The Polyester Podcast

From 'They Don't Build Statues of Critics' t-shirts that echo Britney's 'Dump Him' moment to Twilight baguette bags to controversial 'Father, Son and Holy Spirit' bikinis. We're obsessed with in-jokes, memes and internet nostalgia and their influence on fashion is more prevalent than ever. But why are we suckers for a reference? And why are fashion brands like Praying and Heaven by Marc Jacobs gravitating towards an aesthetic that mimics the early days of the internet? This week Ione and Eden are discussing digital retrofuturism in fashion and the life cycle of fashion brands that rely on a pop culture reference or a meme to remain relevant and the early days of the internet aesthetic making a comeback.Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say <3 Have an opinion and want to be featured on an upcoming episode? We want to hear from YOU! Send us your thoughts on this episode to ione@polyesterzine.com, leave a review, or drop us a DM on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From TikTok stars being called out for complaining about their working hours, to those with millions of followers bragging about helping the homeless in the same breath in which they tell us they're spending $90 a day on coffee; are we living through the death of the influencer? As each online personality merges into a homogenous face of capitalism, we're sick of those with more power than us telling us how to spend our money and what to like. But what comes next? This week Ione and Eden are tracing the rise and fall of influencers, as well as discussing what type of content creators are ushering in the next era of social media power. Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say <3 Have an opinion and want to be featured on an upcoming episode? We want to hear from YOU! Send us your thoughts on this episode to ione@polyesterzine.com, leave a review, or drop us a DM on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

why are rich people so obsessed with using working class people as entertainment? How does social media fuel our voyeuristic gaze on those experiencing poverty? And why are the upper classes still fetishising the poor? From competition prizes that pay off your energy bills to influencers that build their entire brands on 'thrifty' tips to survive the cost of living crisis; we're living in a dystopian nightmare. Instead of real, tangible advice that would ease the increase of price in essentially everything needed to survive, the media has decided to turn our current crisis into poverty porn. This week on the podcast, we're discussing why and how the medias attempts to 'help' or 'spotlight' working class people so often fall short. Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say <3 Have an opinion and want to be featured on an upcoming episode? We want to hear from YOU! Send us your thoughts on this episode to ione@polyesterzine.com, leave a review, or drop us a DM on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Representation discourse is back baby! From Ariel and Lizzo's Emmy win, to the queen being a woman, and our third evil prime minister; we're all obsessed with diversity yet again!For a brief moment in time, it felt like we'd left representation politics in the past. They'd we'd all come to a consensus that diversity discourse was pointless, serving as a shiny veneer to allow un-inclusive institutions to cover their backs and seem as though they were pushing for societal change. Now they're back, and Halima, Ione and Eden are asking why we're so content on accepting the bare minimum.Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say <3 Have an opinion and want to be featured on an upcoming episode? We want to hear from YOU! Send us your thoughts on this episode to ione@polyesterzine.com, leave a review, or drop us a DM on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you're anything like us, the drama surrounding Don't Worry Darling has been consuming your every waking thought. Harry Styles spat on Chris Pine! Olivia Wilde lied! Florence Pugh turned up and drank aperol spritz defiantly! But with two weeks until any of us see the actual film, we're breaking down what the drama means for the larger cultural moment we're living in. From post me-too sentiment and the rehabilitation of rotten men, to two women semi-fighting publicly and the cast hooking up on set; we're discussing both the drama itself and how the internet has interpreted, meme'd, and dissected the story — making it impossible to separate reality from fiction. Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say <3 Have an opinion and want to be featured on an upcoming episode? We want to hear from YOU! Send us your thoughts on this episode to ione@polyesterzine.com, leave a review, or drop us a DM on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toxic masculinity is running rife on the internet, with both incels and alpha males dominating online culture. But how did we get here? Following on from part one, this week we're concluding our deep dive into masculinity. Interrogating how the internet birthed a new masculinity, one that breeds hatred and division, Ione and Eden are discussing how unregulated media platforms allowed toxic masculinity to thrive.Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say <3 Have an opinion and want to be featured on an upcoming episode? We want to hear from YOU! Send us your thoughts on this episode to ione@polyesterzine.com, leave a review, or drop us a DM on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Picture a bro in your head, what does he look like? This week, while Halima has two weeks off, Ione is Joined by Polyester social editor Eden Young to kick off our toxic masculinity deep dive. After watching Woodstock 99, we decided to put bro culture under a critical lens; from nu-metal bands to films like American pie and how bros changed the landscape of masculinity forever.Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say <3 Have an opinion and want to be featured on an upcoming episode? We want to hear from YOU! Send us your thoughts on this episode to ione@polyesterzine.com, leave a review, or drop us a DM on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time to BeReal! As the social media app grows bigger and bigger, Ione and Halima have downloaded BeReal to try it out for themselves. The platform promises us the opportunity to see our friends as they really are - but do we really want to? How many selfies of ourselves sitting on the sofa can we really take? As we all strive for a more authentic online experience, the pair are discussing if posting genuinely is all it's cracked up to be; or if we all deserve to live in our inauthentic fantasies in the URL world.Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say <3 Have an opinion and want to be featured on an upcoming episode? We want to hear from YOU! Send us your thoughts on this episode to ione@polyesterzine.com, leave a review, or drop us a DM on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To celebrate our latest Dollhouse cover girl, Bodies Bodies Bodies star Rachel Sennott (read here!), we're discussing gen z representation in film and tv. Many of this summer's big cinematic releases are geared towards gen z, from A24's aforementioned slasher to Hulu/Disney + Satire, Not Okay. With the Los Angeles times declaring these releases a 'major test' as to whether Hollywood can accurately represent the generation, we're weighing in. Are these films accurate, and entertaining? Or are millennial and Gen X directors misrepresenting young people? Tune in to hear our thoughts. Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say <3 Have an opinion and want to be featured on an upcoming episode? We want to hear from YOU! Send us your thoughts on this episode to ione@polyesterzine.com, leave a review, or drop us a DM on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant have in common? They're all girlies! This week Ione and Halima are exploring gender in the world of technology and artificial intelligence. Is the fact all of our 'virtual assistants' women sexist? Does it reinforce backdated gender roles? Or are we other thinking it? Ione and Halima break it down, looking at the research and history of female voices in the virtual world.Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here!Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue the show, Please fill in this form. Can't wait to hear from you!We'd love to know what you think about our podcast. Fill out this survey here to have your say <3 Have an opinion and want to be featured on an upcoming episode? We want to hear from YOU! Send us your thoughts on this episode to ione@polyesterzine.com, leave a review, or drop us a DM on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.