Bella Freud on ‘frock consciousness’ and her new podcast

British designer Bella Freud explores what we wear and why we wear it in her intimate new podcast Fashion Neurosis. She talks about style, “mental health” and her famous family.

Being unexpectedly naked in public while we are sleeping is a typical bad dream. The opposite is true when you’re awake, and wearing bad clothes can make you feel like a living nightmare. “Wearing the wrong clothes can make you feel like something is wrong. you,” says British fashion designer Bella Freud from her west London studio. And how can I fix it? i will do it. I’m hooked. ”

Freud aims to shed light on the relationship between fashion and mental health in a new video podcast. fashion neurosislaunches this month with guests including Kate Moss and Courteney Cox. Freud calls this a “fashion chat show.” As her famous friends stretch on the couch, therapy-style, we dissect their behavior patterns, deep-seated fears, favorite jeans, and more. “I’m really interested in understanding how our mental health is reflected in our clothes,” she says. “A dress is more than just a dress.”

If Bella Freud’s quip about dresses sounds like this: Sigmund FreudThere is a good reason for the famous slip survey. The designer is the great-granddaughter of the inventor of psychoanalysis. She is also the daughter of an artist. Lucian Freudsister of novelist Esther Freud and cousin of broadcaster Emma Freud.

“I have to admit all that,” Freud says with the easy-going candor of a doctor who tells you he has a cold and needs more vitamins. “Then I have to stop talking about it. Once you start talking about a relative who did a very good job, there’s a very short window of time, seconds, really, until there’s nothing else to say.”

“‘Fashion Neurosis’ is a very tongue-in-cheek depiction of what my great-grandfather did in psychoanalysis,” she says. But she added that it’s meant to be a gentle outlet for therapy and a way to introduce a kind and sensitive discussion about mental health into the fashion community. Judgments and TikTok declarations about “narcissists” and “empaths” are not allowed. (“I don’t like that. It’s very two-dimensional.”)

Freud instead wants to address something like this: virginia woolf This is called “dress consciousness,” and what fashion psychologist Shakira Forbes Bell now calls “big dress energy,” the idea that items of clothing reveal parts of our inner selves. The idea is that it can be used to treat or even heal. “Wearing clothes that make you feel powerful helps your mind become more agile and your body more relaxed,” says Freud. “That’s a very important thing to note.”

Freud’s own style revelation began with a boy’s button-down shirt she bought at a junk sale when she was 10 years old. The sleeves were too big so I cut them off with kitchen scissors. “As a child, I sometimes felt quite helpless,” Freud explains. (Her free-spirited and sometimes wayward childhood, part of which was spent in Morocco, was heavily referenced in the 2004 Kate Winslet film Hideous Kinky, based on a novel by her sister Esther.) ) “But I put on this boy’s shirt, and I looked at myself in the mirror and suddenly I felt agile and strong. That was a really great moment for me.”

After returning to London, the teenage Freud cut off his waist-length hair and sneaked out to dive bars. “I saw Vivienne Westwood there and was blown away,” she says with a laugh. “I was very, very scared, but I approached her and said, ‘Is there any chance I could come and work for you? Just Saturday work?'” Westwood’s answer? “Oh, I like your hair.” Freud ended up taking a weekend job at Seditionaries, the designer’s now famous shop on Chelsea’s King’s Road. She also got a crash course in how the designer’s famous black bondage pants, wool plaid kilts and spiked leather collars can make her look older and scarier . “For the first time, people saw me as a real authority,” she recalls. “I thought, ‘Oh, I get it. Fashion has power.’ I can have power. ”

In his twenties, Freud was promoted to studio assistant at Westwood. She launched her own collection in 1990. By 1994, Women’s Wear Daily named her one of London Fashion Week’s hottest talents. The reason for this was the plaid miniskirt suit that reflected Westwood’s signature. anglomania It’s atmospheric, but with a small hemline and bright colors. In 2006, Freud took the helm of the popular rock and roller label Viva before returning to her own brand full time. Her first viral hit was a series of sweaters with the date 1970 on the front (according to her, “the decade that made me so sensitive to the world”), which featured the likes of Olivia Wilde, Yara Shahidi and many more. Worn by celebrities.

The designer says that while her “stay curious” philosophy was developed by Westwood, her work ethic was inherited from her father. “I didn’t grow up with him. But when I watched him, he was always completely focused on his job. And if you want to get somewhere, there’s only one I realized that I needed to concentrate.”

Fashion neurosis is not Freud’s only focus. She still leads a brand that makes truly beautiful clothes, and homewares like tableware and vases that still bear her handwriting, as well as past graphics, including the lithograph-based bestseller “Ginsburg is God.” We have diversified our offerings, including art prints of our designs. in her famous Alexa Chung-approved graphic top. Freud is also adding more affordable graphic T-shirts and socks to its collection of high-end clothing, which could potentially attract entry-level customers.

Still, early numbers suggest the podcast could become a big hit. The show has only been around for a week and is premiering with rebel designer Rick Owens, but it’s already Apple’s number one fashion and beauty podcast in the UK. It sits at No. 8 on Spotify’s more crowded arts and culture chart. It ranks in the top 25 in both categories in the US. However, voice competition is intensifying in the style field. Podcasts include Articles of Interest, an academic look at popular fashion trends by Avery Truefelman, and Fashion People, a fun and chatty industry overview by Pac’s Lauren Sherman. Freud is unperturbed. In fact, more voices means more community. “In fashion, we have everything to gain by listening to each other.”

Veteran designer Freud admits that he sometimes “listens through clothes” rather than words, especially when commuting on crowded London trains. “I actually take the subway every day,” she says. “I always try to listen to my eyes. What are people wearing? What do they want to say to each other? Sometimes I wear things I’ve designed, especially sweaters with embroidery. You meet people. Say something to them.”

“I mean, I nod. They nod, too. Do they know it’s me? Do we even need to talk? No, the clothes do the talking. Clothes are inside and out ”