On your phone, this minute, is a front row seat to an aural parade of designers, models and changemakers.
They’re just waiting to accompany you on your morning walk, supermarket dash or afternoon dishwasher unpack. Tune in, drop out and frock up. Words: Felicity Loughrey | Holding image: The Man Repeller
Oh Boy! from Man Repeller
Leandra Medine has a podcast Monocycle where she chats unedited for 10 minutes at a time. My favourite podcast from the Man Repeller femme-pire is Oh Boy!, hosted by Jay Buim. There are 50 long-form interviews with ladies with lots of style – the B52s Kate Pierson, polemicist Gloria Steinem and Glossier’s Emily Weiss. Jay really listens to the women he interviews which makes the show so great. Occasionally Leandra pops by, to be interviewed by Jay, or to interview guests like Alexa Chung (who to be honest was a bit of a bitch in the interview). See! This is the thing about podcasts – they’re so close and intimate you feel like you really get to know the person.
Pardon My French with Garance Dore
This is a lesson on how one podcast leads to another. Style blogger Garance Dore runs Atelier Dore – creating content (and podcasts) for brands. I first heard her speak on Man Repeller’s Oh Boy! podcast and she was so engaging. Dore grew up on the island of Corsica in a village that could only be reached by boat. She had so many wonderful things to say it makes sense that she would be gifted at running her own podcast Pardon My French where she interviews Isabel Marant, Elle Macpherson and Joan Juliet Buck. Oh, and there’s an interview with Australian creative wunderkind Richard Christiansen that’s worth a listen.
US Vogue with Andre Leon Talley
You feel like a high-class criminal listening to Andre Leon Talley’s conversations on the Vogue podcast. The tete-a-tete’s are so close and intimate it’s like you’ve tapped the former Vogue editor’s phone while he talks favourite Parisian restaurants with Kim Kardashian West or the challenges of parenting with designer and filmmaker Tom Ford. Sixty-eight-year-old Andre Leon Talley has a different style to most podcasters, his questions are really unusual and frank. He reveals those haute fashion people are just like us (almost).
Refinery29 Unstyled
Confessions of a podcast addict: I may have written some comments on Christene Barberich’s Instagram asking for her to return to the Unstyled podcast and I may have also Tweeted at her to kickstart the series again. She replied with a heart to both comments – so that was encouraging! Please, listen to her show. It’s very tightly edited and gets to the point. Each episode is only 20 minutes (perfect for a walk to the shops and back). Interviews with legendary fashion designer Norma Kamali will send you down a very satisfying Pinterest hole, as well as enjoyable aural rollicks with stylist Stacey London and six-degrees-of-podcast separation, a revealing chat with Man Repeller’s Leandra Medine.
Glossy
If you’re interested in the business of fashion and behind-the-seams technology, this is the podcast for you. Let Glossy (owned by Digiday) take you to Parsons and hear designers, marketers, editors and PR mavens answer questions on how technology is changing fashion. Everything from ready-to-wear, clicks and mortar, brand building, Instagram and a mobile first strategy are discussed. Key players from FarFetch, Poshmark and Brit +Co are interviewed.
Wardrobe Crisis
[Friend alert!] Sydney-based writer Clare Press’ podcast is an extension to her sustainable style treatise, Wardrobe Crisis (Nero Books). Clare has a clear vision for the Wardrobe Crisis podcast and movement she wants to create. She loves local shops and fashion ateliers but wants us to purchase less (or more mindfully). In episodes, top and tailed by acoustic bars from pop singer Montaigne, Clare interviews artists, activists and academics on slow fashion, sustainable style and looking after the planet and the people who make our clothes. Stand out interviews include dissecting Yves Saint Laurent quotes with Sydney-based stylist Megan Morton and career advice from style icon Simon Doonan (“Get on with being creative and have some fun”). Noted. Image: Luisa Brimble
Felicity Loughrey has a podcast Head Ovary Heels where she interviews women about their lives and ambition. She also has an email newsletter you can subscribe to: tinyletter.com/headovaryheels