In our latest piece of bonus content, host Bridget Todd talks with fashion historian Dr. Valerie Steele about the importance of Parisian couture, the delicious drama that surrounded it in the 1960 and 70s, and what the clothes we wear say about our culture.

Dr. Valerie Steele is the director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she has personally organized more than 25 exhibitions at the Museum, including “The Corset: Fashioning the Body,” “Gothic: Dark Glamour, A Queer History of Fashion,” and “Paris, Capital of Fashion.” Dr. Steele is also founder and editor in chief of “Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture,” the first peer-reviewed, scholarly journal in Fashion Studies. She is author or co-author of more than two dozen books, including “Paris Fashion: A Cultural History, Women of Fashion,” “Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power,” and “Fashion Designers A-Z: The Collection of The Museum at FIT.” She gives lectures frequently and has appeared on many television programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and the PBS special, “The Way We Wear.” And The Washington Post described her as one of "fashion's brainiest women."

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