WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

Beauty is one of the major motivators for people who work in creative industries – they want to make beautiful things, whether it's a garment, textile, show or picture. They want, as Megan Morton puts it in this Episode, to chase down true beauty wherever they see it. Not to push the beautiful lie but to try to capture and understand it.Megan is a stylist, author and “house whisperer” with a life-long love for vintage and the stories behind old things. She grew up on a banana farm in Queensland, where her mum subscribed to 1970s back-to-the-land magazine, Grass Roots. Megan grew up seeing the beauty in nature, while figuring out how to make stuff.Today her styling work is focused on houses and interiors, but she turns her eye for beauty on everything from her wardrobe, to teaching to travel to Instagram. She's worked for magazines like Vogue Living and Elle Decoration, and is the author of four books. The latest? It's Beautiful Here (Thames & Hudson).In this Episode we go off on a lot of

What do you think is possible? How about impossible? Kim Pearce and Katherine Davis are living proof of the old adage: where there's a will there's a way. The Possibility Project, which they cofounded after meeting on the school run, “delivers social justice programs through the mindset of social entrepreneurship”.What does that look like on the ground? Try their womenswear label Slumwear 108, and made in the slums of Jaipur in partnership with the NGO i-India. The number 108, in case you're wondering, is considered sacred in may eastern religions and traditions. Ask Kim what it means to her and she says, “It's all about spiritual completion.” But these clothes and accessories aren't some mystical idea – they are real. Whether it's a jacket made from upcycled old saris or a string of silk covered beads, they offer measureable benefits to the people who make them, and to their communities.How do you begin to set up a social enterprise? How do you keep it going? What qualities

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

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

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. The WARDROBE CRISIS show notes unpack the issues addressed in each Episode. Head over to www.clarep

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!

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? The WARDROBE CRISIS show notes unpack the issues addressed in each Episode. Way more than just links, it's like a mini magazine! 

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 s

Laura Wells is marine biologist, Insta girl and one of Australia's top curvy models. She is a greenie 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 www.clarepress.com/ to read yours and #bethechangeMusic is by Montaigne www.montaignemusic.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for priv

Way more than just frocks…WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press is the fashion podcast you've been waiting for and it launches June 14.Join Clare and her guests as they decode the fashion system, and dig deep into its effects on people and planet. This show unzips the real issues that face the industry today, with a focus on ethics, sustainability, consumerism, activism, identity and creativity.Hit subscribe and be the first to listen on June 14. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.