David Cronenberg For The Girlies

We’re back with another episode of The Review of Mess: a podcast collaboration between The Review of Beauty (by me, Jessica DeFino) and I <3 Mess (a fashion newsletter from Emily Kirkpatrick). For this installment, we invited writer and director Emilie Blichfeldt to talk about her new “beauty horror” film, The Ugly Stepsister, which is theaters now and will begin streaming on Shudder on May 9.

Today we’re talking about: Apocalyptic steampunk fashion at Coachella [3:30]; the astounding number of beauty brand founders on Time Magazine’s list of The 100 Most Influential People of 2025 [18:45]; aesthetic recession indicators [23:57]; a horrifying/embarrassing story involving Jessica, J.K. Rowling, and this Batsheva BUTTERFACE t-shirt [39:20]; a new hole care brand called Niches & Nooks [42:00]; luxury fashion post-tariffs [51:10]; Anne Hathaway’s alleged face lift [1:02:45]; an interview with Emilie Blichfeldt on tape worms, hair loss, and ugly heroines [1:08:36]; Lauren Sanchez’s $5,750 Balenciaga coffee cup [1:40:00]; and a fun little mental breakdown that resulted in Jessica bleaching her eyebrows [1:48:45]. Plus more!

Media we mentioned: “Small plate cowgirls” [American Style], Ways of Seeing [John Berger], “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” [Walter Benjamin], “Weight-Loss Drugs Like Wegovy Are Linked to Hair Loss” [TIME], “Reentering The World With Anxiety Eyebrows” [Vogue]

About the podcast: The Review of Mess is a podcast by Jessica DeFino and Emily Kirkpatrick that takes a critical look at the dregs of pop culture. Jessica is the writer behind The Review of Beauty, which has been called the newsletter “the beauty industry fears,” and Emily is the creator of I <3 Mess, a weekly roundup of the best of the worst celebrity fashion. Together, they dissect the biggest and dumbest celebrity happenings every month and give their unfiltered opinion on everything going on in the world of fashion and beauty.

Subscribe to receive future podcast posts in your inbox:

About the theme music: The Review of Mess theme song is “Hot Mess” by Carly Lind. Find more about Carly here and listen to her music here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jessicadefino.substack.com/subscribe