Stay ConnectedWARDROBE CRISIS is a fashion podcast about sustainability, ethical fashion and making a difference in the world. Your host is author and journalist Clare Press, who was the first ever Vogue sustainability editor. Each week, we bring you insightful interviews from the global fashion change makers, industry insiders, activists, artists, designers and scientists who are shaping fashion’s future.
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Copyright: © 2022 Clare Press
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!
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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.
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.
If you’re interested in natural dyes, or want to know more about hands-on textile techniques, this episode is a joy. It's also a great one if you are into ideas around seasonality and connection to Nature. Aren't we all?!
Continuing our Pacific theme (don’t miss last week’s Episode with Fiji Fashion Week’s Ellen Whippy-Knight) these two stories are also from Fiji, but a long way from its capital Suva. They’re both about different aspects of Indigenous practices, and living in balance with the the land, the oceans, the skies and biodiversity.
First, meet Letila Mitchell, a renowned artist, designer and performer from Rotuma. Her work in the fashion space grew out of costume, & has developed into a practice that’s all about revitalising traditional Rotuman textile making, and re-finding cultural knowledge disrupted by colonisation.
Our second interview is with Noleen Billings, from Savusavu, on Fiji’s northern island of Vanua Levu. Noleen isn't famous or a fancy expert in anything other than common sense but her simple message is a powerful one: In the busy modern world, it’s easy to forget the Nature usually knows best. Indigenous wisdom is deeply connected with reading Nature’s signals, and we can all learn from that. There are universal lessons in here, as well as some thought-provoking questions. For example, what does it mean to be wise? Where does schooled knowledge, written down in books, fit in - and why do we have to so rigid about it? Knowledge that’s shared and passed down in different ways is just as important…
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.
When Anna Wintour was introduced to Ellen Whippy-Knight as the founder of Fiji Fashion Week, the Vogue editor-in-chief exclaimed, “Fiji has a fashion week?!” Sure does, Anna. It turned 16 last year, and is an established force in a small yet burgeoning Pacific fashion scene.
White sands and turquoise waters. Surf breaks. Rugby. Fiji is rightly famous for these things, it’s also an international garment-manufacturing country with an independent design community, mainly focused on the local market and the Fijian diaspora.
Now Ellen, a formidable fashion force in her own right, is determined to bring sustainability and technical design education into the picture...
Check the shownotes for links & further reading.
Tell us what you think!
Can you help us spread the word about Series 9?
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.
Addicted to thrifting? Wondering where all your money’s gone? Feeling the fashion clutter feels? If you answered “yes” to any of the above, it might be time for a fashion detox.
From Slow Fashion Season to ReMake’s 90-day No New Clothes challenge to the Rule of 5, more of us are looking for ways to circuit-break bad fashion habits. There’s a real movement going on with conscious fashionistas sharing what’s worked for them when it comes to slowing down, buying and wasting less.
Our first guest for 2024 is Jenna Flood, a slow fashion stylist who’s been sharing tips and tricks with her followers around what she calls her Wardrobe Freeze.
It all began for Jenna after she created a spreadsheet to track where her money was disappearing to. Turns out she was over-spending on ethical brands and treating second-hand like it was fast fashion – ultra high turnover. It didn’t help that she works in a consignment store surrounded by temptation…
What rules did she set for herself? How did she stick with them? And, was it worth it?
Jenna says completing her challenge has left her with a thrilling sense of freedom.
Now, you can’t buy that!
Check the shownotes for links & further reading.
Can you help us spread the word about Series 9?
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.
CONTENT WARNING. A note from Clare: "While in this Episode, we talk about creativity and hope, baking and Strictly Ballroom, and address a wide range of things from the politics of climate action to biodiversity, we also discuss the details of going on a hunger strike. Personally, I would say that bit is not suitable for children, although I suspect Gregory would disagree. I'd also like to let you know there's mention of eating disorders in this interview. It's a compelling listen - there's much to think about and learn from here, and I admire Gregory's stand and his ethics. But do exercise your own judgement with little or vulnerable/ anxious ears around.
Thank you,
Clare xxx"
How far would you go for climate action? Changing your lifestyle? Sounds doable (to an extent!). Divesting from businesses that support the fossil fuel industry, perhaps? Would you consider getting into politics? Or more controversial actions, like risking arrest at a banned street protest, or harbour blockade, for example? Our guest this week embarked on a much more unusual - and indeed dangerous - strategy to spur the government into stronger action on climate issues.
Gregory Andrews is a former diplomat, and was Australia’s first ever Threatened Species Commissioner. He worked as a public servant for more than 30 years, including for 15 years in the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Environment, Climate Change, and Indigenous Affairs. Today he's an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Canberra's Institute for Applied Ecology.
In November 2023, in the run up to COP28, he stationed himself outside Australia's federal parliament, and staged a hunger strike for climate action. His demands included that the government stop permitting the logging of native forests, and end subsidies to fossil fuels companies. He lasted 16 days before ending up in hospital. This is his story.
Check the shownotesfor links & further reading.
Can you help us spread the word about Series 9?
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.
It's that time of year again, when world leaders (along with marketers from brands, oil and gas industry lobbyists, celebs on their private jets) head to the UN climate conference to discuss what to do about greenhouse gas pollution and our warming world. Extreme weather! Rising sea levels! Phasing out fossil fuels! Wait, actually, maybe tone that last one down because it's a bit hard, and our mates in the extractive energy industry aren't keen ... okay, how about: Phasing down fossil fuels? That sounds more reasonable...
Luckily there are also voices of reason at these events.
It's time we listened more to them.
As a group of Pacific Climate Activists head to COP28 in Dubai to tell the world what it's really like to live on the front line of climate change in a low-lying island nation when one-in-100 year cyclones hit back to back, Clare sits down with Ni-Vanuatu woman activist Flora Vano, to hear about her work empowering women in the climate movement. Turns out it's going pretty well.
Flora is fab, and her message is one of hope and inspiration as well as hard truths. You need to hear her beautiful words about her connection to the oceans and what we can learn from Mother Nature. Plus she's a fashion fan. We start this conversation with the power of visual communications - Flora loves bright colours and often arrives at events with a statement bloom tucked behind her ear. But don't let that fool you into thinking she's not a serious player. She's travelling to COP28 with the demands of Vanuatu's 9,000-strong Women I Tok Tok Tugeta (women talking together) network, demanding gender equality and climate justice. Flora has a clear message to governments and industry: she wants them to start looking seriously at the losses faced by Pacific Island communities, and others, as a result of climate change they did not cause.
Check the shownotes on wardrobecrisis.com for links on how you can help Flora and her fellow activists at COP28, and for more info.
Can you help us spread the word about Series 9?
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.
“When did we decide we couldn’t make stuff anymore?” asks this week’s guest, Meriel Chamberlin, the textile technologist behind Full Circle Fibres, an Australian startup producing “paddock to product” garments on-shore.
We know that the fashion industry’s climate impacts are significant, and that most of it comes down to the textile production stage. So how can we do things differently, close to home? Who needs to come together to make that happen, to share expertise, innovate, and also to fund it? How might fibre production tread more lightly on the land? Protect, or even enhance, biodiversity? These are some of the big questions driving the initiatives we’re talking about on this week’s show.
We've often covered the trouble with factories on this podcast; issues around garment worker injustice and unfair conditions. Very important stuff! But we hardly ever hear about the excellent factories. This is an Episode about the opportunities to make fashion more sustainable at the factory level, and the skills and capabilities that already exist. That might mean some re-shoring, but it’s also an encouragement to value what's already in our backyards.
Reports of the end of textile manufacturing in so-called consuming countries are exaggerated. We've still got it! Albeit on a smaller scale than when our parents were young. Wherever in the world you are listening, Meriel wants you to look around and recognise what you already have in terms of local skills, manufacturing & R&D capacity. Australia, for example, produces some of the world's best fibre, and there are still production facilities domestically for most stages of the supply chain. Find a gap? Might be worth working to close it.
Full Circle Fibres is a recipient of the Country Road Climate Fund. Discover here.
Check out the shownotes on wardrobecrisis.com
Can you help us spread the word about Series 9?
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.
Thank you!
Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our guest for this Special Edition interview is JUNO GEMES, one of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary photographers.
Born in Hungary, she moved to Australia as a child. In 1970, then a young artist, she spent six months living on Country with Aboriginal communities at Uluru. She went on to documents First Nations activism and the Civil Rights Movement in this country for five decades. Juno photographed many of the early protests and meetings led by Aboriginal activists in the ‘70s and ‘80s, forming lifelong friendships with key figures in the Movement. She photographed the Uluru Handback Ceremony in 1985; marches and activations around the Bicentennial in 1988, and she was one of ten photographers invited to document the National Apology in Canberra in 2008.
Wherever you are listening across the world, these stories are important to discover. It’s obviously not just Australia that grapples with a legacy of colonisation, and you care about sustainability, the questions linked to all this are fundamental ones: how do we want to live, in relation in one another? How can we heal and listen and unlearn to change systems that don’t work anymore?
Missed part 1? Do go back and listen. Or find it here. Can you help us share it?
These podcasts are in addition to our usual programming and form a 2-PART SPECIAL EDITION ON THE VOICE REFERENDUM IN AUSTRALIA.
They came about because Clare kept speaking to people who hadn’t yet read the ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART.
We wanted to help with that, and to be active on behalf of our deeply felt support for the YES23 campaign in this referendum.
Part 1 is a mini pod on the Uluru Statement and the question of Indigenous recognition in the Australian constitution - it’s under 10 mins, ideal to share!
As Juno says at the end of this interview, whatever happens with the Aussie referendum on October 14th, this is part of a long fight for social justice that continues. And there’s hope! “Don’t argue with people who don’t see it yet, because they will eventually … We can see this groundswell of good will, of kindness of wanting to know, to learn, of opening up to each other.”
RESOURCES:
The Australian Fashion Council supports Yes - more here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this mini pod, which is Part 1 of our Special Edition on the Voice, you will hear RACHEL PERKINS read you the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Rachel is an Australian filmmaker, a proud Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman and the co-chair of the YES23 campaign. She is also co-chair of Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, and is a signatory to the Statement from the Heart.
“As the largest consensus of First Nations peoples on a proposal for substantive recognition in Australian history, the road to the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a long one even without mentioning the decades of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander activism that came before it.” Discover more here.
It forms the cornerstone the referendum that’s asking Australians to recognise Indigenous culture in this country’s constitution, and establish a body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
“FOR THE PAST 250 YEARS, WE HAVEN’T PROPERLY LISTENED TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN HERE FOR 65,000. THIS IS OUR CHANCE TO FIX THAT.” Yes23
You will also hear from JUNO GEMES. One of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary photographers, she has been documenting the civil rights movement in Australia since the 1970s.
What next? For the full interview with Juno, listen to Part 2.
RESOURCES:
The Australian Fashion Council supports Yes - more here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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