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Episode details

World Service,16 Jan 2021,26 mins

Douglas Stuart and fashion for change

The Cultural Frontline

Available for over a year

You might know him as this year’s Booker Prize winner, but author Douglas Stuart is also a fashion designer. He tells Nawal Al-Maghafi about how fashion changed his life, taking him from his native Glasgow to New York City. He’s since returned to his hometown through the pages of his debut novel Shuggie Bain, in which the characters dress to impress while buying clothes on credit and dream of a different life while dealing with addiction and poverty. Can clothes change the world? For the Cultural Frontline, journalist and author Tansy Hoskins presents her political fashion look-book: a mini style-guide on how to dress to protest, from the US to Belarus and from trousers to T-shirts. Next, we meet the woman changing the face of fashion in South America. Karla Martinez, Editor in Chief of Vogue Mexico and Vogue Latin America, on how she creates a distinctly Latinx look for the iconic style magazine. Plus - has a book, a picture or a piece of clothing ever changed the way you see the world? Acclaimed South African designer David Tlale shares the story of how his uncle’s sense of style inspired a career in fashion. Presenter: Nawal Al-Maghafi (Photo: Douglas Stuart Credit: Martyn Pickersgill)

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