Speaker 1: You're listening to Amma Mia podcast. Mama Mia acknowledges the
Speaker 1: traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast is
Speaker 1: recorded on. Whoever said orange is a new pink with
Speaker 1: seriously deserved.
Speaker 2: Laurels for spraying croundbreaking. Oh my god, you have to
Speaker 2: do it. You live for fashion.
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Nothing to Wear, the podcast that
Speaker 1: solves fashion problems and levels up your wardrobe. I'm Lee
Speaker 1: Campbell and every week I chat to an expert who
Speaker 1: helps us work out how to get more out of
Speaker 1: the clothes we already owned and tells us exactly what
Speaker 1: is and isn't worth adding to our wardrobes. You've probably
Speaker 1: heard of Megan Hess, and if you haven't, you should.
Speaker 1: Meghan Hess is a world renowned fashion illustrator who's worked
Speaker 1: with top designers and luxury brands across the globe. Her
Speaker 1: big break came in two thousand and six when she
Speaker 1: illustrated the New York Times number one best seller Sex
Speaker 1: and the City. Since then, Meghan has crafted fashion portraits
Speaker 1: for publication like The New York Times, Italian Vogue, and
Speaker 1: Vanity Fair. Her iconic, elegant style has also grace campaigns
Speaker 1: for luxury giants. Like Fendi, Prata, Cartier, and Dior. No
Speaker 1: big deal. Not to mention She's written and illustrated twenty
Speaker 1: two best selling books. Megan's signature style is floaty, elegant,
Speaker 1: and effortlessly chic. I was curious to learn more about
Speaker 1: how she discovered her personal style, how she maintains it
Speaker 1: in a world of ever changing trends, and how she
Speaker 1: weaves it into her incredible body of work. Firstly, Megan,
Speaker 1: welcome to the show. As you know, I requested you specifically,
Speaker 1: and I'm very, very excited. So I want to start
Speaker 1: by what I think will be one of the most
Speaker 1: important questions, describing your style in three words. I feel
Speaker 1: like I could do it for you, but that's not
Speaker 1: what this is about. How do you describe your style
Speaker 1: in three words?
Speaker 2: This is so hard. I think I'm going to narrow
Speaker 2: it down to whimsical, colorful, and fairy tale.
Speaker 1: Oh I love that. I love all of those. I had,
Speaker 1: feminine and sophisticated. I was trying to think of a
Speaker 1: third one flying by the seat of my pants, but
Speaker 1: I absolutely love that. And obviously you're here to talk
Speaker 1: about personal branding and maintaining a signature style, so it
Speaker 1: feels like you know what you look like now. The
Speaker 1: saying rings true for most people. We've got a wardrobe
Speaker 1: full of clothes, but we reach for ten percent of
Speaker 1: that ninety percent of the time. What's in your ten percent?
Speaker 2: I'm depressed to tell you this because I do have
Speaker 2: so many dresses, and I'm obsessed with dresses. But the
Speaker 2: truth is in between the dress wearing, I do mainly
Speaker 2: wear jeans, trainers and blazers and.
Speaker 1: Actually be depressed. It's good to know. I think in
Speaker 1: that age of social media and reality TV and everyone
Speaker 1: looks glamorous all the time, and I'm sure you look
Speaker 1: glamorous in your jeans and your blazer, but it's nice
Speaker 1: to know that sometimes we're just falling back into those
Speaker 1: casual basics. And you know, dresses for you are such
Speaker 1: a passion that it's a collection and art. But I
Speaker 1: did wonder if you've got around the house in those
Speaker 1: all day long.
Speaker 2: No, And I don't draw or in me either. This
Speaker 2: is why I feel like a bit of a sham
Speaker 2: because I traveling, I love being in a blazer and
Speaker 2: jeans and a really comfy kind of knit and trainers.
Speaker 2: And to be honest, during COVID. I really really discovered
Speaker 2: how much I really do love trainers. Yeah, I have
Speaker 2: leaned into that.
Speaker 1: No, I think there can be different sides for out
Speaker 1: fashion personalities, and you're also publicly known for one. But
Speaker 1: you're not sleeping in those beautiful gowns.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: Now, you never expected to be a fashion person, but
Speaker 1: you have written twenty two books on fashion? Is that right?
Speaker 1: Twenty two?
Speaker 2: I think? So?
Speaker 1: Yessh, So you became a fashion person. How did that happen?
Speaker 2: It's so funny because I still see myself as a
Speaker 2: fashion observer, and I think that that's where I started,
Speaker 2: and I still feel that way in the sense of
Speaker 2: my love of it has always been capturing it, and
Speaker 2: so that's the real thing with illustrating it, and the
Speaker 2: world of it fascinates me, and the world of it
Speaker 2: has never I've never been stressed by the world of it.
Speaker 2: And I meet people all the time that fashion really
Speaker 2: stresses them out and it doesn't stress me out. Is
Speaker 2: because I technically don't feel like I don't know how
Speaker 2: to describe it, not like I don't feel like a
Speaker 2: fashion person. But my job has never really been to
Speaker 2: be displaying the fashion. It's to capture it and draw
Speaker 2: it and show it in illustrations. So that's what it is.
Speaker 2: And I think I've just always been someone who's loved it.
Speaker 2: And a lot of the books that I work on,
Speaker 2: there's lots of books in fashion, and there's lots of amazing,
Speaker 2: very highbrow books about fashion and different things, and I've
Speaker 2: always tried to create books that anyone can enjoy them.
Speaker 2: If you are a really hardcore fashion lover, or if
Speaker 2: you're an accountant that just kind of wants to know
Speaker 2: more about fashion or enjoy it, it should feel like
Speaker 2: something that you can easily flick through and be inspired
Speaker 2: by and enjoy.
Speaker 1: So when you say stressed, you mean like intimidated, and
Speaker 1: that the fashion world can be very sort of clicky
Speaker 1: and a bit scary. I sometimes feel intimidated by fashion,
Speaker 1: and so I think a lot of people can relate
Speaker 1: to that. So your newest one is Fashion in Color.
Speaker 2: I thought I've always been really fascinated by color in
Speaker 2: fashion in terms of what colors have become related to fashion.
Speaker 2: So for example, when you see someone in that air
Speaker 2: Man's orange, it evokes all those thoughts that you have
Speaker 2: about that brand, that Tiffany blue.
Speaker 1: I was about to say. As soon as you said, Hermes,
Speaker 1: I was thinking, Tiffany blues necks.
Speaker 2: Women's heart rates go up and we see that color.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure before Tiffany in Coo, if we'd seen
Speaker 2: that color, it's a beautiful color, but it wouldn't have
Speaker 2: had that association of effect on us. Yes, read, there's
Speaker 2: so many moments and Valentino pink with Barbie. There's a
Speaker 2: lot of moments. And I think it's fascinating to me
Speaker 2: how different people, whether they're famous or not, when they
Speaker 2: wear a color, depending on the color and what it is,
Speaker 2: how that color takes on a different life. I always
Speaker 2: compare say, Marilyn Munroe in Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend,
Speaker 2: where she's in that pink.
Speaker 1: Yes, I've got it in my head.
Speaker 2: Yeah that Ironically, Jackie Kennedy, who I also loved, she
Speaker 2: wore a really similar dress. It's pink satin across with
Speaker 2: the gloves, and yet when she wore it, it took
Speaker 2: on a whole different life. Yeah, it's a whole different feeling.
Speaker 2: It's completely elegant and chic and feels very Jackie Kennedy.
Speaker 2: Yet when Marilyn did it, she did it in her way,
Speaker 2: and so interesting when someone wears a color, what that
Speaker 2: color becomes.
Speaker 1: It's true because I was just thinking red, and until
Speaker 1: red really came back the last few seasons, I always
Speaker 1: thought red was sexy and racy, and it definitely is.
Speaker 1: But then there's so much red at the moment, worn
Speaker 1: by different people in different ways that it's really street
Speaker 1: style or athleisure were and I'm like, I've never would
Speaker 1: have thought of red like that, and so it's interesting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you have an immediate thought, I think, or an image
Speaker 1: or something from history, and then it can be turned
Speaker 1: on its head. Now. I love that you say as
Speaker 1: a fashion illustrator you sort of experience fashion, but that
Speaker 1: you're still very practically in your private life or when
Speaker 1: you're illustrating. So how do you shop for those two personalities?
Speaker 1: I mean, look at all those dresses behind you. Do
Speaker 1: you know how many dresses you've got? By the way,
Speaker 1: it's a collection. I'm sure that one day, if you
Speaker 1: had to sell it, someone would take it off your
Speaker 1: hands for millions of dollars. But which you goes to
Speaker 1: the shops or which you goes online? Is it the
Speaker 1: beautiful elegant dresses? Is it the jeans and how do
Speaker 1: you decide who you're taking a shopping out of your
Speaker 1: different aspects of your life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the thing that I actually find the
Speaker 2: most fun for me personally about fashion, that I feel
Speaker 2: like I have different fashion lives depending on what I'm doing.
Speaker 2: And I think this is the thing that I enjoy
Speaker 2: the most about fashion is dressing for where I am
Speaker 2: and what I'm doing. And so even when I travel,
Speaker 2: if I'm going to say Paris for work, I really
Speaker 2: want to be in things that make me feel really
Speaker 2: happy in Paris. And I don't mean it so much
Speaker 2: in a costumey style way.
Speaker 1: Do I fee Brenton shirt and you've got your bad hat.
Speaker 2: I don't need to be a full Emily in Paris
Speaker 2: or anything like that. I was just in Paris recently
Speaker 2: and it was quite cool weather and fashion Week was
Speaker 2: just about to start, and I was like, we're there
Speaker 2: same time, Yeah, so picture that weather. It was really
Speaker 2: crisp and coming into fashion week, and I passed a
Speaker 2: lady in our full tropical dress and it almost stressed me.
Speaker 2: I just didn't want it to be wearing that apparently,
Speaker 2: and if she was happy then that I heard it
Speaker 2: be in but for me, it's that really enjoying where
Speaker 2: i am and what I'm wearing. So if I'm traveling,
Speaker 2: I love being in and outfit that feels really good.
Speaker 2: To travel in the studio, I like being in something
Speaker 2: really comfy to draw in. When I'm in different locations,
Speaker 2: I love being in those colors. And the opposite of
Speaker 2: that is so true. If I'm somewhere and it feels
Speaker 2: like this is not the right fun feel for this moment,
Speaker 2: it ruins everything. Like we flew as a family to
Speaker 2: Hawaii and in the dead of Melbourne winter, yes perfectly
Speaker 2: so to be lovely and warm and Hawaii because it
Speaker 2: was really cold and Melbourne. We were all myself, my
Speaker 2: husband and my kids were all in like black tracksuits.
Speaker 2: Luggage went missing, all of it. Oh no, And so
Speaker 2: we landed. It's like hot and everyone's happy and in life,
Speaker 2: you know, we're all stressed out in these black tracksuits.
Speaker 2: And I remember saying to my daughter, it's fine, Like
Speaker 2: I don't want to just buy something to get through
Speaker 2: the next twelve hours. Obviously, we can just hang out
Speaker 2: today in Hawaii in our black tracksuits and we'll be fine.
Speaker 2: And it was so like miserable and everyone's passing a
Speaker 2: slide that's wrong.
Speaker 1: Maybe they have to packed for the wrong location. When
Speaker 1: I see your name, I think beautiful floral dresses, lace high,
Speaker 1: next sleep. So you have nailed personal branding. You know
Speaker 1: your personal style at least that public persona. Did that
Speaker 1: happen naturally? Is that what you're just drawn to? Was
Speaker 1: it a decision?
Speaker 2: I think at some point I figured out what I feel. Really.
Speaker 2: When I say comfortable, I don't necessarily.
Speaker 1: Mean physically comfortable, not as comfortable.
Speaker 2: In this dress as I would be in a tracksuit. Yes,
Speaker 2: I think I just figured out what clothes make me
Speaker 2: feel my best self. And it's a combin nation of
Speaker 2: when I'm in something that I feel my best self,
Speaker 2: I don't think about what I'm wearing, and I'm the
Speaker 2: opposite if I'm in something that I feel like either
Speaker 2: looks maybe too tight on me, or I'm in really
Speaker 2: constrictive underwear, or I'm in something that I think I
Speaker 2: may not look good in or whatever it is, and
Speaker 2: that can really affect how I am with other people
Speaker 2: or be then really awkward, or I might be shy
Speaker 2: or I'm so when I'm wearing something and I figured
Speaker 2: out early on that this type of outfit, for example,
Speaker 2: I don't even think about it. I put it on.
Speaker 2: I feel like myself, and so I'm really enjoying talking
Speaker 2: to you. If for some reason, let's say stylists had
Speaker 2: come and put me in a really tight, short red dress,
Speaker 2: I would be so awkward speaking to you right now,
Speaker 2: even if everyone told me I looked cool.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: This is the other thing, because I've worked in fashion
Speaker 2: in a sense, I have always known that you never
Speaker 2: have to do all the trends.
Speaker 1: Yes, and that was going to be about stressed out.
Speaker 2: They get stress. Oh my god, Tartan's coming. I don't
Speaker 2: look good, And I was thinking just let Tartan fly
Speaker 2: bys or if you loved tart and really lean in
Speaker 2: and go crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and when it's out again, you don't have to
Speaker 1: put it away, you don't keep wearing it. I love
Speaker 1: that about you. I think that you're so steadfast in
Speaker 1: knowing what works for you when it comes to trends.
Speaker 1: Do you still dabble? Do you still like looking at them?
Speaker 1: Do you like wearing them? Or are you pretty set
Speaker 1: in your work look? And then I guess your home
Speaker 1: look and travel look. But do you dabble in the trends.
Speaker 2: If it's something that genuinely sparks joy when I see it,
Speaker 2: then I will absolutely I feel no pressure to ever
Speaker 2: do it. And again because I feel like I'm more
Speaker 2: observing and capturing. I've never felt like anyone expects me
Speaker 2: next week. I'm mainly in my studio, like no one cares. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So I don't feel any pressure to wear it if
Speaker 2: I was someone that was that lots of people saw
Speaker 2: all the.
Speaker 1: Time, more in the public eye, like weekly or Yeah.
Speaker 2: But when things do come along that, I think, oh,
Speaker 2: I love even like denim jumpsuits, actually really do love them.
Speaker 2: For example, even tho there's a lot of bathroom issues,
Speaker 2: I still think a really great baggy almost boiler suit
Speaker 2: denim jumpsuit, I think it's really fun. So when things
Speaker 2: like that come in, I will actually get really excited
Speaker 2: that's a trend that's happening, And I'll think to myself,
Speaker 2: it will be really fun to search from high end
Speaker 2: to low end to what would be a great shape,
Speaker 2: and I will get one and I'll have so much
Speaker 2: fun wearing it, and I'll be really excited that that's
Speaker 2: come in. Whereas the trends not for you God, suddenly
Speaker 2: mid drifts are in whatever. It's just I'm actually justs
Speaker 2: fascinated by it, and I love watching other people wear
Speaker 2: it and do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean I will.
Speaker 1: I'm not particularly in the public eye except for on
Speaker 1: social media. But I just really admire the fact that
Speaker 1: you really do know your personal style and can admire
Speaker 1: but not get distracted because I am still abou abert.
Speaker 1: I'm still learning the difference between admiring and wanting and
Speaker 1: then buying and regretting. And so you talk about the
Speaker 1: boiler suit, for example, and you talk about searching high
Speaker 1: and low. How do you shop? Are you an online shopper?
Speaker 1: Are you a researcher? Are you impulsive?
Speaker 2: If it's something that I really really love, I usually
Speaker 2: know immediately, and even if there's nothing that I really
Speaker 2: need that thing for, I will buy that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Thing.
Speaker 1: It's emotional sometimes, isn't it. You fall in love?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's like I can't live without that. You
Speaker 2: just see something. I think it's just a great shape,
Speaker 2: it's the right color. I don't know where I'll wear that.
Speaker 2: I often do bank up pink things for my children's
Speaker 2: book series because I discovered well, I've just found that
Speaker 2: that was another incident where I had ended her. It
Speaker 2: was a writer's festival and I had to do a
Speaker 2: school visit and I packed a really fun pink dress
Speaker 2: to go to the school to meet all the preps
Speaker 2: to do a Clariss reading, and forgot to pack the
Speaker 2: pink dress and it was just a one overnight. I
Speaker 2: just had what I was wearing that day, and I
Speaker 2: had it. It was a gray jacket with these gray pants,
Speaker 2: like almost I got horrible accidentally. Corporate Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it was fun with kids, and I always find that
Speaker 2: they're always like that's the lady in the book.
Speaker 1: Yes, and it's always a character, particularly when it comes
Speaker 1: to children.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were really down and they were not excited
Speaker 2: to see me, and they were not they were almost
Speaker 2: scared of me. So it looks like a corporate like.
Speaker 1: It looked like a joop of the real author.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it just wasn't fun. So to answer your question, though,
Speaker 2: I do bank up things for Clarius, things often really fun,
Speaker 2: crazy colorful pink things or things to go with books
Speaker 2: that I know that are coming in that color, or
Speaker 2: just things that I fall in love with. And then
Speaker 2: if I don't see anything. I can go for ages
Speaker 2: without buying single thing and I'm happy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, fine, good on you. God, I need to find
Speaker 1: that balance. I think it's interesting though, and we hear
Speaker 1: time and time again on the podcast that people are
Speaker 1: missing the staple basics like the T shirt or maybe
Speaker 1: the jeans. And that's because I can appreciate a good
Speaker 1: T shirt, but it's not so often that I have
Speaker 1: an emotional reaction to a T shirt. But you walk
Speaker 1: into a store and there's a beautiful, flowy MAXI dress,
Speaker 1: you fall in love in a different way than you
Speaker 1: fall in love with a T shirt. Hence why a
Speaker 1: lot of people are like, oh yeah, basics missing from
Speaker 1: my wardrobe. So now talking again about fast moving trends
Speaker 1: and just trends over the decades you draw them. So
Speaker 1: what have you observed, Like, how has it been observing
Speaker 1: fashion through the illustrating lens and the rise of social
Speaker 1: media and the trends moving faster than ever through drawing?
Speaker 2: Well, this is really funny. Someone asked me the other
Speaker 2: day about that scene in Devil Wears Prada, you know
Speaker 2: where they talk about that blue But you don't know
Speaker 2: is that that sweater is not just blue. It's not turquois,
Speaker 2: it's not lapis, it's actually ceruleum. If I'm illustrating things
Speaker 2: for really in advance, I will often be really surprised
Speaker 2: by what the color is, what is going to be,
Speaker 2: and that wedge boots are back, and.
Speaker 1: Things like that, really are they?
Speaker 2: They weren't one. It's not that I've been told, but
Speaker 2: just things that I think. It's almost like the more
Speaker 2: I think, I just don't know that lilac is going
Speaker 2: to be the color for everyone, or that wedge boots
Speaker 2: are coming. It's usually about two years before and then
Speaker 2: within about that twelve months then you do see in
Speaker 2: designer collections that lilac color and wedge boots, and then
Speaker 2: about a year after that, then.
Speaker 1: It's in years an e h and M. That always
Speaker 1: blows my mind. I'm like, somewhere in a room, I know,
Speaker 1: and you know you can buy access to these summits
Speaker 1: and stuff, but someone setting all the trends and how
Speaker 1: did they know? And I remember when I traveled to
Speaker 1: London in June and the ice blue was everywhere because
Speaker 1: it was their high summer, and I was like, oh no,
Speaker 1: that looks very cheap and I'm not going to be
Speaker 1: that color. And what have I bought for the last
Speaker 1: few weeks. Not that I've bought a lot, but everything
Speaker 1: I'm looking at is ice blue, and I'm like, oh, well, yep,
Speaker 1: I'm a sheep. But it's fascinating, isn't it.
Speaker 2: It is because I think the other thing too, is
Speaker 2: that they become our options.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's true.
Speaker 2: Most people are not buying the original ice blue thing
Speaker 2: from Schanella duor for example, we're buying from Zara or
Speaker 2: places that it cens up. They're doing that great new
Speaker 2: shape jacket in either ice blue, beij black or cream.
Speaker 2: So that's why we do end up with that specific guys.
Speaker 1: It's so true. And it's like you know, you buy
Speaker 1: a red car and then you see that model all
Speaker 1: over the street. It was probably there, it's just once
Speaker 1: it's on your radar, then you de see it everywhere. Now,
Speaker 1: before we get into busion budget, one last question. Do
Speaker 1: you have any strategies or creative rituals to keep your
Speaker 1: stylef fresh for yourself and for your work? Because you've
Speaker 1: nailed who you are what you do, but then you
Speaker 1: don't seem bored of who you are or what you do.
Speaker 1: How do you keep it exciting.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, that's a nice thing to.
Speaker 1: Say, because I've been in the industry twenty years and
Speaker 1: I'm sometimes like I'm a bit bored of I love
Speaker 1: what I do, but you know, decades.
Speaker 2: Do you get bored? I get bored of me too, totally,
Speaker 2: I think, because for me there's a sense of once
Speaker 2: I made that decision to always feel comfortable even now,
Speaker 2: I don't wear all my meggat really high heels because
Speaker 2: I know that I will be miserable within half an
Speaker 2: hour at whatever it is. So I've just cut things
Speaker 2: down to things at heights. I know I can be
Speaker 2: in all night and be happy. I think once I've
Speaker 2: given myself the parameters of joy around fashion fancying, yes, yeah,
Speaker 2: then within that I can actually have a lot of
Speaker 2: fun with it because I love suiting as well. So
Speaker 2: even just with in suiting, knowing that, okay, I've got
Speaker 2: an exact link on my leg that I can either
Speaker 2: still do it with a heel or I can do
Speaker 2: it with a trainer. Yes, because before that, I had
Speaker 2: all these great suits for different reasons, and I never
Speaker 2: wore any of them because they involved wearing a really
Speaker 2: high boot. So that pant didn't dry well. Yes, and
Speaker 2: then I suddenly realized, no, there's an actual link where
Speaker 2: I can do both. And as soon as I got
Speaker 2: all my good suit trousers tailored to that length, I
Speaker 2: wear them all the time now. So now I've added
Speaker 2: sort of suits and shirts and things to a lot
Speaker 2: of it as well, and again it's comfort so I
Speaker 2: can walk in it.
Speaker 1: So and you're right, because practicality and joy can coexist.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of looking at your lifestyle and going okay,
Speaker 1: I love those fashion pieces, but my lifestyle is flats now,
Speaker 1: or you know, I've got a fall child or whatever,
Speaker 1: and you can fuse the two. It doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be just leggings and a T shirt, although that's me
Speaker 1: a lot of the time. You can have joy and practicality.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3: So it's very expensive, NY.
Speaker 2: How wondred percent?
Speaker 1: Okay, boohie and budget. So we're bringing our favorite something affordable,
Speaker 1: something maybe not so affordable, favorite personal style items. Do
Speaker 1: you want to start with your boohie or your budget?
Speaker 2: I'll start with budget.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's do budget.
Speaker 2: Changed my theory on budget okay, originally because I posperware, Well, no,
Speaker 2: my thing was always I spent a lot of time
Speaker 2: in my studio drawing, and so I need to be
Speaker 2: comfortable to do that. Then I thought to myself, I
Speaker 2: should invest in a really great a cream cashmere jumper,
Speaker 2: because that's the thing I'm wearing all the time, So
Speaker 2: that's what I should actually invest in. This is what
Speaker 2: I thought. So then I bought a very expensive Scottish
Speaker 2: one of the top of the range cashmere cream jumpers
Speaker 2: because I thought, this will last a very long time.
Speaker 2: I wear it all the time. This makes more sense
Speaker 2: than spending a lot of money on a crazy Maxi dress. Yes,
Speaker 2: I bought the Kashmir jumper. And then it was almost
Speaker 2: like having a third child. Had to hand wash it.
Speaker 2: I was actually terrified of anything happening to it if
Speaker 2: I had to lay it flat. I was worried someone
Speaker 2: else might accidently put it in the wash.
Speaker 1: So much stress for yourself. Yeah, And then.
Speaker 2: In the end, what happened was I was coming out
Speaker 2: of the studio and it got caught and pulled a
Speaker 2: whole right in front of my chair. And I realized,
Speaker 2: in that moment, You've spent a year stressing about this
Speaker 2: stupid jumper, and now it's got a hole. I can't
Speaker 2: even fix it because you can't stitch up that bit there.
Speaker 2: So now my theory is with budget is to actually
Speaker 2: not spend a lot. So get all my Cashmi jumpers
Speaker 2: cream from Unich.
Speaker 1: I was going to just say, I hope you ended
Speaker 1: up at you to go.
Speaker 2: Yes, I have, and I get a couple of them
Speaker 2: in cream, and then I have no stress whatever. Ironically,
Speaker 2: nothing's happened.
Speaker 1: Pretty durable, and I'm not a good laundry person. They're
Speaker 1: pretty durable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're fine, and T shirts as well, So my
Speaker 2: theory is not to try and have one precious basic
Speaker 2: but to wear them with abandonment and expect things to
Speaker 2: get spilt on them and replace them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I also think, you know, budget can mean cheap,
Speaker 1: but it can also just mean affordable but still good quality,
Speaker 1: because that's the same as me. My budget is one
Speaker 1: of the uniclow T shirts. It's the one hundred percent
Speaker 1: cotton crew neck T shirt, nineteen dollars ninety. I actually
Speaker 1: get the men's because I prefer the bit more over it, so.
Speaker 2: I let the men's shape and the arms are a
Speaker 2: bit longer.
Speaker 1: Bucks. Honestly, I have thrashed mine, I have washed them
Speaker 1: with any opposite color under the sun, and they're still
Speaker 1: so good. So budget can still be good quality. It's
Speaker 1: just not costing you thousands of dollars.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then you can relax in them. You're like
Speaker 2: your day and enjoy your life.
Speaker 1: There's no point. I mean, of course you've got occasional
Speaker 1: where but if you've got stuff in your water that's
Speaker 1: too precious to have aware, what's really the point?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, I agree.
Speaker 1: But do you have a bougie for me? Do you
Speaker 1: have something quite fancy so boogie?
Speaker 2: On the other extreme are things that I really have
Speaker 2: thought long and hard about before I bought them. And
Speaker 2: it's normally things like say handbags or pieces of jewelry.
Speaker 2: When I say jewel where I don't mean you know,
Speaker 2: crazy high and jewelry just sort of accessories that again
Speaker 2: with those basics suddenly, So then it means that if
Speaker 2: I am in my unic clothes sweater with some jeans
Speaker 2: and just a really basic slide or pair of flats,
Speaker 2: then if I've got a bag that just really makes
Speaker 2: me feel amazing, or some really amazing accessories with that
Speaker 2: that I do look after and I do plan to
Speaker 2: keep forever, give to my daughter one day. They're the
Speaker 2: things that I do really invest in in a splint,
Speaker 2: and I don't always go for just the classics. Sometimes
Speaker 2: there are things that are crazy and wild, but there's
Speaker 2: something that forever will be fun and forever be fun
Speaker 2: with something basic or with something over.
Speaker 1: The yeah, and that obviously speaks to you. And if
Speaker 1: you're going to have it forever, that's part of your
Speaker 1: personal style, isn't it. That's exactly what it was about.
Speaker 1: My boogie is not very boogie, but I have come
Speaker 1: to just admit that I am jeans and a T shirt.
Speaker 1: I mean, I have a lot of clothes. I love experimenting,
Speaker 1: but my ten percent is when I'm running out or
Speaker 1: I've got my son, I run upstairs to my bedroom
Speaker 1: and I throw on jeans and a T shirt. And
Speaker 1: so really that's probably what I'll be buried in. I
Speaker 1: love the barrel leg jean. I know it's controversial. I
Speaker 1: love a tasted leg jean. I love them. And I'm
Speaker 1: not particularly tall and I try and we're a little
Speaker 1: kitten heel, but I can get away with a sandal.
Speaker 1: So I just bought and they're not expensive, but compared
Speaker 1: to my twenty dollar T shirt, the cause arch tapered jean.
Speaker 1: They're like a winter white soft cream, but not a
Speaker 1: very yellowy cream. The balloon shape, the barrel isn't too hectic,
Speaker 1: and there are one hundred and thirty nine dollars. And
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I want to be
Speaker 1: so many different personalities because I haven't nailed my personal
Speaker 1: branding yet. But if I had personal brand, it's jeans
Speaker 1: and a T shirt. So they're those beautiful couse jeens.
Speaker 2: That shape's really fluttering, I think to a lot of.
Speaker 1: People say it's not. It depends on where the balloon happens.
Speaker 1: It can't happen up near the hips. It's gotta be
Speaker 1: lower down.
Speaker 2: It gives like a good waist, and then I love
Speaker 2: that it comes into the angle and looks so good
Speaker 2: with like a huge.
Speaker 1: Agreed I'm a huge advocate for it. My boss hates
Speaker 1: them and we argue vehemently about it. But I will
Speaker 1: stand up for a balloon or a bel jean any
Speaker 1: day of the week. VI too, Megan, You are such
Speaker 1: a joy. I am desperate to come and play in
Speaker 1: your wardrobe.
Speaker 2: Until then in time.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us at all. The
Speaker 1: best for your twenty second book. That's amazing.
Speaker 2: Thank you Lee, thanks for having me, Thank.
Speaker 1: You for listening to Nothing to Wear. Don't forget to
Speaker 1: sign up to the Nothing to Wear newsletter. There's a
Speaker 1: link in the show notes, and if you enjoy today's episode,
Speaker 1: we have another episode on personal style and bringing it
Speaker 1: back to the basics, so we've popped a link to
Speaker 1: that one in the show notes too. See you next week.
Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Grace Rufray with audio production
Speaker 1: by Lou Hill. This podcast is powered by US subscribers.
Speaker 1: If you believe in independent women's media and you want
Speaker 1: to support us, there's a link in the show notes,
Speaker 1: and a big thank you to all our current subscribers.