These Videos of Antique Fashion Are Your New Happy Place

(Image credit: Getty, design by Betsy Farrell)

published 4 November 16

You can shop right from Instagram now, but can you receive the insider-iest insider's-eye view of sick historical clothes too? Why yes, yes you can.

Followed by Mary Katrantzou and street-style goddess Anne Catherine Frey, Timothy Long, fashion historian and museum curator (#dreamjob), gives guided video tours of everything from 16th-century codpieces to sweat-stained silk dresses from 1805—all with breathless enthusiasm and painstakingly, charmingly typed-out comments. (No audio, though. Except for the rustling of some acid-free tissue paper.)

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Other highlights, presented with more (read: juicy) info than you'd get at similar institutions: these crazy-skinny trousers (opens in new tab) you'd need to Cool Runnings down a Crisco-coated Slip'n Slide to get into; a collection of chokers that would send the Jenners and Hadids into a dynastic bidding war, should they learn of it; and a remarkable pair of beaded slippers (opens in new tab).

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Obviously the work of somebody who loves what he does, shared in a compelling way with an appreciative audience who might not otherwise be privy to such an experience. What could be better? Or more modern?

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Chelsea Peng

Chelsea Peng is a writer and editor who was formerly the assistant editor at MarieClaire.com. She's also worked for The Strategist and Refinery29, and is a graduate of Northwestern University. On her tombstone, she would like a GIF of herself that's better than the one that already exists on the Internet and a free fro-yo machine. Besides frozen dairy products, she's into pirates, carbs, Balzac, and snacking so hard she has to go lie down.