Melissa Battifarano was once known as “Rihanna’s right hand.” That’s how Vogue has described her work helping to establish Fenty Corp. as a fashion player with Rihanna. On the episode, Melissa unpacks how she created Fenty X Puma and Savage X Fenty with the diamond-drenched performer.  She talks about how rising through the ranks of labels like Sean John, Champion and Tory Sport, she worked with the teams that merged athletic garb with fashion and created athleisure and sport luxury. The...

Timothy Han, the London-based Canadian founder of Timothy Han / Edition, reveals how his passion for literature, and his time assisting one of fashion’s greatest storytellers, John Galliano, inspired him to build his brand. To commemorate the passing of André Leon Talley, Tim harks back to a special moment during his Galliano days when he spent six weeks assisting American Vogue’s legendary editor-at-large.    The pandemic prompted Tim to expand his brand to include fashion and considering...

Anastasia Ivchenko and Eugenia Skibina, founders of the boutique PR agency, Public Kitchen, explain how they helped to establish their city, Kyiv, as the most vibrant fashion capital in Eastern Europe. From Latvia’s capital Riga, where they are temporarily settled, they also share their heartbreaking story of escaping Ukraine in late March, a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of their country.

The Brooklyn-based artist, Patricia Treib, talks about her experience contributing to Valentino Des Ateliers Haute Couture. This is the critically acclaimed autumn/winter 2021 couture collection produced as a cultural exchange by Valentino's Creative Director, Paolo Piccioli, his Rome atelier and 17 international contemporary artists, including Patricia.  The conversation begins by exploring Patricia’s background. She explains why she pursued painting, after growing up in a small town in...

Alexander Fury is the men's fashion critic of the Financial Times newspaper and the fashion features director of AnOther magazine. He returns to A Different Tweed to discuss being front row at what he describes as the “first big return of physical fashion shows.” That is, the live presentations showcasing the Spring/Summer 2022 men’s ready-to-wear collections and the Autumn/Winter ‘21 couture in Milan, Paris and Venice, respectively.  Alex offers a rare insight to the critically acclaimed...

The film director Karam Gill talks about spending four years making Ice Cold: The Untold Story of Hip Hop Jewelry. This is the first ever TV series exploring the culture and importance of jewelry in the world of Hip Hop music. It premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and it is airing now on Youtube Originals as well as the Youtube channel of the hip hop trio, Migos. Karam explains how Ice Cold contextualizes the culture of hip hop jewelry by delving into the deeper meaning and purpose...

The London-based women's wear designer, Mary Katrantzou, discusses her recent collaboration with the Italian luxury brand Bulgari. She explains how her work with Bulgari began by pairing Bulgari high jewelry with her Spring/Summer 2020 collection which she presented in October 2019 at the Temple of Poseidon. Mary references this grand scale fashion presentation throughout the conversation. Staging it amidst the awe-inspiring backdrop of the ancient Athens landmark, she celebrated the...

Kerry Taylor explains how she set up the world’s leading auction house specializing in vintage fashion. She reveals how she revived the profession of auctioning one-of-a-kind garments initially for Sotheby’s and then how, after striking out on her own, she set auction records and generated headlines by selling couture worn by the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Princess Diana as well as a slip dress by Charlotte Todd which a 20something Kate Middleton flaunted on a student fashion runway....

Jeriana San Juan takes a deep dive into her magnificent work costume designing the Netflix miniseries Halston. Starring Ewan McGregor, Halston portrays the untold story of the sensational rise and tragic downfall of the pioneering fashion designer, Roy Halston Frowick.  Jeriana reveals the intricacies of dressing Ewan McGregor to portray the title character. She also explains how she worked as a consultant to McGregor so he could authentically portray Halston’s technical genius. She sheds...

A few days ago Erdem Moralioglu presented his resort collection for 2022. Because it commemorates the 15th anniversary of his fashion house, we are listening back to a recent interview during which he reflected on his life and work. Erdem explains how his fascination with fashion began at school in suburban Montreal. He talks about realizing his dream to study fashion at London’s Royal College of Art and establishing his business in Hackney. He explains harnessing technology to modernize the...

Vetran Condé Nast magazine professionals, Fiona Hayes and Julia Zirpel, discuss collaborating on The Fashion Yearbook 2021. Recently published by Callwey of Munich, Germany, The Fashion Yearbook features striking images representing outstanding fashion ad campaigns, editorials and covers published last year. Fiona and Julia explain how, with picture editor Katja Sonnewend, they assembled all of this by working with a jury hailing from Europe, North America, Africa and the Asia Pacific region....

The writer and director, Elza Kephart, discusses her new film Slaxx. Described by the Guardian’s film critic, Peter Bradshaw, as an “often amusing and sharp, horror satire...set in an unbearably cool clothes shop,” Slaxx shines a light on the inhumanity of the cotton trade and fast fashion.  Kephart explains how her commitment to climate change activism and Andrew Morgan’s documentary, The True Cost, prompted her to craft a macabre yet darkly humorous movie about Keerat. She’s a young Indian...

On April 24th, the fashion designer, Alber Elbaz, died in Paris. He was 59 and the cause was Covid-19. This episode is a tribute to the women’s fashion designer who rose to fame when - after a stint designing ready-to-wear at Guy Laroche - Pierre Bergé appointed him to be a creative director at the House of Saint Laurent. Following his short tenure at Saint Laurent, Alber Elbaz went on to resurrect the house of Lanvin. He reigned there as creative director for 14 years and the fashion world...

Brothers Alexander and Sebastian Adams explain why they founded their brand, Varsity Headwear, to create the perfect baseball cap, simply because they couldn’t find one. They reveal putting everything on the line to launch a boutique for their brand in Saint Tropez, France and how their caps have sold seven at a time from their destination shop.  Looking back, Alex and Seb observe how their design journey really began when they grew up as the children of architects in Oslo, Norway and why it...

Claire Wilcox - the Senior Fashion curator at London's Victoria and Albert Museum discusses her new book, Patchwork A Life Amongst Clothes. As the title suggests, Patchwork is a memoir. But as the conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that Patchwork is an unconventional memoir. The original storytelling method Claire conceived for this book portrays the facts of her life in an abstract manner, prompting the reader to imagine the finer details.  The writing process, Claire explains, was as...

Over the last month designers in London, New York, Paris, Milan - and some other places - have streamed presentations of their fall/winter 2021 ready-to-wear collections. Alexander Fury - AnOther Magazine’s Fashion Features Director and the Financial Times’ Menswear Critic - joins Bronwyn Cosgrave to assess the direction of fashion for the season ahead and beyond.  Alex shares details of the interviews he has conducted over the last year for the FT with some of the most important designers...

The writer and director of Audrey - a new documentary exploring the life and work of Audrey Hepburn - discusses how her own life prompted her to craft a film about one of the greatest movie stars of all time. Helena Coan explores the craft of working with archive footage and voiceover narration to reveal Hepburn’s life story. She discusses Hepburn’s triumphs on the Broadway stage, at the Oscars and campaigning for UNICEF in war torn Somalia. Coan reveals how she grappled with telling the...

Anna Sui discusses her fall 2021 collection, Phantasmadelic, and making a film to showcase it with her family. She recalls her rise from operating out of her New York apartment, as an indie designer in the early Eighties, to be a global fashion force. She considers her longtime creative partnership with Steven Meisel and how Madonna, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell wearing her signature baby doll dresses helped to establish her brand. To honor Chinese New Year, Anna ponders her Chinese...

The new book, Glossy: The Inside Story of Vogue, is a comprehensive history of American Vogue magazine – and some of Vogue’s international editions. The author, Nina-Sophia Miralles, reveals why she told Vogue’s history through the lens of its editors. She discusses the careers and cultural impact of renowned Vogue editors including Edward Enninful, Grace Mirabella, Alexandra Shulman and Anna Wintour. She also tells the story of the unsung heroes who edited Vogue like Edna Woolman Chase who...

David Ebersole and Todd Hughes talk about producing and directing House of Cardin. This documentary tells the story of Pierre Cardin’s life and work. House of Cardin premiered at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. But on December 29, when Pierre Cardin passed away - at the age of 98 - Ebersole & Hughes’s film attained new relevance as the last word on a design giant.  In the early Sixties, Pierre Cardin created ready-to-wear. He also pioneered logomania by affixing his circular initial...

The 14-time Emmy Award nominated costume designer, Lou Eyerich, explains how she got her start working behind the scenes in the music industry before going on to costume Popular. This was the first series created by the “super-producer”, Ryan Murphy, in 1999. Eyerich reveals the craft and creative process of masterminding wardrobes evoking Murphy’s brand of inclusive storytelling and how, by 2018, he had appointed her to be a producer in charge of costumes for all of his productions. Eyerich...

From his design studio in Antwerp, Belgium, Christian Wijnants explains how working in isolation on his Spring/Summer 2021 collection, In Pursuit of Happiness, prompted him to imbue it with memories of his upbringing in Brussels. He revisits his childhood and reveals how his decision to pursue a fashion career was prompted by an exhibition showcasing the work of the Antwerp Six. This group of virtuosic designers garnered international attention after staging a guerilla-style show at London...

Sandy Schreier - the renowned collector of 20th century French and American couture - reveals how she pioneered collecting vintage originals. She goes back to her time as a toddler in her hometown, Detroit, and explains how the wives of the city’s famed “auto titans” - and later the legendary Old Hollywood costume designer, Jean Louis - contributed to her holdings of 15,000 pieces of rare fashion and accessories. Sandy talks about working with the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan...

The filmmaker, Gero von Boehm, discusses his new documentary, Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful. The film is as seductive and dazzling as Helmut Newton’s fashion photography and Hollywood portraiture. But on this episode as von Boehm explores Newton’s iconic work, he also explains why a serious and frank discussion about the nature of his subject’s imagery unfolds over the course of the film. Did Newton empower his subjects? Or treat them like sexual objects? Von Boehm asked only women...