Arlo Parks on Restlessness, Zadie Smith and the Inner Critic | Fashion Neurosis

About this video

Arlo Parks is an English singer-songwriter, and poet. Born and raised in Hammersmith, West London, Parks released her first EP Super Sad Generation aged 19, going on to win the Mercury Music Prize, a Breakthrough Artist Brit Award, and Grammy nominations for her first album Collapsed in Sunbeams, released in 2021. Parks performed at Glastonbury and Coachella, opening for artists including Billie Eilish and Harry Styles. Parks’ second album, My Soft Machine, was Brit-nominated and included a song featuring musician Phoebe Bridgers. Parks toured this album globally, and it was named one of the Best Albums of 2023 by Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Billboard. In 2023, Parks released a debut poetry collection, The Magic Border, and has cited poets including Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsberg, Mary Oliver and Ezra Pound as influences on her lyricism. Her newest album, Ambiguous Desire, is inspired by the clubs and nightlife scenes of New York, London, and Los Angeles, where Parks has lived since 2021, and was released in April 2026. In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Arlo Parks discuss favourite album covers, restlessness, and drive. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Chapters: 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:23 What are you wearing today? 00:03:52 Success 00:07:39 Escapism and identity 00:09:00 Early memories of clothing 00:10:00 Reading 00:14:35 Childhood dressing 00:15:30 Restlessness 00:18:50 Zadie Smith 00:21:41 Name changes 00:24:00 Album covers 00:27:10 Caring for friends 00:29:04 Mental health 00:33:30 Clothes to improve mood 00:35:20 Designers 00:37:18 If you fancy someone… 00:39:00 Exercise 00:42:07 Hair colour 00:44:00 Screenwriting 00:46:10 Compliments 00:47:30 Sampha 00:50:00 Lyrics 00:52:00 Outro