Knit to This
Knit to This: Articles of Interest
Podcaster Avery Trufelman can’t resist a clothes-related rabbit hole — and if you’re a knitter/crocheter/sewer/otherwisegarmentfocused maker, it’s likely you can’t either.
Articles of Interest* spun out of 99% Invisible, an equally nerdy podcast about design in general. Faced with questions about who decides why everything is suddenly mint green, Trufelman made one episode that unpacked the idea of fashion forecasting.
From that seed, she spun off a seven episode series about American Ivy, a style that started in Princeton, traveled to 1960s Japan and can still be seen walking runways in 2023 America. Trufelman soon moved on from polo shirts and rumpled chinos and started untangling why we wear what we wear, who decides when we’ll wear it, and how technology intersects with all of the above.
The podcast itself is perfect for slightly more complicated knitting moments because your eyeballs don’t need to be fixed on a screen.
Rest assured, however, it’s very much an immersive experience for your ears. Trufelman’s writing is almost cinematic. She comes as close as you can to showing you a garment without actually being able to hand it to you. Plus, she weaves in all of the sounds of making a textile.
Likely not made from whatever you think it’s made from.
(Image: artist Jenni Dutton)
While any episode is a great place to start—I suggest Chromophobia, Paisley, or Inside the Factory—the 38 minutes of Wearing Hair is an audio excursion most fiber folk will get a kick out of and/or learn a couple of hair facts to drop at a knit night.
*The show currently is on a little break while Trufelman edits the next season and we all need to give her space to do good work (but use this as an opportunity to catch up, if you need to).
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I’m not much of a podcast person, but those sound fascinating! I’ll check them out, thanks.
I was thinking exactly the same thing!
Sounds really interesting, I love a good podcast, I’ll check it out, thank you!
Marking this podcast as a keeper. As a former clothing store buyer – a loooooonggg time ago this will be interesting.
I’ve been listening since Articles of Interest started and every episode is amazing! I’m a big fan of the one about bluejeans too.
I thoroughly enjoy this podcast. The one on plus sizes was excellent. I can’t remember if that was the one that discussed the history of standardizing sizing and how (surprise, surprise) only white women’s measurements were used. Now you have me going back to listen again!
Not having listened to this yet, so I am not sure this is relevant but I remember Many years ago an article in a newspaper/magazine about the history of hemlines and why they change according to societal and fiscal factors (wars, recessions, etc.). Don’t know if that is even relevant in these global times, but looking forward to this piece. People who poo poo an interest in fashion and clothing as frivolous are missing the point.
This is one of my favorite podcasts. Love it!
Articles of Interest is GOLD. Really so well done and fascinating.