Fashion Neurosis, or Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud, is a podcast hosted by London-based fashion designer Bella Freud. Taking after the practice of psychoanalysis, each hour-long episode resembles a therapy session with the interviewee lying down on a couch. The podcast seeks to foster conversations that tackle the relationship between fashion and "emotional health" or what Virginia Woolf referred to as frock consciousness. Early guests on the podcast included Courteney Cox, Zadie Smith, and Kate Moss.
Background and release Freud wanted to host a podcast, with "people who didn't really talk a lot," to facilitate more "complex and interesting" conversations about fashion than typically reflected in current media. She then came up with the idea of a couch and chair setup, like a therapist's office, as "a way to learn vicariously all the things I’ve secretly wanted to know" and use fashion as a means to interrogate questions of identity and self-consciousness. Freud, the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud, told Another Magazine that she was unafraid of leaning into her family relation to psychoanalysis through the podcast's form:I just thought, well, someone’s going to do that at some point, I might as well play with it. Obviously it’s tongue-in-cheek and I’m not taking myself seriously in that role, I’m just using some of the aesthetics, some of the strategies.The podcast launched in October of 2024 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Its first episode showed Freud speaking with American fashion designer Rick Owens, and the podcast immediately became the number one fashion and beauty podcast in the United Kingdom. The podcast was critically acclaimed upon launch; Vogue called it one of the best podcasts of 2024.
The podcast has both audio and video components. The latter is filmed with several camera angles including a camera directly positioned above the interviewee's face "like a beady eye." Freud stated she "had a clear idea about how I wanted the filming to look. I found a great cinematographer and we worked on getting the perfect light. To get the guests I want, the lighting has to be amazing—flattering and atmospheric."
Episodes
2024 +DateGuestOctober 1, 2024Rick OwensOctober 8, 2024Eric CantonaOctober 15, 2024Trinny WoodallOctober 22, 2024Courteney CoxOctober 30, 2024Kim GordonNovember 6, 2024Zadie SmithNovember 20, 2024Daphne GuinnessNovember 27, 2024Kristin Scott ThomasDecember 4, 2024Karl Ove KnausgårdDecember 11, 2024Jonathan AndersonDecember 18, 2024Nicky Haslam
2025 DateGuestJanuary 15, 2025Nick CaveJanuary 22, 2025Princess JuliaJanuary 29, 2025Stefano PilatiFebruary 5, 2025Cate BlanchettFebruary 12, 2025Honey DijonFebruary 19, 2025Juergen TellerFebruary 26, 2025Gwendoline ChristieMarch 5, 2025Haider AckermannMarch 12, 2025Julianne MooreMarch 18, 2025John Cooper ClarkeMarch 26, 2025Christian LouboutinApril 2, 2025Bobby GillespieApril 9, 2025Susie CaveApril 16, 2025Hanif KureishiApril 23, 2025Es DevlinApril 30, 2025Marina AbramovicMay 7, 2025Sam McKnightMay 14, 2025Bethann HardisonMay 21, 2025Graydon CarterMay 28, 2025Alex ConsaniJune 4, 2025Rachel JonesJune 11, 2025Courtney LoveJune 18, 2025HaimJune 25, 2025LordeJuly 2, 2025Alessandro MicheleJuly 9, 2025Beth DittoJuly 15, 2025Mia KhalifaJuly 23, 2025Nick KnightSeptember 3, 2025John MalkovichSeptember 10, 2025Amelia DimoldenbergSeptember 17, 2025Rachel KushnerSeptember 24, 2025Kojey RadicalOctober 1, 2025Zandra RhodesOctober 8, 2025David CronenbergOctober 15, 2025Ocean VuongOctober 22, 2025Tessa ThompsonOctober 29, 2025Arthur JafaNovember 5, 2025Alexa ChungNovember 12, 2025RosalíaNovember 19, 2025Ib KamaraNovember 26, 2025Richard RussellDecember 3, 2025Annie LeibovitzDecember 10, 2025Willy ChavarriaDecember 17, 2025Helena Bonham Carter
2026 DateGuestJanuary 7, 2026Debbie HarryJanuary 14, 2026Hilton AlsJanuary 21, 2026Christy TurlingtonJanuary 28, 2026Alexi WasserFebruary 4, 2026Abiodun OyewoleFebruary 11, 2026Esther PerelFebruary 18, 2026Charlotte GainsbourgFebruary 25, 2026Richard E. GrantMarch 4, 2026Erin O'ConnorMarch 11, 2026Matières FécalesMarch 18, 2026David ByrneMarch 25, 2026Riz AhmedApril 1, 2026Lynne RamsayApril 8, 2026Thom BrowneApril 22, 2026Arlo ParksApril 29, 2026Kristen McMenamyMay 6, 2026Dan LevyMay 13, 2026FKA TwigsMay 20, 2026Jerry HallMay 27, 2026PeachesJune 3, 2026Stephen JonesJune 10, 2026Colm TóibínJune 17, 2026John CurrinJune 24, 2026Charli XCXJuly 1, 2026Leïla SlimaniJuly 8, 2026FleaJuly 15, 2026Rashida JonesJuly 22, 2026RMJuly 29, 2026Shania TwainAugust 5, 2026Laurie AndersonSeptember 2, 2026 David Sedaris
References