Conventional wisdom might say to let your outfit do the talking, but if the growing phenomenon of fashion podcasting is anything to go by, that’s only the start of the conversation. Whether investigating overlooked style cultures around the world, the day-to-day grind of working in the industry, or the urgency of addressing systemic problems from sustainability to racial inequality, fashion podcasters have quickly proven themselves to be among the most agenda-setting voices in industry media today.

That podcasts should prove to be such a compelling platform to explore fashion might initially sound counterintuitive. How could the medium of sound capture the tactile pleasure of a coat lining or the satisfying swish of a perfectly cut skirt or gown? The answer is, of course, by not attempting to re-create the experience of clothes at all. Instead, the best style podcasts communicate why clothes matter—whether that’s the cultural history that informs them, the machinations of the broader industry that produces them, or the simple (or not-so-simple) appeal of the trends that make you want to buy more of them.

Here, find the best fashion podcasts to listen to now across six categories covering history, trends, careers, sustainability, the industry at large, and finally, a new wave of podcasts being created by the brands themselves.

Fashion History

Arguably the gold standard of fashion podcasting, Cassidy Zachary and April Calahan’s series for iHeartRadio has built a loyal audience with its eclectic lineup of deep dives into fashion past and present. From interviews with specialists in traditional Arab dress and Black dandyism to examinations of the history of specific pieces, including sunglasses and jumpsuits, Dressed is the ideal entry point for those looking to expand their fashion knowledge, with Zachary and Calahan’s overviews of key moments in the history of style balancing erudition and wit with an easy charm.

First established in 2015 by fashion scholar Jasmine Helm, textile conservator Dana Goodin, and fashion and history scholar Joy Davis, Unravel’s M.O. is to unpack and challenge the hegemony of white Western designers within the canon of fashion history. Alongside their one-off interviews with fashion academics and incisive forays into onscreen costuming on everything from The Crown to The L Word, the trio’s recurring series on Black, Indigenous, and queer designers have expanded their global and inclusive vision into a podcast that feels both purposeful and poignant.

Admittedly it’s a newer addition to the stable of podcasts, and yes, we might be a little biased, but this list wouldn’t be complete without Vogue’s series exploring the fashion world’s seismic shifts throughout the 2000s. Hosted by international editor at large and walking fashion encyclopedia Hamish Bowles, the series touches on everything from the stratospheric rise of Juicy Couture to the influence of Sex and the City to the blogger phenomenon. With its starry lineup of guests—where else would you find Gisele Bundchen herself musing on her extraordinary decade in front of the lens?—it’s an unmissable window into a pivotal chapter in fashion history.

Style and Trends

Hosted by Rebecca Arnold, the highly respected fashion history lecturer at London’s Courtauld Institute, and Beatrice Behlen, the fashion and decorative arts curator of the Museum of London, Bande à Part might at first glance seem forbiddingly highbrow. Quite the opposite: The charm and obvious rapport between its cohosts make it as accessible as podcasts come; indeed, it feels like you’re sitting in on a conversation between friends. Whether they’re diving into the annals of fashion history, devoting an episode to the fashion photographers whose worlds they would most like to inhabit, or discussing the new Savage x Fenty show, Arnold and Behlen wear their erudition lightly, but their knowledge and experience always shine through.

If you’re looking for a podcast sitting right at the fashion zeitgeist, Corporate Lunch—hosted by GQ editors Noah Johnson, Rachel Tashjian, and Samuel Hine—is the one for you, with hot takes on everything from Christian Girl Autumn to their favorite Timothée Chalamet fits. A major part of Lunch’s appeal is its guests, who seem chosen for their ability to see beyond the myopia of the fashion industry; episodes have featured playwright Jeremy O. Harris, musician Phoebe Bridgers, and pro skater Alex Olson.

Created by Avery Trufelman as a miniseries within the hit public radio show 99% Invisible, Articles of Interest stands out both for the truly impressive level of research that underpins it, and the way in which it translates this information into self-contained narrative arcs that feel as gripping as any true crime series. The subjects for each episode might initially appear broad—knockoffs, Hawaiian shirts, childrenswear—but Trufelman has a knack for teasing out rich and fascinating stories packed with unexpected twists and turns.

Working in Fashion

Hosted by Vogue’s market editor Naomi Elizée, So…What Do You Do Again? highlights the lives and journeys of women of color within the fashion industry with humor, warmth, and intimacy. Elizée brings a rare honesty and insight into the wide-ranging backstories of her guests, be they model Precious Lee or celebrity stylist Ade Samuel. While its mandate is to serve as a resource for young people of color looking to break into fashion, the candid conversations—many of which touch on the obstacles faced by women of color on their way to the top—should be required listening for anyone working in the industry at any level.

While some of the bigger fashion houses have launched podcasts featuring their head creatives, it’s rare for a designer to take the initiative to start a podcast on their own. But Recho Omondi is not your average designer. Omondi’s interviews with figures from the fashion world—Diet Prada, Heron Preston, and Bethann Hardison among them—are notable for her willingness to broach topics that other podcasters might shy away from, specifically the industry’s reluctance to talk openly about its complicity in environmental destruction and systemic racism. Her probing, inquisitive nature makes her a brilliant interviewer—even if, with fans of her label including Issa Rae and Solange Knowles, she shouldn’t be giving up the day job anytime soon.

A new podcast launched by London-based fashion community platform ClickerMe, The Fashion Slashie—hosted by fashion journalist Lara Johnson-Wheeler—looks at the ever-evolving phenomenon of the “slashie,” the freelancer jack-of-all-trades creatives that increasingly dominate the fashion landscape. With the likes of artist, publisher, art director, and stylist Theo White, who has collaborated with Mowalola and styled for the Cut and Dazed, and the creative director and entrepreneur Tayler Prince-Fraser on board as guests, it’s a compelling window into a side of the industry that often gets overlooked.

Industry Insights

With new episodes dropping biweekly, The Business of Fashion Podcast is known as one of the most reliable sources for up-to-date fashion news and industry goings-on. Hosted by the publication’s founder and CEO, Imran Amed, its standout quality is its willingness to tackle the big issues facing the industry today—from retail to style culture to global politics—with an informed, clear-headed impartiality.

For a more on-the-ground take on the industry today, Fashion: No Filter ticks all the boxes. Its hosts are influencer Camille Charrière and fashion journalist Monica Ainley, and their shared interest in the conversation between the fashion industry and pop culture makes for compelling listening at a time when the two have never been more intertwined. Whether interviewing Bryanboy or Instagram’s fashion guru Eva Chen, the pair’s fluency in the worlds of social media, street style, and sustainability offers a relatable take on the machinations of the fashion industry that has earned them a loyal following.

Since writing a viral Facebook post about being dropped by her modeling agency for being “too big” in 2015, British model Charli Howard has become one of the U.K.’s most prominent voices advocating for a more inclusive set of body standards. And with her BBC Sounds podcast Fashion Fix, Howard broadened the conversation further, exploring how those working within it can make efforts to address some of the biggest issues it faces, from diversity to sustainability to adaptivity. Earlier this year, model Naomi Shimada took the reins, shifting the focus to include insiders’ experiences of the beauty industry as well, and has proven a worthy successor, interviewing the likes of Zandra Rhodes and Sinéad Burke.

Sustainability Matters

There are few issues the fashion industry needs to address as urgently as the climate crisis, a fact that Clare Press, Vogue Australia’s first sustainability editor, has been all too aware of over her two decades working in media. Launched in 2017, on the cusp of sustainability entering the mainstream fashion discourse, Press’s The Wardrobe Crisis podcast is a valuable resource for those looking to understand the horrifying impact of the apparel industry on the environment. More importantly, perhaps, its focus lies equally on the innovators finding solutions to move fashion forward by way of a circular economy and ethical production. Never judgmental or patronizing, Press’s approach to environmental advocacy within fashion is truly admirable—and one we can all learn from.

For vintage obsessives, Bay Garnett will need little introduction. The influential former fashion editor at British Vogue made her start with cult favorite magazine Cheap Date in the 1990s, featuring fashion shoots memorably styled with thrift store finds, while a vintage banana print tee she styled Kate Moss in for her first Vogue shoot in 2003 was borrowed by Phoebe Philo afterwards, only to show up on the Chloé runway the following year and become a high street phenomenon. Garnett’s new podcast sees her invite a starry lineup of guests—Rachel Weisz, Sienna Miller, and Chloë Sevigny have all made appearances—to go through some of their most beloved pieces from across the years, with Garnett’s warmth and humor making it more than obvious why she’s one of the most beloved figures in fashion. Come for the celebrities, stay for the stellar thrifting tips.

Hosted by the Irish DJ and broadcaster Tara Stewart, Dirty Laundry came to be after Stewart watched the documentary The True Cost and began questioning the impact of the clothes from fast fashion brands she was often paid to wear at DJ gigs. Since then, Stewart has made it her mission to educate both herself and her listeners on the real-world impact of the clothes we wear, challenging brands to address the climate crisis effectively, and creating helpful solutions for consumers to shop and dress more responsibly in our day-to-day lives. Given her radio experience, it’s no experience that Stewart is a natural host: as inquisitive and curious as she is firm in her convictions.

Brand Chatter

As fashion podcasts have undergone a modest boom over the past few years, it didn’t take long for brands to get in on the action too. One of the most compelling is Chanel Connects, one of a host of podcasts the French house has invested in, which brings together some of the world’s foremost cultural figures (albeit most from within Chanel’s orbit) for conversations about the future of art, film, fashion, music, and more. The starry but eclectic lineup includes the likes of Keira Knightley, Tilda Swinton, Edward Enninful, Pharrell Williams, and Arthur Jafa, with the conversations around just what our museums, galleries, and stages might look like as the world reopens proving to be particularly compelling.

While Gucci’s podcast also revolves mostly around conversations between creatives, its approach is more itinerant, focusing on the sprawling array of projects patronized by the house, from its Chime Zine, to its collaborations with Dapper Dan, to its recent “brand hacking” with Balenciaga. (For that, a conversation between Alessandro Michele and Demna Gvasalia proved particularly intriguing.) A recent highlight was a deep dive into the brand’s Vault project that invited a coterie of young designers to reimagine pieces from the Gucci archive, with a guest appearance from Vogue’s archive editor Laird Borrelli-Persson. It’s a podcast with all the shapeshifting playfulness of Michele’s distinctive vision for the house.

Under Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior’s runway shows have become one of fashion’s most visible forums for feminist messaging, whether via her Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie-quoting “We Should All Be Feminists” tee or the various female artists Chiuri has invited to craft theatrical sets that feel more like installations, from Judy Chicago to Anna Paparatti. So it’s no surprise that Dior’s podcast has a particular emphasis on the role of women in the creative sphere, from its first season on feminist art to its most recent, more politically charged season featuring friends of the house including actor Felicity Jones, choreographer Sharon Eyal, and poet and activist Robin Morgan. Billed as an invitation to “step inside the contemporary Dior mind,” it certainly lives up to its initial impression as the most cerebral offering from the big fashion houses in the podcasting sphere.

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