- 28 minutes ago
Aussie native Laura Brown came to NYC 16 years ago with $1,000 in her pocket and zero industry contacts. Fast forward to 2017, one year into her role as Editor-in-Chief of America's most influential lifestyle magazine InStyle, where she's redefining how to tell vibrant stories about some of the world's most influential celebrities and game-changers. As one of the leading voices informing women's media today, Laura joined UnStyled to discuss her own unique path, fusing her signature "funny" into fashion, as well as the ideas and shifts that are actively shaping women's content and the cultural zeitgeist as we know it.
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00:01Welcome to Unstyled. I'm your host, Christine Barbrick, co-founder and global editor-in-chief
00:06of Refinery29. Each week, I invite a notable person to come in and talk with us as we explore
00:12the funny, inspiring, sometimes heartbreaking tales of life, work, and love, as told through
00:19the things that we wear. This past September, what might have been simmering just below the surface
00:31reached a full boil. The seas of change were hitting women's magazines, hard. Robbie Myers,
00:37who had been steering the ship at Elle for the past 17 years, announced she was leaving the magazine.
00:43A short three days later, Cindy Levy made her move public. She was stepping down after a 16-year run
00:49as Glamour's youngest ever editor-in-chief. And right around the same time, Nancy Gibbs also
00:55ended her long tenure at Time magazine. Meanwhile, over at InStyle, Laura Brown was just hitting her
01:01year mark as their newly minted editor-in-chief. This particular anniversary also noted another
01:07milestone in Brown's life. It was exactly 16 years ago that the native Australian moved to New York.
01:13Even though she started out back then with just a few thousand bucks in the bank and no industry
01:18contacts, it wasn't long before Brown landed herself a features gig at Harper's Bazaar.
01:24A legendary title where she spent 11 years honing her skills and her style, rising to executive editor
01:30and infusing her own brand of cheek into nearly 120 cover features. Fitting preparation for her role
01:36steering what is likely America's most popular celebrity fashion magazine. But like I mentioned
01:41earlier, the seas of change are, well, changing. And Brown's refreshing, relatable approach to
01:48celebrity. They really are just like us. As well as her knack of folding timely political and social
01:54issues into the magazine's steady stream of pop culture have been just a few of the ways Laura
01:58Brown began to make her millennial mark. It's a rare editor or journalist who can get a famous person
02:04to air her dirty laundry. But that's the kind of thing that Laura almost invented, because it's become
02:10the quirky premise for her new video series dubbed Dirty Laundry, in which she hosts it women like Rose
02:15Byrne, Priyanka Chopra, and Alexa Chung in a laundromat, swapping stories and witty quips in equal
02:21measure. As a new world editor, video is a priority for Laura. She also has a keen focus on engagement
02:28and
02:28pushing the power of social media, something she's personally a pro at. Her mantra for InStyle is a
02:34literal interpretation of the title. It's about what's in the cultural zeitgeist. Actors, models,
02:40designers, instastars, as well as artists and politicians, and magazine editors, because as
02:47Laura Brown has proven, they can be the biggest stars of our time too.
02:59Laura, thank you so much for being a guest on InStyle today.
03:03Good morning.
03:03Good morning. We're so chirpy.
03:05I know. With our juices and our coffee and our...
03:08Joie de vivre. And our mixed prints.
03:10Just know out there, everyone, that we're wearing mixed prints and we go perfectly together.
03:14We're clashing in all the right ways.
03:17Exactly. I'd like to call you a friend. We've been friends for...
03:20I dare you.
03:22We are friends, everybody. We're coming out with it.
03:25You were an editor at 19.
03:2719, 20. I finished college. Well, I guess I was an editor. I guess I was an assistant.
03:31Well, yeah, I had a job. In Australia, our arts degrees are three years, so not four years here.
03:35And I was young for my year in school, so I went to college at 17. So I was finished
03:41basically by 19.
03:43But then I got this job at this magazine called Australian Family. And that's when I have to go
03:48back into my native patois. It closed down after three months. I had a history of working for a
03:53number of magazines that closed down basically after I walked in the door.
03:57My second job was a magazine called Mode, where I was kind of an assistant, but I ended up doing
04:01production. So sort of like a baby managing editor. We had computers, but they were not like anything
04:05in the 1880s. But I would have to handwrite everything out and chase everybody for their
04:10deadlines. And I was that guy. But I wanted to write so badly that I would, you know, sit there
04:15at night and write sort of the upfront kind of news pages and the fashion gossip and everything
04:20else. And you would just spend your time off the clock, you know, doing that.
04:24And when did you decide that you wanted to move to New York? And why? Because there's
04:29actually a good number of really high quality publications in Australia.
04:34Oh, big time.
04:34There's a big fashion scene there.
04:36There is. I mean, you know, for the size of the population, there really is. Look, I think
04:42that when you do what we do, fashion, pop culture, culture, arts, whatever you want to
04:48call it, there's something about wanting to be on the front lines of it. And especially
04:52when I was younger, Australia wasn't. You know, you'd get these shiny copies of Vogue
04:56or Harper's Bazaar or whatever. And I was, you know, delivered like three months late
05:00with all the supermodel on them and all the movie stars. And part of being a journalist
05:04or part of being producers with everything now, but like is wanting just to see something
05:08with your own eyes. And I just felt like it was it was sort of diluted coming to me in
05:13Australia. And I was just I remember there was some Helmut Lang show and I wrote about
05:18it from online. I just was like, I just want to see the bloody Helmut Lang show. And it
05:21didn't matter that it was Helmut Lang. It was just illustrated. Can I just make up my
05:25mind because I'm in the room?
05:26In my head, I was I mean, I lived in London for a couple of years and did the sort
05:29of
05:29standard like backpacking, you know, thing and sort of freelancing in London and took
05:33myself off to the Paris shows on my own and did all of that. Don't recommend that.
05:38I went to Paris for like five days, got like row. I don't even know the rows. J. Is
05:44there a row J?
05:45I was in row G once.
05:46I was like, who even has a row G?
05:48Apparently you can go all the way back in the alphabet. And that's where I was. And I
05:52would like go to like the Anne de Moulamise to show or the whatever it was that I could get
05:57tickets for as representing bizarre Australia. And it was like, as far as I knew, models were
06:04just like floating torsos because I couldn't see anything else. And and I and I wouldn't
06:09I didn't talk to anybody who wasn't a waiter for like five days because I didn't know
06:13anyone. And it was raining and people were mean. And and I but I just wanted to go see
06:17it so badly that I just went on my own. And it was very weird. I mean, I'm glad I'm
06:22so
06:22glad I did it. But it was like that was hardcore.
06:24That's like so intimidating.
06:26It was crazy.
06:26I remember the first time I went to the Paris shows and I know that everyone out there probably
06:30think that the fashion shows in Europe are so glamorous and it's really fun. And in
06:36some ways it is, but it can be extremely stressful and anxiety ridden and just getting in and out
06:42and the schedules are so packed.
06:44Or standing in the rain. And even when you've got a, you know, quote unquote big job, you're
06:51you're still at 9 a.m. because you've been told to get there at 9 a.m. standing in the
06:56rain and taking cover with random people and being like this. This is the dream.
07:10I think we had like an early dinner or a drink or something in Tribeca a couple of years
07:14ago when we were first starting to get to know each other. And you said something that
07:17really stayed with me for a long time. I still think about it. It's probably one of the most
07:21profound things anyone said that said to me about this industry is you said, why aren't
07:25they're more funny people in fashion?
07:28Yeah. Still asking.
07:29And I think that we were like counting them and there was like, I think there was really
07:32three that, you know, people that had, that were openly sort of making it a part of their
07:38point of view.
07:39Exactly.
07:40They'd come out about being funny.
07:42The sense of humor and the sort of approach was really a part of their writing. It was part
07:47of their career. And like I said, their point of view. And, but I think the fact that you
07:52do have such a identifiable, contagious sense of humor. You were at Harper's Bazaar as one
07:58of the executive editors there and you did over a hundred celebrity covers, something
08:02like that.
08:02Yeah. I think it was like, I mean, I could count on it. It was like 11 years and it
08:06was
08:06about 10 to 12 years. So it was like 120.
08:10One of the things I loved so much about your celebrity covers is they were occasionally funny.
08:15Right.
08:15There was something about them that did, and it was always a part of our approach at Refinery
08:2029 to sort of establish this peer to peer conversation.
08:24Right.
08:24For me, a person at a moment in time, and here's the conversation with somebody, and obviously
08:28I know their history because we're all awake and we know all these women pretty much.
08:31I was like, here's what Christine's doing today and where she is at. And having that conversation
08:36just evolve in that moment. And I think that's so revealing about people without having to
08:40front or back load all of the history and everything else, because I think we're so privy
08:44to that. So yeah, just giving this sort of almost casual...
08:48Like a snapshot.
08:49Yeah. And I think that they... And you build up a certain amount of trust with people over
08:53that, when you have that sort of format. And also I've been doing it for so long that
08:56they end up giving you more in that sort of easy way than they would if you started hitting
09:00them with, you know, that time when you said, you know what I mean? I think that that's
09:04not in the long game.
09:06Grilling never really goes over well.
09:07It doesn't. And I don't, you know, it's so old fashioned. And I think that you actually
09:12get a more entertaining and illuminating story if you just have some ease and trust with who
09:18you're talking to.
09:18You took over at InStyle, which is probably America's most popular fashion magazine.
09:25Yeah.
09:26And especially known for its commitment to really covering celebrities and kind of making
09:32that connection between pop culture and fashion, which is so up your alley.
09:37Right.
09:38But there's a lot of transformation happening at some of the most historic women's magazines,
09:43at Glamour, at Elle. But you're really fresh right now and at the beginning of this journey.
09:49I'm fresh. 43 and fresh.
09:50You're fresh.
09:51I mean, for me, I always have to make a big thing small, number one. Because when I first
09:56looked at the pie chart of the size of InStyle compared to all the other magazines, I almost
09:59had a stroke.
10:01What does that mean? What do you mean the pie chart?
10:04So there's Cosmo, which is the biggest women's magazine in the world. Then there's us. Then
10:09there's everybody else in smaller increments.
10:12Oh, and that scared you because you're so big.
10:14Well, no. It was just so – I was like, whoa, okay. And I think that I've always – I
10:19think why they hired me and I think what I trust in myself is that I do have an approachable
10:23voice, whatever I'm covering, whoever I'm involving in the magazine. So I think where
10:28it had been was kind of this sort of – I call it cashmere and Malibu. This kind of
10:34like, you know, lady. And I think that that was great for a time.
10:38Can you do the voice? Can you do the cashmere and Malibu voice?
10:41Cashmere and Malibu. Sorry, I turned from English, but I'm wearing my cashmere and Malibu.
10:45I'll see you there. No. But it just was that kind of idea. And I think that had a currency
10:50for a long, long time. I think that what we've all noticed is celebrity itself has changed.
10:56So it's not just a movie star or a TV star anymore. It's a model. It's a designer.
11:01So that very definition I wanted to broaden. And ironically, through – I've added certainly
11:07more of a high fashion lens to it. But you know the people in the pages now. Like, you
11:11know every single person that's on those pages. You know them better actually than what
11:14you would have known a couple of years ago. So they are actually more identifiable even
11:18if they are, you know, more fashion, more political, more of a designer. And then I just
11:24distill what they're saying into an approachable way. And anybody that even writes for the
11:29magazine, if they are the quote unquote shiny people, I have them write about a common experience
11:34that they share that we all do. So which brings them into a more inclusive world. And I think
11:39that I just want everyone to be a contributor. Like I – in the September issue, we had 52
11:44contributors. And I just made them all take a selfie. And I've shoved them all on the page
11:47like a yearbook, you know. And I'm like, okay, Stephen Colbert and Marc Jacobs and Carolyn
11:51Murphy and Dita Von Teese and Roxane Gay and just – all of you, just come, you know.
11:58That's an incredible mix of voices.
12:01Yeah. But that's the idea of style, I guess. Strangely, there's – yes, there's some
12:06people that go like it's changed too much for me or I want to be told how to put on
12:11my pants or whatever or it's more liberal than it used to be. But it's also a weird thing.
12:15Those people I hear from, there's very much a generational situation. You get letters
12:20at instyle.com, you know, which is a very sort of old school way of communicating with
12:24a magazine. But then I realized – Do you get real letters like in envelopes?
12:27I do. I got one about our Bella Hadid cover, which was August. And I put her in a long,
12:33beautiful pink, long-sleeved Valentino dress and big pink boots. And some lady, bless her,
12:37had like typewritten, like, what is this cover? And why would she be wearing a long-sleeve
12:43dress in August and those pink boots? And where is the smile on her face? And why would
12:47she put this ridiculous get-up together? And I – it was so brilliant that I actually – I'm
12:51really good friends with Pier Paolo Paglioli, who designs Valentino. And I sent him this note
12:56and he said, oh my God, I love it. I said, I'm going to get a frame. So he's got
12:58this letter
12:59in this pink frame in the Valentino office.
13:03She's famous now.
13:03Yeah. So I was like, it was so rad because everything about it, she was like, I don't – and
13:06I was like, you know what? Fair enough, lady. Like, I mean, you think it's too hot for that dress
13:11and Bella should smile? Probably right. As soon as you get these absolute gems and – but
13:16also the new letters page is – Twitter is Instagram likes, is Instagram comments. That's
13:20the letters page of today. So the feedback has been awesome. You know, I took a hard
13:25right for more of an industry play as well, put a couple of models on there to work on
13:28our teams and better photographers. And now it's evening out a little bit. I think September
13:32issue really illustrated where I'm going to go with it, which is – it's broad. There
13:36is a model, but there is a comedian and there is an actress and there's everybody
13:40in there. And I think that then that's settling it a little bit. But you have to, you know,
13:44I mean, I wanted to take its ass and kick it and I did pretty soundly.
13:48Yeah! Woo!
14:03It's stressful being an editor-in-chief, isn't it?
14:05It's an awesome, awesome job to have. But you, you work for it. Like, you really do. There's
14:13no coasting. Especially now. Especially now with the industry as it is. This is not the
14:19days of town cars and expense accounts and flying DJs to shoot.
14:23For some people it seems it still is.
14:24But –
14:25I think they're having – they're getting rude shocks. I think those types. Bless them.
14:29That's another question I wanted to ask is on a role like yours, you know, having you
14:34in a meeting with a brand partner or an organization, a foundation, you know, anybody that really wants
14:41to benefit from the shine and the sparkle of InStyle. How do you feel about straddling
14:49that – those two parts of the business? A lot of editors have problems with it.
14:53Yeah. I mean, I get it. We just want to sort of stay in and edit. You know what I
14:56mean?
14:56You can't really do that anymore. I think it's – the best way is to sort of, I always
15:00say, underthink it a bit. Like, you're speaking about your brand and your brand message to
15:03whoever it is. And that should be – if it's consistent, it's not hard. Sometimes you'll
15:06tailor your conversation to whoever you're talking to. If it's an auto person, if it's
15:10an auto advertiser versus a philanthropic thing versus a celebrity, you know. I mean, if at
15:16heart your ideas are consistent and what you stand for is consistent, then it's not
15:20difficult. It's difficult if you've got to do six of them in a day. Because if you're
15:25proud of what you've done, and you're proud of your work, and your team is proud
15:29of their work, and people are noticing what you're doing, I'm happy to talk about
15:33it. I'm happy to talk about it all day. It's just sometimes when I – when there's
15:37a lot of talking about it, you get a little bit tired. But I stand behind it, and it's
15:41a consistent conversation. So, yeah. And I'm happy to like – I mean, I went to Detroit
15:45a little while ago and met with a bunch of automakers, and I hadn't done that yet.
15:49And that was fascinating, you know, to go and see what they were doing.
15:53Detroit is a really exciting city right now.
15:54Oh, it's so awesome. But, you know, I then got a story idea from – I met with people
15:59from GMC, and they were telling me about the woman that designs all their trucks is
16:03like a tea-drinking English lady. And I was like –
16:06And she lives in Detroit.
16:06Tell me who this is. And now we've just profiled her in this new series we have launched
16:11called Badass Woman, which you guys so kindly wrote about. So I got – you know, I got to
16:16go and meet all these people in a different industry from me, share Insta with them, and
16:19I came back with an idea for something. So that's – I'm not going to get that if I
16:23don't go to Detroit and meet these people. So it works. It works out. There's a million
16:27different businesses that everybody's trying to run. I need to see, especially with our
16:30partnerships, how ours can work together to, you know, frankly make money for both of us.
16:36And that's – we all have to do that at the end of the day. Otherwise, we do not have
16:38jobs.
16:39Going back to the space of women's media really shifting right now, one of the many reasons
16:44that we launched Refinery29 13 years ago was because we felt like – it's 13 years
16:48ago. It's crazy. But that we really felt like there was a need for a much more democratic,
16:54much more approachable kind of conversation and also means of delivering information and
17:00tools and inspiration to an audience without it feeling so prescriptive. What do you hope
17:07really comes out of this big shift in women's media?
17:10We had to wake up. We were forced to, you know, and I think that politically, obviously.
17:14Well, I think what we're all facing is sort of every magazine, website, brand, we call
17:19it, you know, how woke we're all going to be. Like everyone's sort of like a woke off
17:23at this point. And I think that's going to – no one's asleep sleeping because they're
17:27so woke all day. It's going to settle because what we're in a situation of now is facing – dealing
17:32with this administration in a way that is appropriate for all of our brands. But I think the questions
17:36for the people that are going to be hiring for these brands is how far into it are they
17:40going to get? How politically engaged do they want to get? Considering their readerships,
17:44the breadth of their readerships. It's a very tricky question because, like, I'm a huge
17:48admirer of what Teen Vogue has done, but you can't have three Teen Vogues. And I have personally – we
17:52have a very extremely broad readership for InStyle. So I'm like, I'm not going to just
17:56Trump bash all day. I'm going to be positive and proactive. And like when the Harvey Weinstein
18:01stuff came out, we had already had an essay by Gretchen Carlson about sexual harassment
18:05that we put out there. So it's like, here's how I owned what was happening to me and here's
18:09what you can do. So that's how I'm always going to approach that. It's a really interesting
18:14time. And whether the people that are hiring for these positions or maybe there's sort
18:18of one left or there's a lot of other change going on, I would urge them not to knee jerk
18:23into like digital first people all the time because there still needs to be people that
18:28can tell a story on a page and create a narrative on a page. And you can be as digitally
18:35savvy
18:35as ever, but when oftentimes these magazines are still the root of the tree. We did a September
18:41cover with Selena Gomez and with her, you know, Selena's – what is she at? 128 million Instagram
18:46followers. She still comes to InStyle for the cover shoot and the cover of the magazine.
18:51Print ain't dead. It's not going to be dead. And the most special magazines are going to survive
18:56and they need to have that anchor, that storytelling anchor big time.
19:01In our December issue, we have a profile of former Vice President Joe Biden and I wrote
19:06it and I spent some time with him and Mario Sorenti took the pictures and it is wonderful.
19:13And we've done a special 10,000 issue run of a subscriber cover with Biden on it.
19:20And why did you make the time to write that story?
19:22Because if people I respect, I will make the time. I made the time for Stephen and I was
19:27lucky to have – look, I'm thrilled that they've chosen InStyle and after only a year,
19:31you know what I mean? And only like eight issues really out in the public.
19:34Thanks!
19:35I get so proud of that and I can go – three months, I'm happy now. You know what I
19:40mean?
19:40When we've just done something wonderful and it's not just a Instagram or it's not just
19:44a piece of news on a website. It's – they got hit for a day and disappeared. It's something
19:49that's really lasting and it's a really good read and he's incredible and necessary to hear
19:54from right now. And that's what I want to do more of.
20:11After you took over at InStyle, you did an interview with Business of Fashion.
20:14You talked about feeling like an outsider in the fashion industry. What does that mean exactly?
20:20I didn't sort of – I guess I always call it the fashion movie. I wasn't in the fashion movie.
20:25Like I just kind of got to where I am. I think it's just through my personality,
20:29obviously my ability to do the work, my currency and what I stand for and who I am and success
20:35that I've achieved and Insta has achieved. In some way because of that, I can stand up straight
20:39and go, I'm owning what I do. And I came from nothing and nowhere really and have this job.
20:46So it gives me like a – I kind of don't give a shit. Sorry for the bad word.
20:50That's okay.
20:51You know, I'm giving less and less of a shit. I'm becoming more honey badger.
20:54You remember that honey badger video?
20:56Yeah, honey badger don't give a shit.
20:57Yeah.
20:58I am becoming more like that.
20:59Okay.
20:59That's a good attitude. It's liberating.
21:01Yeah. But I do think there is a warming up generally. I think that, again, people are
21:06understanding that there's bigger battles to fight than who sits in what row of a fashion show.
21:11And I did sense this season a lot more warmth than I ever had.
21:16I do still think that the industry suffers from a bit of a mean girl complex. And I try to
21:22always
21:22remind myself that that really comes from just feeling scared and insecure in yourself. And I think
21:27that that tends to perpetuate or emerge as a mean girl complex. But it isn't always that case.
21:33You know what's funny though? Because it was – it feels like such a throwback now. I was at this
21:35Dolce & Gabbana show in Milan and I was sitting around two men who were just bitching out everyone
21:43across from them. And it just seemed – not only it wasn't – obviously it was mean, but it seemed
21:48so
21:48old-fashioned. I was like, legit? Like you're like bitching about that girl's shoes? Like, come on.
21:55Come on. Like as Joe Biden would say, come on, man. Like, but it's just like –
21:59It's pretty shitty.
22:00But it seemed – but I was reassured in some ways that that seemed unusual.
22:04You noticed that it seemed out of place.
22:07And less typical, you know, or at least, you know, and I was like, oh, get out of your –
22:10yeah.
22:11It was kind of amazing. But it didn't seem like it was as par for the course as it used
22:15to be.
22:15Yeah.
22:15Which I'm happy to report.
22:16The fashion industry is in somewhat of a bit of turmoil right now as well.
22:20There's turmoil everywhere. You're nothing if you're not in turmoil.
22:23Well, transformation turmoil, whatever you'd like to call it.
22:26No, but everyone is. They literally are. Everyone's churning. It's very on time.
22:29It is. But what do you hope that – at least through your role at InStyle – but how do
22:34you hope that, you know,
22:35fashion brands can better connect with women? Like what is the role that you really want to see them playing
22:40more in their lives?
22:41I think it all comes down to voice and a brand that has a voice.
22:43I agree.
22:44And it sounds like an old-fashioned thing, but like of a magazine or a designer, but you know who
22:47I think is really connected and who I think is wonderful is Brandon Maxwell, who has loved clothes.
22:54He's from Texas. You know, sometimes he says he eats too much. He's like – he gets all insecure and
22:59worried before he shows.
23:00He's very emotional and he shows it.
23:02People love him. He's kind to women. He doesn't just dress women who are models, even though he loves models
23:07and he thinks models are amazing.
23:08He works with all kinds of ladies. He loves them. And you can tell – and he makes beautiful clothes,
23:14but that's almost secondary because there's so much goodwill around him.
23:18And you want to go to his show and see some young man who loves what he's doing.
23:23And that's his voice.
23:25And that voice – look how much success he's had in a really short time because of his voice.
23:30So I think that that is be yourself or even just make the one thing that you know women are
23:35going to love.
23:35And also, like, if you're going to be a designer, like, put on a show or do appointments.
23:40Like, this sort of in-between thing where everybody feels sort of obligated to go to.
23:44Like, for example, in New York, like, Mark Jacobs puts on a show.
23:47And I will always applaud him for that.
23:49And he is a showman till the end.
23:51And I love going there and seeing what he's going to do.
23:53I also go for some designers who I just love who will go and see the clothes at an appointment
23:57or a presentation.
23:58And that's absolutely fine too.
23:59Because then you actually get to interact with the designer.
24:01You've got to really be sure of what your character is and what you're going to say.
24:05And that will distinguish you.
24:06When you just – when you feel that cynicism of people just making the new bag and the this and
24:10the other, they're not going to last.
24:12They're really not going to last.
24:13And I mean that for anybody in the industry, period.
24:15You just vacillate and just make stuff and you are cynical about how you price it or who can wear
24:21it or any of that kind of stuff.
24:22That just seems old news now too.
24:24Okay, last little tidbit.
24:26Who are the most fun people that you've ever interviewed or done a cover story with?
24:30Just the top three.
24:32Tilda Swinton.
24:33Why?
24:33She's just freaking smart and I could talk to her all day.
24:36And like she's – she's spectral smart but you can still like have like funny jokes about people's bad Botox.
24:42Like she's awesome.
24:44Who else?
24:45Colbert.
24:45He is one of the most thoughtful interviews I've done.
24:49You know, he can – obviously he's hilarious and he can do all of that.
24:52But he will give you an answer five laps beyond where you thought you were going to – where you
24:56thought you were going to be and actually stops me.
24:59Stopped me and makes me think.
25:00You know, which I appreciate because I can be a liberty gibbet.
25:03His commentary on all the sort of Trump and political stuff has been so spot on.
25:09Yeah.
25:10So he's major.
25:11Emilia Clarke, Khaleesi from Game of Thrones.
25:14She – I take pride in sort of pushing her to go on Instagram and now she's got like 10
25:18million followers.
25:19But she is so funny.
25:20Was she not on Instagram before that?
25:22I mean she's been on for a while now.
25:24Like a couple of years I guess.
25:25But –
25:25She should give you a couple of, you know, a couple of shout outs there.
25:28No, she has.
25:29No.
25:29But I mean the point being is so funny all these girls that you know are going to have a
25:32really good voice and then they go on and like – and her hashtags are hilarious.
25:36She takes the piss out of Game of Thrones all the time.
25:38She's a really funny kind of bawdy interview and she's not so conditioned like the other girls are.
25:43And I understand why the other girls are conditioned because they've been doing this for so long and it's just
25:47going to be like I love interior design.
25:48That's great.
25:49But, you know, I just like – I do kind of like the English girls sometimes because they're kind of
25:53a little more honey badger.
25:55But when you get that kind of new girl on a cover that is less sort of programmed, that's always
26:01really fun.
26:02And that's when I'll put my hand up for those kind of interviews.
26:06But I will like – I mean personally I like to try and speak to the most diverse bunch of
26:09people I can, you know.
26:11And I do love talking to the dudes, you know, because that's a new thing for me.
26:14So I'll do a bit more of that.
26:16Well, I'm so happy that you made the time to come to be a guest on UnStyled today.
26:21I love, love, love talking to you.
26:23I could listen to your dulcet tones all day.
26:24Oh, thanks.
26:25So dulcet.
26:26Thanks for having me.
26:27And congratulations on all your success at UnStyle.
26:30Oh, thanks.
26:30I'm going to go take a nap.
26:32Okay.
26:32Bye.
26:33Bye.
26:37I hope you're inspired after hearing Laura's story.
26:40For even more UnStyled extras, check out Refinery29 or my Instagram at Christine Barbrick.
26:46You can also join the conversation using the hashtag UnStyled across your social media.
26:51And of course, we'd be infinitely grateful if you'd please subscribe to UnStyled on Apple Podcasts and rate us while
26:57you're there.
26:57You can head to Refinery29.com to find this episode and more and make sure to sign up for our
27:03exclusive UnStyled newsletter delivered straight to your inbox every week.
27:08Our show today was executive produced by Sarah Bernard, associate produced by Rebecca Easley, and edited by Priscilla Mena.
27:15Copy support was provided by Tommy Fitzpatrick.
27:18Our theme music today is by the artist Koff, and we recorded UnStyled with Paul Ruist at Argo Studios.
27:25We'll see you back here next Monday for a conversation with Sophia Bush on finally rewriting the rules of your
27:30own life.