Dress Code Cracker: the podcast -- style and communication
37 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingDress Code Cracker discusses personal expression through style.
Far outside the confines of mainstream consumer fashion culture, we consider pop culture, politics, modern art and feminism in discussing style as a means of personal expression.
We talk to one guest bi-weekly about what they express when they get dressed and what informs their style. Using an audio format forces a visual medium to be translated verbally.
We look at dress as a daily exercise in creative self-expression, including as an expression of political beliefs. Dress can be a way to consider issues of oppression: via globalization/fast fashion, gender politics, race, feminisms, ableism and various types of 'body fascism'.
Not to forget also how dress references culture and subculture.
Dress code cracker is body and sex positive.
Feedback welcome at sarah (at) dresscodecracker.com and please visit at www.dresscodecracker.com
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Episodes
DCC 38 Chrysanthemum White Alder: Chaos Magnet/15th Century Pagan Nun
February 12, 2020 10:00 - 1 hour - 83.3 MBHello! For episode 38 I spoke to Chrysanthemum White-Alder about her Medieval Pagan Nun style. She's an interdisciplinary artist, witch, and academic currently working on a Masters of Education at Lakehead University. She's also studied intermedia and cyberarts at Concordia U; and is an amazing visual artist. One of her passions is Reclaiming Witchcraft (think Starhawk....we talk about it in the episode but it's a tradition of witchcraft that's environmentally focussed). She's been a comm...
DCC 37 SARAH POTTER: COLOUR WITCH MOB BOSS
January 22, 2020 11:00 - 1 hour - 80.3 MBI'm back for the first new episode of 2020 with an amazing interview! Sarah Potter is a lecturer, curator, practitioner of colour magick, and a tarot card reader. She's been all over the witch-ternet (sorry) lately, featured in Architectural Digest, Dazed magazine, In Style magazine and Teen Vogue. Colour magick is an occult modality of using the energy and associations of specific colours to boost your intention and manifest desired outcomes. When we started discussing her personal st...
DCC 36: IVORY CONOVER
November 07, 2017 11:00 - 54 minutes - 62.6 MB"It's the biggest reason why I do what I do: as a model, as a performer and why i;m so mouthy about the whole thing. I belong to all these intersectional communities that are constantly told to be smaller, that are already fringe and already left out. and so as someone who takes up a lot of space, personality wise, looks wise, energy wise, I constantly speak out about these things because it's so easy to tell us to shut up and be forgotten about...." --Ivory Conover Ivory is a multi disc...
DCC 35: Gigi Castorina "Everyday Vintage at Gigi's House of Frills!"
June 29, 2016 11:00 - 59 minutes - 67.8 MBGigi is a long time vintage collector, appreciator and wearer. And an even longer time lingerie enthusiast! She is the owner/operator of Toronto's only Vintage Style Lingerie Boutique : Gigi's House of Frills. We talked about 'everyday vintage', and her dedication to fashion and details from the 1930s to '50s. I love how her store makes you aspire to a more glamourous lifestyle, where you might entertain in loungewear or do your pincurls in a nightgown from the 1930s. You can follow ...
DCC 34: Amazon Syren "Little House on the Orchestral Pagan Folk Metal Prairie"
May 31, 2016 11:00 - 1 hour - 79.6 MBAmazon Syren is a queer, poly leather femme, a sex-workers' rights activist, and a Professional Naked Girl. She's also a witchy glamazon who sings opera, writes poetry, reads tarot, grows veggies, works magic, spins her own yarn, cooks, preserves, and darns a lot of socks. The secret ingredient is always love. She lives with her wife and an assortment of metamours in 1821. DIY is very close to her heart. She has opinions! Which is what I love! We discussed the business of being tall w...
DCC 33: Femme Space Amanda Arkansassy Harris
May 04, 2016 12:00 - 36 minutes - 42 MBI encountered Amanda Harris’ work via a Gender and Media class. I love her Femme Spaceproject and was so excited to talk to her for this episode! Amanda is a queer high femme charmer from the South. She was the co-curator of Y’all Come Back: Stories of Queer Southern Migration in the 2015 National Queer Arts Festival, where she exhibited portraits in her EXODUS series. Her photographs have been published in Glitter & Grit: Queer Performance from the Heels on Wheels Galaxy, G.R.I.T.S.: An ...
DCC 32: Crystal Kotow
March 08, 2016 13:00 - 54 minutes - 62.2 MBCrystal is a fat activist who moved from fashion blogging to tackling more contested spaces in fat feminist thought: cultural hatred of fat bodies; and how fatphobia can manifest as violence in intimate partner relationships. She's in her second year of a PhD gender, feminist and women's studies. One of many nice things about Crystal is she seems to look pulled together effortlessly....which belies her thoughtful and reflexive approach to fashion, fatshion, getting dressed and fat activism,...
DCC 31: Jenna Danchuk "New Age Vamp"
January 12, 2016 13:00 - 1 hour - 73.3 MBJenna Danchuk is a writer, researcher, and occasional maker of things. Jenna Danchuk is an Assistant Editor for Spiral Nature, a magazine style website dedicated to alternative spiritualities, practical magick, and exploring occulture. She is also a PhD student in the Gender, Feminist, and Women’s Studies program at York University where she studies the role of cultural production in feminist witchcraft and magical communities. Jenna is a former Associate Editor of WORN Fashion Journal and h...
DCC 30: Vivek Shraya "What I'm doing is not about a performance"
October 22, 2015 12:36 - 59 minutes - 67.8 MBVivek Shraya is a multimedia artist living in Toronto with strong ties to prairie malls. She's produced 10 albums, written 3 books (with 2 more set for release next year) and created 4 short films, all to great acclaim. She talked to me about the production of art, how performance grounds her, Her debut novel, She of the Mountains, was named one of The Globe and Mail’s Best Books of 2014. A three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, Vivek has read and performed at shows, festivals and post...
DCC 29: Andrea Zanin "More butch...and more femme"
September 27, 2015 12:00 - 1 hour - 73.2 MBI'm baaaaack this week with Andrea Zanin, a butch/femme academic and leatherwoman who writes prolifically and teaches about BDSM/Leather/kink, power dynamics, non-monogamy and queer sexuality. She's also pursuing a PhD in Gender Feminist and Women's studies (I didn't realize when I booked her that we're in the same program!) --and her thesis is about Canadian leatherdyke history. Andrea's erotic short stories and essays have been published in numerous anthologies. Her online home is here. ...
DCC 28: Mimi Thi Nguyen "New Wave Party Girl....or Monster HIgh Doll"
July 29, 2015 10:00 - 56 minutes - 64.4 MBMimi Thi Nguyen is an associate professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois. Her research interests are war, empire and...zines! I first encountered her work via her amazing blog (a collaboration with Minh Ha T Pham) called Threadbared. Her zine work includes Slander, Race Riot (that link is to a pdf made possible by the POC zine project!), and a couple years ago Guillotine Press put out a chapbook called PUNK, a conversation beween Goln...
DCC 27: Zoe Dodd "You're cool, stay weird, don't change"
July 08, 2015 10:00 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBAnother park interview! Zoe's an aspiring orthinologist and all the birds came out to see her. She's a harm reduction and hep C worker very dedicated to anti-poverty and social justice activism. Anarcho-feminism FTW! She's a long term participant and contributor to Toronto's hardcore punk scene which informs her look. She also DJs sometimes and guests on the CIUT show Equalizing Distort. We discussed her DIY punk style, although she acknowledged a hippie side and her admiration of her ...
DCC 26: Sam Conover "Lady Drag"
June 17, 2015 12:00 - 56 minutes - 64.3 MBSam Conover dresses in deliberately modest and traditionally 'feminine' style which borrows from 1940s to early 1960s styles....she calls it "lady drag". She also clarifies that she's going for a modest 'mumsy' look that is more 1950s housewife than pin up girl. She's a bra fitter, lingerie enthusiast, artist, blogger and conservatist specializing in plastics. We talked about feminism, body positivity (what else is new), plus 'normcore', catcaling, and dressing to make people happy...or is...
DCC 25: Imbyr "Power....and Control"
May 31, 2015 11:00 - 59 minutes - 68.4 MBI got to do my first park interview of 2015 with Imbyr, who describes their style as 'transmasculine harshfemme' and is obsessed with wrestling, dogs, and reading (mostly sci-fi). They are a health sciences student and the vocalist for Antibody, a gay doom sludge band based in Toronto. We talked about misandry, camp/kitsch and John Waters, short shorts and crop tops, and (how could i forget) WRESTLING. ‘Find power in your clothing, and if people think that’s ugly, fuck them. Yeah, just ...
DCC 24: Dre Ngozi & Jade Lee Hoy (aka Hilary and Denise) "Find your tribe and be comfortable with who you are"
May 06, 2015 10:00 - 1 hour - 72.9 MBIt was fun and inspiring to talk to Dre Ngozi and Jade Lee Hoy of Toronto's clothing project Hilary & Denise. Hilary and Denise celebrates and pays tribute to women of colour using pre-loved clothing to cultivate self expression that incorporates culture. Dre and Jade named the project for 90s sitcom queens HIlary Banks (Fresh Prince of Bel Air which ran from 1990-1996), and Denise Huxtable (The Cosby Show 1984-1992). Both Jade and Dre remember seeing Hilary and Denise's characters as unique...
DCC 23 Merritt Kopas "Patti Smith Cyber Waif"
April 21, 2015 01:33 - 45 minutes - 52.6 MBMerritt Kopas is a multimedia artist, video game designer and writer whose focus of interest is digital play as an access for exploring care relationships. Her first book came out in April 2015, Videogames for Humans, published by Instar Books. She also contributed to another recent book, the State of Play. She curates the online project Forest Ambassador where her focus is on free and accessible and innovative games. She also kills it on twitter @m_kopas and you can find her work onli...
DCC 22: Amy Medvick of Os Tropies "Tropicalia, Cleopatra and Carmen Miranda"
April 06, 2015 20:09 - 1 hour - 81.4 MBAmy Medvick is the vocalist and flautist with Os Tropies, and an ethnomusicology grad student studying the Brazilian diaspora and its musical legacy. Her interests in culture, food and dress lie in Brazilian psychedelic rock (Tropicalia!), and she also referenced exotica, both as a musical and a fashion inspiration: saturated colours and patterns, floral prints and tropical influences. I loved how she talked about fashion and style using the metaphor (and literal practice) of cooking--study...
DCC Episode 21: Shannon Shaw (Shannon and the Clams) "Eccentric Homemaker meets '80s Bad Kid"
March 25, 2015 00:48 - 48 minutes - 55.8 MBShannon Shaw almost catfished me, but I finally got to talk to her between recording the new Clams album and touring! She told me about the books that keep her worrying about serial killers, her love of illustration, metal smithing and girl bands including the Ronettes! She is a black eyeliner afficianado and likes a good beehive but isn't going 'full banana' on any one look. Her influences include girl groups, John Waters' heroines, Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck, and her own basic aversio...
Dress Code Cracker Episode 20: Laina Dawes "Conservative with an Edge"
March 09, 2015 14:45 - 57 minutes - 66 MBLaina Dawes is the author of What Are You Doing Here? A Black Woman’s Life and Liberation in Heavy Metal (Bazillion Points, 2012).What Are You Doing Here? is Laina’s first non-fiction book and the first non-fiction, general interest book to specifically focus on race, gender and identity in metal, hardcore and punk music cultures. Laina is also a freelance music and cultural critic whose writing can be found in print and online magazines, and she is currently a 2nd year graduate student at...
DCC Episode 19: Virgie Tovar "Miss PIggy meets RuPaul" #losehatenotweight
February 18, 2015 03:11 - 1 hour - 80 MBI was introduced to the work of VIrgie Tovar by way of reading about body politics a few years back. I picked up her book "Hot and Heavy: Fierce Fat Girls on LIfe, Love and Fashion" and I loved how she and the essayists in the book connected fat fashion to political activism. She's one of North America's leading voices on fat discriminsation and body image, and has been featured in New York Times, MTV, Al Jazeera, the San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Huffington Post, Bust Magazine, Jezebel, x...
DCC Episode 18: Liza Kelly "I like to bounce between different eras"
February 04, 2015 03:29 - 1 hour - 78.7 MBTheatrical costuming student and vintage clothing expert Liza Kelly told me where the 'weird shit' is this episode of the show! We talked about her love of film (old musicals, Fellini, Ken Russell, Terry Giliam), classic sitcoms (Rhoda and Maude), plus the ballet! She loves bright colours and eclectic vintage and has no use for mass market. We talked about 'bouncing between the eras'--how time and culture remix the fashions of each decade. Please go to dresscodecracker.com for pictures a...
DCC Episode 17: Charm Torres "Lazy Glam"
January 11, 2015 20:41 - 50 minutes - 58.3 MBCharm Torres describes her style as "lazy glam", but it's hard to reconcile the word lazy with this woman! She has two careers she is passionate about, one in LGBT health care and a second as a make up artist (freelance and with MAC). She takes her inspiration from queer femme culture, POC street style....and of course Solange and Rhianna. We talked about queerness, race, #selfies and how rape culture influences women's fashion choices. Please check out Charm on instagram where she is ch...
DCC Episode 16: Alia O'Brien from Blood Ceremony
December 14, 2014 19:31 - 59 minutes - 68.5 MBAlia is the vocalist, flautist and organist for Blood Ceremony--a hard/occult/horror rock band based in Toronto. They've also aptly been called 'witch rock'. She describes her style as 'what you might have worn to a Black Sabbath show in 1972', and talked about dressing for the stage and for the real world; including putting on a persona for performance. She's a bell bottom, platform shoe enthusiast who looks to Tina Turner circa the late 60s; and Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum for her stag...
DCC Episode 15: Matthew Simpson
October 28, 2014 01:44 - 1 hour - 80.2 MBI interviewed Matthew for a crazy long time earlier in the fall (edited down dear listener)--mainly because, not only does he have a terrific 'telephone voice', but he also has funny and refreshingly uncensored opinions on things. TThis is a guy who thinks about fashion, and clothes, about construction and about what makes people get dressed they way they do. He may look like your neighbourhood drug dealer, but don't be fooled. www.dresscodecracker.com Thanks Matthew!
Dress Code Cracker Episode 14: Dame Darcy : "The older I get, the more I look like a female version of Adam Ant”
September 23, 2014 23:32 - 1 hour - 69.1 MBAHHHH!!! I'm still blown away that I got to interview the amazing Dame Darcy. I've been obsessed with her work since the mid 1990s--she's not only an amazing artist/cartoonist/painter she's also a storyteller, musician (her project is called Death by Doll), film maker, fashion icon (she makes her own couture...Anna Sui and Courtney Love are fans too!), and outspoken feminist and environmentalist. She describes her style as Hillbilly Roccocco and I was completely tickled by all her referenc...
Dress Code Cracker Episode 13: Cyndi Zhang
September 05, 2014 19:00 - 51 minutes - 59 MBCyndi is a heavy metal guitarist based in Toronto. I loved that in talking about her style evolution, she said “I don’t always have to be looking at my vinyl album covers and trying to look like these guys from the eighties”--without any irony. We discussed dressing for the stage and dressing with LOTS of full colour tattoos, and her belief in showing a little 'cleave'. Her interests are music, record collecting and pro wrestling, and she likes to take inspiration from 'strange places', ...
DCC Episode 12: Caroline Shadood from Broadist "Nautical grandma, road tripping summer child"
August 04, 2014 20:12 - 44 minutes - 50.9 MBCaroline Shadood was a pleasure to talk to about her 'practical over flattering' style--and her rejection of the entire concept of 'flattering'. Her blog Broadist has gotten a lot of attention for it's refreshing take on style/politics/'lady troubles' and body positivity. She doesn't buy new clothes, prefers to swap/thrift and never pays full price for anything; refers to growing out her hair to acihieve the Kathleen Hanna trademark -- the 'bitchy high ponytail'; and talked about armpit e...
Dress Code Cracker Episode 11: Lorraine Hewitt (aka Coco LaCreme)
July 10, 2014 02:21 - 57 minutes - 65.8 MBThis weeks guest--Lorraine Hewitt-- has been on the periphery of my 'Toronto personalities' awareness for a long time--from her burlesque performances with Skin Tight Outta Sight Rebel Burlesque troupe, to her role as co-creator of the ground breaking Feminist Porn Awards, to seeing her in my friendly local neighbourhood feminist sex toy shop. Her style is sort of a punk/pin up hybrid. We talked about how your style (and attitude) changes with age, and she said some quotables about 'dress c...
Dress Code Cracker Episode 10: Sheryl Yvette
June 24, 2014 01:55 - 34 minutes - 39.3 MBI first encountered Sheryl Yvette via her blog where she sometimes goes by "Bitch Cakes". She makes a retro glamour look seem effortless, running marathons; cycling New York/Brooklyn/Queens without a hair out of place, and posting body positive bikini shots on her instagram and tumblr. I was surprised to learn her main interest is....photography! Did I mention she's vegan and was featured for her makeup skills in Allure magaziine? She personifies Retro Barbie, hates to shop, and judging from...
Dress Code Cracker Episode 9: Samra Habib
June 14, 2014 03:27 - 40 minutes - 46.5 MBSamra is a Toronto based photographer, fashion editor and writer. She describes her style by referencing aging female rockstars, androgyny, messy hair and lesbian butch fashion. Her newest project is a photography exhibit opening next week at Toronto World Pride called "Just me and Allah: Photographs of Queer Muslims" which will debut at Parliament Street Library, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, and Videofag Gallery. Please visit http://queermuslimproject.tumblr.com/ for more ...
Dress Code Cracker Episode 8: Abby Ehmann
May 29, 2014 01:06 - 51 minutes - 59.1 MBAbby Ehmann, aka EditrixAbby, has been a pornographer and event producer, emcee and editor, copy writer and computer artist. But through it all she's been a devout costumer and theme party enthusiast. These days she crafts crowns and tiaras and recently took a millinery class at FIT. Three months out of the year she works in the Nevada desert for Burning Man and the other nine she blogs about braving the online dating scene as a woman over 50. Her blog: www.editrixabby.wordpress.com Her E...
Dress Code Cracker Episode 7: Gillian G
May 14, 2014 22:34 - 46 minutes - 53.6 MBGillian G is a Toronto illustrator and comic. Her style influences are her 'classy' family, her Mennonite roots, and her love of offbeat colour and costumes. she said she's much more likely to take a fashion risk if she thinks she won't run into anyone she knows....cute! She's also one of the great brains behind Drunk Feminist Films. Her website is at: http://www.gilliang.com Her webcomic at: http://www.jerkfaceahole.com If you texted Gillian during the interview you have yourself t...
Dress Code Cracker Episode 6: Aimee Beausoleil “The Undesirables, Dark Shadows, and the summer of hate"
May 04, 2014 01:12 - 44 minutes - 50.5 MBAimee is a social worker living in Toronto who references “satanic panic” and the end of the summer of love in describing her look. Somehow she translates an unwholesome interest in serial killers and horror movies, plus industrial and apocalyptic folk music, into a fun and often colourful retro kewpie pin-up look. Please check dresscodecracker.com for more pictures and detailed show notes.
Dress Code Cracker Episode 5: Aaron Vilk
March 07, 2014 22:11 - 44 minutes - 50.3 MBAaron is a sound artist and vegan chef living in PA. He's been in the hardcore and punk scenes for about 5 years. We spoke when he was in Toronto for Not Dead Yet. We talked about gendered and cultural expectations around fashion and grooming, the origins of his neat and vibrant mod/skinhead style, plus politics and style within the music scenes he socializes and performs in.
Dress Code Cracker Episode 4: Lisa Stockton Wilson AKA Lisa Hammer
March 04, 2014 23:09 - 39 minutes - 45.3 MBLisa Stockton Wilson (aka Lisa Hammer/Trianna Orpheus) met with me at her home in Queens NY to discuss punk, Pippi Longstocking, the hill people of Indonesia, thrift store pickings and Gothic Lolita. She's a film maker, actor and musician--and obsessive collector of clothes. Her influences are eclectic and her enthusiasm for fashion stems from her appreciation of other art forms: German expressionist film, late 19th century symbolism and on to modern music/TV and film. I loved that she t...
Dress Code Cracker Episode 2: Patricia Clayton
March 04, 2014 03:59 - 42 minutes - 48.9 MBI spoke to Patrice Clayton, a ahir stylist in Toronto about her fashion inspirations. They include small town Ontario, girl gangs, Tammy Faye Bakker and goth culture. These days she's is influenced by her love of history, neo Classiscist and Renaissance art, and geometry and colour blocking. We recorded the episode in my car, at Value Village (where else?) And for more info please see www.dresscodecracker.com Thanks again for listening!
Dress Code Cracker Episode 3: Jenn Leyva
March 04, 2014 03:38 - 1 hour - 74.5 MBJenn Leyva is a queer anti-assimilationist anarcho-feminist....and a fatshion blogger. I first 'met' her via her twitter @fatsmartpretty; and her blog by the same name. Currently working as a kindergarten teacher in South Korea, we spoke via Skype about whiteness, the HRC and Jenn's anti-assimilationist politics, 'make 'em wince' fashion statements and much more. Please check out: www.dresscodecracker.com for more info and pictures! Thanks!~
Dress Code Cracker Episode 1: Chris O'Leary
February 17, 2014 20:14 - 37 minutes - 43.3 MBCHris is living the Grey Gardens dream on Long Island--a sculptor, painter, actor and hair stylist. We talked about his style evolution from goth through drag to his present incarnation as Anton LaVey lookalike. Please check out dresscodecracker.com for more show notes and references images. Thanks for listening!