“Fabulous weirdos”: Christian Wilkins and Andy Kelly on Radical Fashionism
Radically homosexual, radically feminist, radically tattooed: That description should make a few people take notice and that is how new PodcastOne contributors Christian Wilkins and Andy Kelly describe their Radical Fashionism podcast.
Wilkins is no stranger to the media and is the son on Nine music guru Richard Wilkins. He was one of the cast on the SBS series Filthy Rich And Homeless recently.
Wilkins and Kelly met each other as all good millennials do, according to Kelly: “Over an app on their phone – Instagram,” he explained to Mediaweek. “That is how our generation has chosen to have meaningful interaction. It was a great way to start a wonderful friendship.”
Wilkins chimed in: “Instagram is a lot more than just pictures these days.” He added the two first met 19 months ago and Kelly said the podcast was the culmination of two ideas.
Kelly: “A friend had been suggesting to me I do a podcast and I was like, ‘blah’.
“Christian and I then became such good friends and we had such good chemistry I started thinking we should make a podcast. It was around the time of the same-sex marriage plebiscite and we were getting many young LGBT kids reaching out to us. They found us on social media and they were reaching out as they were having such a tough time.
“We wanted a way of reaching people without having to talk to every single one of them. We wanted to literally share our friendship circle, which is so supportive and empowering to us.”
Wilkins said the podcast focuses on fashion. “We call it a social issues podcast in the conversation of fashion. Fashion is very important for us and when you talk to people that are really into fashion it is about so much more tha
n aesthetics. It is important to people’s lives and it reflects society.”
Kelly: “We found fashion as a way that could relate to other social issues and it is something everybody has a grasp of. It is a very inclusive topic and it means no one would ever be left behind.”
The friends explained fashion helped them focus their ideas after they had tried various approaches to podcasting. Kelly: “Everybody at some point in their day gives a shit about fashion.”
Mainstream media covers fashion but, according to Kelly, that coverage is largely negative. “We set out to make something that is only positive. We are not telling you what is right, what is wrong or what is cool or not cool.”
Wilkins: “We agreed when doing the podcast the only people we would talk about negatively are each other.” [Laughs]
Wilkins said the podcast has been live for a week and there will be a new episode every week until Christmas.
The reception so far has been good, said Wilkins. “We have had really fantastic feedback from people who matter to us.
“I describe us as fabulous weirdos because that is who we are and who we want to connect with.”
Kelly: “The initial reaction has been so much better than I thought it was going to be. The day it was released I was worried it was such a mistake and it was just garbage, but there has been so much positivity around it. People are enjoying it and it has been heartwarming to learn Christian and I aren’t the only two idiots out there talking about this. There are lots of idiots!”
In the first season Wilkins and Kelly speak with Isabella Manfredi of The Preatures on the relationship between fashion and feminism, Boy George on coming out of the closet, Kit Willow on sustainable style, former editor of Harper’s Bazaar Kellie Hush on the plight of the magazine industry, plus other fashion industry icons.
Listen to Radical Fashionism here.
New series offers insights into allergies and food intolerance
• Leading Australian professors Katie Allen and Mimi Tang release new Allergies podcast series
In a new PodcastOne original series, Allergies, professors Mimi Tang and Katie Allen from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute provide insights into allergies and food intolerance.
The nine-part release explores why allergies and food intolerance occur, the physical response in the body, diagnosis, management and prevention.
Allergy affects approximately 10% of all babies born in Australia, with hospital admissions for food allergy-related illness doubling in the last decade.
“Allergies are incredibly common but, for parents and sufferers, they can be quite confronting,” said Tang.
In their roles at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Tang and Allen meet with thousands of concerned parents each year, seeking advice and intervention for distressing and often debilitating allergies and food intolerance in children.
“People struggle with the perplexing and often inaccurate information that’s out there, so we have created Allergies with PodcastOne to separate fact from fiction to hopefully alleviate some stress and create a healthier community overall,” said Allen.
The nine-part series looks at:
• What an allergy is
• Anaphylaxis and its diagnosis
• Managing allergies and food intolerance in the community
• Prevention and travelling with allergies
• Emerging research and potential cures
• Gut allergies and delayed reactions
• Intolerances and gut health
• Are food allergies on the rise?
• Asthma, eczema and hay fever
Podcasts channel the pre-Trump era of US political scandals
I thought I had no room left for another Donald Trump-focused podcast. My slate was already full with Pod Save America, Trump Inc and Can He Do That, reported Fairfax Media’s Peter Wells.
But I’ve managed to find the time for one more, KCRW’s All the President’s Lawyers.
Headley Thomas wins GQ Award for The Teacher’s Pet
“I’d always held this long… sense of injustice about the case,” says Hedley Thomas, the investigative reporter behind The Australian’s successful The Teacher’s Pet podcast. “It’s always grated on me that it wasn’t dealt with properly in the beginning.”
Thomas was speaking this week after accepting the GQ Award for Outstanding Achievement in Journalism.
Thomas added, “I didn’t know where to start. This time last year I saw Lyn Dawson’s family and told them I wanted to re-investigate what I believed was a clear case of murder, and it had fallen through the cracks and been a terrible travesty of justice. They didn’t know what a podcast was and I didn’t know how to create one. I need to thank The Australian, News Corp, and thank you to everyone in Australia who listened.”
The series has now had over 26m listens!
Wil Anderson’s Wilosophy is back
Prolific podcaster Wil Anderson is back with new episodes of Wilosophy with an ambitious plan of new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. The show has also undergone a makeover with new cover art. One episode was themed Mental Health with appearances from guests Felicity Ward, Osher Günsberg and John Safran. Another is themed Comedy with Glenn Robbins, Judith Lucy and Meshel Laurie.
