For Recho Omondi, Knowledge Has Always Been Power
The host of The Cutting Room Floor is releasing season six of her show on April 2nd. The new batch of conversations with fashion's most educated set is more honest than ever.
By Megan O'Sullivan
Photos by Emma Trimm
Published
When Recho Omondi set out to start her own podcast in 2018, she sensed an empty space. She knew what it was like to work in the fashion industry. She had her own label and was familiar with every aspect of the business—fabric sourcing, production, press, and the bureaucracy behind it all. But there wasn’t yet a space to talk about it candidly. The Cutting Room Floor soon became the industry’s known corner for unfiltered conversations around fashion.
The first-ever episode, titled “Who Killed The Fashion Critic?” achieved exactly what Recho had intended: to unpack an industry topic with blunt honesty, to share untapped knowledge with her audience. The episode's guests, journalists Emilia Petrarca and Julie Zerbo, expanded upon “what it means to be critical of fashion in a world where everyone’s opinion has a platform.” Herein lies Recho’s modus operandi: qualitative and informed criticism.
What ensued is a library of conversations that filled the space Recho originally identified. In an interview with Mara Hoffman, the two unpack the inescapable truth that fashion is wasteful and how the designer navigates that as an environmental advocate. In a conversation with Tony Liu and Lindsey Schuyler of Diet Prada, the they discuss the importance of integrity in a sector that is often smoke and mirrors. And then there are the really honest episodes, like the one with Leandra Medine, where Recho values truth over everything else. This, one might argue, is the biggest risk a person can take in fashion, a space that is historically biased, privileged, and heavily marked with red tape. Recho isn’t scared of red tape.
On the heels of her release of a sixth season of The Cutting Room Floor, Recho reflects on the last six years of recording conversations with fashion’s most in-the-know individuals. Tune in on Patreon and enjoy our five questions with Recho below.
M: Recho! You have a design background. With that in mind, in your words, where did The Cutting Room Floor come from? What is the genesis story?
R: I started the show because I felt like, as influential as fashion is as a cornerstone of pop culture, few people really understood the intricacies of how the industry actually worked. And this includes people within the industry in some cases. I felt there was an opportunity to have in depth conversations around an industry that has so much energy around it and has many stories to tell.
M: You manage to successfully run direct, to-the-point episodes, where the listener can learn something from the subject. What is your philosophy on conducting an interviews, and how has it changed throughout the seasons?
R: Being well researched is really important. Keeping the guest honest also important. And finding details, examples, anecdotes is also really important. People have a tendency to talk about and around things, without providing any color or depth to what they're offering. Ultimately, I see myself in service to the audience and consider myself a conduit to information they might not otherwise have.
M: This is our risk issue. What would you consider to be the biggest risk you're taking in your work? How do you push yourself or push your work to take risks?
R: Anytime you're spending a lot of money it feels like a big risk. I think investing in myself and my show has been the biggest risk—even when you see something is working, when you double down on it financially it can still feel scary.
M: What can listeners expect in this upcoming season?
R: More education, more storytelling, more business stories and more debates!
M: What is something you would want your listeners/followers to know about you/your work that they don't already know?
R: That producing an independent, regularly programmed show is harder than it looks!
