You may have heard that today kicks off the Year of the Fire Horse, it’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and that Lana Del Rey just dropped a brand new single, “White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter,” which she wrote with her husband, Louisiana airboat tour guide Jeremy Dufrene. These things are unrelated to each other, but all play nicely into this week’s pod theme. I am joined by Amanda Mull, senior reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek, to discuss why Southern aesthetics have become so pervasive in fashion and culture over the last several years, from pop music to TV to TikTok. Tune in for Amanda’s expert contextualization from growing up in Georgia (Go Dawgs!), as well as her thoughts on Bass Pro Shops gear and Realtree camo making their way to the runways a decade ago; the explosion of cowboy-inspired looks in the wake of the Eras Tour and Cowboy Carter; Southern sorority girl style spreading to a worldwide audience via #RushTok, and Alix Earle starting her career doing GRWM videos from the University of Miami campus; the influx of influencers (Brianna LaPaglia, Paige Lorenze, Campbell Puckett, etc.) using regional aesthetics in their content; Lana Del Rey, Ethel Cain, and why white Southern femininity is a rich text for the fashion industry to pull inspiration from; microdosing MAGA culture via popular series like “Landman,” “Hunting Wives,” and “Southern Charm;” why fashion is so obsessed with horse girls, and much more. Yee-haw!

This episode was recorded in the podcast studio at The SQ @ 205 Hudson.

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