The curse of the bridesmaid dress

0:04Shameless Media. This episode of Stylish is brought to you by L 'Oreal Paris. Flat hair, need a lift? The new L 'Oreal Paris LV Collagen Lifter gives fine hair an instant volume lift that lasts 72 hours.

0:24Rhi just had a little jump scare in the studio with a snake plant right next to her. She had a meltdown, but to be fair, it actually looked like you were in an aquarium. And I cannot take this seriously whatsoever. Honestly, it's quite an ugly plan as well. So I'm happy to get it away from you. It all freaked me out. It's a choice. It's a real choice. I reckon Shu came in and she's pranked you. Guess what? I didn't pick that. I just want to clear my name. It doesn't surprise me. Anyway, Annika, you've got something to bring to our intro chat today. All I want to do, you guys, is start a segment where we talk about Bravo and we bring in the Bravo space to stylish somehow.

0:59And like, I'm going to die on this hill because every single week I'm now, oh, I'm stitching myself up. I'm going to bring something from the Bravo space. Ah, I'm doing it. Have you done this like the last three times you've been on the pod though? Yep, good pickup. That's what we're doing here. So you've already done it. I know, and I am doing it. Like I'm committed. Okay, what's this week's Bravo feature? Bethany Frankel. Do we follow? Do we like? Do we have feelings and thoughts? I'm familiar with Bethany Frankel, but I'm personally not a Bravo watcher. I've never watched. The real house. You just dropped a notch on my belt.

1:28Sorry. How can I make it back to you? Watch the show. Watch Summer House. Summer House. Like, please watch Summer House. Okay. Okay. Anyway, Bethany Frankill. She has gotten herself in some hot water. She is not unfamiliar with hot water. Like, she's boiling the kettle. Actually, do you guys call it a kettle or a jug? A kettle. Kettle. Okay, Kiwis, New Zealanders, jug. Really? Boil the jug. Turn the jug on. Oh. Okay. Yeah, okay. So she's boiling the jug. She's boiling the jug. Jug is brewing. Hot, spicy tea. Anyway, Bethany, so she actually, she likes to claim, allegedly, I'm looking at you here to partnerships, allegedly, that she supports the underdog.

2:08Like, you know, she's all about supporting women in business, which I actually think to an extent she is. Very true. However, there is a super cute little Etsy brand, and they are very small, like very, very small, who has been kindly gifting her beautiful pieces from their collection. This actually ties into my swap a little. So the Candy Lace. Candy Lace jewelry is their tag. And they've made these beautiful handmade Etsy necklaces for her. And she's been wearing them in all of her videos, all of her content. So that in itself, I think, is a big achievement because you've got your brand on this name.

2:40Like Bethany Frankel, everybody. Huge name. But Bethany has not been crediting the Candy Lace jewelry. Right. and it's gone to the point allegedly that the designer believes Bethany is actually intentionally not crediting the correct jewellery brand. Is she tagging the wrong brand? She's tagging another brand. Yes. Oh. I don't know. Why would you do that? I'm believing that she's not realised what she's doing. And then, so now it gets like the water is piping now. Yeah. The designer's come in and she's got receipts, facts, proof, and she's like sending or posting, sorry, screenshots of, okay, well, if Bethany is going to do this with you, it's a paid partnership and then there's usage fees.

3:27So now it's$30 ,000, yada, yada, yada. And so it's kind of like, what is the standpoint between gifting and then now bringing into the conversation a partnership, which was never agreed. It was all like gifted product. Yeah. First of all, Bethany Frankel, I think she's in my past basket. I know she's chaotic and a lot of people don't like her. Like she's quite polarizing. I find her so fucking funny. Same. I find her so entertaining. Like I'm here for the chaotic bitch. Like the chaos of her account like sends me into an absolute tizzy of joy. But the part that I want to really nut out here, why is she tagging another brand?

4:03If you've been gifted something, you know that it is from that specific brand that's gifted. When you've been gifted something, it's pretty rare that you would accidentally tag another brand. Yeah. That does feel a little intentional. intentional. Like why is she doing it? Is she getting a kickback? Is she getting, I don't know, some other benefit, but that's weird. But if the other brand doesn't sell the product that she's tagging, that would make more sense that it's accidental. And she just keeps tagging the same brand because she's tagged it a few times. So it's the first thing to come up as she goes to tag it.

4:33That's what I'm thinking in my head. So you genuinely just think it's an honest mistake. I genuinely think it's an honest mistake. But also when you say like about the gifting thing, and I don't know this full story, I'm hearing it straight from you. I don't know the background of this but also if you gift a massive celebrity something like that you cannot expect a guaranteed tag or guaranteed deliverables I'm sorry that's just how the world works but to be to challenge wasn't she already tagging the brand originally and then she stopped tagging and tagged another brand correct so that's weird oh wait she started tagging yeah that's where I'm confused are you in the room people screaming like in their cars are you stupid you're not stupid but I was like I think we're missing a key detail I don't know she's chaotic she's chaotic that is rogue and I'm really I think it's weird I think it's strange too and I think it's also strange because if it was like a one off maybe perhaps you'd be like okay benefit of the doubt but again there's been numerous posts there's been so many posts of her content and it's like okay you're actually getting actively called out your team have engaged with yeah the doubling down that's where i feel like oh this is getting a little bit like allegedly murky now allegedly allegedly allegedly yeah i think like for face value if i agree with you joe even though she did tag the brand originally for i do think you can't expect celebrities or like large influences to post your product and, you know, give credit.

6:08It's a really nice thing when that happens and it does happen. But yeah, it just gets weirder and weirder as you kept telling that story and the way it rounded out and then requesting$30 ,000 in payment for you to continue posting. That feels like a little, it's almost like alleged extortion. Alleged. Anyway, before we get in more hot water and legal trouble, This is Stylish, the podcast for all things fashion, lifestyle, brand and beauty. What are we talking about today? We are a legend. No, I'm kidding.

6:43Oh, well, this one's a bit of a personal one. We're actually going to be talking about a recent experience I've had on TikTok regarding bridesmaids, dresses, which apparently very, very divisive. Then we're going to be getting into how Kmart broke Australian retail on purpose with the launch of K Home. But before we do that, obviously every week we've got to bring the good stuff, the swap. Who's going first? Sometimes I feel like people just come to us for the swap. Probably. And then exit stage left. Yeah, we can probably find that out. Yeah. Please don't do that. That hurts me. I'm being very generous today, you guys.

7:15I've got quite a few. Come with me on the journey. Is that allowed? No, I'm kidding. We're breaking all the rules today. I know. We've been here for five minutes and we've broken so many rules. So many. But anyway, so I'm just going to say what I think. I'm going to say it with my chest and Madison Sutherland thought be so proud right now. It's just peak winter. It's freezing. I'm online way too much, like way too much. I'm getting inspiration from the algorithm. I really am. I'm like watching everybody's stories. I'm heavily invested in European summer right now. I'm envisioning me and P on a yacht matching keenies.

7:50Not happening anytime. So, oh my God, imagine her in a keeney. She'd be so cute. Oh my God. I love little kids in keenies, little pot bellies. I know. and her belly is just so cute and pudgy right now. Anyway, I'm really into just statement pieces at the moment. And so this is where my hybrid swap comes in. I'm going to bring two. Love. I am seeing a lot of fun statement jewellery, just like complimenting or really bringing outfitting to life on my socials. And in Phoebe Philo, we trust. I just, you know, peruse for a little bit of inspiration every now and then, you know, just peruse on the site.

8:25She styled a really beautiful, simplistic dress with tousled hair, really undone. And it was a simple slip dress. But then there was a super cool silver cuff, which was on the bicep. And I loved that. And then what else I'm seeing is a lot of beautiful natural stones, just bringing a pop of colour to outfitting. So, merging the two. I have discovered this super cool brand called Julieta, and I found them over on Modo Operandi, where I actually always go if I want, like, something new, something fresh. They had this super cool resin cuff with a black onyx feature on it, which I thought was so stunning.

9:01And what I want to invest in is like a cuff that can go on my wrist, on my forearm, and then on this big juicy bicep. I want the full arm look. At all times? Or you want the versatility of being able to wear it then? The versatility. I want a three in one. I also think for evening wear, it would be really cool to have a black long dress. Kind of like what I have on right now, but in a dress. I'm wearing a long-sleeved black tie because you can't see me. And like have the cuffs on either side like as a statement. Like in winter to a black tie wedding gown. Oof. Yeah. That would be really chic. That's a bit of me.

9:35I'm all over it. And I am redoing our showroom space at Sage. And I'm loving just silver accents, chrome accents, stainless steel. But I feel like it can be quite cold. So you need to bring a warmth like anchor into the space. and I have found the super cool European brand, Panconesi. I'm saying it like that. Oh, you nailed that. Did I? I feel like you did. You've been nailing the accents lately, the German last week. I know, it's because I'm multicultural. Like honestly, like there's a bit of me everywhere. Anyway, I'm obsessed with this brand because they do objects, not homewares, objects, chic.

10:09And they also do really cool jewelry and they merge the two as well. So really beautiful statement pieces with the beading coming through, those natural stones. And there's a stunning timepiece. It's like a big clock and it's like a silver stainless steel canvas, just a rectangle. And then the stones are actually the time marks. Oh, cool. I am obsessed with this brand. I'm just online live Google. We love live Google. Isn't it stunning? And then they've got candelabras. They've got these really beautiful candlesticks as well. The candlesticks are absolutely stunning. They do. Like really eclectic, a mix of stones, like lots of color.

10:45Should we do a bulk order? Yeah, let's do it. I need stuff for the office and I really want to find, we've just moved offices at Shameless Media and I really want to find unique pieces. Yes. Arnica, influence. You are so welcome. Before you just drop some things in your cart, you might want to wait for like a discount code or an after pay date or something coming up because it's quite expensive. But we'll do a group order and maybe, you know, we'll get our tax back or something. That's why I was like, why don't we just do a group one? Let's do that. But again, I wanted to shop something as well and swap in something a bit more affordable.

11:15So Anna Rossi always, we love her pieces. She's also doing so many beautiful statement jewellery pieces with the jewels, the stones, and all of that coming through. So there you go, 25 swaps of the year. I'm done. I'm not swapping in ever again. Should have saved them and just stripped them out over the next three weeks. I can't do that. You know me once I stay, but such loose lips. You're so generous with your swaps. Do you want to go, Jo? Yeah, mine are from this past weekend. Some things that I did and slash used. So I actually had the intention of taking Axel, our dog, to a photo booth to get some photos with us and our dog.

11:56So cute. Except he's massive. He's like 45 kilos and he couldn't fit in the photo booth. Oh, no. I do recommend doing this with a smaller dog because it is so cute to have these little photos. You can get these frames now that are exactly the size of, have you seen them? No, I haven't. They're like little wooden frames that you can get and like you can put them on the wall, but they're the perfect size for a photo strip. Yeah, like a photo strip. And you can actually do them with a chrome base as well. Yes. So instead of like standard like canvas or white base around, what is that? The border.

12:29The border. The border, that's what I'm after. You can do it with chrome. That's cool. Very cool. So anyway, I wanted these photos with Axel. He couldn't come into the photo booth because he was too big. So I just took them with Adrian. I think I influenced you. You might have. No, because that was our pregnancy announcement. It was. It was. We did the strip. That's chic. And then we did the follow-up when P was born. Yes. And so there's photos of me, James, Poppy, and Miso in the photo both together. Wait, you might have influenced me and I just didn't realise it. I'm literally in your subconscious.

12:59Yeah. Your subconscious. Okay, my one stuff up for the day. I'll give it to you. I'm in your subconscious. She gave it to me, guys. My one flaw. Also says the girl that literally mispronounces everything. Shut up. No, guys, sometimes, honestly, I mispronounce so many things and I love to blame it on my accent. But my husband looks at me and he's like waiting for the pickup. He's like, you're going to check yourself and you're going to pick yourself up. Never do. It's like part of my brand now. Same. I might roll with it. You know what I mean. Come on. I also have a second swap for you. Okay. Cheaters.

13:34Why didn't you guys tell me you were bringing two swaps? Now I look like I'm being selfish. But I have to because it's a cleaning one. Okay, fine. And I always get dams and people are like, I love your cleaning swaps. Stay true to the personal brand, Georgia. Exactly. Now, I'm only 33 years old, but I've had a number of falls. And I had a fall on Saturday morning. So Adrian had made me my coffee and I'm sipping it in the living room. And then I go to walk into our kitchen to eat breakfast. And I trip over his foam roller. and I like roll on it like a cartoon and fall literally all the way back, give myself whiplash.

14:11I've got like my neck was all jarred. You're going to the Cairo, babe. I might have to, but I spilt my coffee all over the carpet. Like it was everywhere. So I had to get out the Bissell spot cleaner. And everyone knows, Jo wasn't worried about her neck. She was worried about the carpet. I 100 % was like, no. I literally, it was like, I was in slow motion being like, oh my God, the carpet. Oh my God. I literally have just stopped laughing because I'm just envisioning this, like, ballerina, so graceful, like, falling chaotically around. I had coffee all over my hair, my face. It was all over my dressing gown.

14:44I was absolutely covered in coffee. Not the dressing gown. It was, like, it was crazy. And Adrian came in and I was just on the floor with a coffee cup on the floor, like. Like, dead. Yeah. Like, in a cartoon where there's a white line around you, Joe's just like. But there's coffee instead of chalk. It was exactly like that. But then I posted him cleaning it up because obviously it's sore neck. So he was cleaning up the spot cleaner. And heaps of people were like, what is that machine that you've got? So I just had to bring it as the Bissell spot cleaner. I did borrow my mother-in-law's one that I've swapped in previously, but I do also have the spot cleaner because, you know, I'm into cleaning tools, guys.

15:16And you fall over a lot. And I have a lot of falls for someone in their 30s. I literally thought you were going to swap in like a supplement brand or something for your joints. And I was like, where the hell is Jo going? But no, thank you for staying true to the PB. Ray Ray. It's probably good that you only brought one swap for yours. I've really blown this out. No, that's okay. That's okay. I'm bringing in a swap for a creator, so an account. And guys, after this, I'm banned for creators. But I have to say, I'm like you, Annika. I'm like very online at the moment. I'm also, Jo, we're saying this off mic, we're not buying a lot at the moment.

15:49Yeah. But I'm looking at my wardrobe and I'm looking for inspiration. So I'm turning to other people to be like, how are you styling what you're wearing? And guys, major girl crash loading. Like I am obsessed with this girl. Her name, I believe her actual name is Sarah Starcy because that's, you know how Instagram has like your bio? Yes. So her name in her bio is Sarah Starcy, but her handle is Sarah Brezel. B-R-E-Z-E-L. Sarah Brezel. I believe I'm pronouncing that right. She is so fucking cool. Annika, I know you're getting her up. You already follow her. Okay. Which means you know she's really cool.

16:23Yeah. She does the best pose, like the way she does her outfit of the day pose. She's really good at accessorising lots of chrome, lots of jewellery statement-like pieces. And then, like, more – not that they're plain looks, but I think she's just really good at pulling an outfit together. I cannot stop looking at her post. Like, if Instagram had that feature where you could see people go on your page – I think I'm going on her page, like, two, three times a day. Oh, wow. No, I'm, like, obsessed with her. I feel like you're going to be so hooked on Sarah Brickell. Oh, really? Because she's got one of her captions.

16:55Apparently, I love brown. And she looks chic, honey. She's got my swap going on. She's got the beads. She's got the shower. The colour popping. She's just unbelievable, guys. You must follow her. She's fun. All right, we need to wrap it up. So an absolute must follow. It's close to home, our next story, but I'm really excited to get into it. Yes, I am being trolled on TikTok, but we'll get into that right after a word from today's sponsor.

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18:26Rie, when you told us the other day that you were basically being trolled on TikTok, I did not believe you. But then when we opened up the video, I was like, wow, okay, you're not joking. You actually are being trolled. Yeah. I thought you did something like really illegal. I was like, what did Riri do to go and get herself absolutely trolled like that? Yeah, I did nothing but wear a bridesmaid's dress. And apparently that was enough to go. Apparently. Apparently. That was enough. No, guys, just for a bit of background, I'm absolutely on the wrong side of the algorithm and have been for honestly almost over a month because the original video keeps surging, which TikTok loves to do.

19:03But I'm going to take you back a few steps. The internet has decided that the bridesmaid's dress that I wore to my best friend's wedding in Italy was apparently the ugliest dress they have ever seen. Apparently. And I don't believe that. I don't believe it either. I mean, I wore it, so obviously I don't believe it. Well. We'll get into that. Yeah, we'll get into that. No, for context, why this is blown up is because the bride's sister, Xanthe, posted a TikTok of us, the bridesmaids. There were five of us in total, wearing our dresses, cute little out for the day, like really quick snapshot TikTok.

19:33I remember seeing that when she posted it. It came up in my algorithm. Okay, great. So it came up, what, like four or so weeks ago? Yeah, ages ago. And it was captioned, my big sister got married and these were her bridesmaids. And it was just like a cutesy little, you know, looking at the camera. You guys looked stunning. Like stunning. I remember like double liking, triple liking if I could. Yeah. So I'll carry on. And at the time, the video did go, not viral, but I would say for Xanthe's following count, and I'm not saying this is a shame, Xanthe, like you don't have any followers. But Xanthe has like, I think less than 5 ,000 followers.

20:03The video had about 40 ,000 views, 600 comments at the time and 300 shares. That's high engagement. High, high engagement based on Xanthi's follow account. Unfortunately for us, the comments weren't very nice. They were very much centered around the fact that the dress that we were wearing, which was from Dele Valle, which is an international designer. That's where my hens dress was from. That's where your hens dress was from. I love that brand. Beautiful brand. It's a stunning brand. It's a profile brand. It's a brand that is stocked at really beautiful high-end stores. This is a chef's kiss brand.

20:32It's a great brand. I would say they do a lot of lace, which we were wearing lace as well. So I feel like they've become quite known for that. There are a few comments here and there, Peppered, being like, don't love this, whatnot. Anyway, Xanthi starts to like feed the beast. So this is on Xanthi. I would have been. But to be fair, in the group chat, because we have a bridesmaids group chat, no one really cared. Like we weren't bothered by the fact that people didn't like the dress. If I'm being really honest, it is a very fashion forward dress. It is one of those divisive dresses where you're like, I either love it or I hate it.

21:03And that's fine. Like it's simply not for everyone. But for me, I felt very good in it. All the bridesmaids felt good in it. We knew when we tried it on at the time, I was like middle of winter and I was like, I'm going to need a tan for this. Like it's in Italy. But once you see the whole vision together, and we'll get into this a bit later, it all kind of makes sense. Yeah. The process nearly 600k views. Wow. I think it's just tipped over at the time of recording. It's gone over that. 19k likes and over a thousand comments. Guys, I don't even want to tell you what the shares are because that's the real indicator.

21:34Real ones, no. The shares hurt you. The shares hurt you. So I haven't been looking at the shares. But look, the bride is not disheartened by this. my best friend Georgia could not be taking this better. Okay. Absolutely in her strife. I was going to ask that because I thought that could very easily offend her because obviously that was her vision for the day. She obviously loved the dress. Unbothered. Like completely unbothered. Like has messaged me saying, I cannot wait for you to talk about this. Oh, okay. Good for you, Georgia. Hi, Georgia. She's so invested in this chat. And because Xanthi kept posting videos, I think by design, the algorithm then searched the original video.

22:09So she was replying to comments that were mean and reposting. It was so clap back funny. Like I could never. Like I would be dying. So tip my hat to Xanthe. So what that then did was search the original video, which is what made it blow up. And guys, the comments. Can I just confirm? Like the comments are not like about your body. It's specifically about the dress. No, it is specifically about the dress. Okay. So we can like have a laugh at it. No, that's why I'm sitting here like having an absolute lull. It's like no one is coming for me personally. No one's coming for any of the girls. it's very much centered around the dress and the conversation is like, not even the conversation, the discourse is like, this is the worst bridesmaid's dress I've ever seen.

22:50Like that is the sentiment in the comments. Some of them, I'll read them to you. Does the bride hate you?