The Big Loop creates a heard-and-not-seen designer experience for London Fashion Week

Dumb Gay Politics
The MAGAs vs The McConnells

Dumb Gay Politics, hosted by Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard, takes a look at the current state of politics from the point of view of folks who might not know much about politics aside from how absurd they are. Howard and Goldman got started as fixtures on the Bravo network and have been writing partners for over a decade, so it makes sense that their commentary has an ease and flow that brings listeners into the fold. This time around, the hosts go in on the schism within the Republican party, with Trump loyalists and old-school conservatives fighting over which side is most committed to oppressing the nation’s poorest and most underrepresented. The duo makes sure to shout out to their own loyal supporters as they break out their pet names for the year 2021 (Forever 21) and the POTUS and VP (JoJo & KiKi). Underneath all of the puns, nicknames, and teardowns, listeners come away with a useful unpacking of the political and news landscape. [Jose Nateras]

I Read Comic Books
Episode 273 | Mike’s going to watch The Joker and it’s all your fault

Recorded on Valentine’s Day, Episode 273 of I Read Comic Books features a discussion of the first issues for Fear Case and Of Thieves and Elves. Host Mike Rapin brings in guest hosts Paul Jaissle and Nick White this week to chat about recent comic books they’ve read, and the group is afforded time to discuss these comics thoroughly. More than a simple review focusing on whether or not they like a particular comic, the trio are able to dig deep, discussing, for instance, the artwork in a given comic, how it connects to other artists’ work, and how it serves the greater narrative. It’s sometimes easy to forget that comic books are an artistic medium, but IRCB never does, with Rapin and guests highlighting all the ways comics use sequential art to tell stories—it’s highly accessible art criticism. And, of course, listeners hoping for some good comic book recommendations are sure to get more than a few awesome titles thrown their way. [Jose Nateras]

The Big Loop
Memory Of A Dress

This special episode of beloved podcast anthology The Big Loop is a special collaboration with fashion designer Edeline Lee Autumn Winter 2021 at London Fashion Week, to produce a fashion show not meant to be seen. Instead, it’s meant to make us think about what fashion makes us feel, as a way to rethink and recreate fashion shows during the pandemic. The protagonist of the episode, Georgia (Lydia Leonard), is contextualizing images of her mother to an artificial intelligence program, which asks her what’s happening within each mental image, as well as posing the question, “Is this a good moment or a bad one?” One dress keeps showing up, over and over: her mother’s dress, the dress that should have existed in Georgia’s life for much longer than it did. These are an emotional fifteen minutes about the nature of memory and family storytelling. Is it real if it doesn’t exist anymore? If you can’t remember events or people quite right, should they be hidden forever from your children and your loved ones? Nothing, not even fashion, can be purely good or bad, and there are connective threads everywhere, from clothing, to our parents, to our heritage, to our own success or failure, to our children. [Elena Fernández Collins]