Avery Trufelman
70 episodes listed below
A fashion historian traces clothing from military gear to Erin Brockovich's push-up bra.
Articles of Interest turns fashion into a way of reading the world. A comic-book dress, a clerical collar, a push-up bra, or military camouflage becomes the hinge for stories about gender, power, ethics, and belonging.
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Articles of Interest is built around long-form narrated essays in which Avery Trufelman traces a piece of clothing, a designer, or a dress code back through history to a larger argument about identity, labor, gender, or power. Some episodes are structured as interviews, such as a conversation with journalist Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson about designer Claire McCardell, or a segment in which Radiolab founder Jad Abumrad interviews Trufelman herself about her reporting process. The show also runs crossover episodes with other Radiotopia-network programs, including a Memory Palace-produced episode on designer Anne Lowe narrated by Nate DiMeo. Recurring subject matter includes the military-civilian divide (a multi-episode 'Gear' series on issued equipment, camouflage, and veteran homelessness), costume design for film, forgotten or overlooked American designers, religious dress, and the fashion history embedded in comics and other pop-culture artifacts. Sourcing draws on historians, industry insiders, and firsthand subjects, such as veterans discussing gear return policies or Erin Brockovich discussing her own costuming. The tone is research-driven and narrative rather than casual chat, with sponsor breaks that often promote sibling Radiotopia shows like The Heart and Vogue's The Run-Through. Listeners who follow the show tend to be interested in design, cultural history, and how clothing choices reflect institutions from the U.S. military to the Catholic Church to Seventh Avenue. There is no single recurring guest across every episode; guest appearances vary by topic and are usually subject-matter experts, journalists, or crossover podcast hosts. Production is narration-forward with edited interview tape woven in, consistent with other Radiotopia documentary-style shows.
Made for: Listeners interested in fashion and design history who want researched, narrative-driven episodes connecting clothing to social, gender, and institutional history.
What sets it apart: Rather than covering current style or trends, each episode anchors in a single historical garment, designer, or dress code and reports it out with historians and firsthand sources, including crossover episodes with other Radiotopia documentary podcasts.
Articles of Interest is a show about what we wear. Produced and Hosted by Avery Trufelman
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Avery Trufelman turns clothing into precise, reported evidence about design, authority, identity, and the institutions that shape what people wear.
Articles of Interest follows clothing into the systems that give it meaning. Avery Trufelman combines narration, interviews, archival material, and occasional live conversations to connect design with power, status, gender, belief, and belonging.
Avery Trufelman follows clothes until your closet opens onto power, war, religion, and desire.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sharp, funny look at Betty and Veronica as comics history, gender code, and style lesson.
Betty & Veronica treats Archie Comics as pop culture with a long memory: place, gender, clothes, and character design all get pulled into the same bright conversation.
A crisp, tactile history of Claire McArdle and the casual wardrobe America learned to take for granted.
Articles of Interest traces American fashion's casual vocabulary back to Claire McArdle, the designer framed here as a missing ancestor of clothes many people still wear: ballet flats, mix-and-match separates, wrap dresses, denim for women, even hoodies.
A sharp, intimate story about the bra behind Erin Brockovich and the family history shaped around it.
Push-Up Contest turns a bra into a small, vivid piece of fashion history: part family portrait, part movie afterlife, part argument over credit.
A live Jad Abumrad conversation turns camouflage into a funny, uneasy story about taste, authority, and who gets seen.
Gear: Epilogue (with Jad Abumrad) catches Articles of Interest in a looser register: Avery onstage with Jad Abumrad, founder of Radiolab and one of her heroes, talking through the strange afterlife of clothing choices. The most vivid thread is camouflage.
A clothing story opens into a pointed look at why American security is so often tied to military service.
Gear: Chapter 7 starts with the military clothes that follow veterans into civilian life: silkies, thermals, garments kept less for symbolism than for comfort and camouflage.
A graceful handoff to The Memory Palace, centered on Anne Lowe, ruined dresses, and the private cost of making beauty twice.
Articles of Interest hands the mic, in effect, to Nate DiMeo's The Memory Palace, framing it with Avery Trufelman's clear affection for DiMeo's miniature histories before settling into the story of Anne Lowe.
A thoughtful Arts listen on Catholic spectacle, sacred dress, and the uneasy glow of wealth inside beauty.
Clergy listens to Catholic Mass as both ceremony and costume drama: choir, organ, incense, vaulted space, vestments, the whole "smells and bells" charge. Avery Trufelman is clearly susceptible to its pull, and that makes the episode sharper.
Intimates talk with real-room energy.
Fashion talk with receipts, taste, and texture.
Runway judgment with group-chat voltage.
Archie Comics turns into a fashion fight.
America has brands.
Avery opens with jet lag and a little housekeeping, then pauses regular Articles of Interest production for Signal Hill's bra story.
A Presbyterian minister discusses his reluctance to wear clerical attire due to societal perceptions, then shares a story about helping a Sudanese refugee family targeted by immigration enforcement in Minnesota, highlighting broader issues of racial profiling and community fear.
This episode revisits a 2020 story about Linda Tessner, who unexpectedly became the director of the remote Maryhill Museum of Art in Washington State in the 1980s after struggling to find a museum job in major cities.
A parent's quest for ethically made t-shirts leads to an exploration of sustainable fashion and consumer dilemmas, featuring insights from an expert on remaking the fashion industry.
Avery worries the whole premise might be a little self-indulgent.
Victoria Chamberlain kept the silkies.
This episode explores the intertwined history of military and fashion, featuring a discussion about a Stussy flight jacket and the concept of Gorpcore.
The host explores the cultural significance of camouflage by attending a hunting lesson to understand its role in hunting and identity.
A veteran and podcaster shares his personal experience serving as an infantryman and drill sergeant in the U.S.
This episode tells the story of the U.S.
This episode explores the history of outdoor clothing and the removal of stigma around shopping for gear, focusing on the founding of Abercrombie & Fitch.
This episode explores how Buck Mason, a clothing brand founded in 2013, creates timeless classic clothes by meticulously studying and replicating vintage garments down to the smallest details like stitch counts and fabric finishes.
This episode explores how American Ivy League and heavy duty outdoor styles were adopted and evolved in Japan, focusing on the retailer Beams.
This episode explores the Amish perspective on zippers and modern technology, revealing how their community selectively adapts to change while maintaining core traditions.
Dr.
Everything was ruined.
Mass arrives with incense and thunder.
This episode explores the rise and cultural significance of celebrity stylists, particularly in the context of events like the Met Gala.
This episode explores the surprising and decadent avant-garde fashion scene in 1980s Eastern Europe, challenging stereotypes of gray socialist life.
The hosts discuss the confusion and historical changes in prison uniforms at San Quentin, highlighting personal experiences and societal perceptions.
This episode explores the origins of fashion trends, using Japan as a case study to trace how specific cultural influences spread.
The episode explores the secretive world of trend forecasting through the lens of WGSN, a company that predicts fashion trends for major brands.
The host promotes a fellow podcast's album and then interviews a colleague about her career in talk shows and wedding planning.
The host promotes a fellow podcast's album and then shares a personal story about a friend's marriage proposal in Las Vegas.
The episode explores the gendered nature of formal wear through a personal story about dressing up for a wedding.
This episode explores the world of perfume and personal style through an interview with a New Yorker writer.
This episode discusses the cultural significance of clothing, featuring a segment on Dapper Dan and how dressing well can be transformative.
This episode explores the cultural significance of clothing through the lens of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
A podcast about the cultural and personal significance of what we wear, hosted by Avery Trufelman.
A podcast about the stories behind what we wear, exploring fashion and clothing culture.
The episode explores the cultural significance and trend of Hawaiian shirts, from their origins to modern fashion.
The host promotes a fellow podcast's album, then shares a personal story about wearing a dress for the first time at a college cross-dressing dance.
A podcast exploring the cultural and historical significance of what we wear.