In this episode, Kim welcomes writer and blogger Alina Martin (@accordingtoalina) to discuss all things fashion and consumer culture through a reading of Émile Zola’s The Ladies’ Paradise. The two talk about how our daily apparel choices relate to the construction of selfhood, regardless of gender or class.

Yet, susceptible as we are to advertising and the ready-made dream of an authentic self sold by designer houses, is the consumer always in control of their own choices? Are we the buyers or the products?