Articles of Interest

Dylan Keone, a runway model, stylist, and hands-on designer, joins fashion journalist Maya Kodomori to explore how bags evolved from essential tools into luxury status symbols. They unpack the Birkin’s mystique, Coach’s reinvention, handbags’ ties to gender and privacy, and the economics of craftsmanship. A homemade Birkin project puts luxury pricing, labor, branding, and fashion’s exhausted “It Bag” era under the microscope.

Derek Guy, a menswear writer and cultural commentator, joins a lively exploration of Voltaire’s Man of the World. They unpack Voltaire’s contradictions, from religious tolerance and free trade to elitism and prejudice. The conversation visits Epicurean pleasure, libertinism, scandal, exile, Émilie du Châtelet, and Voltaire’s delight in fashion, cities, art, and material abundance.

Secondhand clothing’s journey runs from superstition, stigma, and street peddlers to thrift stores, vintage fashion, and luxury resale. Along the way: Jewish immigrant commerce, Christian charity, Depression-era scarcity, raccoon coats, and the rise of consignment. A behind-the-scenes look at a massive resale warehouse reveals how technology and expertise authenticate fashion and give garments many new lives.

Derek Guy, writer and menswear commentator, discusses Lord Chesterfield's Letters to His Son. They explore Chesterfield's performative counsel and fraught paternal project. Conversation touches on civility rules, performative manners versus sincere gentlemanliness, political grooming and patronage, and how fashion and publication shaped reactions to ostentation.

Elizabeth Kama, a knitter and audio producer, narrates a history of knitting, crochet, and labor. Short scenes explore knitting’s clash with early machines. Crochet’s resistance to mechanization, its rise as fast lace, and its role in famine relief and charity are highlighted. The episode also traces textile power, class signals of handmade lace, and modern makers’ technical problem solving.

Derek Guy, menswear writer and author of I Workwear, explores Mandeville's scandalous Fable of the Bees and how vanity fuels consumption. He connects clothes to status signaling and maps those ideas onto modern fashion cycles. He also debates Mandeville’s view of human nature, weighing vice as an engine of production against empathy and virtue.

A dive into why tourists and young Chinese are dressing like Ming dynasty princesses at the Forbidden City. Exploration of Hanfu revival, modernized traditional garments, and workplace hanfu clubs. A look at qipao’s Shanghai transformation, Mao-era uniformity and collectors, and how brands and nationalism shape today’s fashion debates.

Nikki Martin, technical designer who decodes garment construction and measurement tricks. Britt Dunlop, professional fit model who lives by precise measurements and a ready kit. Brooke McEver, product innovation director advancing size-free jeans and 3D weaving. They talk fittings, why live fitting still matters, grading across sizes, vanity sizing, and practical measuring tips.

Emily Leung and Jessica Leung, twin designers of a vintage-inspired comfort wedding shoe line; Audie Cornish, journalist and broadcaster. They trace heels from towering runway statements to lower, practical shapes. They discuss wearable design choices like cushioning, arch support, roomy toe boxes, professional shoe practices, and how heels function as costume, nostalgia, and safety choices.

Molly Rogers, a costume designer who rose from downtown New York’s alternative scene and worked on Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada films, shares her street-smart approach to fashion. She talks about learning from Patricia Field, hunting unexpected pieces, translating downtown edge for mainstream projects, and the thrill and pressure of designing the second Devil Wears Prada.