The article “How Depression-Era Women Made Dresses Out of Chicken Feed ” by Rebecca Onion and the podcast “The Cost of Fast Fashion” by Stuff Your Mom Never Told You, both show research on fashion; however, they are two very different sources. Rebecca Onion has an expertise in what she has written about as she holds a Ph.D, an MA and a BA in American Studies. In her article she discusses how people in the past reused the fabric sacks as clothing. She uses a great amount of history and primary documents throughout and provides cited images along with a short background of what is being shown. At the end of her article she states that she was unable to find the provenance for certain images so she did not include them. This allows us to assume she is very serious about which sources she includes in her writing.
The podcast “The Cost of Fast Fashion” by Stuff Your Mom Never Told You goes about their research and execution rather differently than Onion. The women on the podcast hold a very casual discussion on the fast fashion industry. They sometimes will briefly quote publications and experts. The expertise they bring is that they seem to be avid shoppers and are familiar with the industry, but have no formal education on the topic. This podcast is great to gain some general knowledge on fast fashion, but not as a legitimate source.
Onion’s article is intended for an academic audience whereas the SMNTY podcast is for a general audience that is to not be taken all that serious. Being printed on the web encourages the writer to be more formal with their research because it is more obvious when written and not done well. A podcast allows the producers to be more lenient with their research because it is more casual and conversational.
Beth Mackey 