Talk:gussy up

"gussy" was a designer of garments used in Burlesque. I saw the Liz Goldwyn "Pretty Things" documentary about this where many of the living dancers were interviewed, and showed several costumes bearing her name.

Can we have a citation for the statement about Napoleon's Memoirs? Additionally for the idea that it meant what the article claims. I have done a quick and shallow search on the topic and have found no other references to such a thing. -Anonymous.

Possible etymology
See Orwell's essay "Boys' Weeklies." Suggest that "gussy up" derives from the Gem magazine's snobby character the Honourable Arthur Augustus D'Arcy, son of Lord Eastwood, known to all and sundry as Gussy, who wears a monocle and top hat, talks in an Elmer Fudd accent, and always turns up trumps in an emergency.