The Conversations

Ultimately us being in the fashion industry is underpinned by our love for it and staying in it requires being inspired constantly. In today's episode we discuss just a few entities that we're loving at the moment - from shape shifting stylist Ib Kamara (@ibkamara) to up and coming hybrid designer Mowalola (@mowalola), artist and musicians Desire Marea (@desiremarea) and Dev Hynes (@devhynes), incredible photographers Ronan McKenzie (@ronanksm) and Mar+Vin (@marvin) to fashion goddess Lulu Kennedy (@_lulukennedy) of Fashion East (@fashioneast), we breakdown what it is that they’re doing that has us feeling inspired.

Suicide, substance abuse, transgressions and mental health issues have disproportionately claimed the bulk of fashion’s most celebrated and successful class of fashion designers to exist in the last two decades; era-defining talents including Alexander Mcqueen, John Galliano, Stefano Pilati, Milan Vukmirovic, Christophe Decarnin, Marc Jacobs and now Phoebe Philo. In this age of accountability, who is accountable for the health of the industry’s brightest talents? 

The Vessel, the multi-storied retail emporium nestled in the newly minted Hudson Yards complex in New York’s midtown west side, opened to optimism and fanfare last month, boldly proposing a new era in retail. But after a visit to the grand structure boasting a first ever Neiman Marcus and Forty Five Ten in NYC and a requisite mix of other luxury and high street stores, we question the need and the relevance of big brick and mortar retail spaces in this age. When customer experience are key buzzwords and online shopping is the new normal, just how glorious and needed is a mall in the middle of New York City?

In this episode, we discuss supermodel Naomi Campbell and her place within fashion’s diversity and inclusion movement. Promoted by a portion of S02 E01, where Jason so passionately, but only partially expressed his issue with Ms Campbell, we sought to contextualize this point of view, particularly regarding the accusations that for over two decades, Naomi aggressively kept other models of color off the catwalks, out of big campaigns and hindered careers. Thus raising the question of atonement; given her platform is now largely based on promoting black issues, championing models of color and pushing for racially progressive industry wide change - we discuss whether atonement for her alleged past transgressions are needed, likely and if it even matters for an authentic move forward. 

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“There is no future without a past, so I hope that this exhibition will inspire in its visitors a new creative future” Thierry Mugler

The Thierry Mugler archive comprises some of fashion’s most fantastical, forward-looking creations from the late seventies to the early naughts. The designer’s place as a visionary showman in the annals of fashion is well-secured as evidenced by the recent opening of THIERRY Mugler: Couturissime, a retrospective of the designer’s body of work at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. In these banal creative times, we were struck by the flawless broadcast of designs from another time finding new life in this hyper digital age and on the bodies of today’s most powerful celebrities.

In our increasingly fast-paced, performative, oneupmanship culture, signs of personal success are more difficult to measure. As issues such as life balance and personal care increasingly take center stage, has the pursuit of wealth and success brought misery to our lives? 

With the recent death of iconic fashion giant Karl Lagerfeld, we have a general conversation about what his passing might mean for Chanel, Fendi and the industry at large.

This week, we get into Raf Simons’ abrupt departure from Calvin Klein, after and in light of the brand's absence during this month's Fall 2019 fashion week. We discuss topics behind his departure; was it timely, expected, what went wrong, what were the key takeaways, and more. We wonder what will be next for one of fashion’s biggest brands and one of the most revered designers working today. 

While today's episode focuses on Raf, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the death of fashion giant Karl Lagerfeld, news that has eclipsed our industry this week. We’ll be discussing the significance of his passing in next week's episode, so stay tuned... 

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this episode and support by subscribing and rating our podcast. Ps. We love getting your DMs re: your thoughts and feedback on these topics, so let us know what you think about Raf! 

Last year, during NYFW SS19, we caught up with Edward Buchanan (@sansovino6), the Milan-based fashion designer and industry veteran. Coming up in the ranks of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, and Riccardo Tisci, the former Bottega Veneta creative director is one of the very few black designers who has worked steadily between the US and Europe for 25 years, most of the last decade at the helm of his independent knitwear brand SANSOVINO 6. With such an extensive, storied and impressive resume, it’s a wonder Buchanan is not one of our industry’s household names. 

Since recording this episode there have been fall outs with Italian luxury brands Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and most recently Gucci that has spurred much needed industry conversation(s). In this turbulent fashion climate where there’s no escaping the diversity conversation and venerable brands are taking a drumming for insensitive messaging, imaging and lack of representational hiring, we sought out Buchanan who’s been called “the best American label you’ve probably never heard about” by Vogue.com, to weigh in on these among other progressive issues in fashion. 

Welcome back for season 2 of The Conversations! We’re so excited to be back! This week we dive straight into the big question of What Are The Important Issues in Fashion, discussing key themes including our thoughts on sustainability, race and representation, authenticity and power players. There’s a lot to unpack and expand on for future episodes, so stay tuned. 

We hope you enjoy season 2 and continue to support us by giving us a 5 star rating and review - we really appreciate you