Trends from fashion week that you can wear tomorrow

0:29Shameless Media. Take it if we try. Just the two of us. Nymer is sadly sick today and a few of the girls are obviously off on leave. We've got Annika in New York. Jo is working. So it's Madison Sullivan Thorpe and Rhianne enjoys today for your Wednesday episode, fam. Whoop whoop. I want to get straight into it. Oh, we're doing it. I know what we're talking about. The Sydney Sweeney ad. Yeah. For Novig. I think it's been a while since I've watched something on social media and gone, are we serious? Like, are we seriously doing this? I think visceral reaction was felt by probably majority of women.

1:03I don't think I'm speaking out of tone to say that. I think a lot of women were like, ooh. Yeah, it's one of those things, if you haven't seen it. So Sydney Sweeney has recently fronted a advertising campaign for an odds company. It's not an odds company. It's a prediction market. But it's in the gambling sphere. The company's called Novig. And in that ad, Sydney Sweeney is naked for the entirety of it in various different like poses with different balls, literally, as in like footballs, basketballs and stuff covering her boobs. Well, I was like, if you hadn't seen it, you know, you might not know.

1:38So like basketballs, footballs, she's on a pool table. It's very suggestive. It's very sex sales mindset. Now the internet's response to this has been pretty thick and fast. It's got all the headlines, which to be honest, I think that's what the company wanted. The whole concept of this ad though is that they just do sports. So a lot of these kind of predictor markets or gambling agencies will offer, you know, betting on royalty or politics or, you know, global events. And this is just sports. And so the whole premise is it's just sports. But as you said, she's there naked with all of these sporting balls.

2:10Yeah. And it was the most like obvious through line. The whole concept of it being just sports and then her being naked and this simplifying it and trying to cut through the clutter. It was so obvious, but it was also so reductive. So reductive. And look, the response videos have come in thick and fast. I don't think anyone's shocked by the response. So a lot of people have been making videos, particularly female athletes, saying this is sending us backwards. This is so reductive. This is very disappointing to see Sydney Sweeney front a campaign that is so obviously about the male gaze. It's not about lifting women in sport who will form a huge portion of this sports market.

2:42I think what's so disappointing is probably for the last, I mean, since the dawn of time, women have been fighting for airtime for female sports. And I think we have seen an industry that is largely underrepresented, underfunded, unattended to in the way that it deserves because the effort, energy and output is the same as men, if not more, by the simple fact that they're trying so hard to get the exposure. This is just this just feels like the biggest step back. I felt my heart sink for any sport woman. Yeah, it's also the added layer of it being Sydney Sweeney. And now that might sound really personal, but I think Sydney Sweeney has made a habit out of really leveraging her body in a way to sell.

3:20And Mads, on a fortnightly Friday episode ages ago, we talked about the whole concept of is sex and advertising back pretty much. And we talked a lot about Carl's Junior Burgers and how they're very much still prevalent in the Super Bowl. And there's always, you know, Alex Earle's fronting that came. And this has been something that we've seen bubbling away. This is like the extreme version of it. I also want to talk about the fact that Sydney Sweeney actually has equity within this company as well. She does. Yeah. So there's a great Instagram account, if anyone is ever interested in learning about, you know, which influencers or brands have taken equity, sold, series raised, all of those sorts of things.

3:53And so it's called Traded VC. And they reported that Sydney Sweeney has actually signed on as an equity partner. It's undisclosed what equity share she has and how much she paid for her equity percentage. But my assumption would be that it's probably a fee that she has replaced with the use and likeness of her image. It muddies it for me because that also says if you're willing to put equity into a brand like this that exists in the gambling sphere, that says a lot about your character in terms of like how you want to show up in the world. And I think from what we know of gambling and how much it destroys so many people's lives, I think that's a serious choice.

4:26I think it's a really serious choice. And also I think the use of her being virtually naked. No, she is. She is naked. I mean, we don't see her full frame. So I would put two basketballs there. Yeah, two basketballs there, one football down below. I think another dangerous like layer of this is that that appeals to largely young men. And I think that the gambling legal age, to my understanding, is 21 in the States. So this is also a really dangerous line to be running. The thing that's interesting as well, Novig is a relatively new company. So they haven't been around for a while. So from my perspective, from a marketer's perspective, they've achieved their goal.

5:02Like they're probably sitting in the boardroom pretty happy with themselves right now because they've got so many headlines. They've got people talking about the company. They did exactly what they wanted to do, which was cut through the clutter or cut through. But they've done it in a way where I think creativity has been replaced by like headlines. I think it's the age old saying of no publicity is bad publicity. And I think that they've been really comfortable with outrage being the response. I mean, really disappointingly, I sat in the comment section for probably a good 30 minutes. And let me tell you, it's not somewhere I want to hang out again.

5:31it was an even split of females being like really no Vic this is so disappointing and a whole bunch of men basically going I love sports oh yeah I love sports and I love Sydney Sweeney but this is the thing the outrage is coming from our audience not their own so for them they're looking at this and going like well it was a huge success yeah disappointing to say the least but I do have to say I love the virality of the rebuttal videos I've seen from the female sports stars so well done girls hate that you had to make the video but I'm glad it's getting the traction it deserves. Today, we've got a lot on our agenda, Rhi.

6:01We are revisiting something we've spoken quite a lot about on this podcast. They call it sunscreen gate. SPF gate. SPF gate. So we are covering kind of where we are now and ultraviolet, which sort of was the face of all of that scandal. We're also going to be talking trends we're seeing emerge from New York Fashion Week. That's going to be right after a word from today's sponsor. Consider this your PSA. It's time to add a little more colour to your life. Forget neutral minimalism. Colour is everywhere right now, from our clothes to our interiors. So why should our jewellery be any different? In fact, jewellery is probably the perfect place to start.

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7:14Explore Michael Hill's new range of colour online or in store and thank you so much to Michael Hill for making this episode of Stylish possible. okay our first story deceptive ultraviolets whose wild child laboratories for spf failure so this is the latest installment of what's taken place in the sunscreen gate i'm not calling it that that's very much what it's been labeled in the media the saga has continued to grow and i'll give you a really quick summary of the scandal and what's happened because it has been over 12 months since we last touched on this story so wild child the manufacturer of the base formula used by 20 sunscreens that actually came from 16 brands were pulled from sale for failing to meet the sun protection factor claims.

7:54They're actually being sued for misleading and deceptive conduct by ultraviolet. As per the Sydney Morning Herald, of all 16 sunscreens that failed choices testing, the fall of ultraviolet was the steepest. So I don't know if you remember this Mads, but their actual recording of what the SPF measurement was, was SPF 4. Yes. And it was labeled as an SPF 50 to market, which that was the largest gap. And I think where the most of the outrage kind of sat was with Ultraviolet. I would say they were the most recognised brand or the most zeitgeisty brand on that list. The most zeitgeisty brand on the list is definitely a reason why I also felt at the time that they garnered a lot of the attention.

8:29So Ultraviolet's founder Ava Chandler Matthews and Beck Jeffred have actually described the past 14 months since the scandal as the worst time of their lives. I found that really interesting in the piece that we referenced because so much of their face was initially attached to their response originally. Do you remember their original response video? Yeah, I do. For those who didn't see it, Ava Chandler Matthews, who is one of the co-founders, actually did like a pretty heartfelt piece to camera. It felt very much unedited. It felt very much like live in real time. And look, devil's advocate, I think that was what they had to do.

9:01There was really no way they could respond without it being from founder, given they, as the co-founders of this brand, were under such a microscope. Under such a microscope because throughout their social media strategy and their marketing strategy, their faces have been attached to it and their communities are very familiar with who they are. So I think when you work for a brand or you own a brand like that, where you've put yourself front and center, there is more of an obligation to feel like you have to show up than a lot of these other brands. So there were 16 in total. So many of them didn't actually have anyone fronting their statements.

9:30If anything, I would say they were pretty faceless. Yeah. And I do think a lot of the brands got off pretty scot-free. And I will say of that, there were some that came off the shelf due to choice. But for those who were following very, very closely and I say this because I was in the industry at the time watching very closely. There were some brands that very quietly took it down, uploaded one Instagram post and then flooded their feed with a lot of other content to try and distract from that. I don't think Ultraviolet had the luxury of hiding the way that other brands got to after, you know, finding out kind of wild child was who they are.

10:02I think I do agree with you Mads but I also think the added layer of it is a lot of people were frustrated online about their decision to emphatically deny allegations towards the lean screen. And they basically said, this is not true. Something was wrong with their testing. We emphatically deny this. They then had to apologize and issue a recall of the product. So it's kind of one of those moments where in real time, I think they did the right thing and made the choice to front up and really own what was going on. The element that I feel they probably regret, and they did touch on this in the Sydney Morning Herald piece is there was a level of defensiveness that they had when they were showing up.

10:39And Ava goes on and explains the behind the scenes of her being in America and finding out in real time. They knew that Choice were working on it in the background, but they didn't have visibility of when the actual headlines were going to hit. So, you know, there's also the added vulnerability of being away and feeling like I need to get on top of this right now. I'm sure with the gift of hindsight, they'd look back and they would reflect and go, there are probably things that they would do differently. We don't have that luxury though. No and I think when you're in crisis comms you do what you do with the information that you have available in that moment and the reality is I imagine it was very little information so much has come out about Wildchild since then so much so that the manufacturing plant has gone into administration which not hard to imagine because which brand would be going there to have them develop their SPF right now you would be mad.

11:26You would be mad but also when we originally reported on this, we didn't actually know what the company was. That was circulating in the background. There were rumors and there were suggestions, but no one was allowed to report on it because at that point it wasn't proven. So this headline is really dragged awareness of what the company is. Your trust is completely eradicated. Yeah. I think at the time when they were working with Wildtrap, they were obviously considered to be a really reputable manufacturer. They worked with a suite of brands that are really common, well-known. So from their point of view, they probably looked at it and be like, well, we're trusting this manufacturer.

11:56were trusting the testing facilities to also make sure that this product says what it does. And it wasn't. Yeah. And to someone who might be sitting at home going, well, why did they trust that manufacturer? It's a really valid question. Every SPF manufacturer has to be TGA approved. So, you know, the TGA go in, they assess the facilities, they work with third party testing facilities. It's not just Wildchild that are alleged to have been at fault here. It's also the testing facilities that are alleged to have been at fault because their result has not been a true result of what the SPF is because the Australian regulation is that you have to actually pass as an SPF 60 to be labeled as an SPF 50 plus.

12:35I really enjoyed the piece and it is a long one guys but I highly highly recommend that you read it we'll make sure that we pin it in the show notes but I think it gives a really well-rounded perspective from Ava and Beck and how this has impacted them personally but also goes really into the weeds around what they've done behind the scenes to try and rebuild trust. I also felt that they gave more of an objective viewpoint and had other people contribute to the piece. One of those contributors was the chemist, Dr. Michelle Wong. So she's a science educator known for her social media followers as at lab muffin beauty science.

13:07And she was really active during the scandal and commented on quite a bit. So much so that she actually has a pinned story on her Instagram where you can go back and watch all of the Q &As that she did. She did a lot of reels and covered it throughout. And I would say that her coverage of both the choice allegations, ultraviolet positioning, and a lot of the other brands that were referenced was quite well measured and balanced. So I definitely recommend going and checking out her page. They engaged her for the piece because they wanted obviously a third party perspective of someone who was looking at it, has an expertise, but also was not non-biased.

13:39Yeah. She also had a relationship with the brand. She did copywriting for them in early 2020s. Yeah, it was 2021. She was copywriting for them. And Michelle actually offered a quote for the article, right? It reads, the founder's approach, which took aim at the validity of Choices results, worked against not for them. I think a lot of the lack of trust actually came from Ultraviolet themselves and how they responded, she says. Their claim that Choices results were scientifically impossible turned out to be untrue. It goes on, if you compare Ultraviolet's response to every other brand in the original Choices article, theirs was just out of line, says Wong.

14:11While I think a lot of what they did behind the scenes to sort out the issue was commendable, publicly it seems like they were trying to influence their way out of the situation. How do you feel about that, Rae? What are your thoughts? Bringing it back to what you said before, Mads, around, you know, them responding in real time in the way that I feel like they had to. They had all the information. I think where they've probably fallen down, and again, I'm not a PR expert, but they've gone on to explain this themselves in the article, is having that level of defensiveness and emphatically denying.

14:39Like they've obviously had to then go on and release statements, pull the product. That's not ideal because then you're giving people a paper trail of like a timestamp to be like, well, you said this, you told me that this wasn't true. When at the time they didn't know that. So I think that little element of it is something that people are really holding on to and rightfully so because we're talking about sunscreen, we're talking about sun safety. It's very serious and I don't think in any way founders of Ultraviolet haven't kept that front of mind. like that's very much their main concern and again in the piece they're like our first response and thoughts were we have to make sure that this product is doing what it says yeah so I commend them for doing the work and obviously owning their shit you know they've pulled the product they also went and tested all of their other products they've changed manufacturers they've changed testing labs they've also increased their testing so they're not just doing testing on one like one sample they're doing multiple testing and they're using off-shelf product to test so they've made change.

15:35I think it's important to call out though, trust is really hard to rebuild. Yeah. And Ava did mention this in the release as well. She actually said a trust rebuild is not an interesting story. Not as interesting as a sunscreen scandal. It became ass versus choice. And that's exactly how I would say it did play out in the media. Yeah. Look, and I think there were a lot of people disappointed and a lot of people outraged both privately and online because we are at the end of the day talking about one of the key ways to defend against skin cancer, which is the most prominent cancer here in Australia.

16:06I think you'd be pressed to find an Australian kid who didn't grow up with the saying slip, slop, slap. You know, this has been entrenched in our culture. This is something that a lot of people are sensitive to and have been affected by. So I do understand that sensitivity to this and I do understand why, you know, it makes people distrust a brand. I just hope that we have the perspective to be able to step back and go, that doesn't mean these founders are evil or they've done this intentionally. I don't think that's the case at all, but I think there are answers they have to give. And I think what they've done is their best attempt behind the scenes to try and make sure that the products that they're selling are saying what it says on the tin.

16:40Totally, Rae. And to build on that, I don't want that mistrust in brand to be a mistrust that evolves to the industry or the category because we are moving into the warmer months. As I said, outside of a hat and protective clothing, it is one of your best defences against, you know, getting a melanoma and I really can't urge anyone enough to be wearing SPF every single day. I think it's a really interesting point you've raised because there is this surge in anti-sunscreen culture online that sunscreen is bad for you. And I hate that these two things are being brought into the same conversation.

17:13I think it's so, so important that we're going into those warmer months, as you said, and keeping sun safety front of mind. 100%. These two things are mutually exclusive. Please don't assume that every sunscreen is bad because of a scandal that we had over 12 months ago. Yeah. And SPF's just one piece of the puzzle. Wear a hat, wear a long sleeve, do all the things. No hat, no play, no fun today. All right, guys, our next story, we're going to be talking about all the trends emerging from New York Fashion Week, but that will be right after a word from today's sponsor. Finding a bra that's comfy and looks good is a tall order, but it doesn't have to be that way.

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18:24None of these references that we're making are influenced by that partnership. This is very much our own personal perception of what we saw at New York Fashion Week most recently. New York Fashion Week, Rhi. I think it's been fun. Yeah. Have you been paying attention? I have been paying attention. I feel historically New York Fashion Week's always had a bit of a poo-poo. Like everyone's like, oh, it's like the poor cousin, you know? Yeah. I just think Fashion Week in totality has been getting a bit of a poo-poo lately. Zoe our producer is giggling in the corner and I actually set off mic to head of podcast Lucy the other day I know we've made a funny if Zoe's giggling in the corner so Rae you just know you've made a funny well see I don't know if it's a funny or if is that deeply inappropriate look do you know why I think people poo poo the podcast and Rae to use your language about New York Fashion Week is that I think traditionally it's more wearable than something like Paris it's not couture you know they are largely US-based brands that are showing collections that are quite wearable and that's not as sexy as you know seeing scaparelli or chanel but what i would challenge to that is this is probably the most likely of what you're going to wear and can translate from your own wardrobe well that's what i felt looking at a lot of the shows there were so many trends and so many little bits from each that i'm like i could apply this to my everyday wardrobe and i think you're bang on mads it does feel like the one that can translate to your wardrobe what were some of your favorite trends that came out i interestingly loved the use of color that came through in a lot of this.

19:45So Ralph Lauren had the most beautiful, almost like an off denim subdue blue, but it still had like a little bit of oomph and like vovoom to it. So I really loved that. Also, fun fact about me, I love a midi skirt. Calvin Klein did a lot of pencil skirting and suiting. The column skirts. Yes. And so here's my thing. I actually think you're a column skirt wearer, not a midi skirt wearer. Controversial. Okay. Maybe a bit of both. I think I take the column skirts from you, particularly for evening wear. I think you're quite good at that. But did you see like this gorgeous like buttery yellow column skirt?

20:19It was in Calvin Klein and they had the like white singlet top that I just saw the skirt really. Heaven. Absolute heaven. Kate also had a lot of midi skirting. Kaia Gerber walked and opened for the show in the most incredible leather midi skirt. Although I do suspect she could just probably wear a sack of potatoes and still look good. And Connor Herves, which is a brand I'd never heard of, but they had a lot of fun colors and a lot of mini skirts through their show. So I think I flirted with the mini for a while, but I'm ready to go back to my native homeland. Okay, I love that. I was really loving all the brooches, lots of accessories that I felt like you could really just work on anything.

20:56And I'm in a real test and learn phase at the moment. Well, actually, I lie. I'm about to be. So we were in the office the other day and Emma in my team and Zara were sitting over the desk while kind of having chats. Zara came into the office and she was doing like the bandana thing. Yes, I'm seeing a lot of that at the moment. Yeah. And it really worked. But I went, oh, trying something new, are we? Yeah. And she was like, oh my God, you can't get away with anything in this office. I said, you absolutely can't. But it is also the space to test and learn because you will get a visceral response that will either be positive or negative.

21:24So if you want to test and learn, do it in the Shameless Media office. I am going to be doing a test and learn soon. It's going to be a big brooch vibe. Okay. I think this fits in your three words. Because you also love a bold accessory. I do. When I think of you, I think of your great collection of like statement earrings. Thank you. So I feel this is a natural extension. We're just moving it from the ear down. Correct. And I also think I do dabble in that like corporate, not right now, but when I have like big - In your backless top and your linen tan. Guys, it's also 14 degrees outside, but I've just committed to spring.

21:55It's spring. That's okay. I've dressed as, I watched Crew Girl over the weekend. Oh my God. I'm dressed as the boy. Okay. I'm so glad you brought this up. I didn't even, I didn't put this in the show notes, but I made a call out that Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger showing at New York Fashion Week literally could be transported to a scene on Crew Girl. So, guys, if you're not watching Crew Girl on Netflix, it is the... That was me eating it up on the weekend. Literally, it is Americana. It is like that classic preppy boarding school vibe. It is Madison Sullivan Thorpe to a T. I knew you were going to be obsessed with this show.

22:26I am literally in a men's rugby. Ralph Lauren. Do you know what? I nearly threw this out the other week. Well, I'm glad you didn't because at New York Fashion Week, that was back. The whole, like, Americana vibes. Do you know what else I saw a lot of? And be still my little like grade six beating heart. A jump around the waist. Just I love a little layer moment. I don't know. There's something nostalgic about it. And I feel like such a coastal grandma. You know, I feel like I'm something out of Big Little Lies. I love that show. I have Madeline energy, but I want to dress like Nicole. Guys, just know that you have two people representing two very different sides of like what they loved about New York Fashion Week.

23:03Because in my notes, I'm like, I loved all the animal print. It prevents the score. I loved all the brooches and the feathers and then everything that's like very like structured and a bit like androgynous and then you're like I like the preppy stuff I like the things that look like they've always looked just done in a new flair did you see the cult guy a show oh did I see the cult guy a show do you know why I loved this show Rhi why because it felt like they weren't reinventing trends they were just reimagining them in little ways so we've obviously seen a lot of fringing the last 18 months but I loved that they had takes on fringing that just felt a little bit different like a lot of looped fringing in their show they also had this great hack with the ponytail I might try that maybe I have to do that's your test and learn Tuesday to get a visceral reaction from your team just to see but it was like a knot in the ponytail yeah their styling and just the hair makeup also the location I think they do that creative direction piece really well I feel like I'm always transported to somewhere else when I've watched their shows Kalanea they also are really good at textiles and techniques super interesting lots of orange like that tangerine burnt orange was coming through and I really love that for summer like coming into the warmer months and wanting to play with color so you'll see me wearing a lot of the orange lots of blue and green and again I think that's you know kind of been coming up a little bit over the last year or so I also wanted to call out the stylist for cult guy Ali Kornhauser she's Australian and I just think she did the most amazing job it was one of the standout shows me and also Tory Burch so they've been showing at New York Fashion Week for 15 years and again lots of the brooches coming through big floral.

24:32I also really love that they're the kind of brand that is a legacy brand for fashion week, I would say. Like 15 years is no small stint, right? They're like old guard embracing the new energy. Like the way that they show up on socials, their tone of voice is so fucking strong. Yeah, I would agree. Another old guard that I do think deserves a mention, aside from Ralph Lauren, who just to be clear has been showing for a very long time, is DVF. And I know that they're really synonymous with the wrap dress and there's a lot of conversation. I've seen a lot of articles and social posts sort of saying, can they evolve out of that?