The one item we’re investing in this winter

0:08This episode of Stylish is brought to you by The Devil Wears Prada Too. Miranda, Andy, Emily, and Nigel return to the sleek office of Runway Magazine from April 30, only in cinemas. This is Stylish, the podcast for all things fashion, lifestyle, brand and beauty. My name is Madison Sullivan Thorpe. My co-hosts today are Rhiannon Joyce and Joanna Fleming. Hello. Happy Wednesday. Happy Wednesday. Are we sad that Hot Cross Buns will be leaving the shelves soon? I've been having like three or four a week. We are so close to Baker Blue and it is amazing. I just go down in the afternoon, have a little sweetie treaty.

0:45I buy the hot cross bun. I buy a little thing of butter and I toast it and stick it in and eat it like a sandwich. That sounds delicious. I just absolutely love hot cross buns. In fact, I'm not about being angry if they're rolled out on the 26th of December. I'm like, what's not to love about that little delicious baked good? No issue whatsoever. No. The earlier the better. You know what? Year round petition. I'm starting it. Yeah, but then they lose their sparkle a little bit because they're just available all the time. Is it not just a glorified raisin toast? Yes, but it does have the little cross on the top.

1:18Yeah. They're adorable. Take the cross off. Let's just call it a little hot bun. A little hot bun. No cross. All right, guys. Today we're discussing why Australian stationery brands are trying to break into fashion and beauty. The one item we're each introducing to our wardrobes this winter because it's fast approaching. It's quite scary, actually. And we're answering an opinion, please, about getting boyfriends into skincare. rest assured that Jo has come with the answers to all of your problems and can help you work out how to get your boyfriend or your partner into skincare. But first, what are we swapping in?

1:51I'm swapping in a brand today. And it's a brand that like, this isn't a new brand to anyone, but maybe a brand that like we've all been sleeping on for a little while and it's Ducuba. So I don't think that I have stepped foot in a Ducuba or thought about Ducuba for maybe 10 years. and I feel like in the last six months I have been seeing it slowly but surely kind of re-emerging into algorithms on creators that I'm following a friend of mine was invited to one of their events and mentioned that she'd met the new CEO I think sometimes it's really easy to forget how brands kind of come in and out of you know the realm or you know the conversation especially in Australian fashion I think a lot of the time people go oh it's like that whoever's working in social media or whoever the designer is.

2:38But really, it's all of those parts coming together. And I don't think it's a coincidence that they've had a new CEO start in the last sort of 18 months, because that's about how long it takes for wheels in motion to be sort of showing. Anyway, her name is Audrey Narnia, and she is absolutely impressive. I have no other words. She has been with the business, I think, for 17 or 18 years now. She's held a host of roles from like operations to commercial, her vision for the brand is so clear. And I'm loving kind of watching, I call it sleeping giants or sleeping beauties when brands have all the right things, right?

3:11Like Ducuba's a longstanding household name. They've got great bricks and mortar presence, but I kind of felt like just like was sleeping a little bit. I feel like the giant has been reawoken and I'm really liking just watching it as an observer in this space. Yeah. I've seen heaps of TikTok ads lately and I actually bought their cropped trench, which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago on the pod and I'm actually wearing a DeCuba t-shirt today. There you go. There you go. Jo, what are you swapping in? I'm actually swapping in a ceramicist randomly. I love an account swap. I actually can't remember how I came across this artist but she's a ceramicist who is based in the US.

3:46She makes these ceramic calla lilies. So, you know, the ones that kind of have like a cone shape to them. They're beautiful. Really popular at the moment for weddings. Yes. A lot of people using them as their bouquet. Exactly. And she does them with either a hole in them so you can hang them or she does these like rounded versions that you can put on a surface. So you can kind of lay it out as a piece of art. It looks like an installation. Yeah. They're beautiful. I believe she does drops of these and she has, I think, a residency in like New York at some point. I absolutely love following her page, COSA Ceramica.

4:20If you want to go and have a look at her page and admire her work. I'll definitely be doing that. I love following people who work in ceramics or that's their passion. It's so cathartic. Well, she does a lot of other things as well, like keepsakes and things like that that you could purchase. Such a nice wedding gift idea, Jo. That is a great wedding gift idea. So she does little like mugs with messages on them. She does what looks like a little letter, but it's ceramics and it's got writing on it. It's so beautiful. She does so many like gorgeous pieces. Okay. We'll make sure we link her account in the show notes.

4:50Even if they're sold out, I'll definitely be following. Riri, what have you got for me? I've got a lip product. Yes. So following Maddie's lip product last week, I've decided to include my own. I recently had my makeup done for an event and the lovely makeup artist at Mecca, obviously you can redeem product when you purchase the experience. I redeemed the lip product that she used on me, which I think is such an easy sell for them. Yeah. The lip combo is always an easy get. It's the easiest get. The easiest get and I was gotten hook, line and sinker you were brought in. So the lip liner is the MAC Cosmetics lip pencil shade in cork.

5:25And it's a very, very dark brown. And what I loved that she did was an ombre style on me. So very 90s coated, as the lovely lady described to me. I'm not even going to pretend like that was my own, you know, bit, vision. But what she did was actually lined my lips on the outer and then blended them in from the corners. So it gave this really gorgeous ombre look and then just went over the top with a gloss. So that meant I could use one that I already had at home. I didn't have to buy another one. I was obsessed with this look. It also gave my lips a more fuller look. Yeah. And I'm addicted. Rhea has surprised me in the last few weeks.

6:01She'll like either do a mascara or she'll do blush or she'll do something. And every week I've walked in and been like, ooh, what's different? Something's different and I'm liking it. And she'll be like, I've got mascara on. You never know what you're going to get with me. Yeah. Keep us guessing. Okay, we don't have a remote swap from Annika because she is just enjoying her time with sweet baby Poppy, but we will have some swaps with her from next week onwards. Next, we're discussing why Australian stationery brands are moving into beauty and fashion, but that will be right after a word from today's sponsor.

6:30When news dropped that The Devil Wears Prada 2 was coming out this year, you can only imagine the stylish group chat. We're swapping movie quotes, reviving our favourite looks and making plans to see it the week of. Well, the time has almost come because The Devil Wears Prada 2 officially lands in cinemas on April 30. Honestly, it already feels like the social event of the year, maybe because it's been 20 years since the original defined our generation. In the sequel, the film reunites the OG cast, the iconic Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, and an all new lineup of characters as they return to the sleek office of Runway Magazine in New York City.

7:05We are so in and we know you will be too. Gather your girlfriends and catch it in cinema from April 30. A huge thank you to The Devil Wears Prada 2 for making this episode of Stylish possible. Australian stashery brands are moving into fashion and beauty. Did we think this? When I saw the headline, I went, oh. But now that I've sat with it and thought about it, it's kind of convincing. But Mads, tell us what's going on. Yeah, I'm with you once I'm marinated. So a headline from the AFR, otherwise more commonly known as the Australian Financial Review, caught our attention last week when we dropped it into our Stylish chat.

7:38And the title was, Smeagol Bets on Beauty to Spark Growth Turnaround. Now, if you're not from Australia, Smigel is a stationary brand that was founded in Melbourne in 2003. And, look, it is known for its bright, colourful products, but it's probably known for the chokehold that it had on every millennial as a small tween. I remember the pencil case the most. It wasn't even the actual pencils. It had, like, ten zippers or something, and kids would just walk past with all different colours. They were addicted to them. I just remember going in there and, like, it's the way that I feel when I go to a KFC drive-thru as an adult with free will.

8:13It's sheer excitement. I'm just tickled pink. Like I'd go in to buy gifts for friends, like parties, and I'd be like, oh, should I get the purple or the green? Like it was a euphoric feeling I don't know I've matched in adulthood. I think someone in the stylish team might have said Smiggle was banned at their school. Yeah, Georgie said. Georgie, who's in my team, partnerships team, said it was banned at her school because people were getting so obsessed with it. I also bet there was like some sort of stealing or theft going on there. Yeah, totally. Yeah. That's an assumed piece of information, but it was giving none.

8:43I love that your assumed information is 11-year-old thief. I feel like it could happen. Look, it was hugely popular in the 2010s and crept into the early 2020s. In particular, in 2019, it hit its peak store count. It had more than 350 stores across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. When we kind of compare that to another retail giant, let's take Mecca, for example. we're kind of sitting at like 110 stores in Australia and New Zealand. Just to kind of put that wild into the scheme of how big this got. It had its highest ever sales year in 2023. So safe to say that it wasn't just a fever pitch in our lives at that time.

9:22It was many years after. According to the AFR though, sales at Smigel have been under pressure because of competition from rivals such as Kmart and its Anco label and as households spend less as a result of cost of living pressures. Billionaire businessman Solomon Liu, who owns Premier Investments, which owns Smiggle, told the publication that Smiggle's plans to sell beauty items like facial cream and lip gloss, as well as more products for boys. He described it as an add-on to our business, not our staple business. It's like adding charms to a backpack. He also told the publication that a review of Smiggle found the brand needs to focus on children aged 6 to 12 and innovate with new marketing, visual merchandising and beauty products.

10:01First, I want to start with the 6 to 12 because I think that's probably where it stood out to me in reading the article. And at first, I found it personally quite jarring. But then I remembered how old I was when St. Amigel had a chokehold on me. How did you both feel reading the article initially? I felt a little bit confused at the start and I said this up top, but mostly because is beauty a natural extension? No. Does it make sense now that they've raised the point around it being very sensory led and you know thinking about all the pencils and pens and the rubbers that would smell certain flavors and stuff it does feel like oh okay I get it like there's some sensory connection here the 6 to 12 piece is interesting for me though around going into beauty because we did do an episode discussing Shay Mitchell going into this category and that was a similar age I actually think it might have been even younger yeah that she was targeting but it seems to be a bit of a trend at the moment where brands are really trying to connect with the consumer as young as possible so that they can grow with them.

11:00What did you think, Jo? I initially was also like, ooh, this, I don't know about this, with the age group. But then I kind of cast my mind back. I'm like, I remember being, you know, probably 10 and being obsessed with lip smackers and the body shop and all of those. You remember that raspberry lip balm? Impulse. Impulse. So we had our own version of this. I think it's very easy to forget that because of all the talk of Sephora kids and, like, they want to get into actives and things like that. But I think there is a way to play in the children's beauty space. In a non-offensive way. Yeah, in a non-offensive way, in a way that feels age appropriate.

11:36So I think if they lean into the, you know, fragranced lip glosses and body balms and things like that, I can see where it would fit. I would hate to see an AHA cleanser. Oh God, no. Being sold at Smiggle, please don't do that. I think one brand that does this really well, that I've always felt really comfortable taking. And my litmus test is always, am I comfortable taking my niece and nephew in there? They're seven and they're 11. And, you know, in the last few years, have I been comfortable them being in that space? All kinds is one that really stands out to me that I am comfortable them being in that store.

12:07It feels age appropriate for them. It feels joyful and sensorial. I don't feel like I'm appropriating behavior or products. And so I would imagine Smigler seeing all kinds do incredibly well alongside, you know, the products that kids should not be playing with, like the likes of Drunk Elephant and Gisu and things like that, that probably a 10-year-old doesn't need. Yeah. There's also this element of collectibles. I think back to when I was younger and it was always about having things in mass, which thank you consumerism, thinking I need 12 different colours of the same pencil that all smell different.

12:42But it was that. It was trying to build out a collection of these products. And I think that's something that Smiggle has historically always done as well. So many children have the same product in various shades. It's not about having one, it's about having the full set. So I'm really curious to see how that translates to the beauty category. I also think a lot of their business will be around gifting as well. Like children's birthday parties, you know, 10 year old girls going to a party and getting something like they might be tempted to go to a Mecca, but I think the Smiggle feels a bit more age appropriate and is maybe there's a gifting piece there.

13:15That feels like a missed opportunity by them. I'm thinking about the whole Build a Bear experience. And I could be speaking out of school here and perhaps this already exists. But if they're so strong in bricks and mortars, how good would it be to have a smiggle party? And you go to a smiggle and you create that experience for children and then you take your products home. There could be some personalization element to it or you get a gift card upon leaving. Like there's something there. I love that idea because it is experiential. And I think a lot of the time, one thing that I've kind of really grappled with over the last probably two years of us, you know, really intensely having these conversations, how we feel about kids being marketed to and how they experience things.

13:51Ultimately, kids have the same consumer behavior as us. What they take to school says something about them. You know, collectability matters to them. You know, it's the same reason most girls are buying two road pocket blushes or two lip peptides. And I don't say that from the ivory tower. I am said girl. I'm like, oh, I want that one. And I want that one. And I want to try that lip liner that you've just told me about and I want to try that. This is not a unique experience. It's not us and them having this different behaviour. I think it just shows up differently. Key fundamental part is it's our money and we are an informed consumer and a lot of the time they're uninformed that they're being targeted at or that, you know, consumerism is alive and well when they're in that store and being upsold.

14:36Yeah, how I would describe it is that we are all bought in on this trajectory of consumption. It feels like it's just happening younger and younger. I do want to talk about another brand who is also playing in a similar space that has gone into a different category. So another iconic Melbourne founded stationary brand, Kiki K. They've actually made a move into fashion. And Lisa Gorman, who is the founder and former creative director of Australian fashion label Gorman, actually became Kiki K's creative director in 2023. This was really interesting because Kiki K as a brand, I would say, was the adult version of Smiggle.

15:09I remember going to university and, you know, being like, I'm going to Kiki K, I'm getting all my stationery, particularly that new year, new me energy, very much leaning into it. It was a very clean aesthetic, but it was literally Smiggle for adults. Like just goes to show there is no unique lived experiences there. Like I used to do the exact same thing. I have this image that I've actually included in my notes because when I saw this on the Kiki K website, and I'm going to talk about what I'm looking at right now, because I think it speaks really nicely to my point earlier around the collectibles piece.

15:39For face value, you would think that Kiki K going into fashion wouldn't make sense. But the image that I'm looking at, there's a beautiful girl. She's got a lunchbox, a drink bottle holder. She's got a travel diary. She's got a matching bag. She's then got her socks and her outfit all in a really similar color code and aesthetic. And when I look at that, what I see is a one-stop shop for someone who was really invested into that look. And when I went on Kiki K's website, I was pleasantly surprised how much it all looked very cohesive. I agree fully. And I thought to myself, if I didn't know Kiki Kay before, I would assume that this all was from inception, like that this was not a later addition to the brand because the themes all feel very familiar.

16:22It's very Scandi inspired. I didn't look at it and go, oh, this feels out of place. I felt like it just all really was cohesive, as you said. Super intentional. And also what I found really interesting, When they first announced their launch with Lisa Gorman, the category was travel. I'm like, of course. And at the time, Lisa actually said to rag traders, she said there were two key reasons why she wanted to push the brand into travel. The first was luggage today is quite boring. She noted after researching baggage carousels during the ideation phase. And the second is that at the time when this was reported in 2025, the interest in travel was rising in Australia and Sydney Airport had recorded its strongest quarterly passenger traffic since 2019 in the final quarter of 2024.

17:03They had over 11 million passengers passing through all its terminals in Q4 2024. So that was up 5 % in Q4 2023. Do we also think they were looking at like July? Absolutely. But think about it, that one-stop shop, you've got your travel journal, you've got your really cool suitcase, you've got all the little bits and bobs, your passport holder, all of those things that you would shop at Kiki K. It feels very, very intentional. So then my question to you both is, do you think that this extension of Smiggle makes sense? Because in contrast, my initial thoughts are Kiki K did skew older and it, you know, did have things that were a little more lifestyle led.

17:41So there were meal planners and weekly planners and things like that. It wasn't just like you're going in for a glitter pen and a diary. I think if the beauty element is done correctly, it will go well. Yeah. If I can see a really strong correlation to their existing offering in the context of it being a collectible and it being a full set, I feel it would make a lot of sense. I would have loved to have seen them do this with a collaboration to begin. And I think that, you know, leaning into something that kids were really loving, like whether that be Laneige or whether that be Lip Smack or something like that, that you're kind of piggybacking.

18:16Now, I know that kids aren't using Lip Smackers anymore. Long may they rest. But kind of piggybacking on the success of someone else. Like maybe a gem would have been the perfect one for them to be piggybacking. Yeah. My only criticism of that, if I may. Go for it. Is that feels like a flash in the pan. If this is a serious extension that they're wanting to do, I do think they have to establish it on their own. And then they can go into collaborations. Because do you know who did that really well? Frank Green. Yes. They really had their set codes. They had their set products. and then over time they've lent into collaborations.

18:46They've collaborated with some huge brands like Disney. Yeah. And the fact that the product identity and how strong and how much, you know, they had a chokehold on the tweens, you know, talking about that trajectory of consumerism. I've never seen so many Frank Green bottles in my life than at my local netball cohorts. They are everywhere. All the kids have them in all different colours. Talk about the trajectory of consumerism. That's the next phase. Oh, honestly, it's like you can't stop at one. I wouldn't be surprised if we see some licensing stuff from Smiggle because they already have like Minecraft stuff.

19:18I think they might have recently had like Lilo and Stitch stuff. So they clearly have these collaborations already. So I think that's only a natural trajectory for them. I think it's also really important to add that the company also owns Peter Alexander who play heavily in the licensing space. I have firsthand experience in that licensing space. So when I was working at Vegemite, we had the collaboration with Peter Alexander, which they still do annually. And obviously I can't go into the details of whether that was successful or not, but what I would say is it's still going. So I'll let you decide how successful you think it is.

19:48But licensing is very much the backbone, I would say, of Peter Alexander. I would say we see four to six collaborations with the likes of Disney and Pixar and Universal. You know, we've had Shrek, we've had Lilo and Stitch, we've had The Wizard of Oz, we've had Star Wars, we've had Harry Potter. You name it, it's on there. Next, we'll be discussing the one item we each want to introduce into our wardrobe this winter, but that will be right after a word from today's sponsor. If you ask us, style is so much more than your outfit. It's your accessories, your hair and makeup, and most definitely your scent.

20:19If you're still looking for your signature, Maya offers the most beautiful fragrances from the biggest brands in the world. There's truly something for every taste, like Scandal Elixir by Jean-Paul Gaultier, with two bold new scents for him and her, or the new YSL Berry Crush, infused with juicy raspberries. Meet your next signature scent in-store and online at Maya. And a huge thank you to Maya for making this episode of Stylish possible. As you said at the top of this episode, winter is very, very fast approaching and I feel like these cold, icy mornings are just a matter of like, they're a stone's throw away, I feel.

20:54I'm starting to get up in the morning and I'm like noticing there's a little bit of like condensation on the car. So we wanted to talk about the one item that we each want to introduce to our wardrobes this winter and we could only choose one. So this was quite a hard decision. All three of us deliberated over this. So let's kick this off. What is your must-buy winter item, Rhiannon and Joyce? Do you want to start? My love for the funnel neck jacket is at an all-time high this winter. They're everywhere and I'm here for it. I've been very committed to finding one that is of high quality and I did.

21:24So the one I actually purchased for this winter is from Camilla and Mark, but it is sold out. So I've been on the hunt for a more cost-effective swap in for you guys. So you've got something that is readily available. And it's the Uniqlo funnel neck. Mads, this is the one that you own. I think three of the girls in the office have it. It is on high rotation for a reason. It is so, so versatile. So versatile. There's an incredible Melbourne creator. Her name's Patrice. We'll put her Instagram in the show notes. But she wore it, I think it was to Effie Katz fashion show with this like incredible slip skirt and looked so expensive.

21:55You would have thought it was infamous Jacquemus. But honestly,$60. I wear mine on my dog walk, so I'm definitely not being as sexy as it could be. but also have worn it with jeans out for a drink with the girls in a little pair of pumps. It's great. What's yours Mads? Okay so the one thing that much like you Rae a couple of years ago I realized that my in winter I have very much I'm a formula dresser so outerwear is really important to me in winter because I think that's kind of the differentiator of my outfit so each winter I will sort of look to my wardrobe and go like what's one outerwear piece I think is missing so So last year it was like, okay, I don't have a great textured wool coat.

22:34And buying wool Australian-made coats is really important to me. I find that's where I get a lot of the quality. So I've previously bought a Friends with Frank coat. They make all of their coats here in Melbourne. Vic and Woods also do a lot of Australian-made coats. And so this year, though, I was kind of looking at my wardrobe the other day with the frosting on the car, realising winter is coming. Game of Thrones reference. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For those who might have missed it, definitely recommend. But for me, I'm like, I think I'm missing a shorter jacket in a wool. Not so much peacoat, a little bit more fitted, but I love the ones that are very much inspired by the original Totem scarf jacket.

23:12But I'm liking that there's a lot that seem to be coming through with the detachable scarves. Oh, I love those. Yeah, and I think it kind of feels like a two for one because I think there's like something quite European and chic about the scarf thrown over the shoulder and like a beautiful short coat. but then there's something quite nice and simple and sleek or CBK if you will of the jacket without the scarf and just a good layered basics on. I like that it adds depth to an outfit without dominating it sometimes in winter I find I'm too reliant on the coat to be carrying the fit yeah it's good to have something you can add to what you're wearing underneath but also add a brooch to that girl off you go.