WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

We all know clothes have meaning, beyond just looking nice. We’ve often talked on this podcast about the importance of how they are made. This week, we’re considering how fashion’s meaning stretches beyond supply chains and our wardrobes, to shape our culture and the way we see ourselves collectively. How does fashion see itself when it comes to race and privilege? How about the male gaze?Clare sits down with Caryn Franklin, journalist, style icon, fashion citizen (not consumer, please!), one-time presenter of The Clothes Show and all-time national treasure. These days her work centres on education and activism - she’s a visiting professor of diverse selfhood at Kingston School of Art, in London, and gained her MSc in applied psychology specialising in selfhood, objectification, inclusivity and gender bias.Partly, this interview is a personal one about a life in clothes but it’s also a provocation: How can we use fashion as a vehicle for positive self-esteem, rather than allowing it to make too many of us fee