In addition to being just, the most fun to make, “Front Row, Back Table,” our tea session/fever dream of a show, has affirmed my lifelong belief that being wildly delusional is, in fact, the only way to build.
I love that for us!
Was it, in some ways, simply a vehicle for me to quite literally chat shit over caviar (a literal non-negotiable in the conception of the show) with my friends? Yes!
But I also believe that in this time of endless online conversation, we have to seize opportunities for discussion anchored in actual, non-parasocial community whenever possible. I think it’s important to create spaces where opinions can be expressed safely, and without fear of judgment. And, given my own experience with being loud and proud and doubling down online, it is also a somewhat selfish pursuit.
Because I’d like to help furnish a future in which we can be honest about this incredibly opaque industry we call fashion…
So, since we’re officially a month in, it feels like the right time to do a little reflecting.
I’ve spent my career believing that fashion deserves to be treated with the same intellectual curiosity, care, creative ambition, and critical interrogation as any other cultural discipline. So shouldn’t the conversations we have about it deserve the same?
It seemed to me that the value of the content of the show, deserved production value to match. And the fact that the show looks as good as it sounds is something that is certainly appreciated over on YouTube (if our comments are any indication), but is in many ways antithetical to the direction fashion media is moving.
Everything needs to be faster, cheaper, and returns need to be seen immediately.
It is my hope to stay as far away from that thinking as possible with this show, which is why we’re taking a mini mid-season sabbatical (as they say in the biz) to make three more episodes without sacrificing style or substance in order to rush through the process.
They’ll be on your screens before the end of the year, and we’re still in the process of shaping them!
Making FRBT has taught me many things about myself, but not nearly as much as the comments section! And while I’m very much in my “Realizing Stuff, Realizing Things”™ era, it is important to me that we keep Brain Matter, and everything we do here, including Front Row, Back Table, a community effort!
So…
What do you want to see here moving forward? What are we not talking about enough? What conversations do you wish people in fashion were brave enough to have?
Dead or alive, who’s at your Back Table? You get four guests…
I want to hear from you! I want your brains!!!
As always, give ‘em up in the comments x
