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Speaker 1: I absolutely love fashion. I always have ever since I
Speaker 1: was a little girl dressing up. I was a little
Speaker 1: girl who wanted to put on three Kremlin slips and
Speaker 1: Stacy socks and the patent leather shoes. What's up, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'm Dammy and this is positively gam. Every week I
Speaker 1: have raw, in depth conversations with inspirational people pushing for
Speaker 1: change on everything from aging, relationships, politics, wellness, to the
Speaker 1: current issues spacing the Black community. And in this episode,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about fashion and style after fifty. Today,
Speaker 1: I'm talking to style icon June Ambrose. June is a
Speaker 1: creative director, costume designer, author and celebrity style is. She
Speaker 1: has created some of the most iconic looks for a
Speaker 1: list stars such as Missy Elliott, Jay Z and one
Speaker 1: of my favorite people in the world, my son in law,
Speaker 1: Will Smith. June was a costume designer on Will's video
Speaker 1: Getting Jiggy with It. June started out in finance before
Speaker 1: creating a fashion empire. Currently, while in Quarantine, June has
Speaker 1: been hosting the June and Summer I g live show
Speaker 1: with her daughter Summer, and you know, June, I have
Speaker 1: to say that Summer reminds me so much of Willow.
Speaker 1: She's sold, full confidence and energy, not afraid to speak
Speaker 1: her mind, and not shot at all. Hey, guys, welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Junie Summer Shows showever you want to
Speaker 1: call it, Today's Freestyle Friday. So I'm sure you guys
Speaker 1: have been having a fun experience with that. So who's
Speaker 1: deal was that? Because I have a feeling it with Summers,
Speaker 1: not yours. Well, let'st think it was my idea initially,
Speaker 1: just because I really wanted to kind of create a routine.
Speaker 1: You know, homeschooling was something that none of us knew
Speaker 1: we were gonna be thrown into. I wanted her to
Speaker 1: know that you have nothing's changed as a schedule, And
Speaker 1: I also wanted to have something to do with her
Speaker 1: because I knew that I was gonna try to stay
Speaker 1: in that space to just kind of stay in touch
Speaker 1: with people and that lose my mind, and I just
Speaker 1: asked her to do one show with me. At first
Speaker 1: she was like, she was like okay, But then after
Speaker 1: it became like a thing where I was like producing it.
Speaker 1: Then she she quit like six times because it just
Speaker 1: it just got too serious, you know, it was like
Speaker 1: it got it got real. But it also allowed her
Speaker 1: to find herself in her voice. I mean, she's always
Speaker 1: been very opinionated, and you know, I definitely see what
Speaker 1: you see with you know, the willow and her symbol,
Speaker 1: Like they're just such they're so confident in their own person.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't. I don't. I don't overproduce my kids.
Speaker 1: It's you know, and I think that's what I admire
Speaker 1: so much about the Smith's kids. It's like they they're
Speaker 1: just so authentically themselves. There's something about that that's so important.
Speaker 1: My mom never altered who I was. Okay, overproduce me.
Speaker 1: It's why I am who I am because she never
Speaker 1: She didn't in my light. She didn't put me in
Speaker 1: this box. She didn't say speak when you're spoken to.
Speaker 1: She didn't say, you know, calm down. I was just
Speaker 1: precocious and over the top as I am now is
Speaker 1: I was when I was three years old. I would
Speaker 1: want to just remind everyone that's listening how difficult your
Speaker 1: job is. You know, I know you do it because
Speaker 1: you love it, but you know style is such a
Speaker 1: personal thing, and to have to try to dress someone
Speaker 1: and understand they're a style, what they want and recognizing
Speaker 1: that what they want maybe always be what looks best
Speaker 1: for them and not put your style on them. And
Speaker 1: then each person is different, each client that you get
Speaker 1: is different. Well, I think that's where the skill set
Speaker 1: comes in, the understanding of how to translate and articulate
Speaker 1: someone's personality and personal persona and character developed them within
Speaker 1: the action of stiling. Right, So if you look at
Speaker 1: it all, I'm gonna put some close together. I love
Speaker 1: this high fashion thing that's as great is just what's happenings,
Speaker 1: you know, naming twenty labels and you think that styling
Speaker 1: you could be met with opposition, body opposition and personality opposition.
Speaker 1: You know, where someone puts something on and it could
Speaker 1: be yeah, it could be the most amazing thing, and
Speaker 1: they put it on, they're like, oh, I don't I
Speaker 1: don't feel it, I don't connect. I always removed myself
Speaker 1: from the experience because it's not about me. What I
Speaker 1: do try to you, I try to inject energy and
Speaker 1: expertise and less particular in this particular action of having
Speaker 1: to help someone to you know, really develop their own
Speaker 1: personal style or characters develop them because some people might feel, oh,
Speaker 1: I need to reinvent myself. And that's why I use
Speaker 1: the word character development, so where they need to separate
Speaker 1: their all, you know, their their own personal inhibitions to
Speaker 1: become the person that they want to become. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: have to step outside of yourself to see further down
Speaker 1: the line. Is what happens when someone says I want
Speaker 1: to reinvent myself and they don't realize that process will
Speaker 1: require you taking some risks. That process will require you
Speaker 1: stepping outside of your comfort your comfort space, and when
Speaker 1: you say that initially, it's a little bit jarring, and
Speaker 1: the ideas a little bit like what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Willis imagine the person you want to become. Don't just
Speaker 1: see the admire of things that you see on others.
Speaker 1: Figure out how you can interpret that for yourself. So
Speaker 1: it takes taking taking little things from it. And we
Speaker 1: look at fashion magazines. We don't look like supermodels. The
Speaker 1: average person does not look like a model in a magazine.
Speaker 1: But you may love the texture, you may love the color,
Speaker 1: and now you have to figure out how can I
Speaker 1: incorporate that that you know that thing that I that
Speaker 1: I can identify with that spark of identifying something that
Speaker 1: connects with you is beautiful, because that's saying that's gross, right.
Speaker 1: You know, some people look at things and what I
Speaker 1: don't get it. I don't like it. I don't know
Speaker 1: that could be me. But then some people look at
Speaker 1: things and say, oh, I wish, So putting yourself in
Speaker 1: the I wish and then put yourself into receiving you know,
Speaker 1: all the things that you wish for, you asked for.
Speaker 1: Because we're addressing over fifty, I want to be very clear,
Speaker 1: like it's different now, it's not we're not in the fifties.
Speaker 1: We're not in this. You know, we're not back and
Speaker 1: they were. You know, there was a certain you know
Speaker 1: rule of thumb for women, mature women. You know, the
Speaker 1: ponty pants will cut a certain way. You know, the
Speaker 1: skirt line was you know, a certain way. So now
Speaker 1: you know, you look at you, for instance, you're in
Speaker 1: amazing physical shape. You know, you have the most regressive features.
Speaker 1: You just age backwards like Benjamin Buttons. I know, but right,
Speaker 1: but I still feel like regardless of that, like you
Speaker 1: still have to pay attention to what is age appropriate.
Speaker 1: You know, I break all the rules there, I don't.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that you should wear a pair of
Speaker 1: pompum shorts. I'm not saying you should wear a pair
Speaker 1: of poompum shorts because that would probably not be age appropriate.
Speaker 1: But I don't. But I don't. I wouldn't necessarily see
Speaker 1: you doing that or any woman of that age doing that,
Speaker 1: because I'm forty nine and for me, I've I've found
Speaker 1: a space of wanting to be baggy and tom boye
Speaker 1: and loose and it's very young right now? Is that
Speaker 1: a right? Is that age appropriate? So it's not like
Speaker 1: we can't equate, like, you know, age appropriate with sexy,
Speaker 1: because every young person is not necessarily provocatively dressing sexy, right,
Speaker 1: That's one. So I want you to interpret like dressing
Speaker 1: your age, you should be dressing your spirit, right, you
Speaker 1: should be dressing how how you feel. So some days
Speaker 1: I wake up and I'm like, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: want to even show my body. I'm doing a big,
Speaker 1: oversized caftan dress. You know, it's it could be very
Speaker 1: very chic. I love things with dramatic silhouettes, very petite,
Speaker 1: So you know I tend to do things that will
Speaker 1: flow to the floor. It makes me look a little
Speaker 1: longer if the neckline is open. So they're all these
Speaker 1: physical rules to different silhouettes, especially for more mature women
Speaker 1: that want to still feel sexy. Now your your clavicles
Speaker 1: will be your new cleavage. If your breasts have dropped,
Speaker 1: you still like showing your decletee and you know, that's
Speaker 1: a great place for you to express feeling a little
Speaker 1: bit more, you know, set sensual, a little bit sexier.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't mean that you couldn't necessarily do a
Speaker 1: low v nut cardigan, because you could do a cardigan
Speaker 1: sweater with some pencil jeans and that's age you can.
Speaker 1: And if you have the waistline, you could do a
Speaker 1: very thin belt over the card Again, if you don't
Speaker 1: have a waistline, you can wear an oversized card again
Speaker 1: fitted fitted jeans, and you can do a ballet slipper
Speaker 1: over a pair of sneakers. And these are like simple,
Speaker 1: effortless pieces, right, So I think cardigans are important. I
Speaker 1: think of you know, like shirts, not not like a blouse,
Speaker 1: a shirt, a crispy pinstriped shirt, a crispy white shirt,
Speaker 1: super classic, super aplous, and it allows you um the
Speaker 1: ability to lay a really fun things on top, right,
Speaker 1: or layering a chunky piece of jewelry and adding your
Speaker 1: own personal seasoning. You know, it's like what's cooking right.
Speaker 1: So it's like finding the right pair of jeans. I
Speaker 1: personally am not a fan of jeans when I'm feeling
Speaker 1: a little bit more on the chubbier side, Like if
Speaker 1: I'm not loving my thighs, then don't wear a pair
Speaker 1: of faded blue jeans with the with the fadedness in
Speaker 1: the thigh were darker blue gene. And then where like
Speaker 1: something that's going to cover the you know, the fuller
Speaker 1: size part of your body where there's your hips, in
Speaker 1: your in your bump. I e like a tunic or
Speaker 1: an oversized part again, or a blazer with a with
Speaker 1: a camisol. These are like again, blazers are also super
Speaker 1: like to me age appropriate. You can make it look dressy,
Speaker 1: you can make it look sporty. You can wear it
Speaker 1: with a slip. You can wear it with a v
Speaker 1: net T shirt and some jeans and some heels, and
Speaker 1: your heel can be a three inch. It could be
Speaker 1: a single soul platform. Because you know, as we age
Speaker 1: up sometimes you know it's a little bit much on
Speaker 1: our knees to be in a seven inch letter, but
Speaker 1: you still want to have a little lift, so you
Speaker 1: do a single soul platform, so it gives you that
Speaker 1: feeling of the pitch of a pump, but you have
Speaker 1: the support of the wedge. So I always I use
Speaker 1: it as a training wheel to enter a world of
Speaker 1: wearing heels, and then I use it as the exit
Speaker 1: strategy to when you're starting to kind of go into
Speaker 1: I can't wear heels and more. But I'm slowly going,
Speaker 1: you know, declining, and do it with grace. I know,
Speaker 1: what do you feel about kitten heels. My husband just
Speaker 1: absolutely will not allow me to wear kid he hates
Speaker 1: a kidden heal. No man with your husband might be
Speaker 1: with your husband, you do not get kissed. And kitten
Speaker 1: heels they are well. First of all, I think Katie's
Speaker 1: are great for women who are like amazons. If you
Speaker 1: are five eleven, you're nine. A kidne hell is super demure.
Speaker 1: It's great because you don't know that's a woman loves
Speaker 1: that tall. That's her. A girl who's five one five
Speaker 1: ft anything between Kenny, you might as will wear a
Speaker 1: nice flat pier shoes I'd rather you just go all
Speaker 1: the way flat. Yeah yeah, but I know, I feel
Speaker 1: like I need to do I feel like I need
Speaker 1: to do a collab with I don't know, Jimmy two
Speaker 1: or Globlet something because because heal shoes are not cute. No,
Speaker 1: and that's one of the things, that's one of the
Speaker 1: accessory like that. I'm a shoe fan, Like I love shoes.
Speaker 1: I love shoes and bags, but I am flat footed.
Speaker 1: I am, to me, kid here, very uncomfortable. Yeah yeah, so,
Speaker 1: but I just wish that because I am finding that
Speaker 1: I'm right now, I'm starting to look for like the
Speaker 1: like eighty five or seventy million kill because well, the
Speaker 1: highest I'm gonna go anyway is a hundred. Jada and
Speaker 1: I wear the same side shoe. But that's awesome. My
Speaker 1: daughter's daughter has already exceeded me. I'm like, sorry, but
Speaker 1: Jada's heels are She's so tiny, she's so short. He's
Speaker 1: gonna have on a five or six in shield. So
Speaker 1: I don't always get her hand me down. You don't
Speaker 1: always want them. She has fabulous shoes, but I can't.
Speaker 1: I can't walk in them, you know. But I always
Speaker 1: encourage women that you know that that's over the age
Speaker 1: of fifty two to really really fine color. It really
Speaker 1: it brings, you know, it brings such happiness and joy.
Speaker 1: And also patterns, dramatic patterns, you know, are just graphic,
Speaker 1: beautiful patterns. That's another way to really kind of be
Speaker 1: super stylish effortlessly, because let's just imagine if you have
Speaker 1: on your oversized white shirt, you have on some leggings,
Speaker 1: you have on a nice flat whether it's a thong,
Speaker 1: sandal or low for whatever it is, and then use
Speaker 1: are all big oversized graphic you know, kimono or trench
Speaker 1: or you know, it's just it's just super super chic.
Speaker 1: And and also women, you know, over the age of
Speaker 1: fifty we're a little bit more responsible, you know, we
Speaker 1: think a little bit more curated, We think a little
Speaker 1: bit more that I think there's less emphasis on wanting
Speaker 1: to be like trendy, trendy, trendy. The closet is smarter,
Speaker 1: the beautiful collectible pieces. You become a collector, not that
Speaker 1: to say that you hadn't collected before, but you really
Speaker 1: start to your eye curate things differently, you know, where
Speaker 1: it's like you're like, oh, I meet that flow print
Speaker 1: dree stando and you know over it's just it's just
Speaker 1: something that's so chic about it, and you wear it
Speaker 1: with clean lines, all camel and then a pop of
Speaker 1: color on top. Color blocking is another beautiful way for
Speaker 1: a woman whose body has changed. You can create depth
Speaker 1: with with color blocking. So you go, if you you
Speaker 1: know you want to create this sense of depth of
Speaker 1: the inside, you go warmer and darker jewel tones on
Speaker 1: the inside, and then you do the pop of color
Speaker 1: on the outside. And this creates a sense of like hollowness.
Speaker 1: And also avoid things that squeeze your body and that
Speaker 1: are super super tight. Go for something more flowy, and
Speaker 1: you know, it's very glamorous. It could be very very
Speaker 1: very sexy, especially if again if it's a calf tan,
Speaker 1: you know, and you can wear beautiful necklaces and chains
Speaker 1: and just be very graceful. And I think that you
Speaker 1: have to think kind old Hollywood, but it's kind of
Speaker 1: it's kind of a great reference, you know, think you know,
Speaker 1: just glamor well, I think that I'm kind of on
Speaker 1: the right track. Then June, listen to you. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't think I've been doing that bad. I keeping
Speaker 1: you're doing well. Let's talk a little bit about shapers
Speaker 1: and spanks for all ages, because I feel like the
Speaker 1: younger folks don't really appreciate you gotta keep you bea
Speaker 1: you's gotta keep your meat meat, thank you, okay, And
Speaker 1: it's I just think that, you know, it's it's like
Speaker 1: it's fundamental. It's like wearing a mask at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, if you want to wear something form fitted,
Speaker 1: you gotta have something on their controls. But is it me?
Speaker 1: Do you feel like they it's kind of been rejected
Speaker 1: in the in the young generations a little bit because
Speaker 1: you know, it's a we're in the age of poles,
Speaker 1: and it's like we're in the age of freedom, and
Speaker 1: we're in the age of kind of exploitation and kind
Speaker 1: of like we're looking at this. You know, the culture
Speaker 1: is really driven by what if you think about what
Speaker 1: was happening back in those days when you had the
Speaker 1: Bardeville shows. There were courses. I mean, shapewear. I think
Speaker 1: things that have built in shapewear they're okay with. But
Speaker 1: the idea of putting on like a full on it goes,
Speaker 1: it goes in cycles. I think I think that's something
Speaker 1: that moms should introduce, you know, to that. I agree
Speaker 1: at a very early age, I wish it would come back,
Speaker 1: because yeah, what we're seeing sometimes is is gonna be
Speaker 1: like listen girl, because I could fix this real quick,
Speaker 1: exactly exactly, put on just a little biker short, just
Speaker 1: a little something, just a little something, and you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I think that you just want to make sure
Speaker 1: that you are wearing shape. Whear that is not sabotaging
Speaker 1: your that's doing the work. But please don't forget about shapers, guys.
Speaker 1: Shapers are a wonderful thing that don't let us, don't
Speaker 1: let us thank you. Even spanks are funny because if
Speaker 1: you don't have on the right item to you know,
Speaker 1: then then you can see, yeah, you can see they
Speaker 1: can mess you up. Yeah, you know. Some people also
Speaker 1: buy shaper too small and then it ends up rolling
Speaker 1: down creating bubbles. So you really want to make sure
Speaker 1: that you're fitted for your shaper, like you're fitted for
Speaker 1: your bra. You also want to make sure, like if
Speaker 1: you're wearing a pair of trousers, you don't want to
Speaker 1: wear the bikers. You're right, you know, shape you can
Speaker 1: see it on your bagh. You'll see the right, you'll
Speaker 1: see the line on your thigh, which is not Those
Speaker 1: biker shorts are great for dresses, things that don't necessary
Speaker 1: won't that, won't that that don't sit close to the body,
Speaker 1: but just kind of cascade. Um. They have the full
Speaker 1: length you know, waste wasted ankles, which are great. They
Speaker 1: even have things for your upper arms, you know, to
Speaker 1: to really control that that little section. I travel a lot,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm on and off the plane because I'm
Speaker 1: by coastal. What is your go to travel wardrobe? I
Speaker 1: love I saw that you had on this which I
Speaker 1: thought was really cuss jumper, this like kind of black, soft,
Speaker 1: kind of cotton T shirt that was that was actually
Speaker 1: Kelly Rowland from her from her atletics, from her pathletic
Speaker 1: and totally that's it. Those are great travel pieces. I
Speaker 1: like traveling as comfortable as possible. I love the pajama
Speaker 1: sets to travel, and I think another that's another great
Speaker 1: you know now that you know the two pieces of
Speaker 1: jama sets are you know, so acceptable to where during
Speaker 1: the day is fashion. It's a great travel piece. You know,
Speaker 1: just a good old, you know, reathable jogging suit. Nothing
Speaker 1: to like sweaty and heavy. It's you know, a nice
Speaker 1: lightweight where it's a cashm is like you know, a
Speaker 1: little T shirt fabricause something you want to be comfortable
Speaker 1: and if you layer it could super super shier. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I always layer up. You know, I'll wear like a
Speaker 1: duster and to elevate my you know, really casual maybe
Speaker 1: spair sweatpants and the tea. I'll elevate it with you know,
Speaker 1: a poncho, just you know the ways of the layering
Speaker 1: and elevating a really casual look. I actually want to
Speaker 1: get your opinion on how I styled myself, cause I
Speaker 1: styled myself for the Image Awards and it was challenging
Speaker 1: for me. But I thought I did a great job. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, well, you you know, when you were safe?
Speaker 1: Thing about that I was, and it's and listen if
Speaker 1: whenever in doubt, a black dress will never stay you wrong.
Speaker 1: I thought it was beautifully fitted. You know, it was easy.
Speaker 1: You know, it had the perfect neckline. It was sexy
Speaker 1: but not trying too hard whenever in doubt, I mean
Speaker 1: I just thought it was the perfect kind of like
Speaker 1: go to. Now, was was that always kind of your
Speaker 1: go to like when you have to work? You know
Speaker 1: kind of figured out for yourself as a black dress. Well,
Speaker 1: this was the first time I had to do anything
Speaker 1: like this. Oh really, Yeah, that was my first stepping out,
Speaker 1: stepping out like that. And I had to receive the
Speaker 1: award because Jada couldn't be there, so you have to speak. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I it looks great. I needed to be in something
Speaker 1: that was going to be comfortable because I knew I
Speaker 1: was gonna be nervous. Yeah, and I like that it
Speaker 1: was a Matt finish too that it wasn't. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was very forgiving. Yeah. Another thing, you want to avoid things,
Speaker 1: you know, women when their body, you know they're under
Speaker 1: construction or their body fluctuating. You want to avoid things
Speaker 1: with shine because it only add brings attention to the
Speaker 1: problematic areas. And not to say that you have any,
Speaker 1: but it was really kind of funny forgetting it was Matt.
Speaker 1: It was you know, it definitely glamouflage and he sell
Speaker 1: you lied and he you know, puffiness you made. The
Speaker 1: rouging in the waistline was great to create a smaller weight,
Speaker 1: the appearance of a smaller waist giving you more of
Speaker 1: a curve your body, more of a coke shaped auto body,
Speaker 1: which was great. So you did. And I think that
Speaker 1: people make the wrong assumption too, is that when you're small,
Speaker 1: because you brought up cellulite, when you're small, there are
Speaker 1: no body issues. And it's still not. I have a
Speaker 1: ton of cellulite on my legs as that it just
Speaker 1: gets worse as I get and they say it's hereditary
Speaker 1: to it. Yes, yes, yes that's what it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is what it is. Let's go back to timeless closet.
Speaker 1: We talked about like a white shirt. We talked a
Speaker 1: lot of blazer. We didn't talk about laser footing, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's finding that perfect silhouette, you know, like that
Speaker 1: highwaister trouser, whether you're you know, depending on your body type.
Speaker 1: You know, if you're a little bit more on the
Speaker 1: pear shaped side, you want to probably not do the
Speaker 1: pencil trousers and do the more full led trousers. It's
Speaker 1: more flattering, um if you know. Like but just also
Speaker 1: a blazer that gives you the waist a waistline, whether
Speaker 1: it's a one button or two button, um and it
Speaker 1: and again it all it really depends on your on
Speaker 1: your body type. UM, but I'm I'm a fan of
Speaker 1: having you just need to have it in the closet.
Speaker 1: It's just like an essential. Another essential I feel is,
Speaker 1: you know, just we talked about leggings, you know, not
Speaker 1: wearing your leggings in the traditional way. You know, and
Speaker 1: especially you know a lot of us have taken on
Speaker 1: very kind of laid back lifestyles because of what's going
Speaker 1: on in the country with this pandemic. You're you know,
Speaker 1: you're not sitting at a zoom full on you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. You're not even buying shoes as much.
Speaker 1: You're not even thinking about beads as much. There's certain
Speaker 1: things you're not thinking about as much. But doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that you don't want to get up, you know and
Speaker 1: throw on something beautiful like easy dress or throwing on
Speaker 1: your sweats and how do you make your sweat so cool?
Speaker 1: You can put your sweats on with your blazer, you know,
Speaker 1: like you take it out of context. I've worn Oh yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: men do it all the time. It's super chic. Is
Speaker 1: casual Friday. Um, you know you they'll do like a
Speaker 1: they'll do like a V neck sweater, or they'll do
Speaker 1: a totalneck, or they do a hoodie underneath their blazers.
Speaker 1: And then there were sweatpants, whether they're you know, like
Speaker 1: a nice luxury sweatpants, but I've I've done really fun
Speaker 1: sweatpants with blazers and a and a and a V
Speaker 1: neck t and it's very very classy, and I'll do
Speaker 1: like a little heel with it, or I'll go on
Speaker 1: you know, like uh not, I'll put on a slipper
Speaker 1: or a slide to make it a little bit more
Speaker 1: cooler opposed to putting on a tennis sneaker. And it's
Speaker 1: it's a feeling. I encourage you to take things out
Speaker 1: of context and play with things that think separates are
Speaker 1: really good too. When you have you found your easy skirt,
Speaker 1: whether it's an A line or pleaded, that you can
Speaker 1: really mix and match all of these pieces throughout. And
Speaker 1: that's really the goal is that you have, Like if
Speaker 1: you have a cardigan, you want to make sure your
Speaker 1: cardigan go with at least five different things. You want
Speaker 1: to know that you can wear your cardigan over really
Speaker 1: easy you know, sleeveless dress. You want to know that
Speaker 1: you can wear your cardigan with your genes. You want
Speaker 1: to know that you can wear your cardigans with your sweats,
Speaker 1: and that also elevates your sweats to a card again,
Speaker 1: you want to know that you can um, you know,
Speaker 1: like to me like it's like one of those essential
Speaker 1: But I think I've been I think I'm listening to you.
Speaker 1: I think I've been very safe with my card against
Speaker 1: because my cardigans are all because they're like preffine valid. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're like colors. But how they oversize or they kind
Speaker 1: of wet. Yeah, I think they're so chic. I mean
Speaker 1: you can throw a cardigan over a fitted dress, like
Speaker 1: you said, you can belt it and wear it with
Speaker 1: your leggings. It's like, you know, a ballet flat. It's
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's very nineteen kind of fifties and
Speaker 1: sixties retro. You'll put it on with a tam so
Speaker 1: ballet slippers are not out like pearls. Okay, what are
Speaker 1: some of them steaks that you think women make when
Speaker 1: they're shopping for their body type, buying things too small?
Speaker 1: You know, the worst time of shop is at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, first of all, because the body
Speaker 1: is swollen, whether it's for shoes and just everything. You've
Speaker 1: had a day out in the element, and unless it's
Speaker 1: the debt of winter, but even in the dead of winter,
Speaker 1: the body expands, you might have had some sodium, So
Speaker 1: don't shop in the later part. Shop be a morning shopper.
Speaker 1: I like to shop after twelve. That's one recommendation. Also,
Speaker 1: don't buy things on the size that you're working towards
Speaker 1: being you know, I like to buy things with room
Speaker 1: so that I can fluctuate, you know, So give yourself
Speaker 1: some some grace and space when you're when you're shopping clothes,
Speaker 1: I just think this. It's such a buzz kill when
Speaker 1: you put something on and you're like, oh, and it
Speaker 1: could be just a little residual waterway, and it just
Speaker 1: looks terrible because you didn't give yourself a little room. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The one thing from me that I always feel like
Speaker 1: I have to be careful about when I'm shopping is
Speaker 1: litening to the salesperson. The salesperson because once again, yes,
Speaker 1: my body is small, and they if they don't know me,
Speaker 1: then they don't they may not realize my true age,
Speaker 1: so they're always seem to the contemporary section right and
Speaker 1: trying to put me in something that, you know, younger
Speaker 1: than what is appropriate for myself. So I have very
Speaker 1: aware of that, and I tell my friends all the
Speaker 1: time listen, don't let me be this sixty year old
Speaker 1: woman coming out in a mini skirt, you know, and
Speaker 1: you know what you know what could replace that is
Speaker 1: something that's super sweet. So you can replace like you know,
Speaker 1: them taking to this like this young junior section too.
Speaker 1: He can show me, you know, a dress that has
Speaker 1: a nice the ability to tie a bow, that's silk
Speaker 1: and chiffon, or that is just kind of like a
Speaker 1: graphic print that you know, that's pleaded on, pleaded on
Speaker 1: the bottom and it's a shirt at the tops. A
Speaker 1: short dress could be super gorgeous and it's just, um,
Speaker 1: it's easy and it's very sophisticated, and I think young
Speaker 1: girls can get away with it and older women can
Speaker 1: get away with that. Partular did it work for both?
Speaker 1: Tell me what are some of the trends you're you're saying,
Speaker 1: But let me let me just tell you what I
Speaker 1: do when it comes to trending. Where I typically, and
Speaker 1: I think I'm on the right track with this, I
Speaker 1: will typically spend, um, I'm willing to spend more money
Speaker 1: on like shoes, bags, maybe outerwear and just keep it
Speaker 1: simple and weird jeans and T shirts and jeans And
Speaker 1: I love jeans and a T shirt. I feel like
Speaker 1: you can do anything with that. You can put on
Speaker 1: You can put on a pair of jeans, a banging shoe,
Speaker 1: a nice bag, and a white T shirt and that
Speaker 1: can carry you almost anywhere. Yeah, but you can't do
Speaker 1: it many times a week. Well that's true, because then
Speaker 1: you get caught up in a rut. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: You know. Then you get you get caught into that
Speaker 1: comfortable place and you lose your imagination for it, You
Speaker 1: lose your palette. You know. It's like if you stop
Speaker 1: doing something long enough, you just get over it, you know.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened. That may be where I am,
Speaker 1: because it's like, you like, why bother? Like, you know,
Speaker 1: my jeans and my T shirts work fine. I know
Speaker 1: I'm stylish. I know I'm fabulous, But who cares? That's
Speaker 1: what it starts to say. After walk and you don't
Speaker 1: and you don't have a relationship with the idea of
Speaker 1: storytelling as it relates the style, And I don't think
Speaker 1: you ever want to lose that, you know. It's like
Speaker 1: it's almost like it becomes part of a conversation that
Speaker 1: you never want to lose. So what would you what
Speaker 1: would you tell me to do them? What? What? What
Speaker 1: should I do to try to break out of that?
Speaker 1: Because I'm telling you, jeans and a T shirt is
Speaker 1: my go to I do it all the time. I
Speaker 1: will throw on some jeans and a shoe. The challenge
Speaker 1: will be to find another everyday pant. Oh no, I
Speaker 1: have to get rid of my jeans. No no, no,
Speaker 1: no no. Because if you're wearing your jeans five days
Speaker 1: a week, I'm telling you to wear your jeans twice
Speaker 1: a week and the other five days, yea five days
Speaker 1: you have to wear another another bottom. It could be
Speaker 1: a pay of cargoes, drop clatch cargoes, get funky with it.
Speaker 1: It could be you know, if I had all it
Speaker 1: could be, it could be a yeah, it could be.
Speaker 1: It could be a drowser that's super easy that you
Speaker 1: wear with your T shirt. You don't have to give
Speaker 1: give up the casualness. If you stop wearing eels and
Speaker 1: then you put them on your feet just says to you,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? So if you stopped putting yourself
Speaker 1: into those fashionable pieces or those things that take a
Speaker 1: little bit more imagination, it's gonna it won't even understand
Speaker 1: why you're doing it, it'll be like, why are you
Speaker 1: knocking on my door? Like why you're over here? You
Speaker 1: know what I mean. You won't feel a sense of
Speaker 1: connectivity with it. I know, women fair getting stuck in
Speaker 1: a rut at this age doing difference like this is
Speaker 1: how I like to wear my makeup. I'm done, So
Speaker 1: take yourself out of your comfort zone and just play
Speaker 1: a little. You know. Even listen, I wear skirts and sneakers,
Speaker 1: like track sneakers. I think it's so chic, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like and it's very young, but it's still appropriate.
Speaker 1: You know, I'll put an over. You know, I could
Speaker 1: do a big chunky sweater over like just you know,
Speaker 1: a really sweet loose skirt and some sneakers is super cool. Wow,
Speaker 1: now that would be Now, how is that not age appropriate? Right?
Speaker 1: Because we're thinking, oh, well, that's such a kind of
Speaker 1: like a school girl look, right, But you know, but
Speaker 1: it's what what makes something not age appropriate we just
Speaker 1: talked about. I'm sure that would be a right Now?
Speaker 1: What is the What is? That's when I say, address
Speaker 1: your personality and if your personality is fun and you
Speaker 1: like skipping around and you're like being comfortable, then you
Speaker 1: can find other alternatives to that story. One of the
Speaker 1: trends that we ought to be looking towards flat of sportswear.
Speaker 1: You know, so the imagine like doing a hoodie with
Speaker 1: a sequence skirt or a hoodie with trousers, and yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you, you can do a nice cookie. You could
Speaker 1: do a hoodie with your sequence skirt, or you could
Speaker 1: do a hoodie with your trousers and your overcoat when
Speaker 1: you come back. You know, the East Coast is such
Speaker 1: a it's such a chic look and it's kind of
Speaker 1: like it's sophisticated tom Boy. But there's also a lot
Speaker 1: of metallics that I'm seeing, um graphics, things that are graphic,
Speaker 1: A lot a lot of graphics go back to the
Speaker 1: sequence because I love the idea of making a sequence
Speaker 1: skirt casual so that I can wear it during the day.
Speaker 1: So bring a discussion. Yeah, yeah, and I don't. I
Speaker 1: haven't convinced my husband about that look, and he always
Speaker 1: feels like, I know, you could totally do. I just
Speaker 1: recently saw like this really cute Alison Olivier. Pleaded is
Speaker 1: a sequence skirt and you can wear with like a
Speaker 1: rock or T shirt. You're easy, just simple, clean T shirt,
Speaker 1: the blazer with it, you wear with a hoodie, you know,
Speaker 1: put casual pieces with it, especially the shoe. The shoes
Speaker 1: should be like super easy. It could be a right now,
Speaker 1: it could be a sandal. It could be a sneaker,
Speaker 1: a ten a tennis sneaker. It could be a simple,
Speaker 1: you know, like real clean tennis sneak. It doesn't be
Speaker 1: a track. It could be like an old school retro sneaker,
Speaker 1: Converse or you know, you know, San Smith. I wonder
Speaker 1: if it's the style of the skirt, because the skirt
Speaker 1: is a pencil skirt, a pencil I was a pencil sneaker,
Speaker 1: So maybe it's that hard. It's a little harder. That's
Speaker 1: a little harder. If you're super super thin and you're tall,
Speaker 1: it's easy to do a fitted pencil skirt, sequence pencil
Speaker 1: skirt with sneakers and teeth. That's but if your petite,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of work because you don't want to
Speaker 1: we're you're gonna want to wear heels. What about it?
Speaker 1: If you put it on at night, I would still
Speaker 1: wear that fitted pencil skirts, equens pencil skirt at night
Speaker 1: with a T shirt. Yeah, a T shirt or like
Speaker 1: an oversized card again, not not a cart again or
Speaker 1: car again that you belt at the ways for sure.
Speaker 1: I tend to like I'll look at magazines to try
Speaker 1: to see, you know, what's out and what's fashionable. But
Speaker 1: it's usually, like I said, I'm not one that wants
Speaker 1: to spend a whole lot of money, particularly on trendy items.
Speaker 1: So I'll look and see what is trending in in
Speaker 1: fashion and then like my one of my favorite stores
Speaker 1: is Zara, and I'll go to Zarah. Like, if you
Speaker 1: want something trendy fashion, just keep moving here. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: What is your feeling about about businesses our address? I mean,
Speaker 1: if I just kind of want something that I don't
Speaker 1: want to invest in, but I'm feeling a taste to
Speaker 1: just kind of buy something because it is an addict,
Speaker 1: and right, this is the best way to to to
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, suthe that addiction. But I think
Speaker 1: I've become over the years, I've become a lot smarter
Speaker 1: with whether you know, I want that camel row code
Speaker 1: or I want that you know, right, just a little
Speaker 1: bit smarter about the pieces, the investment pieces. Right, Okay,
Speaker 1: so what what for you tell me what your investment
Speaker 1: pieces in New York. Your coat is your car because
Speaker 1: it's always on the streets, so you know, and so
Speaker 1: an outwear pieces. You know, an investment piece are strong,
Speaker 1: super a blazer. Suiting is investment quality qualities, you know, knits, investments,
Speaker 1: um and everything else in between. You know. It's just
Speaker 1: kind of like I can layer with you know, those
Speaker 1: I can trade those out, yes, but shells, the shell
Speaker 1: is super important. Got it, got it? Got it? Okay.
Speaker 1: So I think I'm on the right I'm on the
Speaker 1: right track. That's so glad I had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: the up with you, to see I can talk about
Speaker 1: this all day. Yeah. Yeah, it's to see the things
Speaker 1: that I'm doing right and the things that I'm not
Speaker 1: doing right. Well, you have a out of the Dean's age.
Speaker 1: You ain't come out of the gene. Now you have homework.
Speaker 1: You have homework. I do I do? Okay, moving on
Speaker 1: to our segment, wouldn't you like to know where you
Speaker 1: answer three rapid fire questions with the first phrase that
Speaker 1: comes to your mind? One thing you would have told
Speaker 1: your younger self, Uh, did you need the designer coade over?
Speaker 1: Maybe putting down a down payment on something, Okay, prioritize.
Speaker 1: You know, my assets are different to worry about you
Speaker 1: the asset like colding is not an asset, okay, one
Speaker 1: thing you want to get off your chest. You know
Speaker 1: when people say under age women, and so she is
Speaker 1: an underage woman, she's a child. Yes, So I just
Speaker 1: want people to sell media to stop seeing it. I
Speaker 1: want people to call it what it is so that
Speaker 1: we can put a name to it, a face to it,
Speaker 1: and protect our kids, protect our children. Good point. That's
Speaker 1: because when I'm looking at this and like, can somebody
Speaker 1: say it that's not okay? Yeah, absolutely not. Who are
Speaker 1: your favorite designers, including any outstanding black designers, and who
Speaker 1: are the designers you think are up and coming, up
Speaker 1: and coming? I think definitely La Kuan Smith. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love what Kirbians doing. He yes, Fire Moss. It's
Speaker 1: just a beautifulness of young black designers that are getting,
Speaker 1: you know, the funding that they need, any assistance that
Speaker 1: they need, especially now, which is exciting as a design
Speaker 1: that just got into the goodness that I worked with
Speaker 1: a lot. This is some good things happening. And I
Speaker 1: like designers who are white designers who are allies of
Speaker 1: black culture. Nico Mark Jacobs. You know, like people Mahapatra,
Speaker 1: Who's whose color? Can you tell us specifically what it
Speaker 1: is you like about Let's just let's just focus on
Speaker 1: those two designers, LaQuan Smith, Empire Moss. What is it
Speaker 1: about those two designers that stand out so much to you?
Speaker 1: I think you know that they're unapologetically black. You know,
Speaker 1: they celebrate black, their blackness, black culture. You go to
Speaker 1: her Runway show, it's like church, it's like revolution. He's
Speaker 1: casting his you know, his provocativeness. It feels like you're
Speaker 1: in the nineties seventies, like to you know, thirty four.
Speaker 1: It's just sexy. It's just proud and it's it's just
Speaker 1: beautiful and artistic and it and it really shapes, you know,
Speaker 1: the culture in the New Way. Thanks once again to
Speaker 1: June Ambrose for joining us today. That was a fun conversation.
Speaker 1: I know I have some ideas of what I need
Speaker 1: to be doing in my closet already, but that some
Speaker 1: of the tapeaways were Number One, shape where is important
Speaker 1: no matter your size, ladies. Two, don't shot for the
Speaker 1: size you're looking to be, shot for the size that
Speaker 1: you are right now. And try shopping early in the
Speaker 1: day and number four, don't be afraid to step out
Speaker 1: of the box, get out of your rut and take
Speaker 1: some fashion recks. It's just fashion, ladies. If you don't
Speaker 1: get a win every time, it's not the end of
Speaker 1: the world. It's just fashion. Have fun with it. If
Speaker 1: you're listening on Apple Podcasts, be sure to rate and
Speaker 1: review the episode. Follow me on my Instagram at gammy
Speaker 1: nars to share with me your thoughts on the episode.
Speaker 1: I'm here, I'm talking, and I'm listening and as always, folks,
Speaker 1: stay grateful. Positively gam is produced by Westbrook Audio. Executive
Speaker 1: producers Adrian Banfield, Naris, Jada Pinkett Smith, Amanda Brown, and
Speaker 1: Fallon Jethrow. Co executive producer sim Hoti, segment producer Ash Francis,
Speaker 1: Associate producers Erica Ron and Kobe Hertberg, editor and mixer
Speaker 1: Calvin Bailiff. Positively GAM is in partnership with Art nineteen