From Christmas cheer and periods, to fashion psychology and pop culture, this week’s podcasts has something for everyone.1. Womenstrual The Podcast
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Health
Do you think we have enough conversations about the ebbs and flows – both literally and metaphorically – of life and a safe space to discuss periods? Well, that’s why women’s health organisation The Gynae Project, which has helped to improve routine access to menstrual care and education, started Womenstrual The Podcast.
Whether you have a period or not, founder and host Candace Oxley wants the podcast to be an educational tool for people to learn, laugh and share their life experiences.
It’s why, this week, she’s joined by inclusion strategist Grace Mosuro – also the founder of Aquaintz Consulting – who talks about moving to the UK from Nigeria as a five-year-old, experiencing racial abuse at school, turning 40, and choosing how we respond and react to life.
But Mosuro is also the mother of a pre-teen and talks about what she loves the most about motherhood, her period journey and her battle with cancer.
Womenstrual The Podcast is a compelling listen that will challenge listeners to think about periods differently – even if you don’t get them.
(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
2. Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Fashion and wellbeing
About a month ago, I was doom-scrolling on Instagram until I came across a short video of British author Zadie Smith talking into a podcast mic about when she lost her entire wardrobe in a fire. I was immediately captivated and on that day, became Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud’s newest listener.
London-based fashion designer Bella Freud has been thinking about the stories in fashion for years now. But wondered why, despite it playing a huge role in people’s lives, it was still being portrayed in such a narrow way.
That’s why her new video podcast – launched in September – Fashion Neurosis was birthed. It’s where her guest lies on the sofa and she sits in a chair like an analyst and asks questions ostensibly through the prism of clothes and style.
In this week’s episode, the creative director and founder of J.W. Anderson Jonathan Anderson is on the couch. Before the pair get into the heart of their conversation, Anderson shares what he’s wearing – what he calls his uniform to help save time in the morning – and why he chose those clothes.
He then speaks about his relationship with clothing – which to an extent highlights what Anderson wants to reveal or hide about himself – the pros and cons of clothing being gendered, what he was like as a child growing up during The Troubles in Northern Ireland – he was sensitive – and so much more.
Clothes are how Freud found her way to begin a conversation, and I’m glad she’s still doing it.
(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
3. Elfcast Stories with Father Christmas
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Family and Christmas
Are you still looking for a great way to keep your children entertained over the Christmas break? Or a festive family listen? Then LaplandUK’s very own Elfcast Stories with Father Christmas may be just what you may need.
Fuelled by LaplandUK’s treasured belief in Father Christmas and the run-up to Christmas, since December 1, whimsical tales of busy elves, adventures and the joyous preparation for the merriest season of all, have been told by Santa Claus live from LaplandUK every day.
LaplandUK, which hosts one of the UK’s most magical experiences, was founded by husband and wife Mike and Alison Battle after dreaming of revelling in the joy of their children’s innocent belief in Father Christmas. It’s what marked the beginning of a 17-year journey to reimagine Father Christmas’ arctic homeland here in the UK.
So far, all the episodes range from 10-15 minutes and can be about anything from updates on all of the activities from the toy factory to Mother Christmas’ kitchen, as the Lapland Elves work to make the final preparations for Christmas Eve.
In the latest episode, it’s the annual baking competition, a day that’s sure to fill the village with the scent of sweet treats and the sound of fun and laughter. The countdown to Christmas has truly begun!
(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
4. The Polyester Podcast
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Culture and society
Do you have faith in your own bad taste? Well, editor-in-chief Ione Gamble and senior editor Gina Tonic of Polyester Zine – the Sofia Coppola Special Edition is out now – and hosts of The Polyester Podcast want you to.
In the latest and last episode for the year, the pair continue their journey of picking apart the internet’s obsessions – including girlhood – through a pop culture-informed feminist lens. And this week it’s all about trinkets, charms, customisation, blind box culture and Filipino anik-anik culture.
For those, like me, who have never heard of anik-anik culture, it is a term that has become popular on social media, with the emergence of communities showing their collections of items they adore, which is something the hosts could also relate to when reflecting on their working-class upbringing.
It was great to hear Gamble and Tonic – who agree to disagree – discuss how capitalism and class have in many ways hijacked the trend.
Previous episodes have featured guests including Euphoria’s Chloe Cherry and Priscilla’s costume designer Stacey Battat, live from the Tate and the Barbican.
If you are a pop culture lover, The Polyester Podcast is where cultural commentary will make you both laugh and think about why you think the way you do.
(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
Spotlight on…
5. No Place Like Home
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Art and history
Arts for Everybody launched No Place Like Home narrated by award-winning spoken word, performer, writer and librettist, Marc Bamuthi Joseph.
No Place Like Home is the story of one of the largest public art campaigns in American History: Arts For Everybody. On July 27, 2024, 18 communities across the country staged simultaneous performances hoping to answer one big question: can art help heal our divided nation?
This documentary podcast goes inside these communities, speaking with artists, leaders, and public health experts to learn how they are using art to transform society, with surprising results.
In episode three, the focus is on Edinburg, Texas and its stories. Stories have the power to shape our communities and culture. They tell the world who we are and how to see us. But what do you do when the story you’re most known for isn’t true?
Edinburg is a city with about 100,000 people and is only 30 miles north of the Mexican border, so there is a lot of intercultural exchange. But lately, it has given them a PR problem. It’s why a lot of leaders saw the Arts for Everybody as an opportunity to tell a different and more truthful story about Edinburg.
No Place Like Home is a great example of how people can drive change through the power of art, identity and community. And how the arts can help their local government work better.
(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
