Why self work is integral to advocating for transformation in fashion & why we must deeply question our personal values to truly get active in creating change
In episode 313, you’ll hear from co-hosts (yes, co-hosts!) Kestrel Jenkins and Natalie Shehata in the launch of Season 7. This is also the first episode in which Kestrel and Nat showcase their new co-host dynamic. With this powerful community-driven change, they’ve teamed up to reimagine some aspects of the show. Here’s what you can expect this season:
Roundtable Discussions — featuring at least 2 guests per episode
Focus On Making The Conversation More Circular — bringing more folks to the table to learn from various voices at the same time
Monthly Themes — we’ll hone in on a specific topic each month
Bi-Weekly Episodes — expect to hear 2 episodes per month, instead of the previous 4 because, slow media :)
“I don't know, I'm gonna go on a tangent now.” -Nat
“That's what we're best at. That’s where a lot of times the best things happen.” -Kestrel
JANUARY THEME —
Fast Fashion, Consumption & Why Self Work Is Integral To Changemaking
Do you remember episode 303 when we talked about slow media and telling stories through love, not labor? In our kickoff to the new season, we decided to go deeper into this love-not-labor concept – to explore what it really means and how this approach directly relates to sustainable fashion.
Pulling back a little further – our focus of this show is Self Work. But what does this really mean? In general, it gets aligned with the idea of self improvement. Across the fashion media landscape and socials lately, we’ve seen a heightened interest in looking inward to question what you really want out of your life. Why? Well, it’s the time for annual resolutions, as we just celebrated the launch of a new year.
And with that – in sustainable fashion lately, there’s been a lot of commentary about how things need to be reimagined across the industry, with folks voicing different approaches to achieve larger scalable transformation. At the same time, it feels like the movement needs to have a more organic approach and not be so defined or limited – because as it stands, sustainability is so different to each of us, and in order to cultivate a space that is truly diverse, we all need to be at the table to provide our unique approaches.
But whether or not we’re at the table, in order to take any sort of action, we need to go back to the beginning and tune into ourselves. When was the last time you questioned your values? What do you truly care about? Until we are clear on these aspects within ourselves, how can we live out these values and put them into practice?
Therein lies the crux of what we break down in this week's show.
Quotes & links from the conversation:
“I want to make it super clear that, by speaking about the self, I am not perpetuating this idea of an individualistic mindset. We take care of the self for our own wellbeing, so that we are more whole, grounded individuals, which amounts to a collective world that is more connected - not separated.” -Nat (19:53)
“Everything starts with the self - any kind of *work* or *movement* or *action we take* is never separated from ourselves. I think by design, the world we live in, especially here in the Global North, has told us or manipulated us rather to separate ourselves from what we do - and this is the space in which inequity can breed or manifest. Where it's commonplace and encouraged to leave our values at the door when we go to work because its quote unquote *for business*. But what happens when we do this? There are greater margins for vulnerability, exploitation, oppression and injustice - and, I am really rethinking the ways in which I speak and communicate about *sustainability in fashion* and even the use of that word *sustainability* in general because I don’t think it encapsulates really the breadth of what needs to happen for there to be real change in this space.” -Nat (14:20)
“If we don't change ourselves, we can't change the world. We need to go inside, to go outside.” -Nat (20:40)
“I think it’s important to acknowledge that we’re not looking to be some sort of perfect human - we are flawed and nuanced and multi-dimensional collectively, but when I think about how to really inspire change and for that change to really build momentum and inspire others, it has to come from a place of genuine care. And that genuine care really only happens when it is an extension of who we are. So, as we’ve said before, it needs to be rooted in our values - our own moral compass.” -Nat (23:00)
“We are in a time where many of us are totally detached from any sense of personal style. Instead of cultivating and developing a sense of our own style, we are regularly seeing a full outfit on someone, and just replicating it. I mean, I love getting inspired by peoples’ outfits and sometimes interpreting aspects of it into of an outfit in my own way. But I think this direct add to cart mentality when you find an outfit you love on social media, is so concerning. Like, who are we? We just want to look like everyone else? What is fun about that? That leads me to think about us as a society — we’re going through this massive identity crisis. We often don’t know who we are — which I think that disconnect with self leads to not knowing what we want to wear. Which leads to buying more and more stuff to try to fill that void. Which also feeds into this fear of being different. But why are we afraid to do our own thing?? I love what you said when we were prepping for this show – you said, ‘If we embraced being different more, fast fashion wouldn’t be as popular!’” -Kestrel (34:38)
ALOK, Kestrel mentions their work on book reports about the diversity of sexuality in nature
Episode 310 with Cassandra Pintro of Consumption Project, mentioned in the show
