Statements on Fashion: A Critical Fashion Podcast
In the Fall of 2018, second-year MA Fashion Studies students Philippa Nesbitt and Katie Wilkes launched a podcast called Statements on Fashion, where they feature bi-monthly interviews with fashion scholars and practitioners. We interviewed them to find out more about their backgrounds and their new podcast.
Parsons Paris: Where are you two from?
Katie Wilkes: I was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV.
Philippa Nesbitt: I was born and raised in Calgary, Canada, but spent most of my adult life between Vancouver and Paris.
PP:Â How did you decide to come to Parsons Paris?
KW: I did my undergraduate degree at San Diego State University in Media Studies and International and Comparative Politics. In college I lived between San Diego, New York and at one point Los Angeles, completing my studies during the school year and interning in fashion over the summers. The summer between my junior and senior year I took some courses at Parsons New York, which prompted me to apply to the Fashion Studies program. I checked the âwilling to be considered for Paris campusâ box on my application but never thought I would actually end up in France. It was quite a leap of faith moving here but itâs been an amazing journey thus far!
PN: I have a bachelor degree in Sociology and Critical Studies in Sexuality from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. I spent a year on exchange at Sciences Po here in Paris and ended up staying after graduation. When I began applying for masters programs back in Canada, I wasnât finding anything that bridged my interest in fashion but would allow me to continue with academia. Then a friend recommended I check out programs at Parsons, and when I found out there was an option to study in Paris and continue my life here, I was so excited and applied right away.
PP: What are some of your interests outside of fashion?
KW: Iâve always been a writer and an avid reader. We both spend a lot of Sundays at Ofr and Yvon Lambert. If Iâm not working or reading (and sometimes when I am working and reading, to be honest) I have The Office playing on a constant loop in my apartment. The remainder of my time is spent trying to find the best pancakes in Paris–which are at IMA on Canal Saint-Martin, by the way.
PN: Iâm super into music, so I try to spend a lot of time at shows around Paris. I find itâs a good way to get out of my own head, especially during the thesis writing process! Another way I clear my head is by going to art galleries. There are lots of great ones in the Marais and Belleville, and I love taking an afternoon to wander around and see whatâs happening at all of them. Iâm also super into food. So if Iâm not out trying to find the best market on the weekends, Iâm trying new restaurants around the 10th and 11th arrondissements.
PP: Tell us about your podcast, Statements on Fashion. What has the journey been from inception until now?
KW:The idea came about last spring, conveniently around a time that Parsons Paris was taking applications for research grants. We were on a bit of a tight deadline, but submitted our application and received a grant in May 2018. From there it was a long process of learning about equipment weâd need, budgeting and planning travel to interview people outside of Paris, and ultimately learning how to produce a podcast! Over the summer I conducted a number of interviews in the US while Philippa did the same in Europe. It is a bit surreal to look back on the moment we first spoke about the possibility of creating SOF to now seeing it on Spotify, iTunes and Google Play.
PP: How does Statements on Fashion relate or situate itself within the MAFS program?
PN: The podcast is meant to sit between academia and industry. We have two distinct aims: to make academic information accessible to those outside of the university setting, and to create parallels between research and reality, what really goes on in the fashion industry. We typically take on a topic and interview one âscholarâ and one âpractitionerâ each month and try to put their views or ideas on something in conversation. This is very much what happens in the program here at Parsons â its a bridge between the two aspects. We wanted to create something that anyone that wanted to learn about fashion from a new perspective could listen to, whether they come from academia, from fashion, or completely outside.
PP: How do you choose your interviewees?
KW: We usually pick a topic that we are interested in for that month and then think about who is the academic authority on that topic, then picking someone from the industry follows. At the beginning when we didnât have any episodes out it was a bit tougher to pitch ourselves and we relied a lot on our existing relationships and people taking a chance on us. We definitely accessed a lot of people that we were introduced to through the program, so we were lucky there. Itâs not always quite that clean cut and itâs a lot of putting puzzle pieces together sometimes!
PP: What have been some milestones in the process thus far? Struggles? Successes?
PN: We have definitely had our share of technical difficulties! We have spent hours in our living rooms playing with microphones, headphones and editing software. At one point Katieâs entire computer crashed and we thought we lost all of our content. We also have had to work with sound production, and how best to conduct interviews with people at a distance and still great good quality sound. Itâs all new to us! But itâs fun to learn and hear it get better with each episode.
As far as successes, we have had the chance to sit down with people that we deeply respect within both fashion studies and the industry. People have shown us a lot of kindness and faith in our project, and weâre really thankful for that.
KW: For me one of the âsuccessâ moments was getting a call from my Dad last week in which he opened with âDid you know Lane Bryant started as a maternity-wear designer on the Upper East Side?!â I laughed and asked how on earth he knew that, but he actually learned it from listening to our episode with Dr. Downing Peters! Getting him on the SOF train was definitely a good moment for us.
PN: The sheer numbers of downloads I see when I check out our statistics is the most exciting thing for me. Itâs so amazing to see people take interest in our work and know that people actually want to listen to what we and our interviewees have to say.
PP: Whatâs next for Statements on Fashion?
KW: We only have a few episodes out right now, but we do have a lot of forthcoming content to release over the next couple of months and have already started working on interviews and content for season 2. Weâve been able to start traveling to do interviews in different places and our interviewees are becoming more and more diverse.
PN: Weâre also really happy to be able to share our own research thatâs coming up in our thesis writing process and combine that with some interviews. We hope to keep expanding our listener base and reach the ears of  people who have previously found fashion inaccessible or uninteresting!
Cover art by Geneva Haley https://www.genevalhaley.com
For more on Statements on Fashion
www.statementsonfashionpodcast.com   |  Follow @statementsonfashion on Instagram  |  ContactÂ
Philippa Nesbitt  | www.philippanesbitt.com    |  Instagram @philippa___n
Katie Wilkes  |  www.wilkeskatie.com    |  Instagram @ktwilkes