WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press Clare Press

What do your clothes say about you? Dear listener, I bet you've thought about this before. Fashion is a language in itself. But, what about the language we use to describe - and by extension to include, or to exclude - the people who wear it? Or don't get to wear it? The people we're marketing it to, or employing.
Fashion communication isn't just about the clothes. It's about how we talk to each other.
Meet Lou Croff Blake, a Berlin-based non-binary fashion practitioner, scholar, artist and community organiser. Their work merges queer theory with community-building, advocating for intersectional equity and amplifying the visibility of marginalised genders. Which sounds like a of words! Because it is. Carefully considered words chosen to challenge the dominant narrative.
Open to learn? Join us on a deep dive on DIEB - diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging - as we consider the existential question: do we really want to build a more ethical fashion industry? If so, doesn't that have to be one where everyone can feel a true sense of belonging?
Check the shownotes for links & further reading.
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Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress

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Can fashion lift its inclusivity game? When 28-year-old British model Junior Bishop - who just so happens to be a wheelchair user - spoke at the Houses of Parliament recently, she called on the fashion industry to do more to tackle its disability access issues. Levelling the playing field is integral to the wellbeing economy - what’s the point of only some of us get to have our wellbeing considered?
“When looking at fashion and media today,” said Junior, diversity and representation are gradually improving. That’s important. “We hope to simply see people who look like us - our ‘imperfections’, our ‘flaws’, the little things that make us who we are.” Also, purely from the economic rationale, how do brands expect to sell to people who don’t see themselves in campaigns?
As Junior acknowledged: “The excitement of being able to see someone who is a wheelchair user, a cane user despite their age, has a limb difference, has Down syndrome, has albinism, the list goes on… Having those with disabilities or their family members tearfully say ‘I didn’t know people like us could do that kind of thing’; that is why this movement needs to continue to grow." Representation is an important first step, but we can’t stop there.
This inspiring conversation, packed with practical advice and emotional intelligence, comes with a call to action: want to do better on this stuff? Ask disabled people what they need!
Check the shownotes for links & further reading.
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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 and reviewing us in Apple or
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Thank you!
Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress

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Rich, white and privileged - the creative arts sector has a class problem. Particularly in class-obsessed Britain, where middle-class people are twice as likely to work in creative jobs than their working class contemporaries. According to the Evening Standard, "the worlds of TV, film, music and the arts are dominated by straight, able-bodied white men living in London, despite them only accounting for 3.5% of the [UK] population."
Not that this is purely a UK problem. In New York, 85% of artists represented by commercial galleries are white. In Australia, where one in four of us were born overseas, culturally and linguistically diverse creatives are still barely represented in fashion at all. And consider the global luxury brands, with their spate of recent cookie-cutter creative director hires - can anyone actually tell the difference between these men from their photos alone?
But, "What about the new editor at Vogue?" I hear you say. Too often, the celebrated hire is still the only Black or brown person in the room.
I bet you can think of a thousand places where career progress is affected by your postcode, where you went to school and what your parents did. And lurking behind all that: race, gender, sexuality, difference, not to mention how much cash you've got...
It's time for a power shift!
Meet Rahemur Rahman, a British-Bengali artist, educator and designer who is determined to change the system, not simply tinker round the edges of representation. He made it, despite the odds. Raised in working class Tower Hamlets, he studied fashion at Central Saint MartinsHe studied fashion at Central Saint Martins, where he now teaches. Designs from his debut London Fashion Week collection menswear collection were acquired by the V&A Museum. Now, he's the director of training and development at Bari, a new incubator supporting South Asian creatives in East London as part of the British Bangladeshi Fashion Council.
This is a lively conversation about what it takes to, practically, turn things around - not just talk about it. Hint: no true diversity and inclusion without addressing the class barrier!
We're also talking the creative innovation meets heritage craft, social impact fashion, holidays with friends, and the joy of working on what matters.
Check the shownotes for links & further reading.
Tell us what you think!
 
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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 and reviewing us in Apple or
Spotify.
Thank you!
Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress

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

We all know clothes have meaning, beyond just looking nice. We’ve often talked on this podcast about the importance of how they are made. This week, we’re considering how fashion’s meaning stretches beyond supply chains and our wardrobes, to shape our culture and the way we see ourselves collectively. How does fashion see itself when it comes to race and privilege? How about the male gaze?
Clare sits down with Caryn Franklin, journalist, style icon, fashion citizen (not consumer, please!), one-time presenter of The Clothes Show and all-time national treasure. These days her work centres on education and activism - she’s a visiting professor of diverse selfhood at Kingston School of Art, in London, and gained her MSc in applied psychology specialising in selfhood, objectification, inclusivity and gender bias.
Partly, this interview is a personal one about a life in clothes but it’s also a provocation: How can we use fashion as a vehicle for positive self-esteem, rather than allowing it to make too many of us feel small, too much of the time?
All up, rollocking good chat with Caryn Franklin, MBE. Enjoy!
Check the shownotes for links & further reading.
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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 and reviewing us in Apple or
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Thank you!
Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress


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How much is enough? How can creatives incorporate the idea of sufficiency in their output? If you make physical objects, what does it really mean to be sustainable in your practice? And, how can you, as my guest this week, Richard Malone, puts it, "do your own thing and stick to it" in the context of fashion's relentless push for newness?
Also, where does class and privilege play into all this? Does Fashion with a capital ‘F’ actually want to be more inclusive and welcoming? Or is all the talk of breaking down the barriers just lipservice? The fact is: many of the people who “make it” in fashion have an had a head start. You only have to look at the current obsession with Gen Z nepo babies. Let's not pretend the playing field is level.
Richard Malone is queer London-based, Irish fashion designer, artist and maker, whose work challenges subtly a system that's built on unfair advantages. A thought-provoking conversation about everything from colonisation and the loss of Irish craft traditions, to what fashion shows are really for!
Check the shownotes for links & further reading.
Tell us what you think!
 
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 and reviewing us in Apple or
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Thank you!
Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
 

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Why does fashion have such a problem in accepting all bodies they way they are, and recognising the beauty in different shapes and sizes? I know, I know, we’ve heard it all before, yet depressingly little changes.
Our guest this week has had enough! Self-described as “that body morphing b*tch”, Michaela Starck is a super-talented London-based Aussie creative director/designer/dreamboat who’s beautiful work includes her own glorious self, as well as Paris-worthy, bow-bedecked frillies.
A frank convo on fat-shaming, where the body positivity movement fails, and the magical powers of backing your own vision. Even when people in your life keep telling you you’ll never make it? Especially then! Take that, naysayers!
Check the shownotes for links & further reading.
Tell us what you think!
 
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 and reviewing us in Apple or
Spotify.
Thank you!
Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
 

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