WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

New York, London, Milan, Paris? So last season! It's time to spotlight less discussed design centres. This time, Dundee, which is home the two emerging menswear designers you're about to meet - both recent graduates from the Jimmy Choo Academy.

First we'll hear from Sasha Clegg, whom with a wink, called her label The English Man. Despite being neither. She chose the name to call out the pale, male-dominated fashion industry. Sasha, who is of Zambian and Scottish descent, wants to "celebrate multiculturalism, heritage, diversity, and inclusivity." Her graduate collection, titled Mother’s Tongue, blends inspiration from her Scottish upbringing with nods to English football culture, and features kilts, tartan, and '80s-to-2000s influences.

Our second interview is with Robyn Green, whose work explores subcultures and challenges Scottish stereotypes, with a political twist.

Too often fashion mines working class communities for their idea and creativity without giving credit - that, says Robyn, is a form cultural appropriation. Her brand, Gadgie, is inspired by "the resilience and creativity of Scotland’s working-class communities" and she's on a mission to create opportunities for underrepresented voices in fashion. How to begin? Head home. After studying in London, she's back in Dundee, setting up her new studio, working with local hand-knitters and crochet artists and championing Made in Scotland.

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It's not every day you get to sit down with a proper fashion world icon and pick his brains for free!

Dear listeners, you're in for a treat this week, as Clare meets the one and only Jimmy Choo.

This magic name in shoe design is now professor - he runs his own fashion school, the Jimmy Choo Academy in London's Mayfair.

This is a warm-hearted generous chat full over pearls of wisdom, like...

"First, you must learn patience."

"It all experience! Whatever happens, don't blame yourself - learn from it."

"Somebody will always be better than you."

"If you act like a know it all, no one will want to talk to you. If you are humble, people will want to pass on their skills and knowledge."

"Trust your instincts to seize opportunities."

Want more? Headphones at the ready. And don't forget to tell us what you think.

Ultimately, Jimmy's message is, there's no point merely chasing fame, publicity and money. You have to stay true to your values.

For him, that means craftsmanship, skill, and passing on your knowledge.

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If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating / reviewing us in Apple or

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If you listened to last week's interview w. Jem Bendell and wondered, "What on Earth do I do now?" And you weren't up for moving to Bali and getting collapse ready by starting a self-sufficient permaculture farm...we've got you!

This week's episode is about practical action being taken right now to protect the rights of Nature.

Clare is sitting down with two can-do women, fashion designer Lucy Tammam and Stop Ecocide International's Jojo Mehta to decode one of the topics of the moment, ecocide law.

You might have noticed this idea gaining momentum. Ecocide refers to the mass damage and destruction of ecosystems – severe harm to nature which is widespread or long-term. The idea is to criminalise it. And it's happening! It's become national law in several countries with many more discussing it. In March, the EU passed a law that criminalises actions 'comparable to ecocide' - a revolutionary legal development; the first law of its kind to be adopted by a political entity with substantial global influence. In September, Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa submitted a proposal to the International Criminal Court for recognition of ecocide as a crime.

What does all this mean for fashion? Listen to find out!

Find the shownotes here

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Okay, brace yourselves...

Brands love to set sustainability goals. But what if it's all nonsense? What if net zero, the obsession with carbon, and the idea that renewables are taking over from fossil fuels, are all part of a fake green fairy tale that we tell ourselves because the alternative is too difficult to imagine. Or that corporations tell us so that they can keep on with business as usual.

WTAF? We know. It's... a lot.

Is it true? You decide, after listening to this week's guest.

Jem Bendell is an emeritus professor of sustainability leadership at the University of Cumbria, the author Breaking Together and founder of the Deep Adaptation movement, as well as Bekandze Farm school and folk band Barefoot Stars.

If it sometimes feels like everything's collapsing around us, Bendell argues that's because it is. From the climate and cost of living crises to rising geopolitical tensions, and don't get us started in the widening gap between rich and poor. He says, it's not a sudden thing, like we see in Hollywood movies about the end of the world. Rather, he argues, collapse is a process, and one that's already begun. The question he's asking is: what can we do on the other side?

Some people, he writes, are already: "dramatically changing their lives to prioritise creativity and social contribution. They are worrying less about their career, their financial security or following the latest trend. They are helping those in need, growing food, making music, campaigning for change and exploring spiritual paths. That is happening, because they have rejected the establishment's view of reality and no longer expect its officers to solve any of the worsening problems in their society." Others are just pretending nothing's wrong.

Can cats help? Do doomsters really have more fun? Where does hope come into all this? Clare sat down with Professor Bendell after his keynote at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney to ask all this and more. 

Music: Mystical Cat by Barefoot Stars, launched in support of Villa Kitty, donate here.

Check the shownotes for links & further reading.

https://thewardrobecrisis.com/podcast

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What is the role of a fashion designer today? Thinking purely about gorgeous clothes is so last season. Gone are the days when designers could consider only a collection, how it will sell and what the customer might be looking for.

Forward-thinkers are already beginning to take more holistic view and adopt a living systems approach. They’re asking questions such as, Can we make like Nature makes? How might fashion create nutrients instead of waste? How can we use biomimicry in sustainable ways? Program living systems to produce bespoke products? And, how can we build a truly regenerative system in place of the current degenerative one?

“We won't have a choice in the future. We will all have to include sustainability in everything we do,” says this week’s guest Carole Collet - a bio designer, professor of textile futures and the director of LVMH’s Maison/0 incubator for emerging talent focused on regenerative luxury.

Carole was raised in Burgundy, France, to respect Nature. Her mother worked in a flower shop, her father in a greenhouse. In 1991, she was in London studying for her Masters in textiles when she had a revelation: “It’s in biology that the answers will be.” Traditionally, textile design education focuses on weaving, knitting or maybe printing. “It's very craft based,” says Carole says, “and I love craft; I think it’s justified. But at Masters level, I felt like it was too restrictive.” She went on to set up the first Material Futures program at Central Saint Martins “to explore what textiles could be”.

A philosophical conversation that extends way beyond fashion, encouraging us to ask the big questions about what sort of world we want to build - and our responsibilities in doing so.

We might begin, suggests Carole, by challenging our anthropocentrism, and ask, "What does a bee want? How about a fish?"

Thought-provoking!

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Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production.

We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free.

If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating / reviewing us in Apple or

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Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress

THANK YOU

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Happy Secondhand September! Six years ago Oxfam UK came up with the idea of using September to encourage people to: "Shop second hand to take a stance against fast fashion and dress for a fairer world." They say it's a moment to come together “to choose a more planet-friendly way to shop, and dress for the world you want to see."

How does preloved help with that? We all know that fashion waste is a problem, that new clothing and textile production is a serious contributor to the climate crisis. According to ThredUp, if every consumer bought just one this year secondhand garment instead of a new one, it would he like equal to taking 76 million cars off the road for a day.

Plus by shopping with Oxfam, and other charity shops, you’re investing in the vital work in local communities.

This week Clare sits down with mega multi-tasker Eunice Olumide MBE - model, environmentalist, broadcaster, DJ, author, curator now filmmaker (phew!) - ahead of Oxfam’s London Fashion Week show, to discuss thrifting, her new documentary about the history of British hip hop, moving beyond performative activism, and the challenges of championing secondhand in a world still dominated by the business model of new...

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Fashion month is about to kick off again, with all eyes on New York, London, Milan and Paris. But the obsession with the so-called fashion capitals has long seemed out of touch. Yes, that's where the money is (well, Paris is anyway), but in our globalised world, there are many more fashion capitals that should not be overlooked. There are fashion weeks all over the place, all year round. But while Lagos, Melbourne, Berlin and Copenhagen deserve their place in the fashion spotlight, what happens when you're well off the beaten fashion track?

East Arnhem Land, for example...

These days, rising Australian fashion star Liandra Gaykamangu calls Darwin home, but that's the big smoke compared to where she grew up in Milingimbi (Yurruwi) in the Crocodile Islands - albeit with a sojourn to the Wollongong surf coast. Now her print-led namesake brand is making waves in fancy places. This mum of three used to be a high school teacher and her fashion-forward design is winning her prizes.

A beautiful, far-reaching conversation the covers a lot of ground, from creative life in Australia's remote north, caring for County, and tuning into nature (what are the frogs telling you?) to mentoring nex gen Indigenous entrepreneurs, and what it takes to break through when you're outside of circles of power.

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#underconsumptioncore is a thing! For this episode, we’re in London visiting British journalist Tiffanie Darke to talk about her viral wardrobe challenge, The Rule of Five. She’s also got a new book coming out in the US. What to Wear and Why, Your Guilt-Free Guide to Sustainable Fashion promises to get you "rethinking what clothes we buy, wear, and toss out, knowing that we can have a positive environmental impact while still looking good and dressing well”.

It was during the pandemic, when Tiffanie was working at Harrod's, as the editor of that famed luxury department store's magazine, when she had a revelation. Mindless shopping felt meaningless.

Then she read a shocking report by the Hot or Cool Institute - Unfit, Unfashionable, Unfair revealed that if we're serious about climate action, those of us in the global north/rich countries are going to have to have to drastically reduce our consumption. Of everything! So how much new fashion is sustainable if we want to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees? Buying just five new garments a year. Yikes!

This is the story of how one woman set out to do that, and catalysed a movement along the way. Also up for discussion, who’s to blame for the mess we find ourselves in? Could it be Gen X, those formerly hedonistic Cool Britannia types? After all, they were the first fast fashion fans…

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If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating / reviewing us in Apple or

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Welcome to the last of our Copenhagen Fashion Week interviews (if you missed the previous Eps, do go back & take a listen).

This one is refreshingly honest conversation with Danish knitwear designer Amalie Røge Hove about her much-loved label, A. Roege Hove, and the ups and downs of being an independent fashion business.

Widely celebrated as the next big thing, for the past few years A. Roege Hove was a CPHFW highlight. But last season, Amalie was not on the schedule, although her brilliant work was part of the Ganni NEWTALENT platform to amplify rising talents.

So why no runway? Everybody loves A. Roege Hove. After launching in 2019, they were stocked by the likes of Matches and Selfridges, dressing all the It-girls and winning all the prizes, including 2023's International Woolmark Prize.

That winter, however, the label went into administration.

Alas, it's a depressingly common situation. With many independents going bankrupt in the last few years, or finally deciding to close their doors because of rising costs and other stresses - including, of course, those who put sustainability at the heart of what they do.

How much of a problem is the wholesale model here? Can you grow too fast? Can you make it without financial backers? What happens if you can’t keep up? Or supply chains take a hit for reasons outside of your control? We thank Amalie for sharing her story so that others might benefit.

*Since this interview was recorded in February, we are happy to report that A. Roge Hove has returned in a new form and showed again at the CPHFW Spring ‘25 collections.

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If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating / reviewing us in Apple or

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Our Copenhagen Fashion Week special continues! Clare sits down with Finnish menswear designer Rolf Ektroth.

Last season, his hand-knits, made with Finnish yarn manufacturer Novita, were made available as pattern and yarn kits, so that home knitters could recreate his runway pieces. He loves macramé and hand embroidery, yet his collections have a modern street vibe that feels very polished. Perhaps it's because he's not actually a new name - Rolf Ekroth has been celebrated before, with glowing reviews in magazines and shows at Pitti Uomo before the pandemic. His label has had its ups and downs, he lost his backers at one point, but he kept at it.

So, in part this is conversation about a career as a progression and taking the long view. It's about perseverance, figuring out what really matters to you and how we are all the sum of our experiences. It's also highly amusing - Rolf is crackup funny. And brilliant! Learn his name - we predict, it's going to be everywhere.

Can you help us spread the word ?

Wardrobe Crisis is an independent production.

We don't believe in barriers to entry and are determined to keep this content free.

If you value it, please help by sharing your favourite Episodes, and rating / reviewing us in Apple or

Spotify. Thank you!

Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.