Episode description

For the maiden voyage of the Culture Study podcast, we’re taking a hard look at a problem that plagues us all: terrible clothes. Why are shirts falling apart or pilling after just a few wears? Why does Gucci charge $3200 for a polyester sweater? What happened to ironing and will we ever dry clean en masse again?

Amanda Mull, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins me for a deep dive into the past twenty years of fashion production (and consumption) trends.

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Show notes:* The tweet I describe in the beginning of the podcast* Read Amanda Mull’s piece in The Atlantic: “Your Sweaters Are Garbage”* Read Sarah Zhang’s piece in The Atlantic: “How I Got Bamboo-zled by Baby Clothes”* Amanda mentioned: Sofi Thanhauser’s Worn: A People’s History of Clothing* Some other Amanda pieces I love: Millennials Have Lost Their Grip on Fashion, The Free-Returns Party Is Over, How Shoppers Got Tricked By Vegan Leather* You can see Amanda’s Jeffrey Dahmer glasses in the bio of her Instagram (which is private, so don’t friend request unless you actually know her)* Paul Mescal’s rat tail situation (perhaps more appropriately called a mullet)

This week, we’re looking for your questions for future episodes about:* Resurgent interest in early 2000s music (with Switched on Pop’s Nate Sloan)* The Mean Girls Trailer* A deep analysis of Taylor and Travis Kelce discourse* Kevin Bacon’s Hott Instagram and Gen-X/Elder Millennial Instagram in general* “Little treat” culture* You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here.