Little Red Village

Jonathan Joseph and Rachel Elspeth Gross interview Jenny Leigh Du Puis a PhD Candidate in Apparel Design at Cornell University, where she is combining her extensive professional career as a circus and theatrical costume designer and technician with her formal training in functional apparel design.Jenny Leigh Du Puis literally ran away to join the circus. She was a theater kid in high school, studied costume design in college, and then followed her heart, and several big names circuses around the country, gathering skills, and building the sort of professional reputation that normally takes a person decades to establish.Jenny convinced Cornell University, one of the most academically rigorous apparel and costume design programs in the United States to let her adjust their curriculum. Jenny is currently working towards earning her doctorate in circus costuming, so she can find ways to ensure that the safety features required by one industry are able to be utilized in ways that make other potentially dangerous careers more safe.

Jonathan Joseph and Rachel Elspeth Gross interview Dr. Vanessa Paugh, a brilliant woman who is using simple, easy to follow instructions to teach anyone how easy it can be to design their own digital fashion. That might sound impossible, but it's true. Even the simplest of applications or programs don't show you how the work is done or teach you how to actually make stuff. Dr. Paugh wasn't satisfied with that. She wants kids and people generally to understand how simple it is to learn to make games and in the process of doing so gain valuable skills that allow anyone to be a more active participant in our ever expanding digital world. Because there were no books to buy. There were no accessible materials, Dr. Paugh began to make them and the first one is free, you could be well on your way to creating your own 3d Dress Up game, by the time this interview is over. Dr. Paugh is an engineer who wants you to know how capable you are. She wants you to know that the things you will imagine can be made real. She wants to show you the tools that you need to design your own digital world and she wants you to know that there are excellent free programs that you absolutely can learn to use. The work that Dr. Paugh is doing, what she is offering us is so much more than generous. It's like the keys to a whole kingdom, but a kingdom of your own design and she wants to help you learn to make it to your own exact specifications.

Jonathan Joseph and Rachel Elspeth Gross interview Michael Wilson also known as Knightmage an award winning cosplayer.Knightmage, who is Deputy Sheriff Michael Wilson during the workweek, is an internationally known award winning cosplayer. In addition to having built more than 120 costumes, based off of characters from comic books, video games, TV, movies, he's also been the recipient of the presidential Volunteer Service Award for his philanthropic work.If you're obsessed with a character from a very specific niche universe, it's very likely that Michael as Knightmage has recreated it. Knightmage has got some of his equally talented friends to make their own cosplay costumes. Michael and his friends have worked with special effects experts and photographers to capture the true essence of their costumes.You have to look him up. If you've not seen his work, we really don't know how to describe it. @knighmage100 on instagram.Michael has some really helpful tips and tricks, both for people who want to try cosplay. And for those who are already very experienced. He believes it should be fun, centered on community, and not a hobby that breaks the bank.

Today Jonathan and Rachel interview Iryna Kokhana founder of Chereshnivska.Chereshnivska is a unisex sustainable fashion brand that has committed to making sure that at least 50% of its production uses recycled materials. Chereshnivska features hand drawn prints by the brand's creative director Anastasiya Rozava. Earlier this year Chereshnivska showed in Helsinki and then at Paris Fashion Week for the very first time there spring summer 2023 collection. Art is very important to Chereshnivska as is offering a range of designs with sizing that does not differentiate between men and women. Iryna takes a responsibility as a leader very seriously. Long before her company was operating during war time, her love of fashion and style was nurtured by her parents. After the detestable second Russian invasion began back in February, things felt more bleak to them than they do right now. Today, Iryna tells us they're used to working during war, well, at least as much as people can be. She's looking forward planning for what will come next, hiring new employees, looking for places where good work will make a difference.

Today's conversation is between myself and Ukrainian fashion designer Olena Dats. Olena's mother created a collection of traditional Ukrainian clothing, some of it more than 100 years old, as clothing does, especially pieces that were made before synthetic fibers were available. Eventually, some of it began to fall apart. Olena who could not be stopped by any force that I know have told me that when this happened, she did what she always does when facing a potential disaster. She said, first I cry. And then I think, what can I do? This led to some innovative, completely original apparel design in the augmented reality space with face me studio. Now, please know, this was long before anyone else was experimenting with apparel in AR. But I'll let her tell you that story. Dat's has built her world renowned brand, by blending her deep love for Ukrainian tradition with all different kinds of state of the art technology. Through this process, each of her collections becomes a kind of conversation, a reflection on what clothing and beauty mean in modern life. Her work has shown around the world and cities known for the highest of high end fashion, places like Paris, Japan, Dubai and more, so many more. 

Jonathan Joseph and Rachel Elspeth Gross interview Benson Roberts to discuss fashion academia, learning to sew, and how to communicate with employees and politicians.Benson Roberts is a fashion designer and entrepreneur who has been working in the apparel industry for almost 40 years. His work is celebrated, awarded, and has been seen on the covers of magazines, on fancy red carpets, and on musicians who are household names. He founded a fabric company, does beautiful custom design work, and teaches apparel design.Benson also co-hosts the podcast Advanced Fashion Disruption with Megan Summerville, a past guest here, and one of Little Red’s favorite humans. Together, they are working to make fashion better. Benson has a lot of lessons to teach, some truly valuable stories to share that we all can learn from.

Jonathan Joseph and Rachel Elspeth Gross interview Henry Wilkinson to discuss the process of restoring a 1960's Givenchy dress that was worn by Lee Radziwill and Jackie O. Henry is a fashion historian who specializes in Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn. He's got this habit of finding, acquiring and then bringing back to life pieces from the house but of stories which might rival the women who wore them. Henry distinctly remembers as a child, being gifted physical copies of the classic films My Fair Lady and Breakfast at Tiffany's. For Henry, his early love of fashion is permanently entwined with Hepburn and Givenchy, although he will admit to a certain amount of Cecil Beaton 's influence. Two weeks into lockdown in the United Kingdom, Henry found to borrow his words, a tangible link to the Past, not many of us could see a listing for an early 1960s, Givenchy bodice plus maybe five inches of skirt and see something special but Henry did. Now he's completed the process of restoring what has turned out to be a significant one of a kind piece from more than 60 years ago. If that's not enough to impress you. After a ton of research, it turns out that the dress had originally been owned and worn by Lee Radziwill & Jackie O.

Sarah Scaturro is a conservator, curator, and historian. She formerly worked at the Met's Costume Institute and then left that position to become the Eric and Jane Nord chief conservator at the Cleveland Museum of Art at the Met. Like many of the people we have spoken with Sara's career path was not a straight line. She had a fantastic teacher early on whose support led to her study in chemistry in college. And as you'll hear her say in this interview, the places where stem and fashion overlap are incredibly important to her as a conservator.You probably saw Sarah Scaturro's name all over the news coverage, which followed this year's Met Gala. The show was titled America an Anthology of Fashion, a certain person whose name we're not going to mention here (Kim Kardashian), wore a famous dress designed by the Oscar winning costume designer Jean Louis, and had been warned by Marilyn Monroe. From the New York Times to Women's Wear Daily, Sarah explained why this mattered why it was dangerous to fashion museums and to private collections. It's a long story and not one that we're going to get into here today. Today we will be discussing Sarahs career as a whole and the importance of STEM in fashion.

On this episode, Rachel and Jonathan interview Sarah, who you might know as Lunar Rose Costuming. She is a professional, award winning designer and maker who has traveled around the globe while dressed in some very impressive costumes. She’s part of a community of people who use their sewing skills and creative minds to make the kinds of costumes that people might not imagine were possible to imagine. This episode is perfect for the little princess or prince in your life and is chock full of inspiring stories about getting through a long-term project and what it's like to live a costumed fantasy at places like the Palace of Versailles at the annual Fêtes Galantes!