S3 E6: Bruce LaBruce

His work is the unofficial preserve of seemingly every female superstar – his graphic, curvilinear jumpsuits in particular a staple in the tour wardrobes of everyone from Dua Lipa to Megan Thee Stallion, Yseult to Beyoncé. In this episode, Casey discusses his journey to the heights of the industry, dancing as catharsis, and the logic behind his boundary-pushing approach to casting. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran – better known as the fearless artistic duo Fecal Matter – join us in this conversation following Earth Day to discuss their story behind their uncompromising style, values, and the power of self-expression.“Even if there is all this animosity… the identity is so strong. It is so ingrained in what I do as a daily practice of self love and of expression that nothing can get in my way.” Hear this from Hannah and more in today's episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Diplo discusses how growing up across America’s South shaped his eclectic perspective, his thoughts on cultural appropriation in music, and how he believes the internet has amplified the reach and potential of subculture.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we dig deep into queercore, the contemporary value of shock and the line between arthouse and porn with modern cinema’s queer punk provocateur, Bruce LaBruce. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She is a party producer and community organiser who has been responsible for some of the most memorable nights – and looks, for that matter – that the Big Apple has ever seen. This week, we speak to New York’s quasi-official queen of clubs, Susanne Bartsch, about a life lived at the heart of the party, and her new book, Bartschland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Episode 4 of the i-Dentity podcast, we’re joined by fashion designer and subculture connoisseur Martine Rose, known around the world for her distinctly London vision. Martine discusses her extraordinary career, unconventional upbringing in South London, and why subculture and nightlife will always be a focus of her work. “The feeling that I get on the dance floor hasn't changed. It's completely electrifying. I still feel like a 14-year-old standing outside of Strawberry Sundae. It genuinely feels like that.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we’re back with none other than James ‘Jeanette’ Main, the former Boombox host and East London nightlife legend. In the mid-2000s, he became the so-called ‘door girl’ for Richard Mortimer’s Sunday evening club night Boombox, known by the moniker of ‘Jeanette’. One of a handful of nights in the East End, it sparked a renaissance in queer London nightlife and marked a shift in the city’s creative centre, playing host to fashion designers, musicians, artists, art students — and indeed the occasional icon — who all had to pass Jeanette to get to the dancefloor.As he puts it: “Subculture is doing what you can’t help not do, doing what is burning inside you, and finding others who have the same burning desire as you.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, legendary British artist Cosey Fanni Tutti joins us to discuss her lifelong commitment to counterculture, and five decades of breaking down boundaries through her subversive multidisciplinary art practice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

i-Dentity podcast is back, and this series we’re dedicating each episode to an artist we feel truly personifies subculture. Kicking it off is seminal photographer and documenter, and long-time contributor to i-D, Liz Johnson Artur.Listen to the first episode of our new series, where Liz discusses her aversion to being described as a ‘street’ or ‘club’ photographer, her ever-expanding Black Balloon Archive, and why legendary club-night PDA will always be one of her favourite nights in London history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are closing out series two with the defining QTPOC subculture, ballroom.'Serve’, ‘read’, or ‘throwing shade’ – whether first heard from the lips of queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race, or from sassy teens on TikTok, these terms have become part of English slang. But if you were to ask the lion’s share of people using them where they originally came from, we’d wager that most wouldn’t be able to tell you.Its roots extend back as far as the late 1960s when, in response to racism they experienced in the white-dominated drag pageant scene, Black trans queens Crystal and Asia LaBeija made the bold decision to found a by-us-for-us space. Initially incubated in community halls and nightclubs across Harlem and Downtown Manhattan, ballroom has gone on to inform contemporary culture across the globe – not just nightlife, but also music, fashion, television and language itself. But conversations around appropriation and compensation have reached a flashpoint, with members of the scene calling for acknowledgement, fairer treatment and a deeper understanding of ballroom’s history.In this week’s episode of i-Dentity, we join i-D’s senior fashion features editor Mahoro Seward, as they speak with Alex Mugler, a legendary voguer and choreographer, on the infrastructure of the ballroom community; Venus X delves into the story behind, GHE20G0TH1K, the club night she co-founded, while also unpacking the the exploitative nature of ballroom’s relationship with the culture mainstream; MikeQ, one of the eminent producers of vogue beats and globally esteemed DJ, explores the development of ballroom music and his experiences at the early GHE20G0TH1K’s parties; and Ricky Tucker, a New York-based writer, academic and ballroom superfan gives us the backstory on ballroom’s history and enduring capacity for liberation.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.