing Princess Diana’s make-up on her wedding day in 1981.
For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of images, head...
2019-09-131h 27
Sighs and WhispersE13 ft. Tony VaccaroThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with acclaimed photographer Tony Vaccaro.
Now 96, Tony Vaccaro is a legend in the photography world. Drafted into WWII at age 20, he brought his 35 mm camera with him to the frontlines in Europe—vividly capturing all aspects of an infantryman’s life: the chaos, the boredom, the destruction, the death. Tony stayed on in Europe after the war, documenting the reconstruction, before returning to New York where he established himself as a very in-demand fashion and celebrity photographer for Life and Look magazines. To all of his wo...
2019-09-061h 07
Sighs and WhispersE12 ft. Marylou LutherThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with acclaimed fashion journalist Marylou Luther. Opening up about her seven decades writing about fashion, Marylou discusses her leap from small-town Nebraska to covering fashion for the Des Moines Register, the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times and McCall’s, meeting Christian Dior, her friendship with Edith Head, and how she balanced a strong family life with a fast-paced career.
For full show notes, episode resources and more about Marylou, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-marylou-luther
Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms
Featured Guest Marylou Luth
2018-10-191h 08
Sighs and WhispersE11 ft. David Lance GoinesThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with graphic artist David Lance Goines.
Incredibly multi-talented, Goines is an artist, calligrapher, typographer, printing entrepreneur, and author, yet he probably best known for the posters he illustrated for local Berkeley businesses, which have been reproduced and sold worldwide. Most notably would be the work he has done for the legendary Chez Panisse, which was opened by his former girlfriend Alice Waters—his book covers and annual posters for the restaurant helped define the visual identity of it for food lovers around the globe, in much...
2018-08-161h 05
LET IT OUT232 | History, Vintage Fashion, Finding a Creative Career with Laura McLaws Helms Fashion and Cultural HistorianNotes from the Show:
-Laura Helms on The Web | Instagram | Twitter | Podcast
-Laura's art and fashion magazine: Lady World TV & Lady World Instagram
-Laura's podcast interview with Norma Kamali
-Laura's clothing line: Marshmallow & Marshmallow Instagram
-Laura's Richard Kern 24 hour Breakfast Club
-Types of Meditation we talked about: Zazen meditation | Kundalini meditation | TM Mediation , check out my episode with Bob Roth, a TM Meditation teacher here.
-The Commodore for Pina Colada with Amaretto Float
-NYC Library
-Dynasty
-Blue Highways
Album art b...
2018-08-151h 26
Sighs and WhispersE10 ft. Mel RamosThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with pop artist Mel Ramos.
Sacramento native Mel Ramos was a progenitor of the pop art movement in the early 1960s – alongside his friends and contemporaries Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, he was one of the first artists to use comic book illustrations in his art. Ramos gained fame and notoriety for his paintings that combined commercial goods and idealized female nudes. Still creating these “commercial pin-ups” at age 82, in this discussion Ramos reflects on his long career as an artist and professor, his inspirations and crea...
2018-07-1552 min
Sighs and WhispersE9. ft Sandy DvoreThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with graphic artist Sandy Dvore.
Originally from Chicago, Sandy Dvore left advertising to move to LA to become an actor in the early 1960s. Several years of failure and a chance encounter resulted in him becoming a highly successful graphic artist in the entertainment world. For many years the highly coveted back pages of The Hollywood Reporter and Variety were reserved for his vibrantly illustrated ads that broadcast the latest news for the megastars of cinema and music. From there, he became a sought after ti...
2018-06-181h 45
Sighs and WhispersE8 ft. Ingrid BoultingThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with model, actress and yogi Ingrid Boulting.
One of the most memorable models of the late 1960s and 1970s, Ingrid Boulting was raised in South Africa and England. Starting as a ballerina she fell into fashion, where she became a favorite of Richard Avedon, David Bailey and Sarah Moon, and appeared in Vogue (all international editions), Harper’s Bazaar, Seventeen and many other magazines and ad campaigns. In 1976 she starred alongside Robert DeNiro in the movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel, 'The Last T...
2018-05-231h 09
Sighs and WhispersE7 ft. Anna SuiThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with fashion designer Anna Sui.
Born in Detroit in 1952, from a young age Sui became obsessed with fashion, music and New York. Sui achieved her dream when she moved to NYC to study fashion design at Parsons, but left after two years to work as an assistant designer at a juniors’ sportswear label. In 1980 she started her own company with $300. With the help of best friends Steven Meisel and Paul Cavaco, Sui launched herself into the fashion stratosphere in 1991 with her supermodel-heavy first runway show. In 1...
2018-05-1039 min
Sighs and WhispersE6 ft. Jerry SchatzbergThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with photographer and filmmaker Jerry Schatzberg.
Originally from the Bronx, Jerry became intrigued with photography while working at his family’s fur business after WWII. He started as a photographer’s assistant in the mid 1950s, before striking out on his own and shooting for Vogue by the end of the decade. Perfectly placed and well-suited to document the pop culture shifts of the Sixties, Schatzberg photographed such luminaries as the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan while also hosting raucous parties for them at his...
2018-04-261h 30
Sighs and WhispersE5 ft. Vicky TielThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with fashion designer Vicky Tiel.
Vicky Tiel started designing clothes as a pre-teen before studying fashion at Parsons in New York. Alongside her college friend, Mia Fonssagrives, she moved to Paris at age 20 in 1964, where they quickly became the toast of the town. Snapped up to be costume designers on the film ‘What’s New Pussycat?’, they met Elizabeth Taylor at the studio—she became a client, friend and investor in their company. Mia-Vicky opened their first store in 1968 at 21 Rue Bonaparte; Vicky maintained a shop in th...
2018-03-1547 min
Sighs and WhispersE4 ft. Marilyn Cole LownesThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with model, Playboy Playmate and journalist Marilyn Cole Lownes. From a small seaside town in England, Marilyn got her break as a Bunny at the Playboy Club in London in 1971 before becoming the January 1972 Playmate of the Month and 1973's Playmate of the Year. A notorious beauty, she enjoyed the finest excesses of the 1970s before settling down with her longtime on/off love, Playboy executive Victor Lownes, in 1984. She discusses how passion inspired the course of her life (taking her from modeling to journalism an...
2018-03-0544 min
Sighs and WhispersE3 ft. Russell and Marian MorashThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with legendary television producer Russell Morash and his wife, Marian Morash. Working at WGBH in Boston since 1957, Russell Morash’s programs have been integral to the success of PBS – he produced Julia Child’s ‘The French Chef’ and ‘The Advocates,’ before creating ‘The Victory Garden,’ ‘This Old House’ and ‘The New Yankee Workshop.’ Marian learned to cook from Julia, ran a successful restaurant in Nantucket and became “Chef Marian” on ‘The Victory Garden.’ Russell Morash is the winner of 14 Daytime Emmy’s and the recipient of the 2014 Emmy Lifetime Achievement...
2018-02-151h 01
Sighs and WhispersE2 ft. Norma KamaliThis week on LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with legendary fashion designer Norma Kamali. Opening up about her life, work and creative process, Norma is incredibly insightful about the choices and decisions she has made throughout her career in order to maintain her independence in the fashion industry and also discusses what continues to inspire her after fifty years designing.
For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of Norma’s designs, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-norma-kamali
Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms
Featured Guest Norma Kamali
2018-02-0150 min
Sighs and WhispersE1 ft. Duane MichalsOn this first episode of the relaunched LADY’s After Hours, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms sits down with renowned photographer Duane Michals. An incredibly prolific artist, he has been shooting since 1958 and continues to produce new work across a range of different media. In a sprawling conversation, we discuss his life, career and creative process. Just like his work, Duane is immensely engaging, funny, melancholy, serious and loving.
For full show notes, episode resources and a slideshow of Duane’s images, head to https://ladyworld.tv/after-hours-duane-michals
Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms
Featured Guest Duane Mich
2018-01-231h 03
Sighs and WhispersAFTER HOURS: The Infamous Kern SpeaksSit in on controversial artist Richard Kern’s AFTER HOURS conversation with Fabiola Alondra and Jane Harmon of Fortnight Institute. In the wake of "Polarized," their current exhibition of Kern's work (which includes his voyeuristic, 1980's drug-bust films and largely unseen collection of Polaroids), we at LADY were keen to know more about the famously taciturn man behind the camera. Listen in as this theoretical perv discusses his past moonlighting in porn, a demystification of his casting process, and Lydia Lunch.
Produced by Savannah Grace Neiggemann
Hosted by Jane Harmon + Fabiola Alondra
Featured Guest Richard Kern
Recorded by Know-Wave
2016-09-2738 min