Fashion Neurosis

{{Short description|Fashion podcast hosted by Bella Freud}}{{Infobox podcast

| title = Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud

| image = "Fashion Neurosis" by Bella Freud.webp

| host = Bella Freud

| genre = Fashion

| creator = Bella Freud

| language = English

| length = 1 hour

| country = United Kingdom

| began = October 1, 2024

}}

Fashion Neurosis, or Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud, is a podcast hosted by London-based fashion designer Bella Freud.{{Cite web |title="Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud" Is Available for Streaming on Apple Podcasts |url=https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/fashion-neurosis-with-bella-freud |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=airmail.news |language=en}} Taking after the practice of psychoanalysis, each hour-long episode resembles a therapy session with the interviewee lying down on a couch.{{Cite web |last=Gloss |first=The |date=2025-01-04 |title=Designer Decks: Inside Bella Freud's Studio |url=https://thegloss.ie/designer-decks-inside-bella-freuds-studio/ |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=The Gloss Magazine |language=en-US}} The podcast seeks to foster conversations that tackle the relationship between fashion and "emotional health" or what Virginia Woolf referred to as frock consciousness.{{Cite web |date=2024-10-10 |title='Fashion has power': Bella Freud on 'frock consciousness' and her new podcast |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20241010-bella-freud-on-frock-consciousness-therapy-and-her-new-podcast |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}} Early guests on the podcast included Courteney Cox, Zadie Smith, and Kate Moss.{{Cite web |title=Courteney Cox says Jennifer Aniston kept tons of clothes from 'Friends' |url=https://ew.com/courteney-cox-says-jennifer-aniston-kept-tons-of-friends-clothes-8741057 |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=EW.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=McCartney |first=Jenny |date=2025-02-20 |title=Soothing and glorious: Fashion Neurosis reviewed |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/soothing-and-glorious-fashion-neurosis-reviewed/ |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=The Spectator |language=en-GB}}

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.{{Cite web |last=AnOther |date=2024-10-02 |title=Bella Freud's Intimate New Podcast Examines How Fashion Makes Us Feel |url=https://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/15915/bella-freud-interview-fashion-neurosis-rick-owens-kate-moss-zadie-smith |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=AnOther |language=en}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Trebay |first=Guy |date=2024-10-10 |title=She's Only Playing a Therapist, but the Revelations Are Real |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/10/style/bella-freud-fashion-neurosis-podcast.html |access-date=2025-03-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Mohammed |first=Hikmat |date=2024-09-20 |title=Kate Moss, Rick Owens, and Courtney Cox Make Psychoanalysis Sexy on New Podcast 'Fashion Neurosis With Bella Freud' |url=https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/fashion-neurosis-bella-freud-kate-moss-rick-owens-courtney-cox-1236634274/ |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=WWD |language=en-US}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Schama |first=Chloe |date=2024-07-30 |title=The Best Podcasts of 2024 |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/best-podcasts-2024 |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=Vogue |language=en-US}}

The podcast has both audio and video components.{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Mark |date=2024-11-26 |title=Bella Freud: Kate Moss told me she was pushed to go topless |url=https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/celebrity/article/designer-model-bella-freud-lucian-freud-interview-new-podcast-kate-moss-flvbczmgq |access-date=2025-03-19 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}} The latter is filmed with several camera angles including a camera directly positioned above the interviewee's face "like a beady eye."{{Cite news |last=Sawyer |first=Miranda |date=2024-12-21 |title=The week in audio: The Good Whale; Fashion Neurosis With Bella Freud; Archive on 4: A Child's Christmas – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/dec/21/the-week-in-audio-the-good-whale-serial-new-york-times-keiko-free-willy-fashion-neurosis-with-bella-freud-archive-on-4-a-childs-christmas-cerys-matthews-review |access-date=2025-03-19 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} 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."