Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud

Anthony Vaccarello is a Belgian fashion designer. Born to Sicilian parents in Brussels, he studied law for one year before moving to the renowned La Cambre art and design school. Upon graduation, Vaccarello spent two years working for Karl Lagerfeld at Fendi in Rome, and then launched his eponymous label Anthony Vaccarello in 2009.

Since 2016, Vaccarello has been Creative Director of Saint Laurent. During his ten years at the helm of the brand, Vaccarello has upheld Yves Saint Laurent’s creative legacy with irreverent modernity. Across his tenure, he has steadily reinforced the House’s identity with coherence and authority, mixing genres, and empowering a highly desirable vision. Through Vaccarello’s work, Saint Laurent has developed relationships with cultural icons from Madonna to Charlotte Gainsbourg, Connor Storrie to Charli XCX, and Zoe Kravitz to Kate Moss.

In 2023, after working with some of cinema’s leading directors including Pedro Almodovar and Jean-Luc Godard, Vaccarello established Saint Laurent Productions, with the house being the first luxury brand to support filmmaking. Since then, Saint Laurent Productions has supported films from luminaries including Paolo Sorrentino, Claire Denis, David Cronenberg, and Jacques Audiard.

In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Anthony Vaccarello discuss the ankle fetish, Saint Laurent women, and how he wanted to dress his mother.

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David Sedaris is an American author and humourist.

David’s first book, Barrel Fever, was published in 1994, and he has since published fourteen books including Calypso, and Me Talk Pretty One Day, with his essay collections regularly appearing on the New York Times’ bestseller list. His latest book, The Land and Its People, was published in May 2026.

He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and to NPR. His BBC Radio 4 series, ‘Meet David Sedaris’, won a BBC Audio Drama Award in 2026. In 2019, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, the Jonathan Swift Prize for Satire and Humor, and the Terry Southern Prize for Humor.

In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and David Sedaris discuss loving Comme des Garçons, his bullying father, and living in a nudist colony.

Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

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RERUN: In the first episode of Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud, I was joined by the legendary fashion master of avant-garde gothic elegance Rick Owens as he lies on the couch. Rick Owens is known for his preoccupation with distortion and exaggeration of the human form through clothes. Together he and I talk about how this plays out with his own physical transformation; what are his current obsessions; and how nothing could be cooler than not having to hold a glass in his hand when he (rarely) walks into a social situation. Honest and insightful, this is a conversation with one of fashion's most enigmatic figures that you won't want to miss.

Rick Owens is an American fashion designer. Born and raised in Porterville, California, Owens studied pattern-making and draping at Los Angeles Technical-Trade College, launching his eponymous label in 1994.

Since 2003, he has lived in Paris with his partner Michele Lamy, in a five-story townhouse which serves as both home and atelier.He has launched five fashion labels, a furniture line, and written four books on his own work and two about the designer Larry LeGapsi, who he has cited as a major inspiration

Owens was a recipient of the 2002 Perry Ellis Award for emerging talent, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the CFDA in 2017, the Cooper-Hewitt Design Award for fashion design, and Menswear Designer of the Year Award at the 2019 CFDA Fashion Awards.

His first museum exhibition and retrospective, chronicling over 20 years of his life's work, entitled, "Subhuman Inhuman Superhuman" opened at the Triennale di Milano in 2017, and in 2025 the Palais Galliera showed a retrospective of his work entitled “Temple of Love”. In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Rick Owens discuss nipples, his authoritarian father, and the freedom of wearing a heel.

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RERUN: Zadie Smith was one of my first recordings of Fashion Neurosis. She arrived on a bicycle in the pouring rain, a more typical June day in London 2024. I didn't know Zadie well, but she owned a couple of my velvet suits and she is one of those writers who dresses as brilliantly as she writes. Writing is such a glamorous thing. Seeing a body clothed with style makes me wonder how that person thinks. This is why I was so keen to see Zadie Smith lying on my couch - to see her and to hear her.

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Zadie Smith is a British novelist, essayist, and short story writer.

She is the author of six novels and her first book White Teeth was completed during her final year at Cambridge University. Published in 2000, White Teeth became an instant international bestseller - winning numerous awards, making her one of the most sought after and widely read young literary figures. Smith’s most recent book is The Fraud, published in 2023. She is also the author of two short story collections, including Dead and Alive published in 2025, and a play, The Wife of Willesden.

Zadie Smith has lived in Rome and New York, where she taught fiction at Columbia, then joining New York University as a tenured professor of fiction in 2010. In 2023, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Zadie Smith discuss the importance of lipstick, being inspired by the fashion of fictional characters, and losing her entire wardrobe in a fire.

Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro

00:00:21 What are you wearing today?

00:01:19 Obsessions

00:02:20 Zadie’s Mother’s Style

00:05:44 Fashion Dreams

00:08:00 Beauty and intelligence

00:12:18 Where to start an outfit

00:14:52 Clothing individuality

00:19:30 If you fancy someone…

00:24:40 Clothes to improve mood

00:33:00 Shyness

00:41:20 Nudity

00:43:30 Dressing like literary figures

00:47:00 Hair

00:50:14 Outro

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RERUN: I never expected to have Kate Moss as a Fashion Neurosis guest. I knew she hated being filmed and is famously private. I had been doing little experiments with set ups before Covid and one day we were having tea together and I showed her. ‘I want to do this,’ she said. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I knew I must have made something good if Kate wanted to be part of it. Her episode will always be one of my favourites. Her brilliant irreverent wit is second to none.

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Kate Moss is an English model. Born in Croydon, she started modelling aged 15 after she was scouted in an airport. She rose to fame in the 90’s during the era of the Supermodel, quickly becoming the most sought after of them all. She is beloved by photographers and designers for her remarkable ability to bring a kind of spellbinding magic to the table. Her work ethic is legendary and she has an instinct for recognising a good idea before anyone else – and wanting to be involved. When I started my brand and decided to have my first catwalk show in 1994, I got a call from Storm Models saying ‘Kate will walk in your show’. I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. This was a typical act of the generosity and imagination she is also known for.

Kate Moss holds the world record for appearing on the most Vogue covers: 78 of the ‘Big Four’, 43 of them British Vogue. As well as starring in countless ad campaigns she has designed collections in collaboration with various fashion brands including Top Shop, Longchamp, and Zara; guest edited magazines; and created her own skincare and beauty range Cosmoss. In 2002 – just as she became pregnant with her daughter Lila she sat for a naked portrait by the artist Lucian Freud which was later sold at Christie’s for £3.93 million.

She is more in demand at age 50 than she has ever been – both in front of the camera and as a celebrity guest on the front row. Kate Moss is a cult name, and her face is recognized throughout the world. She is a private person and rarely gives interviews. She is loved and admired for her iconic sense of style, no one puts a look together like she can. She is famous for her humour and charm, casting a kind of dazzling spell on those who meet her – it is known as ‘being Mossed.’

In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Kate Moss discuss Fashion Police, wearing a heel to feel naked, and sitting for my father Lucian.

00:00:00 Intro

00:00:18 What are you wearing today?

00:01:14 Childhood fashion

00:03:10 Body

00:06:20 Clothes that make you feel different

00:08:00 Dressing up friends

00:12:00 Where to start with an outfit

00:14:19 Fashion police

00:20:57 Attractive clothing

00:22:14 If you fancy someone…

00:25:49 Walking for Vivienne Westwood

00:32:03 Supermodel era

00:37:13 Stripping and nudity

00:39:18 Clothes to improve mood

00:39:55 Presents

00:41:51 Fashion kinks

00:46:35 Outro

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