Interview: My Brother's Friend
I recently stumbled across the podcast “My Brother’s Friend” thanks to Instagram. It’s a weekly podcast dedicated to the latest, greatest and most interesting streetwear fashions across the globe. I sat down with the founders, Nisha and Sofia, to learn more about them and the project.
1. Tell me about yourself individually.
Nisha: I am 20 years old and from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I went to a really small private school, so when it came time for college, I really wanted to take that as an opportunity to set roots down somewhere else. That is how I ended up at Boston College.
I am American, but both of my parents are Indian; however, my Dad grew up in Uganda. I had interesting cultural dynamics while growing up because certain foods we would eat would be from both India and Uganda. My family is also Muslim, so I grew up going to the Mosque. All of this played into this interesting identity crisis because growing up in a white suburban area, I didn’t appreciate my cultural upbringing until I was older. But when I went to college, it turned out that the people I related to the most were those with similar cultural identities as me.
At BC I study Finance & Information Systems, but figuring out what I want to do has been a journey for me. I switched my major many times throughout school. In the fall of 2019, I studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa and that was the cherry on top of my whole college experience.
Sofia: I’m Colombian-American, but I grew up outside the US. I left the US when I was about 4-5 years old, and we moved to Angola. Every three years, we moved to another country because of my Dad's job. I went to high school in Bangkok, which was incredible. I had the most fantastic time there and made such great friends. That experience shaped me into the person I am today, and I know this is weird to say, but I feel my roots are in Bangkok.
College was the first time I moved back to the States since I was young, and I decided to go to Boston College. I don’t know why it attracted me, but it did.
When I started at BC, I was really set on what I wanted to do, which was to study International Relations and eventually become a diplomat or work for the government. In the past year, though, I have realized I’m not too sure what I want to do anymore, so I’m a bit lost now. I study philosophy as well, which is a nice counter to International Relations because it is where deep thinking comes from.
I studied abroad for a semester in Madrid, which was amazing. Both Nisha and I, between multi-cultural upbringing and studying abroad, have been influenced to create this podcast.
2. Tell me about your friendship.
Sofia: I love this question because I love Nisha. She hates corniness and affection.
Nisha: It’s true. It makes me cringe a little bit. Just kidding, I love you too Sofia.
Sofia: So, we met freshman year. Our school has a lot of cultural groups, and within those groups, each one puts on their own performance every year. Nisha was a part of the South Asian student association, and one of my friends convinced me to do their culture show. We technically met there.
We didn’t become close friends until the beginning of our sophomore year when our friend groups merged. It just clicked between us. We’re both very relaxed and out-going people. I guess we were just drawn to each other. We have similar tastes in music and desire to leave the country all the time.
3. Where did the idea for the podcast come from?
Nisha: When COVID hit the U.S. this past spring, we were sent home from school and had a lot of time on our hands. We started talking about our experiences studying abroad and how I loved the fashion scene in Cape Town. Sofia would tell me about fashion in Bangkok and Madrid, and it was this accumulation of our international experiences and our realization that street fashion is different everywhere globally, which inspired us to start this podcast.
We were on Houseparty when we started forming the initial thoughts about the podcast. We both wished we knew about smaller brands in different parts of the world. In Cape Town, there were all of these small street fashion brands that I would never have known about if I hadn’t studied abroad there. Then we thought, how could we learn more about these brands if we can't visit that place? We now interview fashion influencers worldwide so that we can get some insight into brands in their part of the world.
Sofia: We wanted to learn about how a country's culture infiltrates their fashion, which we are still trying to figure out. Our first guest, Loyiso, talked about Cape Town, and he explained that their ‘relaxed’ culture manifests itself into their fashion.
Nisha: Our podcast’s underlying message is to invoke a cultural appreciation for street fashion rather than cultural appropriation. Streetwear has roots in Japan and in US hip-hop & skate culture, but I think there is a massive problem in the industry today where people don’t know the history of where their fashion comes from.
4. What is the process of creating an episode like? How do you find guests?
Sofia: We find guests through Instagram or mutual friends. It really changes and goes from randomly coming across someone to choosing someone specifically because we know them through a friend. Our second guest Rafhael, who is from Brazil, was suggested to me by a Brazilan friend who knew him through another friend.
We found Meera, who was featured in our 7th episode because my friend sent us a database of Arab creatives. I DM'd her through Instagram, and she responded! It’s hard sometimes because you'll message people, and they won't respond. It happens all the time because we just started, and we're still gaining a following and credibility.
The randomness of how we find brands and get new guests is part of the reason we call it “My Brothers Friend.” Nisha came up with the name, actually. I feel like she should explain it.
Nisha: Haha, okay. The name 'My Brothers Friend' basically came from the idea of wanting to find these smaller, niche brands. So, so often you will see someone wearing a really cool sweatshirt, and you go, "Hey, where did you get that?" Then they go, "Oh, yeah, my brother's friend has a company" or "my cousin...". There is some distant relationship established with the brand they are wearing. It’s this idea that we are like your brother's friend trying to inform you about these smaller brands all over the world.
Anyways, finding guests is kind of this sweet spot where we target people who have enough of a following, but they aren't too big that they won't respond or too small that they wouldn't be able to speak on the topic. I didn’t know Loyiso at all, but I messaged him saying “hey, I studied abroad at UCT and your photos are dope- would you be interested in being on the podcast?’” and he said yes! We are so grateful because his interview was amazing and he set the bar REALLY high.
Sofia: Yeah, he was such a knowledgeable, eloquent, and enthusiastic first guest that we were worried about how we were going to be able to keep this up. It’s been great so far, and all of our guests have been really awesome.
5. What do you hope to achieve with the podcast?
Sofia: We have many ideas about where we can go with the podcast, like possibly expanding to another platform, like a website, for people to get this information. We are still in college, so we don’t have a lot of time to put all of our energy into it, so I think having the podcast, for now, is good.
It has been nice to grow this network of people from all over the world. That has definitely been one of the coolest things. Honestly, we could message anyone we interviewed, and they would help us with whatever we needed. It has been a great way to get to know people.
Nisha: Yes, I would second that one-hundred percent. It has been rewarding to have the podcast, but building those relationships has been even more rewarding. It has been so cool to talk to and meet these people that we would have never met otherwise.
6. Who is your dream guest?
Sofia: Nisha and I spent so much time talking about this question. Honestly, there are so many. As generic as it sounds, talking to an icon, like one of the founders or godfathers of streetwear, would be so cool. We spoke specifically about Hiroshi Fujiwara and Nigo, who are both Japanese designers, artists, musicians, and creatives in general. They have a massive influence on Japanese streetwear and the US as well. They both would be the coolest people to talk to because we have not spoken to someone from Japan yet, and Japan is huge in the streetwear scene. Streetwear is the biggest in the US and then Japan.
Nisha: We were thinking about saying Virgil Abloh, but in streetwear that is kind of a generic answer. But what I find interesting is that there is so much controversy surrounding him these days. It mostly has to do with racism in streetwear and who owns streetwear. The other day, he posted on his Instagram that streetwear is dead. We thought, “How can it be dead? He helped establish streetwear in the high-end market. " Getting him to answer those questions would be great.
Yasmine: So, I guess a follow-up question to this would be, is there anyone you wanted to shout out who hasn't responded to your DM's?
Sofia: OH, YES! The cold laundry guy. He has a brand called 'Cold Laundry' in the UK. His clothing is incredible.
Nisha: There is also this guy called Ali Cha’aban, He is Lebanese, but was raised in Kuwait. Not only is he into streetwear, but he’s also an incredible photographer, artist, and anthropologist. He combines Arab art with Western ideals or concepts. For example, he places Westernized images (such as superman) onto Persian rugs.
Nisha: There are also so many people that we messaged who are more on the business side of fashion that work at media companies like GQ and Pause, which is an online streetwear magazine.
7. What is your take on street fashion? Are you a part of the scene, or you just an admirer of it?
Sofia: Both Nisha and I really love streetwear. We’re definitely not hype beasts at all, far from that. Hype-beasts are people who are extremely into those streetwear brands like Supreme, Bape, Kith, etc. We choose the pieces we like and incorporate them into our style, so we are 50% part of the scene and 50% observers. I don’t think either of us could drop hundreds of dollars on one piece of clothing - at least not yet anyway.
Nisha: We do think, however, that streetwear allows for more freedom and changes what is acceptable, like mixing patterns with other patterns or being gender fluid with your clothing. A massive part of streetwear is tailoring your outfits to fit your personality.
8. How does street fashion and feminism go together, or does it not?
Sofia: Women are slowly getting into the scene, and there are more and more female streetwear designers. One interesting thing about streetwear is that gender lines are blurred.
Nisha: I would agree. I would say there is a place for feminism in streetwear. Even though streetwear started as a place for men in, it has gotten to a place where women can be a part of it and find their individuality in fashion too.
9. Who are some women in the street fashion world that you admire?
Nisha: I love this question. We made a whole list today of all the women we love.
The first one is Yoon Ahn; she founded this brand called Ambush in Korea that focuses on jewelry. A$AP Rocky and Kanye West have also worn her stuff.
Natalia Maczek, who founded MISBHV. It is a very cool streetwear brand based out of Poland. I don't even think she has a background in fashion, which makes her story even cooler and more relatable.
Sofia: Yeah, she was studying Law when she started her brand.
Another one is Billie Eilish because the way she dresses and how she wants people to perceive her is intentional. I think her style is just unique because I don’t believe it’s been seen before by any young female celebrity. She has a very relaxed silhouette and wears a lot of baggy clothes.
Miss Chrissy was one of the first tik-tokers that I followed, and she’s an amazing streetwear influencer. I appreciate her style because it goes along with Billie Eilish.
Aleali May worked with Virgil a long time ago, and she was the second woman to design a Jordan sneaker. It was also the first Jordan to be released in both men's and women's sizes.
Minya Oh is a style director for Stadium Goods, and before that, she was a Hip-Hop journalist. She has a great fashion sense, and she was prominent in hip-hop journalism which is very connected to streetwear.
10. What is your favorite book? Any books you recommend? What are you currently reading?
Nisha: I recently read The Kite Runner, and I loved it so much I read A Thousand Splendid Suns after that. I would recommend both of those books to anyone. I did like The Kite Runner more, though, because I thought it flowed better and had better imagery.
Sofia: My favorite book is generic, but it is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. That book was just so incredible.
Her other book, A Secret History, is also excellent.