Explore every episode of the podcast Carton d'invitation

Doug Woodham has written the first substantive biography of Jean-Michel Basquiat to appear in 25 years. Subtitled The Making of an Icon, this book traces the arc of Basquiat's life and his posthumous trajectory into the pantheons of both fine art and pop culture. Moderately known in his lifetime, Basquiat is one of very few artists whose works now sell over 100 million dollars - that puts the 27-year old who died in 1988 of a drug overdose in a select league of seven artists including Picasso, Rothko and Leonardo da Vinci. Licensing deals engineered by his father, the executor of his estate, have meant that Basquiat imagery is emblazoned on everything from sneakers to bathmats!

Who better to unravel the threads of this story than Doug - the former president of Christie's Auction House US and now  a financial advisor to art collectors. He interviewed more than 100 people while working on the book and explores the childhood trauma that coloured Basquiat's life and creation. He also reframes Basquiat through the lens of intellectual giftedness...he was as Doug says in the one percent zone, reading New York Times articles as a child in primary school.

Doug explores how the association with pop culture icons from Madonna to Andy Warhol during his lifetime and U2 and Metallica posthumously became a form of currency - "marketing gold" as it were.

Doug grants that ruthlessness and a sense of knowing helped Basquiat launch himself in the downtown New York scene. And he suggests we should accept that personal agency and creativity are not mutually exclusive.

In this podcast, Doug also unpacks ways Basquiat used fashion to create an indelible mash-up of paint-splattered Armani suits and dreadlocks that still reverberates today.

Find Doug's book in your local bookstore or online! Doug's website is informative as well: https://dougwoodham.com/

To find a video excerpt of this podcast - and to learn more about the Carton d'invitation documentary project - find me on Instagram @cartondinvitation

Original music for this podcast: Aahley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos.

When I was in Montreal screening my documentary, I met a sincere and creative group of young people who spent their weekends in pattern cutting workshops - and it was in talking to them that I first heard about my guest Julian Roberts. These pattern makers at Lignes de Fuite were experimenting with the possibilities of something called Subtraction Cutting - and they told me all about the inventor of this method, Juilian Roberts.

Julian is a UK fashion designer with 23 years experience as an academic in graduate fashion and textile design as well. He is currently Senior Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth.

As a designer, Julian showed 13 collections of his own under the label names Nothing Nothing as well as Julianand at London and Paris fashion weeks. The British Fashion Council gave him “The New Generation Award” five times! 

In 1998, Julian developed a method of garment cutting that has since become internationally recognized. He’s literally travelled the globe - taking lessons in Subtraction Cutting to 40 countries and counting! 

And by the way, he shares his work freely online as well - those people I met in Montreal were reading his work - and trying things out step by step.

Julian speaks here about funny memories of going to Paris fashion shows as a student, launching a brand and easing into a career that now encompasses teaching, travelling and creation.

When it comes to fashion students and young designers just starting out, Julian is not at all doom and gloom on the business of fashion. Based on the diversity of his own career, he shares an inspiring and quite comforting take on embarking on a life of design.

Julian can be found on Instagram @subtractioncutting. You will find links there to his "Free Cutting" videos and online resources. You might soon be picking up a pair of scissors yourself! Please be sure to send me any pictures of clothes you might make!

Thank you for listening to this podcast and do subscribe! To learn more about the overall Carton d'invitation documentary project, go to Instagram @cartondinvitation.

Sony Chan is known in  France for her subversive humour on radio and television (you don’t quite know what is happening: a perfectly turned out woman with impeccable manners starts sending up French propriety with absurd commentary). She is also in more recent years a star in Hong Kong, doing sold out comedy shows where she once again inverses tropes with beautiful manners and a lot of style.

Sony is an online fashion icon as well - not an influencer as she will explain but a very active ambassadrice for all things French for her Hong Kong audience.

Sony came of age studying 90s supermodels in magazines. Chameleon Linda Evangelista was her most powerful influence as she struggled with gender as a young person. Ever since, fashion has allowed her to “signal” who she is to the world. 

Always intending to work in “show business”, Sony actually attended a very prestigious architecture school in Strasbourg. Her parents convinced her that university was a good idea and the architecture school was near her house. After that, she managed get herself fired from a string of design or fashion adjacent jobs until she finally made it to the stage in her thirties. She tells funny stories about some of the things she did to lose those jobs!

Just for the record, she did her first stand-up comedy gig wearing a yellow Christian Lacroix teardrop dress!

Nowadays Sony also designs accessories and curates Parisian shopping experiences for her Hong Kong audience. You can find her shop at https://sonychanselects.com/.

She is @sonychanfrance on Instagram

What first inspired me to reach out to Sony and ask her to chat on this podcast was how her story echoed the story of my children, in that she had to adjust to a new culture as a child. She moved from Hong Kong to France when she was 11. Something that wasn’t easy but it seems in Sony’s case to have given her a kind of superpower when it comes to reading cultural codes. 

Andreas Bernhardt has a shy laugh when I ask if he was an “It Boy “ in the 80s and 90s. He certainly was!

A 20-year-old kid from Berlin, he was introduced in one night to “everyone in New York”, that’s Keith Haring to Debbie Harry, thanks to a chance encounter with Joey Arias in Fiorucci. He posed nude for Andy Warhol’s last photographs. He became a queer icon in that unforgettable Gay Paris photo by Pierre and Gilles. And perhaps most importantly, he spent many years of innovation as a hair and makeup artist in Manfred Thierry Mugler’s inner circle. Andreas has always had a knack for being in the right place at the right time.

In our conversation, Andreas revels in memories of his life within the Mugler “posse”. He unpacks the details - months of rigorous preparation; last minute perfectionism and excitement; shows starting wildly late season after season! Mugler pushed Andreas to create new materials and new ways of working - and we know that those wigs, hair pieces and diamond eyebrows coming down the Mugler runways have become indelible elements of fashion history! 

By the way, Andreas still has those velvet eyelashes he made for Jerry Hall! 

While Andreas had access to all the party scenes in fashion’s heyday in Paris, he has advice to people who get caught up in fear of missing out. 

Andreas is a philosopher; reflects on beauty and the idea of always working from a place of love. He also underscores the importance of discretion in his profession. Let’s face it, he’s seen everything!  He is careful to respect the trust people put in him. 

Supermodels Debra Shaw and Emma Wiklund encouraged me to have this conversation with Andreas because he was a mentor to them backstage - had always done the research and had the backstory they needed to hit the podium with an extra level of knowingness in their comportment. 

So of course, Andreas and I get around to talking about them and some of the other models who have inspired him. 

Find out more about Andreas @andreashbernhardt on Instagram.

To find out more about my documentary and overall project, visit @cartondinvitation on Instagram. Link in bio has a lot of resources as well.

If you feel inclined, please do subscribe to this podcast on your preferred platform. Thank you for listening.

London was already buzzing about Brian de Carvalho! But now his reach is going global. Fergie and the Netflix team promoting Lena Dunham’s new series Too Much just released a remake of London Bridge and yes, they commissioned Brian to create the fabulous Union Jack corseted gown that Fergie is wearing!

He’s also had a gown appear on the cover of Italian vogue - and Lady Gaga has worn his work. The singer Micah too.

Brian is also fueled by the energy of having very recently presented his second show. It was very well received - despite his fears that people might not have approved of the gown he made of 20,000 razor blades.

Brian's trademark is the Serena corset. John Galliano saw him wearing one at Vogue World and took time to study it carefully. Then he told him he must be a designer -advice Brian took to heart and he quit his retail job and produced his first collection a few months later.

Brian is thoughtful - and intentional - in his exploration of 18th dress to express modern queer issues. I hope you enjoy meeting him here in this podcast episode.

Please subscribe if you enjoy this series. Check out my Instagram which gives you an idea of my larger project @cartondinvitation. There is a video excerpt of this interview there too.

Find Brian at https://www.briandecarvalho.co.uk/

Original music by Ashley Rivera, Myla Carlo and Chloe Hsu.

Back in the 90s, when Supermodels headed down the runways from Chanel to Versace to Mugler, Emma Wiklund (formerly Sjoberg) was always one of the chosen few.

Emma was at the centre of what a lot of people now think of as a Golden Age of fashion, whether that day she was the embodiment of total luxury in a high collared Lanvin jacket cut by Claude Montana or the height of edgy cool in a metallic bikini by Mugler. Of course, we can't forget she danced in Mugler's motorcycle dress in the Too Funky video by George Michael and ?. She tells stories here about how that infamous shoot went!

After modeling, Emma went on to become a busy film star in France - think the four Taxi movies. Now she is back in Sweden - an entrepreneur who has created an eponymous skincare line, Emma of Stockholm. She went back to school to learn how to build a company and she invested her modeling money (that was scary) to make it work. In recent years, Emma has beome one of Sweden's most successful skincare entrepreneurs!

Emma is savvy, charming and refreshing - and I was thrilled to sit down and be able to interview her again after all of these years. 

She shares what it was like as Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley helped Karl Lagerfeld style her Chanel runway looks in the atelier. Humble, she laughs about how she never got the best dresses on all those runways she walked at Versace but Donatella told her she was cast because whatever she wore sold - in Germany. She recalls the atmosphere in the Dior atelier under Gianfranco Ferre: models had to “zip it”. Be seen and not heard. 

And Emma shares many touching remembrances of her work with Mugler and Montana. She expresses both delight and bemusement that people such as Beyonce and Lady Gaga relaunch iconic pieces that were originally designed for her to wear.

We explore what it meant to be a model - the intricacy of the co-creative process.

Find Emma @emmaofstockholm on Instragram or at https://emmas.com/about/about-emma

Please subscribe wherever you may listen. I thank you for your support of my efforts to create an oral history archive!

Check out my Instagram @cartondinvitation for a video version of this interview and to learn about my documentary project.

Original music by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Mlya Carlos.

Onerva Luoma is a young Finnish artist who has come up with a clever - and really fun project - that combines fashion and a library card to make a statement about consumption and so much else.
In her own words, Onerva explains, "The conceptual artwork is called Lead Me out of here (even if I Do not Know if such a Place Exists) and it consists of 55 paintings made on old clothes. Anyone can borrow a painting with a library card, so the artworks will continue their journeys out of the library and into various private and public spaces and situations. The work explores what a meaningful relationship with clothing might look like in the age of climate catastrophe and how we might see clothes as something more than commodities, objects to be bought and sold."

The first time I heard about how destructive fashion was to the environment was back in the 80s in Paris when Katherine Hamnet started talking about green cotton during her fashion shows - so that’s a long time ago. Young designers today must be scratching their heads wondering why ethical production and for that matter consumption practices haven’t evolved all that much since then. As I work on the Carton d'invitation project, I encounter young designers who are trying in their way on a small scale, to address these issues. And that’s inspiring. When I came upon what Onerva Luoma is up to in Helsinki, I contacted her right away and asked if she would come on this podcast to share her brilliant project.

By the way, this is a very inspiring podcast for anyone involved in library work - and I want to thank Danielle Lum of the Toronto Public Library system who consulted with me in advance of talking to Onerva.

Find out more about Onerva: www.onervaluoma.com or go to Instagram @onervaluoma.

Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you might be listening!

To learn more about the Carton d'invitation project and my documentary, check out my Instagram @cartondinvitation

Thank you to Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos for the original music.

Ubiquitous on runways and in print for decades, Philadelphia-born Debra Shaw has changed the rule book on aging out of the modelling business. She is as busy - and as cool - as she has ever been, darting back and forth across the Atlantic for shows in New York and the European fashion capitals, always stopping when she can to spend time in Paris which is her adopted home. Back in the 90s, I would interview Debra in the midst of backstage excitement at shows by Galliano for Dior, McQueen for Givenchy, Chanel and Mugler. With her perfect line and attention to what designers were trying to communicate, Debra was given the job of wearing some of the most iconic designs in the history of fashion's Golden Age.

It was a very big honour to be able to interview her again so many years later for the Carton d'invitation Podcast.

Please subscribe to this podcast and if you also have cherished memories of Debra's work, feel free to leave a comment. Your support for the Carton d'invitation project is much appreciated.

Learn more about my documentary and research - plus see videos of Debra, back then and today, by visiting my Instagram feed @cartondinvitation.

Original music: Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu, Myla Carlos

Photo credit: Pierre Tremblay

Via a childhood in Quebec City, fashion studies at LaSalle in Montreal, followed by tutelage under Louise Wilson at Central Saint Martins, Frederic Tremblay has carved a unique place for himself in fashion. He's worked in design leadership roles with everyone from Marc Jacobs, Tory Burch, Reed Krakoff, Draper James (Reese Witherspoon), Michael Kors, Puppets and Puppets and currently Belle and Bloom.

And lucky fashion students at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) benefit from his mentorship as well.

A "humble" Canadian, Frederic puts the focus on all of the great designers he has worked with, building brands from the ground up - but the more you listen to this podcast, you will understand that he is a visionary albiet discreet powerhouse!

His job title changes depending on the assignment: Creative Director/ VP, Design / Senior Design Director / Design Director/ Head of Design / Design Consultant!

Frederic has wonderful stories about his 80's clothing choices (a lot of London-inspired polka dots); sneaking into Paris shows as a CSM student even if it meant setting fire to fake Galliano "treasure map" cartons d'invitation just outside the tents; the thrill of working as a new graduate in the studio of Martine Sitbon (even if his main job was holding pins)!

He speaks fondly about the process of intuiting what his many high profile clients want to communicate through their brands and he speaks appreciatively of the "village" it takes to launch a collection.

Check Frederic's Linked In for more background. Or visit @tremfred on Instagram.

To learn more about the Carton d'invitation podcast and documentary project, visit Instagram @cartondinvitation

You can find a short video version of this podcast on Instagram and Youtube.

Original music: Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos.

Publicist, model agent, playwright, erstwhile stylist, Fred Howard was the publicity manager for Linda Evangelista’s comeback tour last year. Fred has spent a life in the so-called fashion trenches. Among his skills is preparing models for the red carpet, (avoiding the fries that can bloat and turning up the music and the AC on the way to the venue)! Fred’s worked at Elite Models and DNA, scouted countless models, served as media coach to still more, He even chaperoned models’ apartments years ago, perfecting his knack for helping people be philosophical about failure to launch in the way they expected. He has managed PR and philanthropic initiatives for various celebrities and he continues to write - he and his cousin, acclaimed director, Raelle Myrick-Hodges created the play “He Has The Prettiest Handwriting” which sold out at the Public Theatre in New York in 2022.  Fred is now working on a piece of first person creative non-fiction--sharing tales of growing up in a military family, coming of age as a Black gay man in conservative North Carolina of the 80s, and his youth in the fashion trenches from the late 90s and 00. He’s also serving as a consultant for a scripted series currently in development, set in the fashion industry. Fred is the kind of a person who has always been there but one didn’t always know what he was doing. He is a connector - and someone people can count on to craft - and even protect - their public images. He is an insider who has many stories - and he tells them in this episode of Carton d’invitation!

Find Fred on Instagram @bushwickfreddy

Original music @leonthesinger

Please subscribe here for more fashion conversations! Your support for my project means a lot.

A video trailer for this podcast is available on the Carton d'invitation Youtube channel.

To discover more about my documentary and this oral history project, find me on Instagram: @cartondinvitation

Sibyl Buck is the American supermodel who brought punk to Paris runways in the 90s. 

At the height of her success, she left for New York to become an artist and a musician. 

Sibyl built The Doghouse, an artists’ commune in New York City and toured for years as a musician with lots of different people including Chris Traynor. She and Chris parent their daughter, Puma Rose. 

Along the way, Sibyl has been an MTV host, an actress, in the Fifth Element for instance; she spent 10 years working as a therapeutic yoga instructor and now she’s a permaculture designer (who does some modeling on the side of course. Book her!) 

Sibyl’s called a “Grunge Icon”. 

Her scarlet hair and piercings inspired Jean Paul Gaultier to cast her in 1993. She stuck out her pierced tongue at the end of the runway and the result was her first picture in Vogue.

Soon Sibyl was learning how to breathe into corset fittings at Vivienne Westwood and Thierry Mugler. 

And before she knew it, even the most traditional houses wanted to capture some of her frank freshness to burnish their brands. She even posed with Yves Saint Laurent for a famous portrait. 

I had fun watching all of that unfold back then. Sibyl always made a fashion show more interesting and I liked checking in with her for chats here and there - she was never boring!

So it meant a lot to me to track Sibyl down in Topanga, California where she tends her garden, walks her dog, mothers her daughter, builds just about anything  -  and works on a wide variety of projects aimed at healing people - and the land.

Sibyl's info:

NextLA//MarilynNY//OuiParis

www.sibylbuck.com

Instagram: @sibbyfresh

Please subscribe for more fashion conversations! Your support for my project means a lot.

A video trailer for this podcast is available on the Carton d'invitation Youtube channel.

To discover more about my documentary and this oral history project, find me on Instagram: @cartondinvitation

Original music for this podcast is by Ashley Rivera, Myla Carlos and Chloe Hsu.

The Carton d’invitation Podcast often but not always talks about 90s fashion - but this is a twist and the humour doesn't escape me!  In this episode, we are talking about how some of the famous faces from the 90s (think Naomi, Marpessa and Carla Bruni) stay luminous today! 

“The French Facialist” Sophie Carbonari is often referred to as one of the world's ultimate beauty secrets, whether you pick up Vogue, Town and Country or Goop.

Sophie's famous for gifting “glow” to her clients inbcluding , Rihanna, Caroline de Maigret, Nicole Kidman and Lou Doillon…To be clear, we are talking about something that looks like a facelift but isn't!

A pioneer of the “facialist wave”, Sophie's special techniques and I dare say her deep intuition and care for people have celebrities lining up at her studio in Palais Royale in Paris or once a month in London - or wherever she may be: for instance working her magic installed at Cannes during the festival. 

In this episode, we learn about how she does it - you will be quite surprised!

Sophie talks about her rich childhood in the south of France, being raised by a French mother and an Italian father, some of the discrimination she faced starting out as a beauty therapist and her empathy for her clients who are always being judged in the public eye.

She calls out “beauty shaming” - and for those of us who might not be able to see her for a treatment or buy her “addictive” Le S Serum, she offers her simple “10p” tips for daily skincare! 

Sophie says anti-ageing is a not a thing - you can’t anti-age! But after years of research, she’s developed a protocol that combines customized formulas, ayurvedic  and kobido practices - and her own innovative massage technique that stimulates the fascia (it makes a cracking sound when it happens by the way). She says she just “reveals” people - without the tiredness that accumulates! 

If you want to know more about Sophie after listening, here is her website:

https://sophiecarbonari.com/studio/

Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you are listening!

A video excerpt of this episode is available on Youtube:

https://youtu.be/_yyNDAm0skk

To learn more about my documentary project, go to @cartondinvitation on Instagram. 

Original music for this podcast by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos

Carton d’invitation celebrates the fashion journeys of Supermodels, designers, journalists, stylists, creative directors, illustrators etc. Stars of 90s Paris as well as emerging creatives in conversation about "life before the internet" and making fashion now.
I was a TV reporter in the Golden Age of fashion in Paris in the 80s and 90s, back when it was a new thing to bring video cameras into that elite world. Now I am a documentary maker and writer thinking about embodiment, glamour and sartorial disruption. These podcasts honour legacies. Touching and fun - a fashion history archive.

Sophie Theallet has dressed Michelle Obama and Kim Kardashian. An award winning designer in her own right, she started out assisting Jean Paul Gaultier - and then Azzedine Alaia for 10 years. She saw everything! And in this podcast, she decides she’s willing to tell me about it all. 

It took us three meetings but Sophie was eventually ready to explain what “assisting” really meant - the lines she developed, the prints she designed, the symbiotic relationship between herself and Alaia, who she calls the “Last Couturier.” (Along the way, she was also ready to gossip a bit - and to be honest about how hot under the collar things sometimes got)!

When I interview people who worked as “assistants”, they are always very respectful - careful to protect the mystique of the iconic designers they worked for - Of course, Sophie is extremely respectful of the legacy of Alaia - but she was also finally willing to lift the veil and help me get a real sense of the contributions that so many invisible people working around the great designers made to fashion.

Sophie also talks about how she broke away and moved to New York, built her award winning brand and dressed stars from Lauren Hill to Sharon Stone. We also learn how she ended up in Montreal, launching Room 502, a direct to consumer low waste brand of pitch-perfect pieces every woman wants in her wardrobe - couture quality construction at a small fraction of the price.

Cathy Horyn says her colour sense reminds her of Saint Laurent - Sophie’s many admirers from Obama to Rosy de Palma appreciate her approach to empowering women through clothes. 

Sophie has won the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund award. In addition, to running Room 502, she has been a fashion instructor at the University of Montreal and she offers online tutoring for young designers, including hopefuls putting together portfolios for fashion programs around the world.

Find Sophie and Room 502 at https://sophietheallet.com/

Sophie is also on Instagram @sophietheallet

Please subscribe for more fashion conversations! Your support for my project means a lot.

A full video trailer for this podcast is available on the Carton d'invitation Youtube channel.

To discover more about my documentary and this oral history project, find me on Instagram: @cartondinvitation

Original music for this podcast is by Ashley Rivera, Myla Carlos and Chloe Hsu.

Eve Salvail: Supermodel, Muse to Jean Paul Gaultier, successful DJ, an addiction counselor, frequent television personality in Quebec, author and importantly the energy behind the Eve Salvail Foundation which aims to serve victims of domestic violence.

Along with a lot of people, I will never forget the season Eve arrived on the scene in Paris. Everyone was buzzing: “Who is the extraordinary new Canadian model? Her head is shaved - she has a dragon tattooed...on her skull!” 

Really quickly, designers couldn't get enough of Eve from Gaultier to Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel. She appeared to be taking on Paris on her own terms as she swaggered distinctively down those runways - but it was quite a bit more complicated than that, as she recounts in this latest episode of the Carton d'invitation Podcast.

Eve understands now at the age of 53 that the turmoil she was experiencing inside back then inadvertently offered a sense of representation to other young people (all around the world) who also might have been struggling with identity. 

Please subscribe for more fashion conversations! Your support for my project means a lot.

Gentle warning: Eve discusses her recovery from addiction and her work now helping others as a counselor.

A full video version of this podcast is available on the Carton d'invitation Youtube channel.

To learn more about Eve and the Fondation Eve Salvail:

https://fondationevesalvail.org/en/

Or simply go to Instagram: @evesalvail

Find Eve's book "Sois Toi et T'es Belle". Available in bookstores or through online providers.

To discover more about my documentary and this oral history project, find me on Instagram: @cartondinvitation

Original music for this podcast is by Ashley Rivera, Myla Carlos and Chloe Hsu.

British Patricia Jacobs was a newspaper reporter for The New York Post back in the 80s and 90s. Now known as the artist, PJ Cobbs, she has hilarious gee-whiz tales from the trenches of fashion journalism and much perspective on what it was like for persons of colour to operate in that world.

Listen for a crash course in what being a news reporter back then was like, from scrambling to the phone booth to call stories in, getting the scoop when Karl Lagerfeld started yelling at Denise Dubois of the Chambre Syndicale right in front of her, to wearing her best and only little black dress to her first Paris soiree which happened to be hosted by Roger Vivier at Maxims.

It was bittersweet to share our stories of the designer Patrick Kelly who died so quietly in those tragic days when AIDS was kept a secret.

When I was roaming around backstage during the Golden Age of Paris fashion, I would turn to Patricia for soundbites - she always had something interesting to say! Hence while working on my documentary, I knew I needed to track her down to hear her perspective on that whole scene with the benefit of hindsight. The sting of the microagressions hasn't waned; her tenderness towards defenders such as Hilary Alexander remains.

And I think you will find it interesting that Patricia or  PJ Cobbs as she is now called left fashion journalism behind to become a successful artist in New York. 

I hope you enjoy this episode of oral history from Golden age of Paris fashion and also about what a creative life can look like.

PJ Cobbs is an artist, workshop leader and keynote speaker. To learn more about PJ Cobbs (or to buy her artwork), go to her website: https://www.pjcobbsarts.com/or pjcobbsarts

Find her on Instagram @pjcobbsarts

To learn more about my documentary project go to @cartondinvitation on Instagram.

Be sure to check out the video trailer for this episode on Youtube.

Music for this podcast by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos.

Dawn Wolf stands by the motto that she is only as good as her last booking, A straight-talking New Yorker transplanted to Paris, Dawn says there are secrets she is taking to the grave...but all the same, you will be delighted to hear many, many stories here! She opened Ford Models in Paris and then IMG. Dawn helped launch almost every supermodel from Christy to Naomi to Shalom and Amber to Guinevere van Seenus and Amy Wesson. The list will make you dizzy.

While I was researching my recently released film Carton d'invitation, Dawn was very much a person I needed to reconnect with as a consultant to the project. Her perspective was invaluable.

There's a video trailer for this podcast which will have you laughing out loud:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPguwuuoa68

For more on my documentary project, go to Instagram @cartondinvitation

Original Music: Ashley Rivera, Myla Carlon and Chloe Hsu

Featured in British Vogue, designing for drag influencers, Bailey J Mills and Bimini as well as pop stars CMAT and The Dinner Party, Oran O'Reilly is creating a bit of a sensation in Ireland. His bespoke knitwear sells out. His inventive corsets feature faces of anyone from Kate Bush to Princess Diana. He is just 21 years old - and does his knitting on the bus to college - where he is studying costume design with the illustrious Peter O'Brien at IADT.

(Peter O'Brien is an earlier Carton d'invitation Podcast guest - scroll to find that)!

I met Oran when I went to Dublin to screen my documentary. Of course, his teacher brought some of his students along!

But before I even got to Dublin, I had heard the buzz about Oran - he's been making appearances on Irish national radio and television - and basically charming audiences with his inventive clothes and disarming candour. Among other things, he is honest about how new this career is for him. By the way, since the start, Oran's mother, Orla has been his model for publicity shots - and that launched an unplanned modeling career! As Oran says, Mum taught me to knit and I got her a modeling contract!

You can listen to the podcast here - or watch the full episode on Youtube.

To learn more about Oran: @oranjaurelio on Instagram

And more about my documentary project @cartondinvitation

Music for this podcast: @leonthesinger

Justin Teodoro is a fellow Canadian - based in New York - and an illustrator whose work is followed by tens of thousands of people. His art offers witty and very stylish commentary on pop culture and the world of fashion. 

Enjoy listening to a person who has carved a unique niche for himself by trusting his instincts and leaning into his creativity!

In 2023, Justin was part of the Costume Department for Madonna’s Celebration Tour.  His role was as the Costume Illustrator, working closely with the Costume Team sketching the looks of the show. 

And at the start of 2024, Justin’s original illustrations were chosen to be printed on exclusive merchandise for The Celebration Tour.

Graduating from the Parsons School of Design in 2006, Justin built a successful career as a Womenswear Fashion Designer for such companies as Tuleh, Cynthia Steffe, and Kenneth Cole Productions. 

But after 8 years in the fashion industry, Justin decided to merge his two passions, Fashion and Art to forge a new career as a fashion illustrator and artist.  His illustrative work has been featured in many publications including WWD, WSJ, Vogue, Glamour and GQ.  

As a creative consultant, he has worked with clients such as Nespresso, Hugo Boss and many more to create illustrated & graphic imagery and campaigns that are all infused with his own unique sensibility. 

To find Justin: https://www.justinteodoro.com/ or @justinteodoro on Instagram.

Visit @cartondinvitation on Instagram to discover my ongoing project.

Original Music: Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos

Described by Dazed magazine as an ‘industry fave’, Maximilian Raynor has dressed  everyone from musicians Ellie Goulding and Rita Ora to supermodels Paloma Elsesser and Adut Akech. Just 25, he recently presented a collection in the MA Graduate show at Central Saint Martins in London. This is the show that people in the fashion world eagerly anticipate each year, hoping to spot the next Alexander McQueen or John Galliano. The buzz since February would indicate that Maximilian is making his mark.

But Maximilian is no stranger to press. His BA collection premiered with ‘Perfect’ and featured in British Vogue as well as The Pirelli Calendar, styled by Amanda Harlech, eventually walking the runway in Rwanda for a show hosted by King Charles III.

But long before that, when Maximilian was just ten, his sketches came to the attention of Vivienne Westwood who invited him to spent a week in her studio - an indelible influence on his life.

How did Maximilian and I meet?  I was recently at Central Saint Martins for an evening screening of my film Carton d’invitation. During  a tour of the studios, my wonderful host Roger Tredre took me into the inner sanctum - where racks of the MA Graduate work was on display for fashion insiders scouting talent that week. I immediately spotted the pieces I found most interesting - and though everyone else was gone that evening, I realized the designer of that collection was still there. I decided I couldn’t waste time being shy and i introduced myself.

I’m glad I did - because now you too can meet Maximilian talking about this crucial turning point in his life as a designer. 

For more on Maximilian: https://maximilianraynor.com/ and @maximilianraynor on Instagram.

Go directly to “Manor for Heaven” film: https://maximilianraynor.com/collections/

Learn about my documentary project: @cartond’invitation on Instagram

Original music for this podcast by @leonthesinger

An established leader in the beauty space, James Boehmer is embarking on a new adventure in Kent, Connecticut after years as the Global Artistic Director for SHISEIDO Makeup. That role was preceded by groundbreaking work at NARS. In this podcast, James talks about beauty, leaning into difference and creating community. You will hear about "Peggy Mercury" - an exciting new multi-category store and art space he and his partner Greg Fricke are bringing to life - and lots of funny and touching stories about how a beauty obsessed teenager who felt like an outsider in St. Louis, Missouri managed to create a life that took him into the inner sanctums of the fashion world, both backstage and corporate boardrooms.

The entire podcast is available in video form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNVsi0LU2Zs

Thanks for subscribing here and on Youtube, if you feel inclined to support my project.

For more about James: check out @itspeggymercury and @jamesaaronboehmer on Instagram "At SHISEIDO, James drove product innovation and directed shade development. He oversaw all Global Artistry teams and communicated the brand’s unique point of view by creating content across multiple channels. In addition to devising many of the attention-grabbing looks for SHISEIDO Makeup’s ad campaigns, brand films, and social content, he worked closely with various departments within the company to conceptualize educational materials and tools that enhanced the consumer experience and increase customer engagement. Prior to his position at SHISEIDO Makeup, James served as Director of Global Artistry for NARS where he defined seasonal beauty trends, conducted seminars, educated other makeup pros, and assumed the role of key artist backstage for numerous designers including Mansur Gavriel, Creatures of the Wind, Suno, Naeem Khan, Vivienne Westwood, and Carolina Herrera. His work has appeared editorially in prestigious international publications such as Marie Claire, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Purple, Jalouse, L’Officiel, and The New York Times Magazine. He has also contributed to beauty stories in WWD, British Vogue, The Financial Times, and The Guardian. James' client roster includes Hunter Schafer, Arca, Isabella Rossellini, Alek Wek, Sofia Coppola, Karen Elson, Daphne Guinness, Naomi Campbell, Zoe Saldana, Amy Sedaris, Olivia Palermo, and countless other top models and actresses. James has also designed makeup for various independent feature films that have been on view at Sundance, Slamdance, Toronto, and IFP." To learn about my documentary project: @cartondinvitation on Instagram.

Original music for this podcast by Ashley Rivera, Myla Carlos and Chloe Hsu.

Openly trans in 1989, Connie Fleming made her Paris modeling debut and history on a Thierry (Manfred) Mugler runway. 

Connie is a multi-hyphenate: illustrator, model, runway coach, also known as The Door Bitch in the New York club scene. She has become an advocate for trans-healthcare following her experience with breast cancer.

Growing up in Jamaica and then New York, Connie experienced violence in childhood - but was rebuilt as a teenager by developing her stage persona at Boy Bar. She became a fixture at the Paradise Garage where she was discovered by Steven Meisel. Connie is featured in a new documentary about that scene “Love is In the Legend”. And she has been seen in current day Mugler publicity campaigns and on recent Mugler and Rick Owens runways.

I talked to Connie while working on my documentary Carton d'invitation - I had wonderful memories of seeing her on the runways in Paris in the 80s and 90s - and it was important for me to ask what it all felt like for her.

To learn more about Connie follow her on Instagram @therealconniergirl

For more on my documentary project, visit @cartondinvitation on IG as well.

Original music for this podcast is by Ashley Rivera, Myla Carlos and Chloe Hsu.

Jason Duzansky recently worked as the art director on the instantly iconic book: “Linda Evangelista Photographed by Steven Meisel”. But probably without realizing it, you are always seeing images Jason helped create on billboards, in shop windows and magazines - wherever you might be in the world. Jason is a busy Creative Director based in Los Angeles and New York who works for many brands including Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Before going out on his own, Jason was "the right hand man" to Steven Meisel, serving as his in-house art director for 13 years. He grew up in Chicago and got his first break working at Visionaire Publishing in New York. 

This podcast is a Master Class for young people wondering how to break into fashion…and of course,  it is also for anyone who wants to know what it might have been like to work with Steven Meisel on all those Italian Vogue covers! Jason shares many memories working with and learning from the very private Meisel, who is considered the photographer of his generation.

Jason work is informed by a distinctive integration of typography and graphic design - he explains that his goal is to catch our eyes with work that is both chic and charming. Enjoy meeting the self-deferential and indeed very charming, Jason Duzansky in this Carton d’invitation podcast.

For more about Jason: https://www.jasonduzansky.com/

To learn about the Carton d'invitation documentary project, check out my Instagram account @cartondinvitation

You can find a video trailer for this podcast on Youtube or by checking my linktr.ee on Instagram.

To help fund continued work on this podcast series about the Golden Age of fashion in Paris, find a Kofi link in my bio as well.

Original music for this podcast was provided by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos.

Fashion History 101 - For six decades, Tony has been immersed in the world of fashion - thinking, writing and sketching. From early 1960s YSL shows in the intimacy of the salon to the latest extravaganzas in Paris, Tony's been there, notebook in hand. We caught up as I was working on my documentary Carton d'invitation. Back in the 1990s, I often turned to him for TV interviews right after fashion shows. He was always knowledgeable - and effervescent with excitement - about the spectacles we witnessed in those days, from the first shows by Galliano at Dior to the time Martin Margiela made a "lace" dress from old sandals.

Tony started as a fashion forecaster with Sir Terence Conran, and went on to become an editor at Conde Nast, based in Australia. Prolific still, at the age of 77, Tony stays busy covering fashion for numerous magazines, commuting from his home in Palma to London and other fashion capitals.

For many years, Tony has also been a lecturer at a number of institutions including The London College of Fashion.
Tony is the author of several books such as "Top to Toe, a guide to men's grooming" and "New Icons of Fashion Illustration". 

For more about Tony, check Instagram @ t.g.therealtonyglenville

For more about the Carton d'invitation documentary, check out my Instagram account @cartondinvitation

You can find a video trailer for this podcast on Youtube or by checking my linktr.ee on Instagram.

To help fund continued work on this podcast series about the Golden Age of fashion in Paris, find a Kofi link in my bio as well.

Original music for this podcast was provided by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos.

Partner of the late Manfred Thierry Mugler, Krzysztof Leon Dziemaszkiewicz is a Polish performance artist based in Berlin. From a little kitchen in Schillerpromenade, he and I spoke together about his highly inventive art practice - and what it was like navigating the first year of grief after the passing of his partner. 

To learn more visit his Instagram: @leondziemaszkiewicz

This podcast is part of an interactive media library which accompanies my documentary Carton d'invitation. It's a film about my work reporting for Fashion Television in Paris during "The Golden Age", the 80s and 90s. My documentary naturally revisits my encounters with Mugler so it was important - and moving - for me to be able to talk to Leon for this podcast.

A gentle warning to people dealing with loss that some of the content deals with the process of grieving.

If you would like to learn more about my documentary and the overall project, go to Instagram @cartondinvitation

Original music for this podcast was composed by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos. Find more music by Ashley at https://vithmakesmusic.carrd.co/

Entertaining, outspoken and really funny, former fashion model and Big Brother Reality TV star, Marcellas Reynolds calls himself the “ultimate fangirl." He is the author of Supreme Models, The History of Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion and Supreme Actresses as well. He co-produced with supermodel, Iman, the hit six-part Supreme Models docuseries. The series brings together many stars from Pat Cleveland to Karen Alexander and Veronica Webb to Zendaya to tell the story of Black models past and present. We sat down to talk about Marcellas’ own extraordinary life in fashion and the thrill of creating the books and the documentary.

Known as a "walking, talking fashion wikipedia", Marcellas is the ultimate fashion insider. In this podcast, he offers us a Master Class in the compelling history of the Black Model.

Find a video trailer for this podcast : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSeFQbKhdDM

Find the docuseries at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObeHmWsyshM 

Find Marcellas @marqueemarc on Instagram and @Supreme_books on Twitter. 

Buy his books online or in your favorite bookstore! 

Special consultant on this podcast: @domcreates

To learn more about my ongoing documentary project about Paris fashion in the 80s and 90s, go to @cartondinvitation on Instagram and Tiktok 

Original music for this podcast was composed by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos. Find more music by Ashley at https://vithmakesmusic.carrd.co/

Peter O’Brien, wildly talented, humble and really funny, has been a fashion insider for decades. He sat down to share his thoughts and impressions about where things are at now and what was happening back in the 1990s when we knew each other.  I am working on a documentary and doing a Master’s about my own work making television about fashion in Paris at that particular moment in time. To be honest,  I need a lot  of help remembering, clarifying and reinterpreting. In this podcast, Peter enlightens me on many questions.

Raised on a council estate, avoiding sports and always drawing ballgowns in his schoolbooks, Peter O’Brien went from dressing windows in Dublin to attending Central St Martins in London, (telling a pre-Internet fib about having finished an Irish Leaving Certificate to gain admission). In a few short years, Peter was in Paris, working at Christian Dior under Marc Bohan, followed by Givenchy, then a brief stint as a senior designer at Chloé. In 1989 he was appointed Creative Director at Rochas, where he remained for 12 years, designing women’s wear and accessories, and overseeing menswear, perfumes and licenses.

Peter returned to Ireland in 2004 where he has since been working as a freelance designer for various lines.

He is an award-winning costume designer for theatre - and he spends much of his time now teaching a new generation of costume designers in Ireland.

For more about Peter:

Instagram: @peterobriendesign

Website: https://peterobriendesign.com/

Find a video trailer for this podcast here: https://youtu.be/BWKRfZZ_GqI

To learn more about my ongoing documentary project about Paris fashion in the 80s and 90s, go to @cartondinvitation on Instagram and Tiktok

Original music for this podcast was composed by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos. Find more music by Ashley at https://vithmakesmusic.carrd.co/

Veronica Webb’s fancy-free strut down the Chanel runway was iconic in the 80s and 90s. In a fast rise to fame, the Detroit-native entered the emerging circle of Supermodels at the age of 19. Veronica was the first Black model to sign an exclusive cosmetic contract - becoming a spokesmodel for Revlon.  She appeared on many magazine covers including Vogue and Elle, modeled for Victoria’s Secret and acted in films including Jungle Fever and Malcolm X. Supported by mentors such as Bethann Hardison, Azzedine Alaia, Karl Lagerfeld and Andre Leon Talley, Veronica became a student of the system - her astute observational wit propelling her multifaceted career.

In this podcast, she reminisces with me about those heady days when everyone came together all at once in the fashion world to attend shows that were not possible to see any other way - before the dawn of the internet. She talks about the excitement, the clothes, the characters and her work now mentoring young Black fashion talent.

Veronica is a mother and a blogger who espouses the motto: Own your age. Own your beauty. Own your power.

She recently appeared in the docu-series Supreme Models, a history of iconic Black women who revolutionized fashion, created by Marcellus Reynolds and Iman. You can find that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQkSAKgIaJI

For more about Veronica: Instagram: @veronicawebb Website: https://www.webbonthefly.com/

Find a short video version of this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyfqmxr2uWA

To learn more about my ongoing documentary project about Paris fashion in the 80s and 90s, go to @cartondinvitation on Instagram and Tiktok

Original music for this podcast was composed by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos. Find more music by Ashley at https://vithmakesmusic.carrd.co/

London’s Heather Stewart Whyte quickly shot to fame upon arriving in Paris, posing for all the great photographers of the time and walking the runways for every designer in town. A muse to Herve Leger, Yves St. Laurent and Dominique Isserman, Heather was also a Victoria’s Secret model. She tells a funny story about that in the podcast - and some cheeky tales about keeping Helmut Newton in his place.

Initially shy, Heather grew in confidence and was part of that group of supermodels who changed the rules. She pushed back when designers complained about her curves and she even rewrote the rules about being a mom and a model, taking her nursing babies on set - and just making that work too.

I knew Heather in the 90s, often interviewing her for Fashion Television. I was really delighted when we were able to catch up for this conversation so many years later. She recounted her memories of catwalks and photo shoots - but most especially she relished talking about the human moments: the encounters and the creativity she experienced in “The Golden Age” of fashion.

Find a video trailer for this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COTQrC6wogA

To learn more about my ongoing documentary project about Paris fashion in the 80s and 90s, go to @cartondinvitation on Instagram and Tiktok

Original music for this podcast was composed by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos. Find more music by Ashley at https://vithmakesmusic.carrd.co/

Hear what poet and spoken word artist Cathi Rae has to say about body positivity and growing old in style. She embraces slow fashion, consuming less yet still enjoying the thrill of the find in charity shops and her own cupboard! 

A PhD student at the age of 60, Leicester's Cathi Rae teaches creative writing - and can be found doing manual labour cleaning houses two days a week. She has strong opinions about why it is important to value the body's function over form and wishes she had seen more representation of non-airbrushed older bodies when she was younger - a situation she is correcting from what she calls her "little corner of Instagram" where she posts pictures of herself in fabulous preloved styles - and sometimes in the nude.

A poet in conversation. 

Go to @cathirae on Instagram to enjoy her creative styling of preloved clothes and her thoughtful messaging.

Cathi Rae's recent book "Your Cleaner Hates You and Other Poems" is available from Amazon or the Soulful Group @ https://www.soulfulgroup.com/authors/cathirae

Original music for this podcast was composed by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos. Find more music by Ashley at https://vithmakesmusic.carrd.co/

Follow @cartond'invitation on IG for more about Cathi Rae - and my documentary project.

Claudia Mason: Supermodel, author, actress, stroke thriver and Life Coach. 

Claudia walked fashion runways in The Golden Age and now has another kind of "super life" as a coach, helping others get unstuck and centred. Author of "Finding the Supermodel in You" and also spokesperson for The American Stroke Association (ASA), Claudia has many dimensions and lots of stories to tell. It was special for me to catch up with Claudia after many years and ask her about what it felt like to be swept up in the glamourous fashion world of the 90s and how she certified for a new career in coaching.

Discovered in her early teens in a record shop in Manhattan, the young ballerina had braces on her teeth and was wearing a backbrace for scoliosis. She was quickly catapulted into the studios of the top photographers of the world; but her parents didn't let her leave for the runways of Paris until she finished high school. Claudia has an insider's perspective on the glitz and the hard work being one of that small and fascinating group of women who emerged as "90s Supermodels".

Charming, warm and funny, Claudia recounts her adventures - the ups and the downs - and she talks about why she wrote a book as a guide for young people  interested in working as models or in the entertainment industry in general; the book is for their parents too!

You can see a short video trailer for this podcast at: https://youtu.be/K682-dTs3tU

To contact Claudia for coaching or just learn more about her work:

www.claudiamason.com

Claudia Mason - Spiritual Life Coach CLC/ Human Capital Group
Author: Finding The Supermodel In You

Original music for this podcast was composed by Ashley Rivera, Chloe Hsu and Myla Carlos. Find more music by Ashley at https://vithmakesmusic.carrd.co/

Follow @cartond'invitation on IG for more about Claudia Mason - and my documentary project.

Meet Maltese-Australian Anto Christ, a Berlin-based creator who scultps in crochet, paints in neon and wears her art on the street. A proponent of adornism - and of "particpating in your life", Anto is a liberating person to listen to on fashion and its power to "bloom" a person! Her recent solo show Divine Mutations at Transparent Forum in Berlin was well received but as you will see Anto Christ is not just about galleries – her whole life is a work of art – and fashion.  

"Stratosphere", the original music for this podcast was composed and performed by Ashley Rivera of Toronto. LINK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M71ohUImaRw

Video trailer for this podcast on youtube: https://youtu.be/ks1v1Wxfi0w

Visit @antochrist on Instagram to discover more of the world of Anto Christ!

@cartondinvitation on Instagram to learn more about this ongoing project.

My reunion with French couturier and inventor Olivier Lapidus.

Olivier has dressed everyone from Celine Dion to Amal Clooney. Designing haute couture from a young age, Olivier came by his talent naturally as his father was Ted Lapidus, iconic designer in the swinging 60s and 70s who dressed John Lennon among many others and his mother Veronique Zuber was Miss France, a model and an actress. In the 90s, Olivier took over design at the house of Lapidus – and it was there that I interviewed him many times for Fashion Television – the program I reported for back in the day and that I'm making a documentary about now. 

In this episode, we meet again after almost 25 years and have lots to reminisce about.

Olivier won the Golden Thimble in 1994 and also created collections for Balmain and Lanvin but he was never satisfied just designing clothes. For more than thirty years, Olivier has been working with craftspeople and scientists to patent cutting edge inventions in fibre, light-technology and more. 

Long ago, Olivier took my cameraman and me with him to Pakistan to meet Benazir Bhutto and cut the ribbon at the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design, a ground-breaking school he helped found. We share our memories of interviewing a frankly feminist Benazir who sent us her own limousine to drive around Islamabad.

Olivier's latest work is with the Lucibelle group on the Ove Mask for Dior - and as far as I can tell, it means we can all say goodbye to wrinkles!

We take time to talk about Olivier's talented wife Yara who reinvented herself after an accident; she was a designer, now she has hit records on Billboard. Find her beautiful music in the link below - and lots of links to the rich story of Olivier Lapidus, a tireless inventor who embodies French style.

https://www.instagram.com/olivierlapidusofficial/
http://www.creationolivierlapidus.paris
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Lapidus

https://www.lucibelleparis.com

https://www.cafedeladanse.com/event/yara-lapidus/

Original music for this podcast is courtesy of Ashley Rivera, Chloe Tsu and Myla Carlos.

Leon The Singer is a Berlin-based singer/composer/dancer whose new album The Noise Beside Your Thoughts is as catchy as it is honest. This podcast episode will have you tapping your feet - maybe even dancing a little - as Leon and I explore the three-year process of creating an album which has caught the attention of Rolling Stone Magazine.

Leon talks about his craft, his inspiration - and some of the doubts he had to cast off to create an "openly queer" album. Leon says he wrote these songs for himself as a teenager; creating representation he wished he'd had growing up.  While resonating with the LGBTQ+ community, the "Noise" is an album that speaks to everyone both in its playful and its vulnerable moments.

Leon The Singer is on Spotify and Bandcamp as well as Instagram @leonthesinger. 

Find Leon's music videos on his Youtube channel: Leon The Singer  https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCG8iGmUCH__CKdh-Vdxi8Xg

A contemporary artist and conceptual designer, Jo Cope plays with the semiotics of dress. From her recent work at The Garden Museum in London, to the Venice Design Biennale to her out-of-the box fashion activism in support of Shelter, the UK homeless charity, Jo pushes boundaries and questions fashion's evolving role within art and society.

Jo adapts traditional shoe making techniques to create handcrafted metaphorical and symbolic artworks which use the shoe as a vessel to explore notions of being human. 

Warm and funny, Jo talks to me about all those conceptual shoes, about her boundless curiousity - and about her dyslexia. Jo is a dyslexic artist and believes that her neurodiversity is a key attribute to her practice.  

A portrait of Jo recently became a billboard on the London Design Museum to celebrate neurodiversity during London Craft Week.

Jo was also instrumental in the creation of the new "Fashion For Social Change Award" for Graduate Fashion Week with Shelter UK.

Julian Warner says his body is a canvas; his fashion style is eclectic, disruptive - and joyous. A delightful raconteur, Julian has tales of a lifetime of travel from Easter Island to Tibet. Julian directs us to good vintage shopping in international capitals – and explains how he came to own a thousand shirts.

Join me in conversation about race, disruption, clothing as communication. Do come along and enjoy this man’s contagious joie de vivre.

Julian has 11000 fans of his style and travel inspiration on Instagram @vita.allegra.

Learn more about this podcast series @cartondinvitation

Yossi Fisher: from the front row at fashion shows in Milan to rolling up his sleeves to help build fashion brands. Yossi is a guru, advising fashion brands about how to play the long game, stay authentic and show empathy towards the customer base. Yossi has insights on how to become a fashion influencer, what faux pas to avoid and what practices to embrace. He has unothodox opinions about fashion schools and advice for aspiring fashion designers.

Very usefully, Yossi also offers advice on how optimize Instagram, Tiktok, Linked In, Facebook, apps and newsletters to promote your brand.

This epsiode is basically a free brand consultation - enjoy!

To learn more: yossifisher.com

Instagram: @yossi_fisher

To learn more about this overall project visit @cartondinvitation on Instagram

Former model, master tailor, fashion designer, Alexis Mersmann in conversation about their beautiful new collection created using denim found on the streets of Berlin (and other places too)!  Alexis shares thoughts on many issues: gender fluidity, sustainability, sizing in fashion, day to day life in Berlin - and growing up on a dairy farm in the German countryside. Besides fashion collections, Alexis creates costumes for theatre, film, drag kings and drag queens.  

To encounter Alexis in person and see their inventive designs, go to the podcast video trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Iv6q-wdng

Find @alexismermaid on Instagram 

Follow @cartondinvitation on Instagram to learn more about this podcast series and Nancy Devitt Tremblay's associated documentary film project.

This episode explores Alexis' ideas about what fashion should say, how a well cut garment can make a person feel and all the different places inspiration can be found. It also offers a revealing glimpse into the world of fashion modelling.

Ever wonder about time travel, ever go off in search of the first light of the universe (hint you can actually find it), well then you will enjoy listening to University of Toronto, Science Communicator Spencer Ki regale you with tales of the heavens! Spencer also talks to us about how his curiousity took him through studies in AI, statistics, physics, mathematics and Shakespeare during an epic undergrad degree of his own design. Here's introducing polymath and my former student, Spencer Ki.