This episode is a conversation with Mykel C. Smith whose New York based namesake creative agency is a think tank for all things fashion. In 2020, Mykel was featured in a CFDA article by Karyl Truesdale who described him as, "a most amazing and very grandiloquent creative who brings the drama to everything he touches!" Mykel has been in the fashion industry for over 20 years as an event producer, celebrity stylist, casting director, event planner and creative director. Currently, Myk...
Jul 21, 2021•21 min•Ep. 24
This episode is a conversation with Milcos Badji who is a Senegalese fashion designer from Dakar. His eponymous brand Nio Far by Milcos means "We are together" in Wolof. The design ethos of Milcos is deeply connected to heritage with research at the center of his artistic process. He uses a mud based fabric known as ‘Bògòlanfini’ (often referred to as Bògòlan) or mud cloth that gives his fashion designs cultural depth, rich in meaning and "the quintessence of authenticity". The latest hand made ...
Jul 14, 2021•37 min•Ep. 23
This episode is a conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Kutesko who is the MA course leader for Fashion Critical Studies at Central Saint Martins in London. Elizabeth published the book Fashioning Brazil: Globalization and the Representation of Brazilian Dress in National Geographic (Bloomsbury 2018) which examines the dynamics between subject, photographer and viewer exploring Brazilian dress and fashion practices within key global cultural debates. Dr. Kutesko earned her PhD from the Courtauld Insti...
Jul 07, 2021•30 min•Ep. 22
This episode is a conversation with Finnegan Shepard who is a writer and founder of Both&--a start-up clothing brand which answers the needs of the transmasculine or gnc-identified community. The ethos of Both& is evidence-based fashion design stemming from personal conversations that creates a space for a diverse and underserved population. Each capsule drop is made in small batches and garments are sustainably and ethically produced. Finnegan, who grew up in both America and England, shares hi...
Jun 30, 2021•37 min•Ep. 21
This bonus episode is an academic talk by host Zara Korutz focused on the dandy as the fashion innovator of street-style using style as agency. Dandy fashion connects to authenticity as a creative expression and position within society. In this talk, I explore the notion of fashion capitals, the style of the dandy, social meaning behind the fashion, and black dandies with roots in Africa and the Caribbean. Dandyism's historical roots creates a myth of authenticated personal identification. The w...
Jun 23, 2021•28 min•Ep. 20
This episode is a conversation with Ken Regnier who came out as an openly gay man at the age of 28 in 1991. Being raised Catholic in Aurora, IL, a mid-west manufacturing suburb outside of Chicago, the pressures to conform to a straight existence in society prevented him from living his authentic self. Ken shares his personal journey of moving away from his hometown in order to live his true identity as an openly gay man. His story reveals trials of self-acceptance, heartaches of loss, and ...
Jun 16, 2021•38 min•Ep. 18
This episode is a conversation with Terence (Tee) Ayuk Eben who is founder of the Never Fade Factory -- a futurist fashion brand showroom based in Soho, London. The flagship underground concept store and creative space is focused on innovation, social impact, technology and sustainability. The creative-process is the heartbeat of the Never Fade Factory which promotes artistic community for fashion, art, photography, design and exhibition. The ethos of the Never Fade Factory is to incubate and ac...
Jun 09, 2021•34 min•Ep. 17
This episode is a conversation with Bruce Weldyn who is a New York City based luxury fashion business insider, author of 'If You Can Put Ketchup on it, Don't Eat it' and co-founder of ALL11-- a sales training platform with a 'talk show' style format. For over 20 years, Bruce's retail leadership success has extended across luxury fashion brands including Prada, Gucci, Armani, John Varvatos, David Yurman and Bergdorf Goodman. Recently, Bruce completed an Instagram Vlog project called '75 Success S...
Jun 02, 2021•32 min•Ep. 16
This episode is a conversation with New York based, Bronx raised freelance men's fashion stylist Victor Lopez. He has styled international creative campaigns for GQ, Vogue, MM Scene, Bello, 365 Male, Cool Korea and Travel Magazine France. Victor's unique visual style is personal and best described as a marriage between his passion for the 90s Hip-hop fashion combined with an innovative gender-neutral undertone which creates a fresh yet classic aesthetic. As told to VoyageLA, Victor says, "as a y...
May 26, 2021•34 min•Ep. 15
Have you seen Netflix's biopic miniseries 'Halston'? This episode is with London based fashion historian and curator Scott Schiavone, who you may know from his YouTube channel Fashion &. This timely conversation is about the 1973 fashion show (with Halston) that transformed fashion history--known as 'The Battle of Versailles'. This monumental fashion competition is a story between the French, who were considered the giants of Haute Couture, and the Americans, who were the underdogs of Ready-to-w...
May 18, 2021•48 min•Ep. 14
This episode is a conversation with Lucy Love who is the founder and voice behind Purely Being Guided Meditations. In her decade long pursuit of living with transformation, Lucy has developed the art of meditation which she shares in her blog, Youtube channel, Instagram, Pinterest and weekly podcast Purely Being Guided Meditations. Lucy's meditation philosophy is a "daily practice of tuning-in that allows you to recharge your body and mind while creating space to move from habitual living to ins...
May 12, 2021•34 min•Ep. 13
This episode is a conversation with Mukul Bhatia who is an award-winning visual artist from India based in Bali focused on sustainability, travel and fashion. Mukul has been featured in Forbes, The New York Times, GQ and TEDx, and winner of Cosmopolitan India’s 2020 Blogger Award for ‘Sustainable Fashion Influencer of the Year’. Please join us as we talk about India, the love of sustainable fashion, honest curiosity in gloablised culture, and art of boundless living.
May 04, 2021•27 min•Ep. 12
This episode is a conversation with Olly Kennedy who is a consultant and PhD Researcher at the University of Liverpool focused on manufacturing operations and supply chain. In this talk, we examine the U.K. Modern Slavery Act, the exploitation in the fashion textile industry, the notion of boundaries, the power of consumption, and discuss frameworks as possible solutions to these complex social ills. Recently, the Guardian announced that "the UK government is considering the introduction of a cl...
Apr 28, 2021•48 min•Ep. 11
This bonus episode is a talk by Zara Korutz for the DePaul Pop Culture Conference "A Celebration of Superheroes". Please join the conference on May 1, 2021 by registering at https://popcultureconference.com/2020-superheroes Abstract: Superman, who is a manufactured entertainment superhero character, can be considered an iconic symbol of the Pop-culture Movement in the 1960s— an era when cultural authorities used zeitgeist philosophies, like ‘Camp’, as a way of deciphering new intellectual approa...
Apr 20, 2021•10 min•Ep. 10
This episode is part 2 of a 2 part conversation with Maxim Silaev who is an Entrepreneur & Technical leader/ Software Security Designer & Architect/ Quantitive trader based in Australia. Max is founder of several global companies focused on algorithmic trading, cryptocurrency, Blockchain, artificial intelligence and software engineering. For more information, please see https://maxsilaev.com Please join us as we talk about Blockchain technology, NFTs and the use of cryptocurrency.
Apr 14, 2021•28 min•Ep. 9
This episode is part 1 of a 2 part conversation with Maxim Silaev who is an Entrepreneur & Technical leader/ Software Security Designer & Architect/ Quantitive trader based in Australia. Max is founder of several companies focused on algorithmic trading, cryptocurrency, Blockchain, artificial intelligence and software engineering who works with international partners from USA, Australia, UK, Singapore, Russia, Ukraine, India, Laos, and Thailand. Maxim, who started his career almost 20 years ago ...
Apr 07, 2021•27 min•Ep. 8
This episode is a conversation with Danielle Radojcin who is a London based fashion, art and culture multimedia journalist and podcast producer. Danielle's clients include Miu Miu, Matches Fashion and the British Fashion Council. She started her career at Vogue and has worked at GQ, ASOS, Net-A-Porter and is currently a contributing editor for MATCHESFASHION.COM as well as an associate lecturer at Central Saint Martins on the MA Fashion Journalism course. Danielle is founder and host of the podc...
Mar 17, 2021•33 min•Ep. 5
This episode is a conversation with Christian Benjamin who is a Washington, D.C. based cultural tastemaker, thought leader and entrepreneur. Christian is the founder and Creative Director of Story MKTG, a full service creative and marketing agency focused on mission based initiatives with authentic storytelling representing cultures from communities of colour. Story MKTG's client roster includes brands McDonalds, Ciroc, and Seagram's with a creative portfolio that includes White House Administra...
Mar 03, 2021•31 min•Ep. 4
This episode is a conversation with Doris Domoszlai-Lantner and Sara Emilia Bernat who are co-founders of New York-based not-for-profit think tank Fashion Forward which was established in 2020 to challenge the conventional discourse around the fashion system. Through a multidisciplinary lens, Fashion Forward unravels changes and disruptions in fashion, distilling diverse and unexpected data into intelligent insights, and frames them within accessible media such as exhibitions, white papers, publ...
Feb 24, 2021•26 min•Ep. 3
This episode is a conversation with Anastasia Karklina-Gabriel who is a cultural analyst, strategist focused on Black studies and feminist theory. As a cultural intermediary, Anastasia's intellectual work is focused on pop-culture, race, identity and cultural politics. Her knowledge helps brands shape stories that are rooted in cultural intelligence while thinking deeply about lived experience and social behavior. Anastasia's work has been published in Duke Chronicle, Mic, John Hope Franklin Hum...
Feb 17, 2021•28 min•Ep. 2
This episode is a conversation with Bruce Weldyn who is a New York City based luxury fashion business insider. For over 20 years, Bruce's retail leadership experience has extended across brands including Prada, Gucci, Armani, John Varvatos, David Yurman and Bergdorf Goodman. Bruce's success in the luxury fashion retail market is a business savvy approach infused with a unique personal style. The demand for an intelligent approach to the luxury fashion retail industry has led to the launch of his...
Feb 03, 2021•30 min•Ep. 1
