Top Rank Podcast

In Episode 3, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower reflect on their enduring affection for Selena Quintanilla Perez, the beloved Tejana singer, and assess what it means to memorialize and perform her identity.

Our second episode, “Elements of Style,” is a post-Fashion Week reflection consisting of conversations about the politics of fashion imagery, beauty, modeling, and self-styling.

Co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower ask what fashion can teach us about configurations of power in contemporary society, and discuss the industry as an institution that produces culture through collective knowledge. In conversations with each other, fashion industry professionals, and scholars, Isabel and Marcel seek some insight into this mammoth question.

On this episode you'll hear from:

Brandi Thompson Summers, Assistant professor of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University

Christelle de Castro, photographer, filmmaker, art director, and creative director for Top Rank

Stephanie Sadre-Orafai, assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Cincinnati

Nafisa Kaptownwala, founder of modeling agency Lorde Inc.

Paloma Elsesser, model, writer, and student

Eric Darnell Pritchard, Assistant Professor of English at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Mimi Thi Nguyen, Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Asian American Studies at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

You can find us online at toprankmagazine.com and on Instagram @toprankmagazine. A special thank you to Red Bull Studios New York, and to each of our wonderfully generous participants. Isabel and Marcel welcome your feedback and pitches. You can reach us at [email protected] and [email protected].

Be sure to follow Top Rank on Instagram and Facebook for the latest podcast and magazine news.

Our second episode, “Elements of Style,” is a post-Fashion Week reflection consisting of conversations about the politics of fashion imagery, beauty, modeling, and self-styling.

Co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower ask what fashion can teach us about configurations of power in contemporary society, and discuss the industry as an institution that produces culture through collective knowledge. In conversations with each other, fashion industry professionals, and scholars, Isabel and Marcel seek some insight into this mammoth question.

On this episode you'll hear from:

Brandi Thompson Summers, Assistant professor of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University

Christelle de Castro, photographer, filmmaker, art director, and creative director for Top Rank

Stephanie Sadre-Orafai, assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Cincinnati

Nafisa Kaptownwala, founder of modeling agency Lorde Inc.

Paloma Elsesser, model, writer, and student

Eric Darnell Pritchard, Assistant Professor of English at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Mimi Thi Nguyen, Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Asian American Studies at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

You can find us online at toprankmagazine.com and on Instagram @toprankmagazine. A special thank you to Red Bull Studios New York, and to each of our wonderfully generous participants. Isabel and Marcel welcome your feedback and pitches. You can reach us at [email protected] and [email protected].

Be sure to follow Top Rank on Instagram and Facebook for the latest podcast and magazine news.

Hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower nerd out about nameplate jewelry, discussing the style's formal qualities, its material and social history, and its relevance in American culture today.

Music Credit:

"Uptown Top Ranking" by Althea & Donna

Original interlude by @dyani_douze

Hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower nerd out about nameplate jewelry, discussing the style's formal qualities, its material and social history, and its relevance in American culture today.

Music Credit:

"Uptown Top Ranking" by Althea & Donna

Original interlude by @dyani_douze