Guido Maria Kretschmer: He starts his own podcast

“Now for me is the right time,” explains Guido Maria Kretschmer (60). The fashion designer, TV star and author starts his first own podcast “fine fabric”. From September 25th, fans can look forward to “a lot of guido” and “a lot of private”, promises Kretschmer. Every Thursday there is a new episode – wherever there are podcasts.

It is recorded in his own home. “I set up a small studio in which I also welcome the guests,” explains the fashion designer. “Some guests stayed with us after the recording.” In an interview with the Spot on News news agency, he reveals whether his husband Frank will also be a guest and what the podcast means for his other projects such as “Shopping Queen”.

Guido Maria Kretschmer: I think I was a podcast guest and make yourself, i.e. being a host is something completely different. For me this is a great pleasure because it is part of my life. I have always liked to have been hosting, have invited people for decades and also greeted countless guests in my programs – now they are thousands. I thought it would be nice to find a medium that focuses entirely on listening. A place where you really get into conversation and have more time with the individual guest. I meet so many people who are interesting – sometimes prominent, sometimes normal people off the street – and I have often wished to give them a bit of space and to trace thoughts differently. This idea has been with me for a long time. I had a lot of inquiries for podcasts, but I rejected them because I thought: No, I really have to be ready for it. And now is the right time for me.

Kretschmer: It is a lot of Guido, it is a lot of private. Talks in my own four walls, where it can sometimes become very personal. It is talked about topics that move me and who may otherwise have no room at all. In addition to the episodes in which I meet exciting people and come into conversation with them, there are also solo episodes. They were very important to me because I can tell and ponder freely there, about moments of life, about things that happened to me and about what concerns me. The special thing is that I have my editor with me, who sits towards me and asks questions from the community. This also makes it interactive here and the solo episodes tell again very differently who I am. I think this mixture makes the special charm of “fine fabric”.

Kretschmer: This is a very justified question. (Laughs) I wondered how I can integrate it into my life without becoming an additional burden. I found a nice system for this: I produce at home and have set up a small studio in which I also welcome the guests. So it has a great privacy that was very important to me. So far it works very well and I am pleased that I could shovel the time, even if I had to cancel other things.

Kretschmer: Frank is free. He loves me so much that he understands a lot that I enjoy. He is even happy that more people are coming to us now. Some guests also stayed with us after the recording and he cooked for them. Frank is very sociable and still likes to listen to me – surprisingly after 40 years. He particularly loves the solo episodes, and of course I was very happy.

Kretschmer: Of course that would be a big moment. I asked him, and my team really wanted it, but he said no at first because he believes that he should keep a small corner that only belongs to him. Maybe that will come one day. In any case, I have planned my sister and other people from my close environment that should definitely take place. But so far he has shown no interest. It is just idiosyncratic and it is Dutch that you shouldn’t underestimate that. (laughs)

Kretschmer: Oh, I can’t say that. I don’t have a top list, I’m just looking forward to exciting interlocutors. The luck is that many that I wanted have already agreed. But maybe it would be nice to have an unexpected guest, someone who otherwise never talks about things. My dream would actually be Rita Süssmuth. I like and appreciate her very much, once had a wonderful evening with her and thought how great it would be if she would tell her thoughts again. It is modern, awake, emancipated, has a lot of life experience. A woman I admire very much.

Kretschmer: Yes, definitely. There will be very private moments, also because many friends come. I can also discuss more topics that do not have as much space in my other formats. Such as politics and the large field of art, which I otherwise often leave out. I am very Kunstaffin and in the podcast there will definitely be consequences in which you can get a lot more of it.

Kretschmer: Actually nothing. These are things that can survive very well side by side. Television is visual, podcasts are acoustic and therefore a bit more intimate. Both are entertainment, but in different ways. In the end, of course, it always stays Guido.

Kretschmer: No, “Shopping Queen” is an important part of my life. I know about this regularity and find it almost a miracle that I have been doing it for so many years and still enjoy it. But maybe it is because new people come every day who shape my day. That keeps it alive. And just like in the podcast, it’s about encounters. So I believe that the fans will like both.

Kretschmer: No, definitely not. I have never decided anything in my life. But it is true: If you are in the end of fifties and go into the sixty, the view changes. You look different at friendships, relationships and also for your own tomorrow. This has much more meaning for me than the number of sixty itself. The podcast is more of an expression of an attitude: I want to do things that I enjoy, and less what you don’t do with passion. I have no problem being sixty at all. Because getting older also means consciously experiencing the stages of life – the boys, being now and not in the past.