Podcast Summary: "Daphne Guinness and the Anarchy of Creativity with Katya"

Podcast: The Bald and the Beautiful with Trixie and Katya
Host: Katya (without Trixie this episode)
Guest: Daphne Guinness (artist, musician, style icon)
Date: December 23, 2025
Producer: Studio71 & Confetti Cannon

Episode Overview

This vibrant episode features Katya in an in-depth and delightfully anarchic interview with the legendary Daphne Guinness. The pair dive into creativity without boundaries, fashion as art, the catharsis and chaos of making music—and the existential importance of glamor and style. Listeners are treated to firsthand stories of Daphne’s collaborations with Alexander McQueen, David LaChapelle, and contemporary designers, while also getting a glimpse into her process, passions, and her poignant mission to preserve fashion history.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Daphne’s Entry into Fashion & Creative Process

• Daphne expresses that she never formally entered the “industry side” but moved through fashion almost incidentally—for the love of creativity and friendship.

“I’ve never really been on the industry side... I’m neutral. Like Switzerland.” (06:06)

• The conversation highlights the freedom of being unbound by brands, which has kept her approach authentic and personal.

2. Friendship with Isabella Blow & the McQueen Legacy

• Katya and Daphne discuss the influence of stylist Isabella Blow, her birthday, and her early support of McQueen’s career.
• Daphne reminisces about Isabella’s humor and bravery:

“She was one of those people that made you braver just by being around her.” (07:07)

• Daphne purchased Isabella’s wardrobe after her passing to prevent it from being auctioned, later mounting an exhibition and launching a foundation to support emerging designers.

“I did a show at FIT… just a prayer to the universe... McQueen had just died. It was a lot of pressure.” (44:59)

3. Music & Songwriting

• Daphne discusses her music career, writing her new album, and working with producer Tony Visconti.

“Songwriting, it just happens. They kind of write themselves in a funny way… It’s like a kind of puzzle.” (10:09)

• Katya gushes over Daphne’s track “Hip Neck Spine” and the inspired visuals in her music videos.
• Daphne explains her love for collaboration and how her composition style defies musical boundaries, often using complex chord changes and Eastern European scales.

“Evening in Spaces—I wrote that in one sitting, kind of like… 54 chord changes... it modulates every one and a half bars.” (14:04)

4. The Art of the Music Video

• Katya and Daphne share a love for cinematic, experimental music videos, especially those directed by David LaChapelle:

“He’s done seven... sometimes things feel like one long shoot.” (21:01, 23:28)

• Daphne prefers the creative process over product release, craving the ecstasy of collaboration but struggling with the post-show blues.

“I get… so into it. And then that’s like the post show Blues.” (22:05)

5. Signature Style, Couture & Comfort

• Daphne’s approach to style is intuitive and comfort-driven, sometimes “boringly” wearing the same thing daily like a uniform (27:40).
• She avoids colors like beige and brown and prefers strong tones, describing her ideal home décor as white-washed with bold accents, chrome, and duck egg blue (29:07).
• On her signature extreme fashion:

“When you’ve got other people on set helping... getting in and out of catsuits in lavatories... especially with chains... it is quite [heavy].” (27:12, 27:57)

6. Contemporary Designers & Fashion’s Evolution

• Current favorites: Hyder Raman, Daniel Roseberry (Schiaparelli), and especially Iris Van Herpen, a close friend known for her avant-garde designs and underwater runway shows (38:56, 41:30).
• On the sustainability crisis in fashion, she advocates “slow fashion” and laments the churn of trend-driven production.

“It’s too much too fast… fashion industry needs to chill.” (62:25)

7. Global Travels, Cultural Reflections, and Language

• Daphne discusses cities, global travel, and her love for Japan, Spain, France, and Italy, critiquing London’s “swampy” exhaustion and celebrating Mediterranean beauty.
• She wishes for fluency in Japanese (would give up her little finger for it!) and can speak French, understand Spanish, and get by in Italian, German, and Catalan (58:52, 59:11).

8. Art, Preservation, and Legacy

• A recurring theme is art’s importance in society—Daphne and Katya bemoan governments cutting art funding while investing in military might.

“A culture is defined by its art… not by its nuclear warheads.” (44:28)

• They stress the need to preserve fashion and culture for future generations, with Daphne’s efforts for the Isabella Blow collection and scholarships at Central Saint Martins (43:01).

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On fashion’s impenetrable world:
  “It always seemed to me like an impenetrable world of, like, snobs.”
  — Katya (07:38)

• On song ideas:
  “Songwriting… it’s excavation or picking up on signals from beyond.”
  — Daphne Guinness (10:09)

• On personal style:
  “I have serious reactions to some tones of music, some color palettes…especially beige.”
  — Daphne Guinness (28:47)

• On art funding vs. military spending:
  “A culture is defined by its art. Not by its [nuclear] warheads.”
  — Daphne Guinness (44:28)

• On passion for sewing and crafts:
  “There is no greater satisfaction than actually constructing a garment and then wearing it… The cool thing is, you’ll never get perfect at it.”
  — Katya (61:29)

• On complexity and creativity:
  “Evening in Spaces… 54 chord changes... Your voice is like a violin… you can bend the voice through different cues.”
  — Daphne Guinness (14:04)

• On her favorite movie:
  “Probably either Sunset Boulevard… Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my fruit!”
  — Daphne Guinness & Katya (63:11)

Notable Timestamps

• Daphne on Flying by the Seat of Her Pants: 04:10
• On Meeting Isabella Blow and Fashion’s Inner Circle: 06:45
• Discussing Songwriting & Studio Process: 10:09
• Music Video Stories with David LaChapelle: 21:01 & 23:28
• The Process of Dressing & Looks: 26:06
• Avoiding Beige/Brown & Color Philosophies: 28:04, 29:07
• Comments on Modern Fashion and Designers: 38:56, 41:30
• Reflection on the Economics & Business of Fashion: 43:01
• Discussion on Preserving Fashion Collections: 44:59
• Learning to Type (Hilarious Typing Club Tangent): 49:06
• Katya on Constructing and Wearing One’s Own Clothes: 61:29
• Rapid-Fire: Fluency, Favorite Movie, Least Favorite Movie: 58:40, 63:11

Final Thoughts

Daphne’s warmth, intelligence, and creative anarchy mesh delightfully with Katya’s wit and genuine admiration, making this a must-listen for fashion and music lovers alike. The episode is both uproariously entertaining and surprisingly moving—a testament to the enduring power of artistry, beauty, and the necessity of creative rebellion in an age of homogeneity.

Be sure to check out Daphne Guinness’s latest single “Light,” available on all streaming platforms, and explore her evocative music videos on YouTube.