Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey there, it's Avery here. Okay, a little housekeeping. I'm putting the final edits on my book and I'm working on the episodes for 2026. There's going to be one a month this year and I cannot wait to share them. I actually just got back from China, so I'm writing this at three in the morning. I'm so jet lagged. But wait until you hear the story that I found there. I'm very excited for that one.
I'm also working with some of my favorite minds in fashion to develop new episodes and ideas, including a story about bras and how they work and whether or not we need them. But I need a little more time to get it all together. So. I wanted to share a different podcast that I really like.
Chapter 2: What story did Zoe find in China?
This is also a story about bras, but with a very different perspective. This is a piece from Signal Hill, which is an audio magazine. It's such a smart concept. They publish all kinds of audio documentaries from all different contributors, long-form reported work, short essays, reviews, poems, and it's packaged together in issues that you can subscribe to.
But I particularly loved this dispatch from their last issue. It's called Push-Up Contest by Zoe Kerland. And it's about how her dad designed a bra that changed the world. It's a delight. I'll have that for you after this little break.
Chapter 3: What insights about bras are shared in the podcast?
Hey, it's Robin here from PRX. And I want to tell you about a brand new show in the Radiotopia family. an exciting partnership with our friends at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and fellow indie network, TalkHouse. It's called Music Makes Us, and it's hosted by cultural icon, the legendary Kathleen Hanna, the frontwoman of Bikini Kill and La Tigra.
She sits down with revolutionary musicians like Chaka Khan, Olivia Rodrigo, and Hayley Williams of Paramore to speak about the things artists really want to talk about. Perfect lyrics, unforgettable shows, treasured artifacts, and even snacks. From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Radiotopia, and Talk House, music makes us. Out now wherever you listen to podcasts.
And now, Push-Up Contest by Zoe Kurland.
Stop slamming your foot. And also, you might want to just sit on your hands. I mean, the rings are clattery-chattery. Don't move them off. Okay. Easy. I think you just took off 11 rings. It should be 13. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Oh, 14. Thank you very much. 14 rings. And how many bracelets? Well, 1, 2, 3, 4. This is my dad, Jeffrey Kurland.
He's a costume designer for movies, and he dresses like it. Patterned shirts, elaborate knitwear, scarves and pocket squares, vintage loafers, all of those rings you just heard, and bracelets and chains. He has wavy, shoulder-length hair. His style is luxurious, timeless, and a little genderless, like Tilda Swinton as Orlando or a Renaissance prince. Eclectic.
In a word, I think probably is the best word. Today, for example, he's wearing a poncho. And I assure you, he's pulling it off. Probably the first thing that people notice about me is what apparel I happen to be wearing at the time. Shoes, jewelry, it's all there. I grew up watching my dad use clothes to transform people into characters.
They'd step in front of the trifold mirror under fluorescent fitting room lights. As they moved, the reflective panels multiplied their bodies to infinity, making them into mythical multi-limbed creatures. And then he would slice them into pieces with his measuring tape, searching for golden ratios, 28, 23, 27, or 41, 35, 40.
Finally, he'd reconstruct them via textile, giving them contours they didn't come into the room with. As a kid, sitting in the corner of the fitting room, I witnessed this transformation over and over again. My dad designed the costumes for some very iconic movies. My Best Friend's Wedding, Hannah and Her Sisters, Ocean's Eleven, Inception.
But of all of his movies, I have one very clear favorite. The movie came out in the year 2000, but I didn't see it until a decade later. I was 15, curled up on the couch at a friend's house.
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Chapter 4: How did Zoe's dad design a bra that changed the world?
We're going to have to spend a little time filling in the holes in your research. Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot, okay? I think we got off on the wrong foot here. That's all you got, lady. Two wrong feet and ugly shoes.
You gotta find a different job or a different guy.
Erin Brockovich. For the uninitiated, the movie stars Julia Roberts as Erin, a dogged, whip-smart, foul-mouthed paralegal who helps a small desert town in California take on an energy company that's poisoning their water.
Why are there medical records and blood samples in real estate files?
Would you mind if I investigate this a little further? At the end of the movie, Erin handily defeats Pacific Gas and Electric in court and wins a $333 million settlement for the town, all while raising her three kids as a single mom. The whole thing is based on a true story. Erin Brockovich is a real person who really did all that stuff. Watching the movie at 15, I swooned.
Julia as Erin was just it. Her take-no-prisoners attitude, her smile, and notably, her clothes. Erin clomps around the hot sun-bleached town of Hinkley in high heels, miniskirts, skin-tight vests, leather, laces, gold belts, animal print, red. Her curly blonde hair is gigantic, tossing around in the dry wind.
Now that you're working here, you may want to rethink your wardrobe a little.
Is that so? Well, it just so happens I think I look nice. And as long as I have one ass instead of two, I'll wear what I like if that's all right with you.
And then there were her boobs. Whether she's running circles around the dumb men trying to keep her from the truth or deftly scaling the side of a swimming pool to fish out a dead frog, Erin's cleavage is just right there.
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