How did you initially become interested in making fashion content?
I’ve always loved fashion, but got into thinking about it more deeply and writing about it after a bad breakup at the end of college. I weirdly had a ton of creative energy following the breakup and got obsessed with exorcizing my thoughts on fashion and material culture, and they ended up on Instagram.
What guided the decision to start recording Nymphet Alumni with Sam and Alexi, and how did the title come about?
Right before and around the start of the pandemic, I was posting what were essentially mini essays on fashion and culture as Instagram captions and one-minute TikToks. Some people asked if I’d ever make a podcast doing something similar, but in a longer format. I’d been having separate ongoing conversations with Sam and Alexi about fashion and digital culture and felt really inspired by the way they saw the things I was into. I asked if they’d be interested in starting a podcast together and thank God they said yes!
The name of the podcast came about through our shared interest in Tumblr culture of the 2010s, which we explore in our first episode and throughout the show. The idea of the nymphet aesthetic felt tied to both our shared personal histories using the platform and how the internet shapes femininity specifically, which is something we’re always talking about.
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How do you feel about the implementation of the suffix “-core” and the hyperspecifcation of style subgenres?
I don’t think it angers me as much as it does certain people. I get how crazy it can be to hear the most ubiquitous word turned into a core, but it’s really a symptom of how people want to be perceived these days — it’s more about boiling down an ineffable vibe than it is the way we traditionally think about different style markers.
Do you have any daily rituals?
Brushing my hair, thinking about America.
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Your instagram account @markfisherquotes is a great resource. Can you talk about how you chose the name and what keeps you posting?
Thank you so much! I actually was in an emo phase and decided to turn the account I was using for my thoughts on fashion into an account where I just posted quotes from the writer and philosopher Mark Fisher. I never did, but the name stuck around!
I like posting because it can feel like an electric way of getting ideas out there —- no editor, no fussing over commas, just thinking out loud online. It’s also a natural extension of what I’m writing about anyways, which is usually the internet.
@bimbotheory pov ur Vivienne Westwood 😳#y2kfashion #viviennewestwood #fashionhistory #fairycore #pearlnecklace #orbtok #bimbo #bimbotiktok #bimbosocialism ♬ Corcovado – Franco Cerri & antonio onorato
You attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, how do you feel that having an academic background serves the way that you write about and interact with fashion and cultural theory?
I was really lucky to be exposed to the world of fashion academia while I was at FIT, both through the museum there and the fashion academics who teach at the school. I’m not sure I’d be doing what I do if I didn’t see that small but fascinating world at work there. I also studied art history, which I think is still important to what I do — the world has more images than ever, so feeling comfortable exploring them and making sense of them, which is what you learn to do in art history, is valuable.
Current fashion pet peeves?
Probably friend groups who all dress the exact same way — I love a friend group with incompatible aesthetics!
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Nymphet Alumni is coming up on its second birthday. How do you see the podcast growing in the future and do you have a favorite episode?
Our second birthday has just passed and it feels so special! We recently started a Discord and it’s been so cool to see a community really form around a shared interest in material and digital culture (and perfume and dessert recipe recommendations). We joke about Nymphet Alumni being a university, but we really are always learning from each other — so more of that! Also wouldn’t mind going on a glamorous world tour or something.
I don’t have a favorite episode, but I love the ones that feel like we hive-minded (in a good way) on them — when we were all so curious or passionate about a topic that we really just wanted to talk about it with each other, surface and investigate these artifacts of digital culture, and get it out there, like The Snapocalypse and the Rookie Mag episodes.
How do you like living in London?
It’s great. I always feel like I’m in Jack the Ripper world. It’s just so old. I love sticky toffee pudding and fish and chips, but could do without some of the rest.
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Any upcoming projects that you can share?
An essay of mine is in a book about the fashion of a TV show I love so I’m really excited about that. Coming soon!
Interview conducted and edited by Sam Dybeck.