Smart Casual Podcast

We're back (for now)! This is an episode about missing: yearning for Melbourne's indie designers of the late 2000s, fashion's 'missing middle' problem (aka why is clothing either $50 or $500?), and maybe most of all, missing each other. Amy now lives in Vancouver, Canada, so we recorded this episode by sending each other voice notes. Topics of discussion: Melbourne's changing independent fashion s...

New year, new episode (finally!). If you've ever wondered how clothing stores end up with a similar set of items each season, this episode is for you. We interview Tully Walter, Sportsgirl's in-house trend forecaster, to find out how fashion trends are birthed and what they say about the social and political mood of the moment. (There's a reason why tie dye is taking off right now and it involves...

Long time no see! We're back in the studio to talk about Instagram scams, drop shipping geniuses and Alexa Chung. Elsewhere in the episode, we round up the most enduring 2010 trends and make our predictions for 2020 and beyond (yeehaw!). Plus, what Amie learned from a spreadsheet of her fashion purchases. Instagram: @smartcasualpodcast Facebook: Smart Casual Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...

What does Made in China mean today? For some shoppers, the phrase throws up images of sweatshops and shoddy quality. Yet, luxury fashion houses like Balenciaga, Prada and Burberry all produce parts of their line in 'the world's factory'. So, are our perceptions of Chinese-made fashion accurate? Rong Jake Chen – co-creative director for AMXANDER and business director for Jonathan Liang –  tells us...

No longer just for students and bargain hunters, the secondhand fashion market could very well outpace fast fashion in the next decade according to ThredUp's 2018 report. Brands are catching on, reissuing sought after archive designs in a bid to get a piece of the pie (looking at you, Tommy Hilfiger and FILA).So what does this all mean for our shopping habits? Slow fashion stylist Jenna Flood join...

Fashion's latest infatuation is gender-bending, gender-neutral and unisex clothing. But do clothes even have genders? How do you make gender-neutral clothing? We ask Australian fashion labels Seeker x Retriever and JBC Lingerie to weigh in. Then we chat to our mates Andy, Leah and Holly about what shopping is like when you're gender non-conforming. Also in this episode: the origins of that woven s...

In this two-part special, we bring in Sigrid McCarthy of Intent Journal to discuss how ethical and sustainable fashion can win over more consumers. If you've been shopping around for ethically made clothing, you might have noticed a lot of muted linens, loose shapes and classic white shirts floating around. In part one, we get stuck into why ethical fashion looks the way it does, and why prices ar...

In this two-part special, we bring in Sigrid McCarthy of Intent Journal to discuss how ethical and sustainable fashion can win over more consumers. In the final installment, we offer up a buyer's guide to shopping ethical fashion – because there's many ways to shop responsibly which don't involve saving all your pennies for an organic cotton dress. Sigrid delves into how we can push our favourite...

Would you buy all your clothes at full price? In our first episode, we hear from Arnsdorf, an Australian brand that’s doing away with sales, and ask whether our collective obsession with discounts is healthy for anyone involved. Also in this episode: Emma wonders what's up with the resurgence of mullets and Amie makes a case for 'menocore' a.k.a dressing like Diane Lane in Under The Tuscan Sun.ins...