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The BFC Fashion Forum podcast aims to use season 5 to impart knowledge and give the opportunity to explore topics that are affecting the creative industries and future of the fashion industry. Previous episodes have included Kirsty McGregor, Stefano Martinetto, and Stavros Karelis who discussed the implications of Brexit on the British fashion industry and what this may mean for our cultural and socio-economic structure. Other guests also included designer Jawara Alleyne and writer/cultural communications thought leader Yasmin Jones-Henry who conversed about indigenous design techniques and sustainable branding. 

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The latest episode is the fourth of six episodes in season five, featuring more guests like Karoline Vitto, Lovelle, Tora Northman, and Victoria Jenkins. 

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The post Exploring Black Identity in Fashion: BFC Fashion Forum’s Latest Podcast Episode appeared first on Voir Fashion.

Podcasts are becoming a perfect source for learning more about anything and everything that interests you! From fashion updates to global news, self-help and comedy, there is a podcast for everything. Long journeys and household tasks can pass quickly when you listen to an engaging discussion or funny duo. Podcasts produce short, digestible media which offer explanations of complex subjects or can be used as a form of meditative self-care when listening to fashion news or comedic shows. 

The Daily by The New York Times provides explorative news episodes, five days a week. Each episode tends to focus on a specific news story, discussed in-depth between the host, Michael Barbaro, and a guest versed in the topic. The episodes cover ongoing court investigations, sports world updates, and stories of individuals. Each episode is a quick 20 minutes which makes The Daily ideal to incorporate into your morning routine to catch up on news articles. 

Emma Chamberlain shares all in Anything Goes. Appropriately named, Emma’s discussions span various topics of life experience, but always with intimacy and a personal touch provided by her hosting. Her podcast is growing in popularity and is adored for how she speaks candidly about mental health and navigating life as a 20-year-old. Anything Goes provides the listener with food-for-thought and helps us reflect on ourselves. It is ideal for listening to during mindful walks or mid-afternoon breaks. 

For daily fashion news, The Business of Fashion Podcast provides an in-depth analysis of the market. They share engaging interviews with creative directors, provide explanations on business dealings, and advise young creatives wanting to break into the fashion world. When you don’t have the time to sit still and read a business article, this podcast is a great alternative to listen to as you journey to work or to meet up with friends. 

Another option for self-care can simply be listening to a comedy podcast to boost your mood. Smartless, hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett is guaranteed to make you feel better. In each episode, one of the hosts introduces his guest who is a mystery to the other two hosts until that moment; this format provides genuine and authentic conversations between comedic people. If you are a fan of sitcoms like Arrested Development, Will & Grace, or The Office, then this podcast will certainly bring you joy. 

The amount of brillant podcasts to listen to is endless, so here are a few more of our favourties: 

Comedy:

• The Bald and the Beautiful with Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamo
• Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster
• This Might Get Weird 

Fashion and Culture:

• Fashion Victims Podcast
• Still Processing
• Morning Rae
• Articles of Interest
• Fashion no Filter  

News and Learning:

• Politics Weekly
• Talking Politics: History of Ideas
• Global News Podcast 

Words By Caitlin Sahin

The post Where To Start With Podcasts: Podcasts 101 appeared first on Voir Fashion.

Calling all beauty aficionados – there is another way to get your daily beauty fix. If you weren’t already aware of the world of beauty podcasts, this is your sign to grab your headphones and listen to some of the industry’s biggest names bear their secrets and industry gossip. A literal fountain of knowledge you’d otherwise have to pay an arm and a leg for, these top dogs will lift the lid on whatever you are keen to know.  

Now that Boris Johnson has said we can now sit inside (yay!) a lot of us will be travelling around, making up for lost time. Whether you’ve booked that holiday to now green-list countries or travelling to meet your pals for their belated birthday, here’s our pick of the bunch to make your days more bearable.

Beyond The Beauty With Bobbi Brown

Leaving her eponymous brand after 25 years, Bobbi Brown has now released her own podcast. Talking about the beauty industry’s imperative shift towards clean beauty and other pressing issues, it is also a must-listen for budding beauty entrepreneurs. The OG will give advice about how to crack into the industry, grow your brand and changes that will affect your life.

Fat Mascara

Teen Vogue’s Jessica Matlin and Marie Claire’s Jennifer Goldstein come together to create this hilarious yet informative podcast. Together, they discuss strange beauty crazes, just-in trends and brands that you just have to know about, it covers all the bases of skincare/hair/makeup.

If that doesn’t sound good enough, they have a carousel of beauty legends on board. Guests include Bobbi Brown, Charlotte Tilbury and Jen Atkin, to name a few.

Full Coverage

A brilliant podcast for everyone; newbies and professionals alike. Hosted by professional makeup artist Harriet Hadfield and non-professional beauty lover, Lindsey Kelk, the podcast is the perfect mix of expertise and entertainment that will make you belly-laugh. From debating beauty topics, discussing diversity in the industry and interviewing household names, there is something for everyone.

The Glossy Beauty Podcast

This one is for the business and beauty-obsessed. Each podcast differs as the industry’s creme de la creme navigate through issues such as First Aid Beauty founder Lilli Gordon on the process for developing a clean brand to ReVive Skincare CEO, Elana Drell-Szyfer’s advice on how to deal with a crisis in the industry. Even if you don’t have a business, you’ll probably be inspired to start one after this.

Allure: The Science of Beauty

Michelle Lee and Jenny Bailly are asking tough questions and getting answers from cosmetic chemists (like Nikita Wilson), dermatologists (such as Dr. Pimple Popper) and others. So if you’ve ever wondered about the science behind beauty – like those pesky forehead wrinkles and how retinol will help – tune in to their weekly podcast.

Words By Rosina Findlay

The post 5 Beauty Podcasts You NEED To Listen To appeared first on Voir Fashion.

Podcasts have become sort of a ritual for us here at Voir. Whether we listen to them as a way to start our day, as a replacement to music on our walks, or simply as an alternative form of entertainment, they have become an essential part of our daily routines. So imagine our excitement when we found out about a podcast that revolves around one of our all-time favourite series.

Sentimental in the City is a pop-culture podcast by Caroline O’Donoghue and Dolly Alderton, centered around the original series Sex and the City. The Irish author behind the Sentimental Garbage podcast decided to run a mini-series segment with her fellow writer, and friend, to talk about everything Sex and the City related but in a rather unusual format.

The two writers break down and analyse every season of the series and in a very casual, sometimes even too casual, manner. They talk about the different “themes” of this series, from Carrie Bradshaw’s incredible fashion to Samantha Jones’ tragic childhood, and then discuss the impact that these had on their lives. Because yes, even if it’s just a series we can relate to the importance its content can have on womanhood, relationships and even careers.

This mini-series resembles one of those afternoons spent with your closest friends ranting about a movie you just finished watching… just with more knowledge, analytical opinions and creative input. Maybe that’s why we love it so much and are recommending it to you right now, even if we know it has been out there for a while. With the reboot of Sex and the City, And Just Like That, approaching we thought it may be time to revisit this iconic product of American television, but instead of watching once again, it may be fun to hear what two of our favourite authors had to say about it.

If you’re looking for something lighter to start the day, something fun and familiar to listen to in your free time we suggest you check out Sentimental in the City. You won’t be finding out anything new about the acclaimed series, but if you like us enjoy a trip down memory lane but don’t have the time to re-watch 6 seasons this may be the right choice.

Words By Chiara Ferarri

The post Sentimental in the City – Two Friends, a Series, and a Lot of Opinions appeared first on Voir Fashion.

No one should underestimate the challenges everyone may be going through during these times and under the current lockdown circumstances. Mental Health has been in the centre of our attention and should be in the centre of yours too. Whether you are a person struggling with mental health or know someone that is, do not hesitate to seek professional help.

However, even if none of these act as a substitute for professional treatment or medical intervention various alternatives may act as supporting mechanisms of self-care. One of these, and if you’ve been following us you may know how much we love them, are podcasts.

Podcasts have become part of our daily media diet, and if they aren’t already part of yours it’s surely time to consider them. With over 1,750,000 existing podcasts as reported by the Edison Research Infinite Dial 2020-21, there’s a wide variety of ones focused on mental health.

With such an extensive choice we’ve decided to gather a list of our favourite ones to help you find the best one for you.

Mad Chat

Sandy Allen presents mental illness under a perspective that is not commonly done. Allen breaks down the overrated representation of mental health struggles as a destructive problem with hardly any solution, as often depicted in the content we consume. In this podcast terms and concepts related to mental health are analysed to their core and presented under a new perception of ‘normal’ contradicting the stereotypes we may have grown accustomed to. The host together with extraordinary guests such as Tracy Clayton and Yassir Lester approach complex topics through an interactive vein and make us question programs, theories and even costumes we may have never considered as detrimental to the importance of mental health.

No Feeling is Final

It is not easy to talk about one’s struggles, especially when these tend to push us to extreme thoughts, however Honor Eastly, a mental health advocate and artist manages to do just so in an informative and helpful manner. This podcast is divided into six parts and approaches Esatsly’s experience with suicidal thoughts as humorous diary entries, anecdotes and even first-hand recordings. It may seem inconsiderate at first to regard such a complex matter through dark humour but at times is exactly what we need, a laugh and an optimistic outlook on our past events and problems to move on and get the help we may need. Eastly battled with her own monster, “The Voice” and it wasn’t as easy as a six-part memoir but she overcame her obstacles and demonstrated that no feeling should nor will ever be final.

Mental Illness Happy Hour

Paul Gilmartin through the ‘Mental Illness Happy Hour’ podcast hopes to demonstrate that there should be no barrier when it comes to talking about our emotions, traumas or even just our lives. That we’re all in this together and even if at times sour problems may seem individual there’s always someone out there with a similar experience ready to listen to us. Through a series of various interviews with renowned personalities, he explores different aspects and experiences with mental illnesses, from tPTSD effects of sexual assault to parental failure or segregated upbringings.

The Happiness Lab

How often do we try to blame the failure of our happiness to our surroundings or even fate? Well here comes Dr Santos to show us otherwise.
Happiness is, as many of our emotions, something that can depend highly on our understanding of it. It is something that we can control through our thought processes and mental capacity.

Even if you may think that this just isn’t possible after tuning in a few episodes you will soon question the power we each hold when it comes to controlling our behaviour, and the effects this can have in our mental health and overall wellbeing.

Mind Pump

Fitness and wellness go hand-in-hand and this podcast highlights this in the best of ways.

The fitness industry, like many others, still has a long way to go. It often represents an exclusivist community that focuses on image more than well being. On looking better over feeling better, but luckily for us the four hosts of ‘Mind Pump’ realised this and decided to do something about it.

Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews, and Doug Egge everything post related but always while highlighting its relationship to our mindset and importance of mental wellbeing. Because looking fine doesn’t always equate feeling fine.

The result? An enriching listen for anyone, which tackles insecurities and the over judgmental position we may find ourselves in when judging our bodies and prioritising this over anything else.

The Hilarious World of Depression

We all know that depression exists, but we don’t all acknowledge it the way we should. Depression and being depressed can mean many things, relate to many aspects and take various forms. So why don’t we talk about it this way? Why don’t we consider the multidimensional conditions that relate to it?

If you have the same questions as us and worry about this as much as we do then ‘The Hilarious World of Depression’ is here for you. Host John Moe tells real stories or real people, celebrities and more, with the aim to present the reality of depression from every angle you could imagine (or not). What differentiates his work from many others is his ability and focus on giving advice and presenting the different types of coping tools that exist alongside the different forms of depression.

On Being

The meaning of life you ask? Don’t think we’ll ever be able to answer that… But we may know someone that could help us contemplate it.

On Being with Krista Tippett delves into this existential question, what it means living in the 21st century, the burden we carry when trying to comprehend this complex world and the correlation this may have with our mindfulness and mental health. If you’re someone like us, that poses themselves questions of this in-depth nature and would like to hear more extensive discussion on the matter than this is the podcast you have been looking for.

Words by Chiara Ferrai

The post The Best Mental Health Podcasts To Listen To Right Know appeared first on Voir Fashion.

If we were already approaching peak podcast in 2019, the past lockdown has propelled us to the absolute height. When starved of human contact and conversation, podcasts were a chance to feel like we were still plugged into social interaction, listening to interesting conversations between people who at least sounded like they were in the same room. And even though restrictions are easing, the months of missed talk still need catching up on – so here’s the pick of the best uplifting post-lockdown podcasts to ease you back into (brace yourself) “the new normal”.

In one way or another, we’ve all learned to cope with a colossal collective setback in the past few months – which is why Elizabeth Days’ podcast How to Fail is more timely (and comforting) than ever. In each episode, she interviews a well-known guest about three of their ‘failures’ and what they’ve learned from things not going to plan. These range from the seemingly trivial (Phoebe Waller-Bridge can’t keep her room tidy) to the deeply intimate (food writer Nigel Slater sees himself as an inadequate son and friend), but Day is the true star of the show. She’s the fairy godmother you wish you had armed with generous insight and warmth instead of the usual wand and wings. In the most recent series, Scarlett Moffatt (everyone’s favourite Gogglebox breakout star) speaks eloquently about body image, her work ethic, and why she prefers living up north over fast-paced London life. It’s the kind of discussion that makes you eager to experience life to the full, with all its ups and downs – the perfect pick-me-up for uncertain and troubled times.

If like us, the lockdown has made you crave culture and all the chat that comes with it, Still Processing is the one-stop solution. Presented by two writers from The New York Times, the latest episode is about “sitting with discomfort” in all its forms: the erasure of slavery in the Broadway musical Hamilton (recently made available on Disney+), Michaela Coel’s gut-wrenching I May Destroy You, and comedian Ziwe Fumudoh’s Instagram live shows (where guests like Caroline Calloway unwittingly tie themselves in knots, caught up in Fumudoh’s loaded questions). The hosts Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris are as entertaining as they are astute – you’re so absorbed by their easy chemistry that the sharpness of their observations almost come as a shock (see: “During the Obama era it was about being seen, and during the Trump era it’s about being heard”, a breezy remark that takes a minute to digest). It’s like listening to two of the cleverest people you know when they’re off-duty; they unravel heavy issues with a refreshingly light touch.

The High Low has a similar tone, hosted by British journalists and close friends Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes. Every week they give thoughtful reading recommendations, discuss findings from the most ridiculous surveys, and give updates on Gemma Collins’ latest escapades (affectionately referring to her as “The GC”). They strike the near-impossible balance of sounding intelligent without taking themselves too seriously – you’ll find yourself passing off their opinions as your own before you know it.

You probably know Jessie Ware from her sexy, understated early records (or her equally sexy, disco-infused latest album, What’s Your Pleasure?). But while her singing persona is reserved and ultra-cool, her podcast Table Manners reveals a much sunnier side of her personality. Co-hosted by her mum Lennie, an all-round icon who unfailingly addresses Jessie as “darling”, each week sees them cook a homemade meal for a famous guest. Recent episodes include JoJo and John Legend – listening makes you hungry and happy all at once, like going home for a Sunday roast.

In day-to-day life overanalyzing always ends badly, but in the parallel world of podcasts, it’s the perfect approach. This is what we’ve learned from Switched on Pop, in which songwriter Charlie Harding and musicologist (cool job title, we know) Nate Sloane bring their considerable expertise to taking apart pop songs and explaining what makes them so catchy. From Doja Cat to Bad Bunny, they bring a whole new appreciation to the tunes you love. You’ll know your pianissimo from your pizzicato in no time – and it feels great to get to the real nitty-gritty beneath the groove.

Words by Jaleh Brazell

Graphics by Georgia Walters

The post How to Podcast: Post-Lockdown Podcasts to Empower your Mood appeared first on Voir Fashion.