Haute hearing: fashion podcasts to soundtrack your summer

Consider these fashion podcasts an aural accessory for your next summer escape, selected by Wallpaper* to amuse, inspire and inform, from the blockbuster – podcasts from Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton offer a new perspective on Paris’ storied houses – to an education in style history, and frank conversations about the state of fashion and its future.

Here, the Wallpaper* style team selects the fashion podcasts to see you through summer, whether luxuriating by the pool or spending lazy days at home.

Fashion Neurosis

In a wink towards her great-grandfather, the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, fashion designer Bella Freud has launched a new podcast which invites a famous roll-call of friends to ‘lie on the couch’ and explore their relationship with fashion. Titled ‘Fashion Neurosis’, Freud – who helms a London-based fashion label known for its sweaters emblazoned with slogans like ‘Me Me Me’, ‘Transference’ and ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ – has already gathered an impressive roster of guests, from Rick Owens and Kate Moss to Jonathan Anderson and Kim Gordon (with plenty more in the works). The wide-ranging conversations might begin with clothing, but Freud hopes they will end up ‘going far beyond what we wear: diving into the unspoken language of clothing and the ways in which we use style to navigate and communicate in the world’. From what we’ve heard so far, so good. Stay tuned for more no doubt high-profile guests.

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Stone Island Sound: The Podcast

Part of Stone Island Sound – a recently launched platform to celebrate the brand’s long-running links with the music industry – ‘Stone Island Sound: The Podcast’ hones in on the idea of community, featuring a series of conversations with ‘the most inspiring voices in the Stone Island universe, fellow enthusiasts and friends who drive culture through their creative obsession,’ according to presenter Arco Maher (a Stone Island obsessive and archivist). So far, two episodes have been released: the first features British photographer Ewen Spencer, who was known for documenting youth subculture for publications like The Face, the second features i-D founders Terry and Tricia Jones, with further episodes released quarterly.

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Chanel Connects

Bridging fashion, arts and culture, ’Chanel Connects’ is a blockbuster podcast from the Parisian fashion house. Now in its fifth season – which was recorded at Coco Chanel’s former Mediterranean villa La Pausa on the French Riviera – previous seasons have seen guests which include Tilda Swinton, Pharell Williams and Es Devlin (Season One), Emerald Fennell, Honey Dijon and Kehinde Wiley (Season Two), Penélope Cruz, Ruthie Rogers and Sheila Heti (Season Three), and Vicky Krieps, Irma Boom and Sadie Coles (Season Four). Comprising a series of conversations, often featuring subjects across disciplines, the illuminating podcasts are ‘devoted to the profound questions and conversations that shape culture today and define its tomorrow.’ The latest season promises a line-up of ‘changemakers’ – from actor Lupita Nyong’o to ballet dancer Francesca Hayward – discussing wide-ranging subjects from the ‘philosophy of home’ to the ‘art of performance’.

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What’s Contemporary Now?

Running with the tagline ‘for curious minds’, ‘What’s Contemporary Now?’ offers a series of deep-diving conversations with figures from the cultural industry, many of which come from the world of fashion – whether Belgian photographer Willy Vanderperre (on ‘youth voices, isolation and pop culture’), movement director Pat Boguslawski (on ‘the journey of a movement maestro’), or make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench (on her ‘unconventional take on beauty’). The in-depth interviews, running in a series of ‘seasons’, are led by host Christopher Michael, a multi-hyphenate creative who founded the What’s Contemporary Now? platform in 2011, followed by the podcast in 2022. Expect thought-provoking conversations about fashion’s future – from AI to trend forecasting – while offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the industry’s inner workings.

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Dior Talks

A vast back catalogue of episodes waits for the budding listener of ‘Dior Talks’, a discipline-spanning podcast from the Parisian fashion house which first launched in 2020. Each ‘season’ is divided into thematic blocks, like ‘Feminist Art’ – which comprises conversations with Penny Slinger, Tracy Emin, Judy Chicago and Dior’s womenswear reactive director Maria Grazia Chiuri – and ‘Female Gaze’, which explores women filmmakers through the lens of feminist theorist Laura Mulvey, who coined the term ‘male gaze’. Meanwhile for those who want more from the house, a four-part podcast ‘Dior Untold’ promises a ‘behind the scenes of the Maison Dior and its unique savoir-faire’ with a particular focus on beauty and fragrance – from ‘The Power of Red’ to ‘Dior in Bloom’ – while ‘Dior Common Thread‘, which ran until 2022, gives a glimpse into the design philosophy of former Dior Men creative director Kim Jones.

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Dressed: The History of Fashion

One of fashion’s longest-running podcasts – there are currently over 570 episodes and counting – ‘Dressed: The History of Fashion’, is an expansive exploration of the social and cultural history behind the clothes that we wear (or, as presenters April Calahan of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and Cassidy Zachary, a fashion historian and costume designer, describe ‘the who, what, when of why we wear’). The diverse subjects include ‘Spanish fashion in the age of Velázquez’, an exploration of fastenings and zippers, and a deep dive into Italian fashion house Gucci. And that’s just in recent months – there’s enough here to see you through summer (and hours more beside).

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Louis Vuitton [Extended]

A relatively new addition to the roster of podcasts from fashion’s luxury houses, the 2023-launched ‘Louis Vuitton [Extended]’ promises – as the name suggests – an in-depth look at the various inner workings of the maison. Hosted by French journalist Loïc Prigent, the first episode includes a conversation with Louis Vuitton’s menswear creative director Pharrell Williams, while further episodes span numerous disciplines and figures, from trunk-makers and curators to fencer Enzo Lefort, a Louis Vuitton ambassador who competed as a home favourite at the Olympic Games. More recently, tennis player Carlos Alcaraz (a house ambassador), Takashi Murakami and Noémie Merlant have featured.

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Articles of Interest

Produced and hosted by Avery Trufelman, award-winning podcast ‘Articles of Interest’ began life as part of Radiotopia’s ‘99% Invisible’. Entering its sixth season this summer, the show features thoughtful and surprising breakdowns of everyday garments and fashion moments, from Hawaiian shirts and blue jeans, to the punk movement and pockets in clothing (why, she asks, have women’s clothes been so often bereft of pockets?). A second season focused on conceptions of luxury – the so-called ‘Articles of Interest’ include diamonds, wedding dresses and perfume – with Trufelman weaving links to the archetypal American stories of success, glamour, and progress. You’ll be hooked.

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The Cutting Room Floor

Recho Omondi is an American fashion designer whose Patreon podcast, ‘The Cutting Room Floor’, promises candid interviews with industry insiders. Initially established to reflect the types of conversations she was having with friends working in fashion – as such, expect her to ask the questions that other fashion podcasters won’t – her guests straddle behind-the-scenes names (photo editor Emily Keegin, beauty photographer Tom Newman, Eliou founders Cristy Mantilla an Duda Teixeira) and leading figures like power stylist and ’image architect’ Law Roach, who offered a frank assessment of the fashion industry in a (and much-shared) episode.

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