WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

Hands up who's over the narrow view of beauty peddled by mainstream fashion brands and media! Elisa Goodkind wants us to take back our power from magazines, advertising and the money-driven global fashion business, so that getting dressed each day becomes an act of self-love. With their platform StyleLikeU New Yorkers Elisa and her daughter Lily Mandelbaum are breaking down the fake stereotypes about what's beautiful, and what's supposedly not. They've published a new booked called True Style is What's Underneath: The Self-Acceptance Revolution. They take their message on the road, holding open castings and talks around the world. And they make intimate documentary-style video portraits that “explore how style is not about trends, money or presenting a façade of photoshopped perfection”.No wonder these videos have gone viral – with over 35 million views. What comes across more than anything when you watch them is how we are all the same in our difference.The WARDROBE CRISIS show notes unpack the issues addressed in each Episode. Way more than just links, it's like a mini magazine! Head over to https://thewardrobecrisis.com/podcast/2017/7/22/podcast-ep-8-stylelikeus-elisa-goodkind-redefining-beauty read yours and #bethechangeMusic is by Montaigne http://www.montaignemusic.com.au/Enjoying the show? Please leave a review in Apple. It helps other people find us.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our final Episode for Plastic Free July, Clare interviews American visual artist Marina DeBris. Marina calls herself a “trashion” designer, as well as an environmental activist, and anti-plastics campaigner. She makes her "Beach Couture" collections from rubbish she finds washed up on beaches.There's a history of fashion designers referencing refuse. John Galliano's controversial Couture 2000 collection for Christian Dior featured newspaper prints inspired by homeless people's makeshift blankets. Vivienne Westwood has also dabbled in derelicte chic (like Mugatu in Zoolander). Jean Paul Gaultier once made a frock out of a bin liner – he named it his “rubbish bag dress” (in French). Jeremy Scott's Autumn '17 Moschino collection was inspired by cardboard packaging. But these designers used luxurious fabrics to render the garbage theme gorgeous.Marina comes from a very different place. She doesn't want her work to be considered chic, fabulous or fashionable. She wants it to shock you.So there's a bustier embellished with discarded plastic utensils. A gown fashioned from the flimsy, floaty remnants of old white plastic carrier bags. She's made dresses from polystyrene containers, old nappies, bed springs, even dead bird's wings.In this Episode we talk about why she makes her work, how she does it, and what sort of reactions she gets. Fashion can be a conduit for cultural conversation, so why not hijack it and use as a frame of reference for political art? That's what Marina does with her provocative, confronting project trashion. Can you wear it? IF YOU DARE!The WARDROBE CRISIS show notes unpack the issues addressed in each Episode. Way more than just links, it's like a mini magazine! Head over to https://thewardrobecrisis.com/podcast/2017/7/15/x5to0hvo3qp62hxjqrp7gw9xpb32pk to read yours and #bethechangeMusic is by Montaigne http://www.montaignemusic.com.au/ Enjoying the show? Please leave a review in Apple. It helps other people find us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kalpona Akter is Executive Director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity. An inspirational and influential figure in the country's union movement, she is a former child labourer who began working in a garment factory at age 12.  By 17, she'd been fired for standing up for her own rights, and those of her colleagues. ‘The day they fired this noisy woman, was the day they made a big mistake,' she says. Eighty per cent of garment workers are women, most aged between 18 and 25. Most have children and aren't paid nearly enough for their toils. The minimum wage in Bangladesh is about AUD $67 per month... In this powerful Episode, Kalpona tells her story, explains what it's really like for the 4 million garment workers in Bangladesh, and shares her thinking on Made in Bangladesh. Head over to https://thewardrobecrisis.com/podcast/2017/7/11/podcast-ep-5-kalpona-akter-beyond-rana-plaza to read yours and #bethechange Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TOME is a New York-based fashion label. Designers Ramon Martin & Ryan Lobo are known for collaborating with, and taking inspiration from, female artists. This season they looked to the Guerrilla Girls for a show inspired by the Women's Marches and the Trump administration's attacks on Planned Parenthood. How can high fashion combine the pursuit of gorgeousness with serious messages about diversity and equality? What role does the runway have to play? ‘We underestimate the power of beauty and humour to help us connect,' says Ramon.In this Episode, we discuss fashion activism, sustainability, TOME's White Shirt Project and winning fans like Amal Clooney and Sarah Jessica Parker. Getting dressed every morning is a political act. What you wear makes a statement about who you want to be and how you wish to communicate with the world around you. What's your wardrobe saying? The WARDROBE CRISIS show notes unpack the issues addressed in each Episode. Way more than just links, it's like a mini magazine! Head over to https://thewardrobecrisis.com/podcast/2017/6/25/podcast-ep-4-tome-designer-ramon-martin-fashion-feminism to read yours and #bethechange Finally, if you enjoyed the show, we'd love you to leave a review on Apple.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Jennifer Lavers sees seabirds as sentinels of marine health. Are we listening to what they're telling us? Her work as a scientist attached to the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies focuses on birdlife, but recently she's been looking to art and fashion to help get the message out too.Jennifer appears in the new film Blue about the state of our seas. And she's working with her friend Marina De Bris, who shows her ‘trashion' concept (fashion garments made entirely from ocean plastic rubbish) on the runway.In this Episode, Jennifer tells the story of her research on remote Henderson Island in the South Pacific and its debris-littered beaches. What happens to plastic when it enters our waters? What's the deal with bioaccumulation? Why are microplastics linked to the fashion industry? How can we turn the story of ocean plastic around? Head over to https://thewardrobecrisis.com/podcast/2017/6/27/podcast-ep-3-jennifer-lavers-plastic-free-july to read yours and #bethechange Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Timo Rissanen is former Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Sustainability at Parsons The New School for Design, New York. Today he is associate professor at University Technology, Sydney.He is an expert in zero-waste fashion design, as well as a cross-stitch artist currently stitching a letter to humanity to be read 100 years from now. Oh, and he's a birdwatcher…Timo teaches his students to rethink traditional ways of approaching design to consider the entire lifecycle of a garment, and factor in reducing waste from the outset. But it's not just about cutting waste from initial design...Of approximately 80 billion garments produced every year, about 1/3 are sold full price, 1/3 on sale, and 1/3 are never sold. Much of this surplus is destroyed.In this Episode, Timo argues that we must conquer our cynicism and use our creativity to find solutions. The fashion industry, which he describes a ‘seemingly grotesque, wasteful, deadly', is also a source of endless possibility.The WARDROBE CRISIS show notes unpack the issues addressed in each Episode. Head over to https://thewardrobecrisis.com/podcast/2017/6/20/podcast-ep-2-timo-rissanen-design-can-save-us to read yours and #bethechange Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ocean plastic pollution kills marine life and threatens us too - the fish eat the plastic, and we eat the fish! The UN warns that 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year, and plastic has been detected on shorelines of all the continents. Our very first podcast guest unpacks this topic, and helps us think about solutions. And of course, there's a fashion element too...Laura Wells is an Australian marine biologist and body positive model. She is a eco-warrior who divides her time between advocating for our imperilled oceans and modelling clothes. Why did a woman with two degrees, who thought modelling was a waste of time, decide to embrace life in front of the lens? What's the deal with the ‘plus-size' label? Why should we all get out more and embrace our wild spaces? You're going to love listening to Laura explain her journey from ‘animal-not-loving' Sydney kid to butt-kicking saviour of our seas. You're going to love Laura full stop. Unless you've got a single-use plastics habit. Do not let Laura see you sucking on a so-called disposable coffee cup...The WARDROBE CRISIS show notes unpack the issues addressed in each Episode. Way more than just links, it's like a mini magazine! Head over to https://thewardrobecrisis.com/podcast/2017/6/11/podcast-episode-1-laura-wells-plastic-sucks to read yours and #bethechange Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.