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 positivelygan. Every week I have raw,
Speaker 1: in depth conversations with inspirational people pushing for change on
Speaker 1: everything from aging, relationships, politics, wellness, to the current issues
Speaker 1: facing the black community. And in this episode, we're gonna
Speaker 1: be talking about fashion and style after fifty. Today, I'm
Speaker 1: talking to style icon June Ambrose. June is a creative director,
Speaker 1: costume designer, author, and celebrity style is. She has created
Speaker 1: some of the most iconic looks for a list stars
Speaker 1: such as Missy Elliott, Jay Eazy, and one of my
Speaker 1: favorite people in the world, my son in law, Will Smith.
Speaker 1: June was a costume designer on Will's video Getting Jiggy
Speaker 1: with It. June started out in finance before creating a
Speaker 1: fashion empire. Currently, while in quarantine, June has been hosting
Speaker 1: the June and Summer i G Live Show with her
Speaker 1: daughter Summer and you know, June, I have to say
Speaker 1: that Summer reminds me so much of Willow. She's so
Speaker 1: full confidence and energy, not afraid to speak her mind,
Speaker 1: and not shot at all. Hey, guys, welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Junie Summer Shows. June show. How you want to
Speaker 1: call it Today's freest Friday. So I'm sure you guys
Speaker 1: have been having a fun experience with that. So whose
Speaker 1: idea was that? Because I have a feeling it with Summers,
Speaker 1: not yours. Well listen, it was my dead And 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 we
Speaker 1: were gonna be thrown into. I wanted her to know
Speaker 1: that you have nothing's changed as a schedule, And I
Speaker 1: also wanted to have something to do with her because
Speaker 1: I knew that I was gonna try to stay in
Speaker 1: that space to just kind of stay in touch with
Speaker 1: people and that lose my mind. And I just asked
Speaker 1: her to do one show with me. And 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 singing,
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: you know. And I think that's what I admire so
Speaker 1: much about the Smith's kids. It is 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 overproduce me. It's
Speaker 1: why I am who I am because she never she
Speaker 1: didn't in my light. She didn't put me in this box.
Speaker 1: She didn't say speak when you're spoken to. She didn't say,
Speaker 1: you know, calm down. I was just precocious and over
Speaker 1: the top as I am now is I was when
Speaker 1: I was three years old. I would want to just
Speaker 1: remind everyone that's listening how difficult your job is. You know.
Speaker 1: I know you do it because you love it, but
Speaker 1: you know, style is such a personal thing and to
Speaker 1: have to try to dress someone and understand there a style,
Speaker 1: what they want, and recognizing that what they want may
Speaker 1: not always be what looks best for them and not
Speaker 1: put your style on them. And then each person is different,
Speaker 1: each client that you get is different. Well, I think
Speaker 1: that's where the skill set comes in, the understanding of
Speaker 1: how to translate and articulate someone's personality and personal persona
Speaker 1: and character develop them within the action of stiling. Right,
Speaker 1: So if you look at it all, I'm gonna put
Speaker 1: some clothes together. I love this high fashion thing. That's
Speaker 1: as great. This is what's happening, you know, naming twenty labels,
Speaker 1: and you think that styling, you could be met with opposition,
Speaker 1: body opposition and personality opposition. You know, where someone puts
Speaker 1: something on and it could be yeah, it could be
Speaker 1: the most amazing thing, and they put it on, they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't feel it. I don't connect. I
Speaker 1: always removed myself from the experience because it's not about me.
Speaker 1: What I do try to do, I try to inject
Speaker 1: energy and expertise inless particular, inless 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 to reinvent myself. And that's why I use the
Speaker 1: word character development, So where they need to separate there
Speaker 1: all you know, their their own personal inhibitions to become
Speaker 1: the person that they want to become. Sometimes you have
Speaker 1: to step outside of yourself to see further down the line.
Speaker 1: Is what happens when someone says I want to reinvent
Speaker 1: myself and they don't realize that process will require you
Speaker 1: taking some risks. That process will require you stepping outside
Speaker 1: of your comfort your comfort space, and when you say
Speaker 1: that initially, it's a little bit jarring, and the ideas
Speaker 1: a little bit like what are you talking about? Willis
Speaker 1: imagine the person you want to become. Don't just see
Speaker 1: the admirer of things that you see on others. Figure
Speaker 1: out how you can interpret that for yourself. So it
Speaker 1: takes taking taking little things from it. And we look
Speaker 1: at fashion magazines. We don't look like supermodels. The average
Speaker 1: 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. But 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
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: poompum shorts. Hi, I'm not saying you should wear a
Speaker 1: pair of poompuom shorts because that would probably not be
Speaker 1: age appropriate. But I don't but I don't. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: necessarily see you doing that or any woman of that
Speaker 1: age doing that, because I'm forty nine and for me,
Speaker 1: I've I've found a space of wanting to be baggy
Speaker 1: and tomboye and lose and it's very young right now?
Speaker 1: Is that a right? Is that age appropriate? So it's
Speaker 1: not like we can't equate, like, you know, age appropriate
Speaker 1: with sexy, because every young person is not necessarily provocatively
Speaker 1: dressing sexy. Right, that's one. So I want you to
Speaker 1: interpret like dressing your age, you should be dressing your spirit. Right,
Speaker 1: you should be dressing how how you feel. So some
Speaker 1: days I wake up and I'm like, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't want to even and show my body. I'm going
Speaker 1: a big, oversized caftan dress. You know, it's it could
Speaker 1: be very very cheic. I love things with dramatic silhouettes,
Speaker 1: very petite, so you know, I tend to do things
Speaker 1: that will flow to the floor. It makes me look
Speaker 1: a little longer if the neckline is open. So there
Speaker 1: are all these physical rules to different silhouettes, especially for
Speaker 1: more mature women that want to still feel sexy. Now,
Speaker 1: your your clavicles will be your new cleavage, if your
Speaker 1: breasts have dropped, if you still like showing your death
Speaker 1: lettee and you know, that's a great place for you
Speaker 1: to express feeling a little bit more. You know, set
Speaker 1: sensual a little bit sexier. And it doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: you couldn't necessarily do a low v nut cardigan, because
Speaker 1: you could do a cardigan sweater with some pencil jeans
Speaker 1: and that's age you could. And if you have the waistline,
Speaker 1: you could do a very thin belt over the card Again,
Speaker 1: if you don't have a waistline, you can wear an
Speaker 1: oversized cardigan fitted fitted jeans, and you can do a
Speaker 1: ballet slipper over a pair of sneakers. And these are
Speaker 1: like simple, effortless pieces. Right, So I think carticons are important.
Speaker 1: I think of you know, like shirts, not not like
Speaker 1: a blouse, a shirt, a shirt, a crispy pinstriped shirt,
Speaker 1: a crispy white shirt, super classic, super aplous. And it
Speaker 1: allows you, um the ability to lay a really fun
Speaker 1: things on top, right, or layering a chunky piece of
Speaker 1: jewelry and adding your own personal seasoning. You know, it's
Speaker 1: like what's cooking right. So it's like finding the right
Speaker 1: pair of jeans. I personally am not a fan of
Speaker 1: jeans when I'm feeling a little bit more on the
Speaker 1: chubbier side, Like if I'm not loving my thighs, then
Speaker 1: don't wear a pair of faded blue jeans with the
Speaker 1: with the fadedness in the thigh were darker blue jean.
Speaker 1: And then where like something that's gonna cover the you know,
Speaker 1: the fuller size part of your body where there's your hips,
Speaker 1: in your in your bump. I et like a tunic
Speaker 1: or an oversized partigan or a blazer with a with
Speaker 1: a camisole. 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 vnet
Speaker 1: T shirt and some jeans and some heels, and your
Speaker 1: heel can be a three inch it could be a
Speaker 1: single soul platform because you know, as we age up
Speaker 1: sometimes you know it's a little bit much on our
Speaker 1: knees to be in a seven inch sletter, but you
Speaker 1: still want to have a little lift, so you do
Speaker 1: a single soul platform, so it gives you that feeling
Speaker 1: of the pitch of a pump, but you have the
Speaker 1: support of the wedge. So I always I use it
Speaker 1: as a training wheel to enter a world of wearing heels,
Speaker 1: and then I use it as the exit strategy to
Speaker 1: when you're starting to kind of go into I can't
Speaker 1: wear heels any more, but I'm slowly going, you know, declining,
Speaker 1: and do it with grace. And now, when do you
Speaker 1: feel about kitten heels. My husband just absolutely will not
Speaker 1: allow me towear k He hates the kidden heal. No, man,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. Might be your husband, you do not
Speaker 1: get kissed. And kitten heels they are well. First of all,
Speaker 1: I think kitty's are great for women who are like amazons.
Speaker 1: If you are five eleven, you're nine. A kidney hell
Speaker 1: is super demure. It's great because you don't that's a
Speaker 1: woman loves that tall. That's her deal. A girl who's
Speaker 1: five one five ft anything between kenney you might as
Speaker 1: will wear a nice flat pier shoes. I'd rather you
Speaker 1: just go all the way flat. Yeah, yeah, but I
Speaker 1: know I feel like I need to do I feel
Speaker 1: like I need to do a collab with I don't know,
Speaker 1: Jimmy two or Globle something be real. 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: okay to me, to me a kidten here, very uncomfortable
Speaker 1: now yeah, yeah, so, but I just wish that because
Speaker 1: I am finding that I'm right now I'm starting to
Speaker 1: look for like the like eighty five or seventy million
Speaker 1: kill because well, the highest I'm gonna go anyway as
Speaker 1: a hundred. Jada and I wear the same side shoe.
Speaker 1: But that's awesome. My daughter's daughter has already exceeded me.
Speaker 1: I'm like, sorry, but Jada's heels are She's so tiny,
Speaker 1: She's so short. He's gonna have on a five or
Speaker 1: six in shield. So I don't always get her hand
Speaker 1: me down. You don't always want them. She has fabulous shoes,
Speaker 1: but I can't. I can't walk in them. But I
Speaker 1: always encourage women that you know that that's over the
Speaker 1: age of fifty two to really really find color. It
Speaker 1: really 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 it'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 also women, you know, over the age of fifty,
Speaker 1: we're a little bit more responsible, you know, we think
Speaker 1: a little bit more curated. We think a little bit
Speaker 1: more that I think there's less emphasis on wanting to
Speaker 1: be like trendy, trendy, trendy. The closet is smarter, the
Speaker 1: beautiful collectible pieces. You become a collector. Not that to
Speaker 1: say that you hadn't collected before, but you really start
Speaker 1: to your eye curate things differently, you know, where it's
Speaker 1: like you're like, oh, I meet that flow print re
Speaker 1: stando and you know, over it's just it's just something
Speaker 1: that's so chic about it, and you wear it with
Speaker 1: clean lines, all camel, and then a pop of color
Speaker 1: on top. Color blocking is another beautiful way for a
Speaker 1: woman whose body has changed. You can gate depth with
Speaker 1: with color blocking. So you go, if you you know
Speaker 1: you want to create this sense of depth of the inside,
Speaker 1: you go warmer and darker jewel tones on the inside,
Speaker 1: and then you do the pop of color on the outside.
Speaker 1: And this creates a sense of like hollowness. And also
Speaker 1: avoid things that squeeze your body and that are super
Speaker 1: super tight. Go for something more flowey, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's very glamorous. It could be very very very sexy,
Speaker 1: especially if again if it's a calf tan, you know,
Speaker 1: and you can wear beautiful necklaces and chains and just
Speaker 1: be very graceful. And I think that you have to
Speaker 1: think kind of old Hollywood, but it's kind of is
Speaker 1: 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, I don't. I don't think
Speaker 1: i've been to it that bed keeping eyes are You're
Speaker 1: doing well. Let's talk a little bit about shapers and
Speaker 1: space for all ages, because I feel like the younger
Speaker 1: folks don't really appreciate you gotta keep you be you's
Speaker 1: gotta keep your meat meat thank you, okay, And it's
Speaker 1: I just think that, you know, it's it's like it's fundamental.
Speaker 1: It's like wearing a mask at this point. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: if you want to wear something form fitted, you gotta
Speaker 1: have something on their controls. But is it me Do
Speaker 1: you feel like they it's kind of been rejected in
Speaker 1: the in the young generations a little bit because you know,
Speaker 1: it's we're in the age of poles and it's like
Speaker 1: we're in the age of freedom and we're in the
Speaker 1: age of kind of exploitation, and it's kind of like
Speaker 1: we're looking at this. You know, the culture is really
Speaker 1: driven by what if you think about what was happening
Speaker 1: back in those days when you had the Bardville shows.
Speaker 1: There were courses, I mean, shapewear. I think things that
Speaker 1: have built in shapewear they're okay with. But the idea
Speaker 1: of putting on like a full on it goes, it
Speaker 1: goes in cycles. I think I think that's something that
Speaker 1: moms should introduce, you know, to that. I agree at
Speaker 1: a very early age, I wish it would come back
Speaker 1: because uh yeah, what we're seeing sometimes 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 shapewear that is not sabotaging your body,
Speaker 1: that's doing the work. But please don't forget about shapers, guys,
Speaker 1: shapers are a wonderful thing. Don't let us, don't let
Speaker 1: us thank you. Even spanks are funny because if you
Speaker 1: don't have on the right item to you know, then
Speaker 1: then you can see, yeah, you can see. They can
Speaker 1: mess you up. Yeah, you know. Some people also buy
Speaker 1: shaper too small and then it ends up rolling down
Speaker 1: creating bubbles. So you really want to make sure that
Speaker 1: you're fitted for your shaper, like you're fitted for your bra.
Speaker 1: You also want to make sure, like if you're wearing
Speaker 1: a pair of trousers, you don't want to wear the
Speaker 1: bikers you're right, you know shape, you can see it
Speaker 1: on your bag. You'll see the right you'll see the
Speaker 1: line on your side, which is not Those biker sharts
Speaker 1: are great for dresses, things that don't necessary won't that
Speaker 1: won't that that don't sit close to the body, but
Speaker 1: just kind of cascade. Um. They have the full length
Speaker 1: you know, waste waste to 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 it off the plane because I'm
Speaker 1: by coastal. What is your go to travel wardrobe? I
Speaker 1: love I saw you had on this which though was
Speaker 1: really cuss jumper just like kind of black, soft, kind
Speaker 1: of cotton T shirt that was That was actually Kelly
Speaker 1: Rowland from her from her labratics, from her fabletic and
Speaker 1: totally gets it. Those are great travel pieces. I like
Speaker 1: traveling as comfortable as possible. I love the pajama sets
Speaker 1: to travel in. I think another that's another great you
Speaker 1: know now that you know the two piece of jama
Speaker 1: sets are you know so acceptable to where during the
Speaker 1: 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 ninth
Speaker 1: lightweight where it's a cash me is like you know,
Speaker 1: a little T shirt fabricause something you want to be
Speaker 1: comfortable and if you layer it could be super super cheap.
Speaker 1: I always layer up, you know, I'll wear like a
Speaker 1: duster to elevate my you know, really casual maybe spair
Speaker 1: 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.
Speaker 1: I mean, well you you you you were saying thing
Speaker 1: about that I was, and it's and listen if whenever
Speaker 1: 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
Speaker 1: out stepping out like that, and I had to receive
Speaker 1: the award because Jada couldn't be there, so you have
Speaker 1: to speak. Yeah, it looks great. I needed to be
Speaker 1: in something that was going to be comfortable because I
Speaker 1: knew I was gonna be nervous. Yeah, and I like
Speaker 1: that it was a Matt finish too that it wasn't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was very forgiving. Yeah. Another thing you want to
Speaker 1: avoid things, you know, women when their body you know
Speaker 1: they're under construction or their body fluctuating. You want to
Speaker 1: avoid things with shine because it only adds brings attention
Speaker 1: to the problematic areas. And not to say that you
Speaker 1: have any, but it was really kind of funny forgetting
Speaker 1: it was Matt. It was you know, it definitely glamouflage
Speaker 1: and he sell you lied and he you know, palffiness
Speaker 1: you made. The rouging in the waistline was great to
Speaker 1: create a smaller weight, the appearance of a smaller waist,
Speaker 1: giving you more of a curve your body, more of
Speaker 1: a coke shaped bottle body, which was great. So you did.
Speaker 1: And I think that people make the wrong assumption too,
Speaker 1: is that when you're small, because you brought up cell
Speaker 1: you like when you're small, there are no body issues.
Speaker 1: And it's that's right. I have a ton of cellulite
Speaker 1: on my legs as that. It just gets worse as
Speaker 1: I get and they say it's hereditary too. Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: that's what it is. Yeah, it is what it is.
Speaker 1: Let's go back to timeless. In the closet. We talked
Speaker 1: about like a white shirt. We talked a lot of blazer.
Speaker 1: We didn't talk about laser shooting, you know, whether it's
Speaker 1: finding that perfect silhouette, you know, like that high waister trouser,
Speaker 1: whether you're you know, depending on your body type. You know,
Speaker 1: if you're a little bit more on the pear shaped side,
Speaker 1: you want to probably not do the pencil trouser and
Speaker 1: do the more full led trousers. It's more flattering, um,
Speaker 1: if you know. Like but just also a blazer that
Speaker 1: gives you the waist a waistline, whether it's a one
Speaker 1: button or a two button. Um and and again it
Speaker 1: all it really depends on your on your body type. Um,
Speaker 1: but I'm I'm a fan of having you just need
Speaker 1: to have it in the closet. It's just me like
Speaker 1: an essential. Another essential I feel is you know, just
Speaker 1: we talked to about leggings, you know, not wearing your
Speaker 1: leggings in the traditional way, you know, and especially you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of us have taken on very kind of
Speaker 1: laid back lifestyles because of what's going on in the
Speaker 1: country with this pandemic. You're you know, you're not sitting
Speaker 1: at a zoom full on you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: You're not even buying shoes as much. You're not even
Speaker 1: thinking about beds as much. There's certain things you're not
Speaker 1: thinking about as much. But doesn't mean that you don't
Speaker 1: want to get up, you know and throw on something
Speaker 1: a beautiful like easy dress, or throw on your sweats
Speaker 1: and how do you make your sweat so cool? You
Speaker 1: can put your sweats on with your blazer, you know,
Speaker 1: like we 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: a casual friday, um, you know, you they'll do like
Speaker 1: a they'll do like a b neck sweater, or they'll
Speaker 1: do 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 vnet
Speaker 1: tea and it's very very classy and I'll do like
Speaker 1: a little heel with it, or I'll go on you know,
Speaker 1: like uh not, I'll put on a slipper or a
Speaker 1: slide to make it a little bit more cooler opposed
Speaker 1: to putting on a tennis sneaker. And it's it's a feeling.
Speaker 1: I encourage you to take things out of context and
Speaker 1: play with things. I think separates are really good too.
Speaker 1: When you have you found your easy skirt, whether it's
Speaker 1: an A line or pleaded, that you can really mix
Speaker 1: and match all of these pieces throughout. And that's really
Speaker 1: the goal is that you have. Like if you have
Speaker 1: a cardigan, you want to make sure your cardigan go
Speaker 1: with at least five different things. You want to know
Speaker 1: that you can wear your cardigan over really easy you know,
Speaker 1: sleeveless dress. You want to know that you can wear
Speaker 1: your card again with your jeans. You want to know
Speaker 1: that you can wear your cardigans with your sweats, and
Speaker 1: that also elevates your sweats to a cardigan. You want
Speaker 1: to know that you can um you know, like to me,
Speaker 1: like it's like one of those essentials. But I think
Speaker 1: have been I think I'm listening to you. I think
Speaker 1: I've been very safe with my card against because my
Speaker 1: card agans are all because they're like prespieid. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: like colors, but how they oversize or they kind of Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think they're so chic. I mean, you can throw
Speaker 1: a car again over a fitted dress. You said you
Speaker 1: can belt it and wear it with your leggings. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, a ballet flat. It's it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: very nineteen kind of fifties and sixties retro. You'll put
Speaker 1: it on with a tam so ballet slippers are not
Speaker 1: out like pearls. Okay, what are some of the mistakes
Speaker 1: that you think women make when they're shopping for their
Speaker 1: body type? Buying things too small? You know, the worst
Speaker 1: time the shop is at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: first of all, because the body is swollen. Weather's for
Speaker 1: shoes and just everything. You've had a date out in
Speaker 1: the element, and unless it's the debt of winter, but
Speaker 1: even in the dead of winter, the body expands. You
Speaker 1: might have had two a sodium, So don't shop in
Speaker 1: the later part. Shop be a morning shopper. I like
Speaker 1: to shop after twelve. That's one recommendation. Also, don't buy
Speaker 1: things on the size that you're working towards being you know,
Speaker 1: I like to buy things with room so that I
Speaker 1: can fluctuate, you know, So give yourself some some grace
Speaker 1: in space when you're when you're shopping clothes. I just
Speaker 1: think this. It's such a buzz kill when you put
Speaker 1: something on and you're like, oh, and it could be
Speaker 1: just a little residual waterway, and it just looks terrible
Speaker 1: because you didn't give yourself a little room. Yeah. The
Speaker 1: one thing from me that I always feel like I
Speaker 1: have to be careful about when I'm shopping is listening
Speaker 1: to the salesperson. The salesperson because once again, yes, my
Speaker 1: 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 see the contemporary section right and trying
Speaker 1: to put me in something that, you know, younger than
Speaker 1: what is appropriate for myself. So I have very aware
Speaker 1: of that, and I tell my friends all the time, listen,
Speaker 1: don't let me be this sixty year old woman coming
Speaker 1: out in a mini skirt, you know, and you know
Speaker 1: what you know what could replace that is something that's
Speaker 1: super sweet, so you can replace like you know, them
Speaker 1: taking to this like this young junior section too. Can
Speaker 1: you show me, you know a dress that has a
Speaker 1: nice the ability to tie a boat that's silk and chiffon,
Speaker 1: or that is just kind of like a graphic print
Speaker 1: that you know, that's pleaded on, pleaded on the bottom
Speaker 1: and it's a shirt at the top, So a short
Speaker 1: dress could be super gorgeous. And it's just, um, it's
Speaker 1: easy and it's very sophisticated, and I think young girls
Speaker 1: can get away with it and older women can get
Speaker 1: away with that. I've seen it work for both. Tell
Speaker 1: 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 wear 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 too many times a week. Well that's true, because
Speaker 1: then 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. And
Speaker 1: that's what happens. That may be where I am, because
Speaker 1: it's like, you like, why bother? Like, you know, my
Speaker 1: jeans and my T shirts work fine. I know I'm stylish,
Speaker 1: I know I'm fabulous, But who cares? That's what it
Speaker 1: starts to say. After walk and you don't and you
Speaker 1: don't have a relationship with the idea of storytelling as
Speaker 1: it relates the style, and I don't think you ever
Speaker 1: want to lose that. You know. It's like it's almost
Speaker 1: like it becomes part of a conversation that you never
Speaker 1: want to lose. So what would you what would you
Speaker 1: tell me to do them? What? What? What should I
Speaker 1: do to try to break out of that? Because I'm
Speaker 1: telling you jeans and a T shirt is my go
Speaker 1: to I do it all the time. I will throw
Speaker 1: on some jeans and a shoe. The challenge will be
Speaker 1: to find another everyday pant Oh no, I have to
Speaker 1: get rid of my jeans. No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 1: Because if you're wearing your jeans five days a week,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you to wear your jeans twice a week
Speaker 1: and the other five days five days, you have to
Speaker 1: wear another another bottom. It could be a pair of cargoes,
Speaker 1: drop clatch cargoes, get funky with it. It could be
Speaker 1: you know I had, it could be it could be
Speaker 1: a yeah, it could be. It could be a trowser
Speaker 1: that's super easy that you wear with your T shirt.
Speaker 1: You don't have to give give up the casualness. If
Speaker 1: you stop wearing eels and then you put them on
Speaker 1: your feet just says to you, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: So if you stop putting yourself into those fashionable pieces
Speaker 1: or those things that take a little bit more imagination,
Speaker 1: it's gonna it won't even understand why you're doing it.
Speaker 1: It'll be like, why are you knocking on my door?
Speaker 1: Like why you over here? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: You won't feel a sense of connectivity with it. I know,
Speaker 1: women fair getting stuck in a rut at this age
Speaker 1: doing difference like this is how I like to wear
Speaker 1: my makeup. I'm done, So take yourself out of your
Speaker 1: comfort zone and just play a little, you know. Even listen,
Speaker 1: I wear skirts and sneakers, like track sneakers. I think
Speaker 1: it's so chic. You know, it's like and it's very young,
Speaker 1: but it's inappropriate. You know, I'll put an over. You know,
Speaker 1: I could do a big chunky sweater over like this,
Speaker 1: you know, a really sweet loose skirt and some sneakers
Speaker 1: is super cool. Wow, Okay, now that would be Now
Speaker 1: how is that not age appropriate? Right? Because we're thinking, oh, well,
Speaker 1: that's such a kind of like a school girl look, right,
Speaker 1: But you know, but it's what what what makes something
Speaker 1: not age appropriate? We just talked about. I'm sure that
Speaker 1: would be a right? Now? What is the what is?
Speaker 1: That's when I say, address your personality and if your
Speaker 1: personality is fun and you like skipping around and you're
Speaker 1: like being comfortable, then you can find other alternatives to
Speaker 1: that story. One of the trends that we are to
Speaker 1: be looking towards alot of sportswear. You know, so the
Speaker 1: imagine like doing a hoodie with a sequence skirt or
Speaker 1: a hoodie with trousers and that you you can do
Speaker 1: that nice to me. You could do a hoodie with
Speaker 1: your sequence skirt, or you could do a hoodie with
Speaker 1: your trousers and your overcoat when you come back, you know,
Speaker 1: the East Coast. It's such a it's such a chic
Speaker 1: look and it's kind of like it's sophisticated tom Boy.
Speaker 1: But there's also a lot of metallics, and I'm seeing
Speaker 1: um graphics, things that are graphic a lot a lot
Speaker 1: of graphics go back to the sequence because I love
Speaker 1: the idea of making a sequence skirt casual so that
Speaker 1: I can wear it during the day. So bring a discussion.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and I don't. I haven't convinced my husband
Speaker 1: about that look, and he always feels like, I know,
Speaker 1: you can totally do. I just recently saw like this
Speaker 1: really cute Alison Olivier Pleaded is a sequence skirt and
Speaker 1: you can wear with like a rock or T shirt.
Speaker 1: You easy just simple clean T shirt through a blazer
Speaker 1: with it. You could wear with a hoodie, you know,
Speaker 1: put casual pieces with it, especially the shoe. The shoe
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 tenner, 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 harder. 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're 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 skirt, sequence 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 card again, or
Speaker 1: even don 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, faster, just keep moving. Yeah, yeah, what
Speaker 1: 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 addiction, right, well,
Speaker 1: this is the best way to to to kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, suthe that addiction. But I think I've become
Speaker 1: over the years, I've become a lot smarter with whether
Speaker 1: you know, I want that camel row code or I
Speaker 1: want that you know, right, I'm just a little bit
Speaker 1: smarter about the pieces, the investment pieces. Right, Okay, so
Speaker 1: what what for? You tell me what your investment pieces?
Speaker 1: In New York, your coat is your car because it's
Speaker 1: always on the streets, so you know, and so an
Speaker 1: outwear pieces. You know, an investment piece are strong, super
Speaker 1: 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: talk with you, to see I can talk about this
Speaker 1: all day. Yeah. Yeah, it's to see the things that
Speaker 1: I'm doing right and the things that I'm not doing right. Well,
Speaker 1: you have come out of the Dean's age. You ain't
Speaker 1: come out of the now. You have homework. You have homework.
Speaker 1: I do, I do? Okay, Moving on to our segment.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't you like to know where you answer three rapid
Speaker 1: fire questions with the first phrase that comes to your mind.
Speaker 1: One thing you would have told your younger self, Uh,
Speaker 1: did you need the designer coat? Over? Maybe putting down
Speaker 1: a bound payment on something, okay, would have prioritize. You know,
Speaker 1: my assets are different to where I valued an asset
Speaker 1: like clothing is not an asset. Okay, one thing you
Speaker 1: want to get off your chest. You know when people
Speaker 1: say underage women, and so she is an underage woman,
Speaker 1: she's a child. Yes, So I just want people to
Speaker 1: stop media, to stop seeing it. I want people to
Speaker 1: call it what it is so that we can put
Speaker 1: a name to it, a face to it, and protect
Speaker 1: our kids, protect our children. Good point. That's because when
Speaker 1: I'm looking at this and like, can somebody say it
Speaker 1: it's not? Okay? Yeah? Absolutely not. Who are your favorite designers,
Speaker 1: including any outstanding black designers, and who are the designers
Speaker 1: you think are up and coming, up and coming. I
Speaker 1: think definitely La Kuan Smith, Yes, yeah, I love what
Speaker 1: Kirbyan is doing, perm Yes, Firemass. It's just a beautifulness
Speaker 1: of young black designers that are getting you know, the
Speaker 1: funding that they may assistance that they need, especially now,
Speaker 1: which is exciting as a designer that just got into
Speaker 1: for the Goodmans that I've worked with a lot. This
Speaker 1: is some good things happening. And I like designers who
Speaker 1: are white designers who are allies of black culture. Nico
Speaker 1: Mark Jacobs, you know, like people Mahapatrang, whos whose color?
Speaker 1: Can you tell us specifically what it is you like
Speaker 1: about Let's just let's just focus on those two designers,
Speaker 1: La Kwan Smith Empire Moss. What is it about those
Speaker 1: two designers that stand out so much to you? I
Speaker 1: think you know that they're unapologetically black. You know, they
Speaker 1: celebrate black, their blackness, black culture. You go to Her
Speaker 1: Moss runway show, it's like church, it's like revolution, and
Speaker 1: it's casting his you know, his provocativeness. It feels like
Speaker 1: you're in the nineties seventies, like to your fifty four.
Speaker 1: It's just sexy. It's just proud, and it's it's just
Speaker 1: beautiful and artistic and and and it really shapes, you know,
Speaker 1: the culture in in in the new way. Thanks once
Speaker 1: again to Ju and Ambrose for joining us today. That
Speaker 1: was a fun conversation. I know I have some ideas
Speaker 1: of what I need to be doing in my closet already,
Speaker 1: but that some of the tapeaways were Number one, shape
Speaker 1: where is important no matter your size, ladies. Two, don't
Speaker 1: shop for the size you're looking to be. Shop for
Speaker 1: the size that you are right now and try shopping
Speaker 1: early in the day. And number four, don't be afraid
Speaker 1: to step out of the box, get out of your
Speaker 1: rut and take some fashion ricks. It's just fashion, ladies.
Speaker 1: If you don't get a win every time, it's not
Speaker 1: the end of the world. It's just fashion. Have fun
Speaker 1: with it. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, be sure
Speaker 1: to rate and review the episode. Follow me on my
Speaker 1: Instagram at Gammy Nars to share with me your thoughts
Speaker 1: on the episode. I'm here, I'm talking, and I'm listening,
Speaker 1: and as always, folks, stay grateful. Positively gam is produced
Speaker 1: by Westbrook Audio. Executive producers Adrian Banfield Nars, Jada Pinkett Smith,
Speaker 1: Amanda Brown, and Fallon jethro Co. Executive producer sim Hoti,
Speaker 1: segment producer Ash Francis, Associate producers Erica Ron and Kobe Hartberg,
Speaker 1: editor and mixer Calvin Bailiff. Positively GAM is in partnership
Speaker 1: with Art nineteen