Today we’re delving into the effects of modelling with professional model Ethan Ashton and designer Alice Edgeley. 

Ethan was scouted by an agent in a Frankston car yard four years ago. He had no modelling experience and was working at KFC at the time. But since then, he’s modelled for high fashion labels in London and Milan Fashion weeks.

Alice Edgeley has worked in the fashion industry for 30 years. Since 2010 her label ‘Edgeley’ has dressed people all over the world, including DJs, performance artists, drag queens, musicians and pop stars. Alice began her career working with Christopher Kane in London and frequently models for her own brand. 

For this episode, we discussed how modelling shapes self-perception, and how to navigate an at-times dehumanising industry.

Today’s guest is Wendy Ward, a designer, PhD candidate, and author of five best-selling books about sewing. For her PhD, Wendy is researching how stronger emotional bonds to our clothing could help combat textile waste .

In this episode we’ll discuss the benefits of writing love letters to your clothes, and How to love what you already have for a more sustainable future.

Show notes:

Recycling Near You - Textile Recycling Guide

Today’s guests are footwear  experts Dr Ellen Sampson and Dr Alexandra Sherlock.

Ellen Sampson is an artist, curator, and material culture researcher. She is also the author ofWorn: Footwear, Attachment and the Affects of Wear. 

Alexandra Sherlock is a writer and lecturer at RMIT’s school of fashion and textiles. Using footwear as a lens, she investigates the relationship between bodies, cultures, societies, and the environment.  

In this episode we’ll discuss what your shoes say about you, and why footwear can have such profound emotional resonance.  

Show notes:

alexandrasherlock.com

ellensampson.com

Today’s guest is menswear expert and archivist Andrew Groves. Andrew is a Professor of Fashion Design at the University of Westminster. In 2016 he established the Westminster menswear archive — a world-leading collection of over 2,600 garments. The archive purposefully rejects a hierarchy of design, interspersing workwear, uniforms, and designer garments to challenge the orthodoxy of fashion collections.  

 Andrew is also a valued consultant to the fashion industry. He frequently provides commentary to leading publications, including WWD, i-D, The Guardian, Vogue Business, and The Wall Street Journal.  

 In this episode, we’ll discuss why menswear and workwear are often overlooked by fashion collections — and what a closer examination of them can teach us about how we conceive fashion.  

Today’s guest is trend forecaster and sustainability advocate Clarice Garcia. Clarice has collaborated on projects for clients such as Nike, Google, L’Oréal, YouTube and Netflix.

As part of her PhD, she created a tool called ‘Fashion Futuring’ which won the Victorian Premiere’s Design Award and the Australian Good Design Awards. It’s a deck of cards that prompts people to devise radical alternatives for a more sustainable and equitable fashion industry.

In this episode we’ll discuss how quickly trends are changing, why the average Australian is buying more than 50 pieces of clothing per year, and how dressing as your authentic self could help save the planet.

Show notes:

The Fashion Futuring Toolkit

Today’s guests are Erin Spencer and Bec Cerio from Sydney-based Sock Drawer Heroes, Australia’s leading gender expression store. Bec and Erin started Sock Drawer Heroes in 2018, shortly after Erin began to affirm their gender as a trans masc non-binary person. At the time, they struggled to find the gender expression products they needed in Australia.  

In this episode we’ll discuss why gender affirming products aren't just clothing — they’re life-changing essentials.

Show notes:

The Sock Drawer Heroes Website

Sock Drawer Heroes on Instagram

Today’s guests are designers Kate Reynolds and Amanda Cumming from independent Melbourne fashion label PAGEANT.  

After working for iconic labels such as Christopher Shannon, Christopher Kane and Perks and Mini, Amanda and Kate established PAGEANT in 2010. Since then, PAGEANT has established a worldwide cult following and was a winner of the prestigious Tiffany & Co National Designer Award and a finalist for the BT Emerging Designer Award.

In this episode we’ll discuss what’s it’s like to start a fashion brand, how to maintain a solid collaborative relationship, and what it means for fashion to be socially responsible.

Show notes:

PAGEANT's online store

We’ve all had times when we’ve felt uncomfortable or out of place in what we’re wearing. For some, these moments are in primary school when mum forced you to wear that really embarrassing sweater, for others it might be that time you went to a costume party and got the brief wrong.

In today’s episode, you’ll hear from our listeners about times in their lives when they’ve felt uncomfortable in what they were wearing, and what their discomfort revealed to them about themselves. 

If I asked you to swap your entire wardrobe with me for one year, would you do it? Im talking socks, jocks, shoes – everything.

 In this episode you’ll meet the person who said yes. After searching for almost two years I met the artist James Nguyen at a bar in New York. He agreed to swap his wardrobe of black and grey Uniqlo basics with my wardrobe of colourful onesies.  

 We discussed how clothing intersects with identity, and the swap’s profound impact on his day-to life 

Today’s guest is Dr Julie Gork, a lecturer at RMIT University and former trend forecaster whose research explores fashion and blindness.

We discuss what a blind perspective can teach us about the multi-sensory experience of dress — and the senses we neglect when we fixate on sight above all else.

Show notes:

www.juliegork.com