The Fashion Insider

Nakul Lax

The Fashion Insider is a podcast offering an inside look at the people, ideas, and moments shaping the fashion industry. Each 'In Studio With' episode features in-depth interviews with models, designers, and insiders. Alongside these conversations, 'Insider Features' deliver analysis-driven and documentary-style episodes, exploring trends, stories, and behind-the-scenes insights that reveal how the industry really works beyond the surface. Instagram: @nakullax Contact: TFIPodcast@outlook.com

  1. Insider Feature: Gucci Cruise 2027 Brutal Review

    May 29

    Insider Feature: Gucci Cruise 2027 Brutal Review

    Demna just spent a reported ten million dollars turning Times Square into one enormous Gucci hallucination, fifty screens running fake adverts for Gucci chocolate, Gucci pets, even a Gucci hotel that doesn’t exist. The spectacle was clever and the ads were genuinely fun. The problem, for me, was everything that came down the runway underneath all of it.In this episode I get into Demna’s GucciCore and why I think it missed. I talk about a collection that felt like a bit of Tom Ford, a bit of the Frida Giannini years and a bit of his own Balenciaga, all stitched together without doing full justice to any of them, and why being compared to Tom Ford is not the compliment people think it is. I get into the business reality too, the declining sales, the pressure on the house, and why eyeballs are the bare minimum when you have this kind of budget. I also ask the bigger questions. Can Demna actually save Gucci, what do the next collections need to say, and why does fashion keep recycling the same handful of names while so many brilliant designers, especially women, never get a shot at the top.This is my take and only my take, so if you watched the same show and loved it, I want to hear from you as much as I want to hear from those who agree with me and didn’t like it. Fashion is a conversation, there is no universal right or wrong, and the disagreement is the whole point.You can find me on Instagram @nakullax You can email the show at TFIPodcast@outlook.com

    28 min
  2. In Studio With: Lesa Amoore - Top Model Truths

    May 10

    In Studio With: Lesa Amoore - Top Model Truths

    Lesa Amoore had multiple Vogue covers. She walked for Armani, Versace and the biggest luxury houses in the world. She worked across Milan, Madrid, Munich, Paris and New York during one of the most iconic eras in fashion history. But Lesa’s story goes far beyond the covers and the catwalks. She speaks openly about her experiences at Elite Paris under Gérald Marie, the unwanted advances she had to fight off alone, and being pressured into a cosmetic procedure she never asked for. She talks about witnessing things on a yacht in Monte Carlo connected to Prince Andrew, and finding herself in the same circles as Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. She also speaks about her advocacy work, her photography career, and everything she has learned from a life spent inside this industry. Lesa came into this conversation as a complete open book. Raw, honest and holding nothing back. She is one of the most intelligent, warm and inspiring women we have ever had on this show and we feel very privileged she trusted us with her story. Read More: 2020 — Victims of Gérald Marie come forward (The Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/nov/20/plain-sight-more-models-accuse-gerald-marie-sexual-assault-elite 2021 — Models speak out against Gérald Marie (NYT) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/style/models-harassment-gerald-marie.html 2021 — Survivors invited to the French Senate (BBC) https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-58562149 2025 — The Fashion Workers Act signed into law (Vogue) https://www.vogue.com/article/the-fashion-workers-act-is-finally-law-what-happens-now Follow Lesa Website: www.lesaamoore.com Instagram: @lesaamoore The Fashion Insider Instagram: @nakullax Email: tfipodcast@outlook.com​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

    2h 29m
  3. Insider Feature: Good Agents and Bad Agents

    Apr 17

    Insider Feature: Good Agents and Bad Agents

    Every model needs an agent. That is not up for debate. But the agent sitting across from you could be the person who protects you from the worst this industry has to offer, or the person who quietly delivers you into it. In this episode Nakul goes into the full picture. The good, the bad, and the genuinely sinister. Because understanding both sides is what actually keeps you safe.We go into the scout system. The legendary scouts who changed lives with a single conversation. Kate Moss discovered at JFK Airport at fourteen, Gisele Bundchen spotted at a McDonald’s in São Paulo, Naomi Campbell approached in her school uniform in Covent Garden. And then Daniel Siad, named approximately two thousand times in the declassified Epstein files as a scout and recruiter of young women for Jeffrey Epstein’s network, who was sending girls from small villages in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Latvia directly into Epstein’s orbit. We also go into the promoter system. The nightclub circuit operating at the edges of fashion week in New York, Milan, Paris and London, how it works, who is behind it, and why it remains one of the primary access points for exploitation in the industry today.And we go into agents. The extraordinary ones who fight for you, educate you, and stand by you when things go wrong. And the ones who leave you out to dry the moment it costs them something. Nakul shares his own stories from both ends of that experience, plus the red flags and green flags every model needs to know before signing anything. Raw, honest, and from someone still inside the industry.Follow Nakul on Instagram @nakullax www.instagram.com/nakullax Email us at: TFIPodcast@outlook.com

    52 min
  4. Insider Feature: Fashion's Darkest Social Secret

    Apr 10

    Insider Feature: Fashion's Darkest Social Secret

    For decades the fashion party scene was used to get close to young models. Dinners. Yacht parties. Private events. The most glamorous rooms in the world. And inside those rooms a system that has been operating in plain sight for longer than most people in this industry want to admit.This is how it works. It starts with an invitation. You are made to feel chosen. Special. Like the industry has finally noticed you. Then comes the offer. Money to bring your model friends along. Easy cash. A fun evening. And the moment you say yes they begin to own you. Psychologists call it the foot in the door technique. You agree to something small. Each yes makes the next ask feel normal. Each step leads somewhere you never consciously agreed to go. The debt keeps you in place. Accommodation. Portfolio. Travel. Agency commission. All accumulating before you earn a single pound. You owe money to the very people exploiting you. Leaving feels impossible.Jean-Luc Brunel ran Karin Models and later MC2 Model Management. His parties were not optional for the models on his books. Attend or lose your career. One model who refused him never worked again. Another who tried to speak out was told to stay silent. The message was always the same. You will not win. And you could disappear.The biggest names in fashion were in those rooms the entire time. Everyone knew. Nobody stopped it.This episode breaks down the full system. The psychology behind it. The rooms it happened in. And what every model needs to know to protect themselves.Follow on Instagram: @nakullax www.instagram.com/nakullax Email us at tfipodcast@outlook.com

    55 min
  5. Insider Feature: Trump Model Management - Fraud, Models & Epstein

    Mar 30

    Insider Feature: Trump Model Management - Fraud, Models & Epstein

    Donald Trump built his political career on stopping illegal immigration. His modelling agency was bringing foreign girls into the United States on fraudulent visas, trapping them in debt, taking 80 percent of their earnings, and paying one of them $3,880 over three years. She called it slavery. Trump Model Management recruited girls as young as 14. It promised salaries of $75,000 a year and delivered almost nothing. Immigration attorneys confirmed the agency appeared to violate federal law. A US Senator called for a federal investigation. Nothing happened. Trump co-hosted modelling competitions with John Casablancas, the founder of Elite Model Management, at the Plaza Hotel. Teenage models were told attending private dinners with powerful men was their professional duty. Not optional. A 2019 lawsuit alleges Casablancas sent a 15 year old model to a casting in 1990. The photographer was Jeffrey Epstein. In 2002 Trump described Epstein as a terrific guy who liked beautiful women, many of them on the younger side. Trump flew on Epstein’s jet at least seven times. Epstein recruited young women directly from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago spa. When Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested for child sex trafficking, Trump said he wished her well. Trump Model Management closed in April 2017. Donald Trump became President three months later. He is President again now. This episode is the full story. The Fashion Insider on Spotify. Follow on Instagram: @nakullax Email: tfipodcast@outlook.com​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

    29 min

About

The Fashion Insider is a podcast offering an inside look at the people, ideas, and moments shaping the fashion industry. Each 'In Studio With' episode features in-depth interviews with models, designers, and insiders. Alongside these conversations, 'Insider Features' deliver analysis-driven and documentary-style episodes, exploring trends, stories, and behind-the-scenes insights that reveal how the industry really works beyond the surface. Instagram: @nakullax Contact: TFIPodcast@outlook.com

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