Culture Club - All Girls Want Is To Collect Postcards

00:00:00.000 lord's quasi right-wing contraceptive comments who is australian fashion week actually for

00:00:12.720 and unpacking soft patriarchy and young male podcasters i'm maggie zow and i'm jasmine wallace

00:00:20.100 and you're listening to culture club where we chat about pop culture current affairs the internet

00:00:25.340 and our lives. Today we're on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nations.

00:00:33.200 We would like to pay our respects to elders past and present and extend this to any Aboriginal or

00:00:38.860 Torres Strait Islander listeners today. We saw each other last night in the city really briefly

00:00:48.500 And we had to say our goodbyes because you're off to Europe for a month in a couple of days.

00:00:56.180 You, yeah, actually I'm leaving tomorrow.

00:01:00.220 And when this episode's released, I'll already be there.

00:01:02.740 I'll already be in London.

00:01:04.960 We did briefly talk about this because you reminded me that I don't have to say UK and Europe.

00:01:10.360 That's right.

00:01:10.980 Because UK is a part of Europe.

00:01:13.280 But when we said goodbye yesterday, you like teared up.

00:01:15.920 No, I'm actually like tearing up now.

00:01:17.800 I don't know why I'm so codependent.

00:01:23.180 This is so sweet.

00:01:24.520 I'm like shocked.

00:01:25.500 I know.

00:01:25.680 It's just a month.

00:01:27.000 God.

00:01:28.200 I mean, we do see each other very regularly.

00:01:30.280 So it is going to be a shock to the system.

00:01:34.740 Stop.

00:01:35.340 You're wiping away your tears now.

00:01:37.020 What is happening?

00:01:38.580 Guys.

00:01:40.140 I just love you.

00:01:42.100 No, you're going to have the best time.

00:01:44.680 Maybe it's also because like,

00:01:45.700 And I'm going to be stuck here in Melbourne winter working.

00:01:50.200 Yeah, it's true.

00:01:51.300 Why can't I just come in your suitcase?

00:01:53.000 Oh, girl, I'm so scared about carrying my suitcase because when I took it to Sydney for Fashion Week last week,

00:01:58.180 on the way back, it was 20 kilograms.

00:02:00.160 And I was like, I actually cannot lift this.

00:02:01.900 Like, it's actually a problem.

00:02:04.200 So I'm trying to keep my packing really light.

00:02:06.100 I just packed yesterday, so like two days before I leave.

00:02:09.280 And so far, she's slim, she's light, but who knows with what I buy.

00:02:14.160 So, yeah.

00:02:14.520 and um you've got some like fun events planned like you're seeing a few different people right

00:02:20.220 like you're not going to be solo the whole time yeah I mean I'll be like traveling around solo

00:02:25.740 but like meeting up and seeing some friends while I'm there so I think that'll be really nice but

00:02:31.400 it's like so unplanned I'm like oh when I land I have no idea what I'm doing that day which is like

00:02:36.160 scary but fine and you land into London is that right I do so London for like a week and a half

00:02:44.000 or something and then Copenhagen where I'll be attending this sustainable fashion conference

00:02:48.160 and then just like hanging out a bit a bit and then heading to Paris for a few days so

00:02:52.860 it's gonna go by it so yeah quickly I'm this is yeah the longest solo stint I've ever done so I

00:02:59.740 am a bit like nervous especially like I think I take for granted when you travel with like a

00:03:05.280 partner or a group of friends you're like oh you don't have to like think too much about like

00:03:09.800 safety or having everything but i'm like oh my god it's just me yeah be careful in london on

00:03:15.400 your phone especially don't stand in the street with your phone if i do in the uk i like put my

00:03:23.780 back up against a wall and like do whatever i need to really quickly and then put it away

00:03:27.940 and like not to be fear-mongering but like it happens all the time like one of my friends

00:03:31.320 just got her phone stolen in she lives in london but yeah it happens all the time so just keep your

00:03:36.760 wits about you happens all the time I actually can't believe it I'm like why is London like the

00:03:41.580 most dangerous place I've ever traveled yeah I've been to many a country but I'm like yeah I've been

00:03:47.580 warned about that many times so I'll be I'll be careful I just need my google maps I'm sorry

00:03:53.440 but I'm so excited for you I'm so excited to see the content you create will you be online

00:03:59.700 I love it when people keep saying that about the content because I'm like does that create

00:04:03.660 pressure uh a little bit but not really because i know people aren't that serious about it you're

00:04:07.840 not gonna be like oh my god i can't wait to see maggie's so and so i just think it is hard to

00:04:12.540 take photos and videos when you're by yourself that's true so we'll just see um i don't have

00:04:17.120 like content planned and stuff but i'll just take it as i go you know some outfit thingies and

00:04:22.620 whatever else but um it's mainly mainly to enjoy amazing so fun we've got a jam-packed episode

00:04:30.780 today so many big stories to talk about so let's get straight into it we've got a culture quickie

00:04:37.520 with a few quick little culture bites that we want to get into number one golden globes has

00:04:45.680 released a podcast category yes this feels a little bit it's interesting isn't it because

00:04:52.700 it feels late because it feels like podcasts are already like so oversaturated but then also

00:04:58.160 i guess if something becomes so oversaturated that's when the industry kind of is like this

00:05:03.820 is clearly like a massive part of the media now so we have to recognize it what do you think about

00:05:10.060 it i'm like confused because notoriously you know i used to get gone globes and um the oscars so

00:05:15.860 mixed up like i didn't like you know i don't know much about these awards but is it silly to think

00:05:21.980 that yeah gone globes is about film and television uh isn't that a lot to do with acting

00:05:27.220 you know what I mean and like podcasting of course there's some like fictionalized

00:05:32.100 podcasts as well as like acting moments but it's not really like it all falls under mostly

00:05:38.940 documentary or I don't even know what to call it like just just chatting just chatting who do you

00:05:45.420 think would be in it though like I feel like it's going to be obviously very very American it's an

00:05:50.420 american award show um yeah do you think it'll be like call her daddy and stuff yeah well yeah

00:05:58.820 i think it'll be call her daddy and joe rogan i think it's going to be a popularity contest

00:06:03.440 they said that they will have six nominees narrowed down from the top 25 podcasts of the year

00:06:09.360 so if they're going by uh numbers i think it's it's like what's how different is this to like

00:06:16.600 a spotify wrapped of like podcasts like the most popular podcast yeah whatever yeah like what is

00:06:21.200 the litmus test for it is it downloads is it creativity is it uniqueness i think maybe it's

00:06:29.660 a way for these award shows and seasons to try get with it with the youth because i do feel like

00:06:36.320 a lot of like younger gen zed or perhaps gen alphas like wouldn't care at all about these kind

00:06:42.760 of historic award companies or whatever you want to call them.

00:06:48.120 Like I don't think they hold that much weight.

00:06:51.300 Institution, love that.

00:06:53.420 So perhaps they're like, oh, let's tap into the younger audience.

00:06:57.080 Where are they?

00:06:57.940 They're listening to podcasts.

00:06:59.100 Yeah, that's a good point.

00:07:00.660 Also in Culture Quickie, Lorde has created a couple of stirs this week

00:07:05.600 after an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

00:07:08.160 So this is to promote her fourth album, Virgin. 0.52

00:07:12.760 one of the comments that she made was that she watched pamela anderson and tommy lee's like porn

00:07:19.780 video did you see that no i didn't actually what did she say she said that after like a psychedelic

00:07:26.180 trip she watched their porn movie and like the lead up to it and she kind of was saying like

00:07:33.220 how beautiful it was and yeah twitter was kind of like um pamela anderson has spoken like multiple

00:07:39.460 times about how she doesn't want anyone to watch it it's like so exploitative it was such a bad

00:07:43.600 time in her life and why is lord like even bringing it up but it was all in under the guise of like

00:07:48.900 i was tripping and like it was just so pure and beautiful so that was one point interesting that's

00:07:56.680 so weird that she put that in the interview because it's not like she's new to celebrity

00:08:00.180 like i know like don't do that but if you wanted to share share with your friends yeah

00:08:05.060 interesting maybe she's like forgotten her media training after being like out of the cycle for so 0.51

00:08:11.320 long another one we wanted to talk about was um she opened up about coming off the contraceptive 0.86

00:08:18.240 pill there was a really good piece in glamour by chloe laws about this the piece is called

00:08:23.640 like lord coming off the pill changed my life but let's talk about it without fear mongering

00:08:28.780 So the right of the Rolling Stone feature was Britney Spanos and to Britney, Lorde said

00:08:36.280 that towards the end of 2023, she stopped taking birth control for the first time since

00:08:41.520 she was 15.

00:08:42.500 So this is a quote from Lorde, I've now come to see my decision as maybe some quasi right

00:08:48.500 wing programming, but I hadn't ovulated in 10 years.

00:08:52.360 And when I ovulated for the first time, I cannot describe to you how crazy it was.

00:08:56.840 one of the best drugs i've ever done lord also said that she felt like she had superpowers as

00:09:02.720 if being off birth control had quote peeled a film off her life um but it also came with bigger

00:09:10.220 crashes such as pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder um which is often described as a severe form of

00:09:16.960 pms i want to talk about some of these quotes because i had to read it a few times to be like

00:09:22.140 wait what is she saying about like the right wing programming like the pill is right wing which

00:09:27.320 notoriously I was like the like you know contraception for women was a big part of

00:09:34.920 like feminist movement and also I'm really dumbing this down and making generalizations

00:09:40.780 but conservative parties like wouldn't they want women to like give birth so like how is

00:09:44.680 how is contraceptive so she was actually saying that the right wing are trying to get women off

00:09:53.420 birth control and one way to do that is to say that like you should feel like your like every

00:09:59.400 emotion you should feel your violation that is like the right wing programming because lord

00:10:04.860 actually responded to the writer's instagram imagine if you wrote like we do all the time

00:10:10.180 like wrote a feature post it on your personal instagram not on the magazines it's like on your

00:10:14.720 personal page and you like share the feature and then lord replies what did lord say just two hours

00:10:21.180 ago lord said haha i would never say birth control was right-wing programming i was referring to the

00:10:27.020 online movement discouraging birth control use that i somewhat unconsciously absorbed around the 0.53

00:10:32.560 time i decided to come off it it was a gnarly as fuck transition with many highs and lows and i'm 0.67

00:10:38.120 still trying to figure out what's right for me re-birth control. A teeny bit of a conversation 0.95

00:10:43.380 goes into an article. You know how it goes. I heart birth control. I heart natural vibes. I

00:10:49.000 heart choice. I heart natural vibes. Oh my God. I need that on a t-shirt.

00:10:56.300 No, but I think this is like a good and interesting conversation around. There's been a lot of

00:11:03.440 chatter about um cycle like menstrual cycles and it's really great i think that women and people

00:11:09.900 with periods are becoming more in touch with all the different facets of the cycle not just like

00:11:15.560 bleeding not just menstruation i am one of these people like i have recently not recently probably

00:11:21.260 like the last two years oh i'm 2023 interesting timing maybe i'm also absorbing the right wing

00:11:26.360 propaganda um but just like every week like knowing what my body needs like knowing okay

00:11:31.840 it's ovulation week so I'm going to have more energy or like I'm in my luteal phase so I'm

00:11:36.440 going to be like more irritable and like when I cry I need to not beat myself up so much about it

00:11:40.880 and I think that can be helpful but I do see how the more that we lean into it the more it's kind 1.00

00:11:50.440 of giving like women are crazy like they can't control themselves they can't control their 1.00

00:11:55.340 emotions because like it's all their hormones so I can see like it's good for women I think to be 1.00

00:12:02.240 like empowered by their cycle and to like listen to their body in that way if they are off birth

00:12:07.160 control but I also think like it does play into like yeah particularly right-wing men saying like 0.96

00:12:14.920 oh gosh like all you women are crazy like you can't be trusted or like you can't be leaders 0.87

00:12:21.540 because like your hormone cycles are so up and down um so i think it's like something to be aware 1.00

00:12:28.580 of and there's been a lot of twitter discourse as well about yeah people saying like all this

00:12:32.740 ovulation and ludophase talk like you guys are regressing feminism it's an interesting one

00:12:38.320 because like it's important for people to be aware of their cycles but also you don't want it to like

00:12:43.860 rule your life i guess and just to clarify now i keep coming back to this but i just want to make

00:12:48.840 clear that Lorde was essentially saying that the the ploy to come off the pill is kind of like that

00:12:57.060 right-wing theory yes that's right got you because I kind of agree just as a quick side note I've been

00:13:03.380 on the contraceptive pill for quite a while I've come off it for periods of times as well but I

00:13:09.040 feel like there's a lot of low-key stigma for those who still are on the contraceptive pill

00:13:15.240 for instance there was that book that came out that became really popular called

00:13:19.080 how the pill changes everything your brain on birth control that book uh has had a lot of praise

00:13:25.740 and i think for right reasons i haven't read it myself and i'm really happy that a lot of people

00:13:30.500 are looking at their relationship with their own contraceptive and a lot of people in my life like

00:13:35.520 oh my god like coming off it was so good like i wasn't me like it really affected me blah blah

00:13:40.820 and i'm just sitting there being like oh i think it's okay for me and i know we all have different

00:13:46.100 bodies but it makes me feel like i'm behind or i'm not doing it right because i'm still in the

00:13:51.620 pill that's super interesting i don't think we can disparage like the pill the contraceptive pill

00:13:59.380 actually changed feminism like i think it's like one of the most important inventions

00:14:03.960 in human history because of the freedom that it gave women in the 60s 70s like that's why we have 1.00

00:14:14.060 had like this third fourth waves of feminism why we have so much more choice than our grandmas and

00:14:20.040 our even our moms i am one of those people who did come off it probably like three years ago

00:14:27.080 and felt better for it less brain fog etc but I think like the whole point is choice and I just

00:14:35.640 don't think that anyone should be firstly I don't think it's anyone else's business but secondly I

00:14:39.760 don't think anyone should make you feel like you're maybe less progressive for still being

00:14:44.720 on birth control because it's it's a choice and like right now it's working for you if you're not

00:14:51.080 having any problems with it and it's working like do whatever you want but I understand why 1.00

00:14:57.080 you would feel like that because I think yeah especially online in these kind of like women's

00:15:02.820 empowerment spaces it can be almost like disparaging or something at the end of the day

00:15:09.120 I think when it's something as personal as like your health and your own body these conversations

00:15:14.060 while yeah I do think it's empowering to have them among friends it is between you and your

00:15:20.600 medical practitioner like i don't feel comfortable ever telling somebody about like what contraceptive

00:15:24.920 they should and shouldn't use so this rolling stones profile which you obviously can read on

00:15:30.280 their website is the first kind of major interview from the virgin era and it's already created about

00:15:37.120 two or three kind of talking points for lord so we will see what else comes out of this media cycle

00:15:43.760 for her. This year's Australian Fashion Week has well and truly wrapped but as per usual it has

00:15:56.920 come with its own set of controversies. We're going to unpack one of the biggest questions

00:16:02.700 that's come out of this week which is who is Australian Fashion Week actually for? If you

00:16:08.040 have been on TikTok in the last week and you most likely live in a metropolitan city you've probably

00:16:13.740 seen this discourse i feel like there's been so many voices online and hey that's what social

00:16:20.280 media is for like democratizing everyone's voices but there's been a lot i think one of the major

00:16:26.920 talking points has been the lack of attendees there the lack of the general public and people

00:16:35.120 saying that like fashion week they're not focusing enough on the designers and the clothes too much

00:16:41.220 on influencers oh my god there's actually been so much that's coming with this week i'm trying to

00:16:46.900 like wrap my head around it for but i agree i think a lot of the criticisms that have been

00:16:51.880 aimed towards this week have been like my favorite influencer wasn't in attendance or like they didn't

00:16:57.580 get invited to shows like why yeah who is this for kind of thing but also i feel like fashion fans

00:17:06.300 themselves have also been like why can't the general public be invited like what yeah it's

00:17:13.260 it feels really like elitist now this australian fashion week isn't for the general public you

00:17:21.840 spoke about this briefly on your tiktok and we shared it on culture clubs instagram and i think

00:17:27.040 we just need to give some context on yeah as you said up top who is fashion week actually for and

00:17:31.840 this is Australian Fashion Week which is like the Sydney Fashion Week there are also the Melbourne

00:17:36.480 Fashion Festival and Melbourne Fashion Week I'll start by giving a brief background and context

00:17:43.200 on Australian Fashion Week and how it sounds this year and then we'll go deeper into fashion weeks

00:17:48.780 at large okay so for Australian Fashion Week this year it was actually a mammoth effort that we

00:17:55.560 actually had a week to begin with because IMG had been running the Australian Fashion Week for the

00:18:00.900 last 20 years. And then at the end of last year, they pulled out and that was very unexpected.

00:18:06.860 So there was a moment of scrambling where we were like, oh, who's going to take over?

00:18:10.960 What ended up happening was Australian Fashion Council stepped in. They're a non-profit,

00:18:16.500 they're Australia's peak body for Australian textiles and fashion.

00:18:20.740 They pulled this together with like less than half the amount of time that they usually would

00:18:25.360 have. Okay. So that's why the program was condensed and it was a shorter week.

00:18:29.240 Australian Fashion Week has been around since 1996 and for most of that time that's been an

00:18:35.160 industry trade show so that's only for industry people but in recent years with Afterpay kind of

00:18:41.120 being the naming rights sponsor it actually did open up a few consumer facing events which meant

00:18:45.980 that some shows the public could buy tickets to but that was quite unusual. What you mentioned

00:18:50.960 before is that Melbourne has Melbourne Fashion Festival and Melbourne Fashion Week both are

00:18:55.280 consumer facing events that means that you can buy the clothes on the runway as you see them

00:19:00.940 but for instance with Australian Fashion Week it's resort wear so most of these collections will drop

00:19:05.600 around October so there's a bit of confusion there because it's like oh hang on Australian

00:19:09.800 Fashion Week was kind of public and then it wasn't and then it was etc the other thing I want to

00:19:14.460 lastly bring up here is that Australian Fashion Week is held at Carriageworks it has been for

00:19:19.380 the last few years and technically anyone can go there and be like snapped at the out the front

00:19:24.800 where you're seeing all the street style so that's notoriously how it happens as well not

00:19:29.740 everyone who goes has been invited but you can kind of still partake in the like street style

00:19:36.220 element thank you so much for that breakdown I feel like yeah it's important to know who's who

00:19:44.020 and like what it is because I understand why it's confusing if you're not in the industry and you're

00:19:48.600 seeing like Melbourne Fashion Festival and like so many of your friends maybe who live in Melbourne

00:19:53.680 are like buying tickets or like if you're a smaller creator you're getting invited to that

00:19:57.780 fashion week but then australian fashion week is like a little bit more uh what's the word

00:20:03.100 not elitist um prestigious prestigious and exclusive yeah and prestigious but can you

00:20:09.880 take us through i guess fashion weeks more historically like to be honest uh we're about

00:20:15.880 to pull from this article from rush and i did not know most of this yeah so there's been an

00:20:21.300 article published on the very tail end of the week kind of going into this topic and it's by

00:20:27.680 cassandra dimantroff for rush magazine according to the article runway shows began in around the

00:20:34.640 19th century because designers like charles worth and paul poire started to use live models to 0.97

00:20:41.320 present garments in paris then by the early 20th century designers such as lady duff gordon in

00:20:48.860 London transformed the kind of smaller intimate demonstrations into the theatrical performances

00:20:55.720 that we know today including lighting, music and the elusive front row seating. So this is like the

00:21:02.980 beginning of when fashion is seen as like entertainment and commerce. By the 1930s Paris

00:21:09.640 became the epicenter of fashion. We saw designers such as Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli

00:21:15.420 and that's when these fashion houses began to present collections exclusively for client only

00:21:22.440 events isn't that so interesting that it wasn't even for like buyers or media but it was for like

00:21:27.720 people that they would sell directly to like clothes to clients it was on such a smaller and

00:21:34.180 more intimate scale yeah and cassandra also writes that quote while the first official

00:21:39.780 Paris Fashion Week happened in 1973 the first official New York Fashion Week began as a press

00:21:46.320 week in 1943 during World War II and this was because the American Fashion Guard couldn't

00:21:52.620 actually get over to Paris during World War II which was super interesting I also didn't know

00:21:56.760 that and then we had Milan following suit in the late 50s and London finally caught up in the 1980s

00:22:03.720 which coincided with the formation of the British Fashion Council which is like a major British

00:22:08.440 institution and of course australia you know always like 15 years behind everyone else

00:22:15.160 um we founded australian fashion week in 1996 as you said up the top i will also say that melbourne

00:22:21.540 was ahead of the game and melbourne fashion week was actually launched in 1994 two years ahead of

00:22:27.280 sydney so i think the crux of the article that i want to share to every person complaining on

00:22:35.100 tiktok about like the democratization of fashion is again something you brought up in your own

00:22:40.640 tiktok but it's that like this is a trade show this is a buying show this is for people and

00:22:48.440 brands and shoppers and media like yourself to go to these shows and and do trend forecasting

00:22:55.680 and buy clothes from these designers for their like boutiques and their stores and like it's not

00:23:02.460 just for fans of fashion to enjoy fashion and to be a part of that world it is an industry

00:23:11.320 event it's essentially a conference yeah let's read out a bit from the piece for buyers it's

00:23:17.600 an opportunity to curate selections that will define the retail landscape months in advance

00:23:22.340 forecasting what will resonate with their clientele stylists generally attend to uncover

00:23:26.840 new pieces and to cultivate lucrative relationships with designers sourcing looks for editorial

00:23:32.440 shoots, red carpet appearances, and other jobs they might be working on.

00:23:37.060 Editors and journalists' attendance has been about shaping the cultural narrative around

00:23:41.340 collections, translating runway moments into the visual and written language that drives

00:23:46.000 global trend cycles.

00:23:48.140 While the spectacle of Fashion Week may appear performative, at its core, it remains a working

00:23:53.820 event, an essential meeting point where commerce, creativity, and cultural direction converge.

00:23:58.680 a user named mel wrote in your comments on your video about this and said when magazines were in

00:24:06.580 their prime fashion week was for trend forecasting and predictions this year i've only seen vox pop

00:24:12.180 and street style videos barely any coverage from the actual show themselves to this i have to say

00:24:19.820 how are you engaging in fashion journalism i think that comment like they say i've only seen

00:24:27.020 vox pop and street style videos to me that reads like you are only interacting with fashion

00:24:33.380 journalism when the algorithm is serving it to you in a video format so much of the fashion world

00:24:40.340 isn't easily transferable to video format like to get across all the information the designers like

00:24:47.280 history what they were inspired by this collection um when it's going to be released all that no one

00:24:53.560 is watching like a five minute video on that on tiktok specifically maybe youtube if you are like

00:24:57.680 obsessed with fashion so i just have to say like are you actually going to fashion websites like

00:25:04.420 vogue like rush like broadsheet to actually read about fashion criticism and trend forecasting

00:25:10.800 because if you are engaging with that there's been a lot of it this week like outside of the street

00:25:15.720 style wrap-ups that they do that are like always really popular and get a lot of clicks there's

00:25:20.460 been a lot of great fashion like writing and journalism and wrapping and trend forecasting

00:25:25.280 and I think that people forget that they're in echo chambers and they expect the algorithm

00:25:31.000 to serve them exactly what they want to see and if they don't see it they think that it doesn't

00:25:36.600 exist and it's like you need to seek out the information that you want and it was the same

00:25:42.100 thing with the vox pop videos so many people were saying like I don't want to see this I want to

00:25:47.120 see what the designers were like inspired by or like what are people's favorite looks from the

00:25:51.800 collections and it's like as someone who works in media we know that vox pops people have you've got

00:25:59.520 someone's attention for about 10 seconds maybe if you're lucky and those questions like I saw a

00:26:04.680 couple videos that were fashion focused like that there were barely any comments there were like

00:26:09.200 one third of the views compared to some of the less fashiony takes so are you actually engaging

00:26:14.920 with the content that you're saying that you want to see because of course the algorithm is going to

00:26:20.340 serve you something that's a little bit more like clicky and quick and do you wash your legs in the

00:26:25.860 shower than the fashion journalism which takes time and effort and a lot of thousands of words

00:26:32.840 um on websites yeah no completely oh my god you had that ran ready and loaded locked and loaded

00:26:39.720 I gotta say that there is a big part of me that wants to bring this up as well because you know

00:26:45.440 15 years ago we had a similar conversation when bloggers were starting to be invited to fashion

00:26:50.800 weeks and that was kind of the changing of the guard and I think this is another version of that

00:26:55.700 and my thing is I actually don't know especially as it exists in Australia I don't know if the

00:27:01.440 purpose of fashion week is really like hitting as much because when we look at like yeah it's

00:27:06.820 for buyers and stylists and media I'm like to be honest we have the avenue of the internet to like

00:27:12.220 be able to do most of that and the other thing is like this is a resort wear collection most of the

00:27:19.760 styles that you're seeing if I'm just being point blank not all the designers but a lot of these

00:27:23.660 designers they're very much like ready to wear off the rack like you'll see it in your local

00:27:28.980 shopping center Westfield in a few months time it's not like it's boundary pushing it's not like

00:27:34.160 it's we we can actually write that much fashion criticism in australia fashion criticism like

00:27:39.820 barely exists if it exists at all it's minute so it's like okay is the original purpose of

00:27:46.880 fashion week actually pushing through perhaps i don't know i can't speak on buyers and stylists

00:27:51.520 side and whatnot and is it okay to admit that the purpose of it has changed that yeah a lot of the

00:27:58.500 time it's this marketing platform now for brands for influencers etc it's like this it's a messy

00:28:05.160 kind of moment where I think we're meeting two worlds together and it's clashing I think that

00:28:13.140 like there is a lot of tension between like media like traditional media whatever and influences and

00:28:19.460 that side of things and then now I think with TikTok becoming so popularized like the everyman

00:28:25.440 has really loud opinions about it which is fine I think everyone should have opinions but it's like

00:28:30.800 it's mercy I don't know I think in the in the video I made for TikTok it was like I think

00:28:36.400 what people are watching like people who are watching online at home versus the brands and

00:28:41.680 Australian Fashion Week who are actually running the show I think they have very different ideas

00:28:45.120 of what they want out of the week and I'm not saying one is right one is wrong but I'm like

00:28:49.880 i just don't think that this fashion week can be everything to everybody exactly it's what i'm

00:28:55.320 trying to say like this is essentially a fashion conference for people in the industry and i really

00:29:00.600 like the point that digital director of vogue australia francesca wallace no relation to me

00:29:05.260 made on her instagram stories over the weekend she wrote getting a seat at the table isn't

00:29:10.540 something you're entitled it's earned fashion isn't perfect and of course there's work to be

00:29:15.520 done on inclusivity in this industry but tiktokers being mad they're not invited isn't really the

00:29:21.660 thing to get riled up for let's instead work together through the whole year to make change

00:29:27.060 and i agree with that point because it's like all the fashion lovers it's awesome that people want

00:29:35.160 to engage in fashion in australia and everyone has an opinion and criticism is good etc etc

00:29:41.640 but like i hope that i see you guys at melbourne fashion week and melbourne fashion festival when

00:29:46.300 you can buy the tickets and will you complain about the price of the tickets will you say

00:29:50.100 that's inaccessible like if you want to like be in this industry it's kind of what you actually

00:29:55.700 said on i want your job with camille allen plug maggie was interviewed um by camille allen and

00:30:04.540 you spoke about the media industry and the career path etc and you said like do you actually

00:30:10.660 like a lot of people see the glamorous side of media do you actually want to do the work

00:30:16.520 to get to the point where you are invited to things like this where it looks very glamorous

00:30:22.320 and you're in street style videos and you're in all the vox pops but like behind the scenes you're

00:30:26.020 like working late into the night on deadlines you are forming relationships with people you're

00:30:30.940 writing interviews you're transcribing interviews you know you're that's a skill and I just don't

00:30:36.080 I think with the democratization of TikTok, people think that they're entitled to everything.

00:30:41.260 And it's like, this is still an industry that you have to work to get into.

00:30:46.640 Even if you build your own thing, like what we've done with Culture Club, you still have

00:30:50.640 to build something and have to work towards it.

00:30:52.840 So that's like my take on it all.

00:30:55.220 I will say, hot take, is that despite every Australian Fashion Week coming with its own

00:31:01.420 set of controversies, I actually do think it pushes our industry forward because we're

00:31:05.920 having these good discussions about diversity, about representation and about, you know, who

00:31:12.240 gets a seat like in the row, in the front row or whatever it is. And I think it's good to discuss

00:31:17.880 these things no matter like how uncomfortable or like how annoying it might be.

00:31:26.960 Kik CEO and Culture Club former guest, Laura Henshaw, has been in the Australian news cycle

00:31:33.860 this week after calling out podcaster Chris Griffins.

00:31:38.160 Chris is a host of The Pocket Podcast, which is described as, quote, storytelling and education

00:31:43.880 from leaders all around the world.

00:31:46.240 In an interview episode with creator Wade Pappenfuss, Chris began spouting some pretty 0.88

00:31:51.680 toxic trad wife sentiments.

00:31:54.440 Let's play the clip that they uploaded to their podcast Instagram account. 1.00

00:31:59.400 I don't want my partner working unless she wants to work.

00:32:03.860 If you feel the need to go and work to make money and then you come home and you're complaining about your day when we don't need you to make money because we're sorted.

00:32:14.000 If we've got four hours to spend in the afternoon and I ask you, how was your day today, babe? 0.99

00:32:18.120 I want your eyes to light up with excitement with whatever the fuck it was. 0.98

00:32:20.960 I went to make four postcards today. 0.98

00:32:22.680 And that's energy too.

00:32:23.840 It's so good.

00:32:25.200 It's the calm.

00:32:26.180 It's the harmony.

00:32:26.920 It's the peace and love that a man that's got a busy life that's chasing his dreams needs when he's trying to wind down. 0.92

00:32:33.020 This is why I heavily encourage hot girl walks.

00:32:35.080 I would love my partner to go on a hot girl walk with her friends every day. 1.00

00:32:38.580 She gets this feminine energy. 1.00

00:32:39.880 They get to talk their shit and then they get to have a bit of excitement about their day. 0.99

00:32:43.660 I don't think a girl needs to go through challenge, pain and hardship to be an amazing girl. 0.99

00:32:48.380 I think she can fill her days with passion-filled things and still be amazing.

00:32:52.500 What were your initial thoughts when you saw this this week?

00:32:56.480 I'm just so proud of Laura, like to be honest, for making a statement, for standing up to this.

00:33:02.540 for really trying to rewrite and like correct the narrative around this because you know this guy

00:33:09.740 has 350 000 followers he has a massive reach so it was it was really shocking to like listen to

00:33:18.120 a young australian guy say these things and feel like he was like a really good guy for saying it

00:33:25.540 how did you feel i saw the initial like a few friends kind of posting about it and i was like

00:33:31.940 i'm not engaging with that like i don't have brain space i don't have time like whatever but

00:33:38.000 i'm really glad that laura did really call him out on this and has turned it into a bigger really

00:33:45.020 important conversation so laura began calling the sentiment out on her instagram story and then she

00:33:52.440 went on to create a solo kick pod episode i listened to the episode that she released about

00:33:57.900 this on kick and it was just like mortifying hearing some of the things he was saying like

00:34:03.720 right before the clip on instagram played he actually was saying that like you know women

00:34:08.040 should oh sorry he called us girls he uh laura actually counted the amount of times that like

00:34:13.120 the words girls and women were used versus boys and men and as you can guess girls outweighed

00:34:18.740 women and men oh i hate that in terms of usage of course but right before like the little segment

00:34:25.900 in the podcast that was cut out right before the instagram clip was um posted was like oh like girls

00:34:31.880 should have their hobbies like collecting postcards and plaiting barbie's hair can you

00:34:37.760 believe this collecting voice cards oh my god and the hot girl walk with the friend kill i love a

00:34:43.700 hot girl walk with my friend you're about to go on one after this episode but like that's not our

00:34:49.760 purpose in life oh my god I think what scares me the most about this aside from the obvious like

00:34:57.480 his whole sentiment is that he is 22 years old like what has he consumed to think that this is

00:35:04.060 like normal and good and like how did he get to this point at 22 years old how many relationships

00:35:10.600 has he been in at 22 years old like sorry what life experience do you have to be saying like

00:35:18.640 marriage and relationships and like you know these really big topics like money like children etc

00:35:24.000 at that age um not to be ageist but I just think like what are you talking about and I think the

00:35:31.540 terms as well around like soft femininity and like feminine energy it's kind of what we were

00:35:38.980 saying up top in the law discussion is like that's right wing propaganda to like keep women in these 0.99

00:35:46.800 boxes to remind women of their place and to control women like that's the big point of like

00:35:55.300 right-wing propaganda at the moment is they're saying there's a male loneliness epidemic but

00:36:00.820 it's like women are more educated than we've ever been we're earning more money than we ever have

00:36:04.580 we don't need to rely on a husband or a man to survive like our ancestors did and they're

00:36:13.300 threatened by that and that's what and like older men are trickling that down to men like chris to

00:36:20.020 add to that as well eilish gilligan posted another tiktok about um i guess the use of language and

00:36:25.440 how it can be weaponized against us and we've had this conversation before but things like hot girl

00:36:30.840 walks girl maths soft femininity regardless if you like it in your personal life and you like

00:36:37.160 using these terms unfortunately we have to be more critical about using them because we actually have

00:36:42.340 to think about how those words can be used against us which sucks right it's like yeah we can't enjoy

00:36:48.480 anything but it's like people will use these terms and use them to be like oh yeah girls don't know

00:36:57.680 anything like all they do is do this so it's like we actually have to unfortunately be careful with

00:37:03.220 how we interact with these fleeting instagram or internet trends yeah and this is like brought up

00:37:09.340 a bigger conversation. Laura actually had an interview with the Australian Financial Review.

00:37:14.080 I really recommend reading it. We'll link it in our show notes. But some of the stats from the

00:37:19.340 article say that while young Australians have trended more progressive since the early 2000s,

00:37:26.640 the likelihood of young men holding more right-wing beliefs increased dramatically between

00:37:32.140 2019 and 2022 so young men today are more likely to agree with statements such as quote it is better

00:37:40.020 for everyone involved if the man earns the money and the woman takes care of the home and children

00:37:44.700 and it is not good for a relationship if the woman earns more than the man oh god and that was

00:37:52.220 released from a study in just april this year i mean i think this is what is so scary because

00:37:59.420 the consequences of behavior and thoughts that come out of men like Chris are so serious they

00:38:08.360 literally impact our lives our finances our freedom right like that's why it's so scary and

00:38:15.160 even in the podcast episode that Laura released like she was talking about how she would like

00:38:19.000 she was crying out of frustration and like anger in the Australian financial review piece I brought

00:38:24.940 up a few more stats so for instance women retire with about 25 percent less in super than men on

00:38:31.700 average and while women over 55 are no longer the fastest growing group of homeless people in

00:38:37.620 Australia single women who rent are the group at greatest risk of poverty in retirement and the

00:38:44.720 reason that Laura feels so passionately about this is because Laura's mom was a single mom with three

00:38:50.260 children and they had a magnet on their fridge that said a man is not a financial plan because

00:38:56.040 her mom was left with like you know struggling to find work and less super and less agency over her

00:39:02.580 life so Laura's seen the effects of this like firsthand I think it's easy to see why young

00:39:08.480 women are dreaming of being quote a kept woman or like why some women are talking like this and why

00:39:14.140 some men think that they're like saving us or something because between the cost of living

00:39:19.820 crisis, lack of childcare, lack of support for mothers, and just like the job market in general,

00:39:25.620 it's often easy to think that being a stay-at-home wife or mother would be

00:39:30.440 easier than grinding away in a career. But it's such a dangerous sentiment because

00:39:37.560 what if you break up? What if you are out of the workforce to have children? Like,

00:39:43.700 will your super like we said will your super be impacted and I think there's a lot of really hard

00:39:51.340 and mature conversations that need to happen between couples to ensure that the woman especially

00:39:57.100 isn't going to face financial abuse and hardship if they do decide that she stops working which I

00:40:03.940 don't think like a 22 year old can comprehend exactly and I think what's like really dangerous

00:40:09.700 about this is of course we've seen you know alt-right men who share really problematic views

00:40:14.940 about women but with this guy Chris like it's packaged up to be this like soft caring nurturing

00:40:21.340 kind of idea and I want to play a clip by right-hand activist Tarong Chawla who kind of talks

00:40:27.660 a little bit more about this. It masquerades as men's mental health or care for women or men but

00:40:35.200 But it's really modernised sexism that's packaged in soft tones with inspirational

00:40:39.880 music underneath it.

00:40:41.640 It idealises women as being ornamental, peaceful and emotionally nurturing, but still ultimately

00:40:47.220 existing to serve a man's wellbeing and ambition.

00:40:50.660 And for a lot of women, that's the message that came through loud and clear on Chris's

00:40:54.480 clip. 1.00

00:40:55.480 He says, we don't need you to make money, we're sorted.

00:40:58.200 But the translation is, you can work as long as it doesn't interrupt my peace.

00:41:03.380 Labor is optional, but your emotional availability, that's non-negotiable. 0.62

00:41:07.580 So yeah, the rise of the soft boy kind of like meninous is frightening because it can

00:41:16.820 be a little bit harder to identify.

00:41:19.840 Laura plans actually to produce a podcast mini series on money and relationships and

00:41:25.680 how to navigate these discussions as well as the warning signs that financial abuse

00:41:29.520 may be occurring.

00:41:30.660 so make sure you follow kickpod to hear that series

00:41:34.040 and now it's time for bookmarked where we share our recommendations from the week of something

00:41:45.200 that we've loved watching reading or listening to today we have a joint recommendation i feel

00:41:51.100 like we try to avoid this even if we've both been reading the same books watching the same

00:41:54.500 tv shows to give you guys some variety but we have to talk about this yes we do you mentioned

00:42:02.160 it at the top of the episode that we said our farewells last night at a musical and we were

00:42:07.920 lucky enough to attend the exclusive melbourne opening night of beetlejuice i was so excited

00:42:16.960 for this when i got that email i jumped at it and i as you did as well sorry and just interrupt you

00:42:24.480 there no no no i put out a close friend's call out asking people for the pr's email to make sure

00:42:29.640 i was on that list about three months ago so no no no no i've never get invited to musicals but i

00:42:34.900 was like i need to be on you were sat so yes but then they they ended up emailing you separately

00:42:40.300 anyway didn't they or did you find it you emailed them no no no no i hunted them down

00:42:45.620 it was nice i think the pr was like oh i love culture club whatever but i was like okay

00:42:51.920 i was like i must be there anyway let's get into it beetlejuice the musical is of course based off

00:42:57.780 the movie it's a huge huge series there's now a sequel to it as well and i was expecting some

00:43:05.260 amazing like campy horror moments and it really delivered the production on this was unlike

00:43:12.580 anything i've ever seen it was like pure magic so much going on the singing was amazing like

00:43:19.920 the best probably i've ever seen i think this is the best musical i've ever seen personally in my

00:43:24.240 life yeah same it was like we were at broadway in new york oh my god it was honestly yeah my

00:43:30.700 favorite music i've ever seen i was so giddy for those who don't know the story we'll give you a

00:43:36.360 quick rundown so yes it was based on a tim burton movie from the 80s the musical storyline varies

00:43:42.520 slightly and it is about a couple who dies in the house who try to haunt the new like the new

00:43:52.200 owners of the house and they call for help for this demon ghost guy called Beetlejuice and one

00:43:59.800 of the stars of the show is Lydia Dietz, a teenager who moves in who's mourning her mum.

00:44:04.380 um to your point as well I think the casting of this was like incredible so I can't believe it

00:44:13.020 but Eddie Perfect played Beetlejuice and he actually did the music and lyrics for this

00:44:18.200 like what do you mean that's incredible yeah because I got home and I was like just saying

00:44:24.500 to my family like Eddie Perfect was in it so good um he like wrote it and they were like no no he's

00:44:28.960 just starred in it I was like no in our little booklet we got he did music and lyrics I just

00:44:33.720 felt like so oh my god it was just like electric it was electric truly um I think it was very

00:44:40.060 special being there for the premiere as well like such an incredible experience I'm so grateful for

00:44:46.300 it so Eddie Perfect stars as Beetlejuice then we have Karis Oka who plays Lydia Dietz so Karis

00:44:53.940 actually was in Fangirls Eve Blake's critically acclaimed musical yeah I'm a massive fan of

00:44:59.840 so seeing her being cast for this like she's the most perfect person also such a win for

00:45:05.160 asian australians so i like teared up seeing her yeah i think erin claire as delia deets was also

00:45:12.900 a showstopper so funny the comedic timing of this was so so so good we had elise mccann

00:45:21.780 and rob johnson playing barbara and adam maitland and tom wren played charles deets so lydia's

00:45:29.120 father so it's just like an all-star like musical australian cast it was just amazing like i'm

00:45:35.480 almost speechless no seriously and like the ensemble cast was incredible as well and i feel

00:45:40.980 like they really got to like play and feel out many different characters and they had quite like

00:45:47.480 it's not just like they're doing backup singing and dancing but they're like proper characters in

00:45:51.780 it as well i think yeah this was one of my favorite musicals for sure it hits all my notes of like

00:45:58.060 what I love in a musical actually good music a compelling storyline can be fun incredible set

00:46:05.080 production and like the animatronics of it all or like you know the stage production of it all

00:46:10.740 it was just like phenomenal and would highly recommend I will say not to not to not to

00:46:16.900 pin them against each other I saw Hadestown the night the week before sorry and that is a beloved

00:46:22.340 musical but that came nowhere close to this in my opinion wow i just think like the comedy was such

00:46:28.600 a highlight for me as well and eddie perfect's like stage presence of course he's the main star

00:46:34.000 like you're gonna be amazing but he's just like interaction with the audiences as well it felt

00:46:38.580 really like we were in on the joke um even though you know that he does that night after night or

00:46:45.080 he will be in melbourne so we will link tickets in the show notes go and buy them you and i are

00:46:51.880 both considering like we would pay money to go see it again I'm like I want to take my whole family

00:46:56.020 so good so yes we will link tickets in the show notes make sure you buy it and support the arts

00:47:01.680 in Melbourne and I'm sure they'll be doing a Sydney run as well yeah it's here in Melbourne

00:47:06.960 till August the 3rd so you've got a little bit of time up your sleeve unlike us because this is

00:47:13.140 the end of the episode how was that segue perfect well we will talk to you next time thank you so

00:47:19.860 much for listening and if you enjoyed this episode we would love if you could please follow us on

00:47:24.720 spotify and apple maybe leave a little review and a star rating because it really helps us out bye

Culture Club - May 19, 2025

All Girls Want Is To Collect Postcards

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Transcript