How do you come to know someone if all you have is the evidence of their clothes? This is the mystery author Jessamyn Hatcher is trying to solve after the discovery of 21 rare couture gowns in a forgotten storeroom of the heiress Hortense Mitchell Acton. The dresses were made by the innovative and radical Callot Soeurs, one of the Belle Epoque’s most celebrated couture houses. The collection reveals not only a forgotten piece of fashion history, but the story of one woman’s life. Jessamyn detailed the discovery in the March 23 issue of the New Yorker, and in this episode she dives deeper into the tale, revealing along the way how the clothes we wear can tell our story long after we’re gone.