The Polyester Podcast

As the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard civil trial comes to an end, Ione and Halima are discussing the case. From why the internet is so anti-Amber, what the discourse surrounding it says about how we treat white men, and whether #MeToo is well and truly finished. Order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here! Want to support the podcast? If you're a brand or organisation that could help us continue...

This week Ione is in the hot seat, as she sits down for an interview with our one and only Halima to dish all the deets about her debut non-fiction book, Poor Little Sick Girls! Exploring how Wellness is oppressive, self-love is a trap, hustling is a health risk and it's all the patriarchy's fault, Halima and Ione delve into the process of writing the book that has been dubbed 'the anti girlboss b...

We're told being confident is the answer to all of life's problems. That to be a good feminist, or friend, or to excel at your job and learn to love yourself, you must be confident. But when did empowerment become dependent on our ability to be believe in ourselves? And is the cult of confidence merely a distraction that keeps us from tackling real systemic oppression? This week Ione and Halima ar...

For the last five years, we've all collectively been lamenting the downfall of instagram. First, they took our chronological feed. Then, they pivoted to Reels. But as we all become increasingly exhausted with the platform, why can't we let go? And with the reaction to Elon Musk buying Twitter being so intense, do social media platforms owe anything to their users? This week we're discussing how In...

Lived experience is a debate that comes up time and time again in our cultural landscape - should only gay people play gay roles on-screen? Should white people be able to tell people of colours stories? And should non-disabled people be allowed to portray those with disability? This week Ione and Halima are discussing this article, and all of the discourse surrounding our lived experiences. We're...

Why does every famous person have even more famous parents? This week we're delving into why nepo babies still have such a stronghold on our culture. Is talent genetic or are we just overly obsessed with celebrity culture? And by keeping it in the family, who is excluded from doing well in these industries? Pre-order Ione's book, Poor Little Sick Girls, here! Want to support the podcast? If you're...

Independence is sold to us as a necessity, as YouTubers and TikTok stars emphasise the need for being an individualist and having your own space. But can promoting isolation ever be dangerous? Are we allowed to say we feel lonely when alone? Hosts Ione Gamble and Halima Jibril explore loneliness as a self preservation tool in order to avoid vulnerability, the online aspiration to thrive on your ow...

Forget middle aged, white cis male comedians telling us they've been cancelled. While they all hopefully disappear into irrelevance, how we approach humour as a generation is coincidentally changing. From our obsession with policing each other in comments sections, and unexplainable TikTok's making us laugh until we cry, to stand up comedians getting all their material from twitter and influencers...

Being a hater is the one thing none of us are happy to admit to. But with a wave of new TikTok trends normalising our tendencies to be nasty little cows, Ione and Halima are asking the question, is being a hater such a bad thing? We're breaking down everything from why hate can actually be a productive force, and why we shouldn't be ashamed to be haters, to discussing why we all feel we have to pr...

This week we're joined by Polyester socials editor and regular podcast guest Eden Young to dissect the mood of the moment, Goblin mode. Call it going feral, call it whatever you want, but we're all obsessed with exposing the very worst part of ourselves online. Ione and Eden dissect statements from Goblin Mode viral article author Kari Paul, and illustrator Esme Blegvad, to get to the bottom of wh...

2019 may have been the year of the scam, but its in 2022 in which we're seeing all of these infamous stories played out on our tv screens. From Anna Delvey's plight to open a members club and Elizabeth Holmes becoming the first female billionaire, to the rise and demise of WeWork being depicted by Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto - we can't get enough of a good con story. But what does our infatuation...

For our first Obsessions episode of the year, we're joined by fashion historian extraordinaire Mina Le! Mina creates immersive fashion, costume and film history content and analyses them through the video format. As the girls on twitter say... Mina Le just gets it!  Mina is talking to us about her love of old Hollywood movies. From Casablanca (1942), Bringing Up Baby (1938) and Paddingto...

The it girl is a tradition as old as time itself; impossible cool and beautiful in equal measures, they set not only the tone for culture and beauty standards, put fill our brains with aspirations of how we should be living our lives. But why, in 2022, are we still obsessed with it girls? With the archetypal it girl being white, cisgender, skinny and obscenely rich, surely it's time we stop puttin...

In this special bonus instalment of the podcast, we're joined by the one and only Chloe Cherry, aka Faye from Euphoria! Chloe sits down with Ione and Gina to discuss her role on the most talked about tv show of the year, improvising her character's most iconic lines, and how she dealt with becoming a fan favourite. We're also discussing how fashion influences Chloe's work on and off screen, how sh...

It's been practically impossible to move for the last two weeks without being told about 'the vibe shift'. We've all heard its coming, but what does it even mean? This week on The Sleepover Club Ione and Halima are discussing the viral essay by Allison P. Davis titled ‘ A Vibe Shift Is Coming. Will any of us survive it?’ for The Cut. The changing course of culture is inevitable, but with so much o...

The internet has decided: the bimbo is back. But what does a return to bimboism mean for feminism? Is it just a regression into outdated stereotypes, or a reclamation of a set of aesthetic codes that have previously harmed us? And most importantly, is it really radical to be a bimbo? Halima and Ione are dissecting it all; from the problematic Pam and Tommy miniseries, to leftist women embracing be...

From Kimye's divorce, to the new Hulu show, North's TikTok and Kourtney's emo phase, whether you love to hate them or can't help but being obsessed with them, not a week goes by where we don't hear from the Kardashian family. This week on the podcast we're joined by MJ Corey, founder of Kardashian Kolloquium , to break down why they continue to dominate celebrity culture, how she avoids unhealthy...

Today, we are seeing more and more discourse about the rise of the trad (traditional) wife, with the gorls on Tiktok and Instagram romanticising having a family, being a wife, sundresses and staying at home. Very Lana del Rey 2012 vibes. In 1963, Betty Friedan wrote about the “problem with no name.” Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique detailed the widespread unhappiness of the idealised happy-sub...

It's part two of the 'toxic' women deep dive! This week we're discussing the backlash against the 'evil' women genre and how the TikTok girlies are catapulting our obsession with these characters into a new era. From being in your 'fleabag era' and basing your whole life on the protagonist of My Year Of Rest And Relaxation, to femcels and the emerging trend of 'dissociative feminism'. We're explor...

'Evil' women are everywhere, from on our screens, to between the pages of the books we read, and across our feeds in the form of memes. The discourse as to whether these characters are idol worthy, or in fact just rationalising our worst behaviours, is a conversation that has the internet torn. So we're getting into it! In this first instalment of our toxic women two-parter, we're exploring the re...

Haven't you heard? Indie Sleaze is back! Dig out the coloured tights, find your old American Apparel hoodies and dust off your old copies of NME. This week we're joined by Polyester socials editor Eden Young , as her and Ione describe what Indie Sleaze was really like to someone who was never there: Halima, aka our resident Gen Z. What is the difference between Twee, Indie Sleaze, Nu Rave, and the...

Twitter is obsessed with normalising things. From the benign, such as normalising going to the cinema alone, to the vaguely political such as normalise body hair, right up to the extremes of social justice; if there's an issue, we want to normalise it. But does condensing our problems into this meme-esque format really do anything to push things forward? Or when we plea to the internet for a norma...

For our last episode of the year, we're joined by the genius Amelia Dimoldenberg to talk us through her love of the England football team. From how the 2021 Euros set her obsession alight, to how her love for the game has transcended from just thirsting after fit boys; Amelia is talking us through why the current football team cast a shining beacon of hope in extremely bleak times. Amelia is our C...

Over the past few weeks, the internet has been overrun with yassified edits of our faves. Perhaps you've seen Toni Collette with smoothed out skin, Fiona from Shrek sporting a gorgeous smokey eye, or the 'oi mista, you me dad?' doll looking like she's about to head out for a night at Vodka Revs. But while we all become obsessed with yassifying our faves, Ione and Halima are going deep on what the...

The second part of our limited run podcast series The Skin You're In is here! Recorded live in London, Ione is joined by journalist Kieran Yates and writer/researcher Maggie Matić . They'll be discussing everything from reassessing capitalism, if Covid has changed how we approach social-politics, the importance of rest, finding joy online, how feminism has been warped since the advent of fourth wa...