'Dressed to Kill' Fashion Tour of the Met Museum • NYC

Explore the changing styles of beauty -- and the astonishing lengths to which people have gone to attain it.

'Dressed to Kill' is a tour of treasures from the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum. This rarely-given tour opens your eyes to some of the most fascinating, bizarre, and painful things people have done throughout history to look impressive, alluring, and downright amazing.

From the grand hairdos of Imperial Rome to the outrageous wigs of the court at Versailles; from gold ear spools in pre-Columbian America to neck rings in Africa and Southeast Asia; and from 300 years of torturous corsets to 3000 years of artful cosmetics, the history of fashion is on dazzling display at the Met.

Professor Lear looks at both men's and women's fashion from head to toe, as well as inside out. (Just what did Victorian women wear underneath those giant hoops?) He looks at men, too—with their powdered wigs, white makeup, foppish ruffs, and, of course, those eyebrow-raising codpieces.

During this two-hour private tour, Lear goes beneath the surface to get to the real story: the political, social, and even medical currents that shaped fashion and how it changed:

• Why did French courtiers wear foot-high wigs in the 17th century?
• Were beauty spots really used to cover up syphilis?
• What clothing was dyed with cyanide and poisoned its wearers over time?
• How did bicycles affect the way women dressed in the closing years of the 19th century?

Professor Andrew Lear, a four-time winner of the Harvard Certificate for Excellence in Teaching, will decipher the meanings of symbols, poses, and context while telling you the low-down on what's really going on. For Lear’s peerless insights on just one of the works in the Met’s unrivaled collection, visit The Gay and Lesbian Review. Famous artists and subjects appear but so do lesser-known artists and works whose homoerotic charge is often ignored.

Join us on a rare opportunity to see the phenomenal museum tour!

Our Art Historian and Tour Guide:

A four-time winner of the Harvard Certificate for Excellence in Teaching. Professor Andrew Lear has taught art history and Classics at Harvard, Columbia, and NYU. Lear is the founder of Oscar Wilde Tours, the first company to offer tours focused on LGBT history, and the winner of the Travel Industry’s 2016 Travvy Award for best-escorted tour operator, LGBT; and the Luxury Travel Guide’s 2016 LGBT Tour Operator of the Year. Lear also founded Shady Ladies Tours, dedicated to sharing the stories of strong and powerful women that can be found on the walls of museums. In 2021, Lear founded WeWereThere.org, an educational nonprofit dedicated to raising public awareness of LGBTQ histories and stories.

Receive $200 off an LGBTQ History Trip of India or Japan!

Mention OUT PRO when booking LGBTQ History Trip of India or the LGBTQ History of Japanwith Professor Andrew Lear of Oscar Wilde Tours to save $200, in addition to any other incentives.

“It was one of the best trips we have ever taken. Professor Lear is knowledgeable, personable, and funny, and his explanations cover a wide range of topics, including things that get left out in most tours.” — Bennet Marks