When your friend copies your outfit...

0:06This episode of Stylish is brought to you by Melbourne Fashion Week. Tickets are on sale now, and you can check out the full program on the Melbourne Fashion Week website.

0:18Divas are down today. Rhea is out. I'm barely in. Nima's here. Arnica's here. I was down last week. I'm hanging on by a thread, but I feel like when I'm like this, I deliver so much more energy because I overcompensate. So guys, this is Stylish, the podcast for all things fashion. She's a lead. Brand, lifestyle, beauty, and Arnica Joshi-Smith kidding. I don't think you've ever done an intro. Well done. Like I've done it one time. One time for the girls. One time. Proud of you. One time. But hey, what's your name? I'm Joanna Fleming. And I'm Nama Fatima. I don't think we've ever introduced ourselves to that.

0:54I love to make this ever again. This is why I don't do it. I literally will like boycott and I'm like a creative director. Anyway, what are we chatting about today? Well, speaking of being a creative director, can you fill us in on a little, I know that we've already kind of covered this in last week's episode, but you were just in New York for Fashion Week, which obviously was iconic. We posted some of your looks as well on socials, which if you haven't seen yet, go and have a look. Give us a little bit of a rundown, brief overview. Okay, guys, fashion is back and fashion is back in a big way.

1:25Like, I feel like we've been so minimal for quite some time. And I've got to say, I was just drawn to so much color, so much texture, so much movement, personality. and I feel like it was a really cool time for the runways because they were really anchored in a mood and I feel like when a collection is anchored in a mood and fashion makes you feel something that's when it's a sign of a really successful collection and show and when you see I think designers strong point of view and identities come through that's when you can kind of tell okay fashion is back like we didn't see a lot of the same same yes there are a few trends like fringing She isn't going anywhere.

2:03Color maxing and not going anywhere. But I just feel like each collection really honed into what they do best, which I thought was really cool. And what was the vibe on like the street? Oh my God. Was it pumping? New Yorkers are fucking cool. Like I say this all the time. I like always feel so inspired coming back from overseas trips, but everyone is just so confident in who they are. Their fashion is like a sense of like expression. And I just feel like I was really inspired. And something I was totally inspired by, colour. Like, we all know I am a black and white girly. White barely, 90 % black, white, 10%.

2:39I don't think I've ever seen you in white. I know. If I wear a white T-shirt, it's like covered in spit up or something. Like my gorgeous daughter Poppy. But I am just drawn to colour. I was like literally adopting a lot of the colours from the runways into my wardrobing. So you'll see a lot of plum from me. Okay. Bizarre, I know. Crazy. But it's in your palette. It is in the palette, Jojo. It is. And it matches back with chocolate, which I quite like. I love that you're like, I'm going colour. Plum. I want to try and get around the greens. Yes. Like I feel like Naima, you would inspire me in some greens.

3:11Like I do khaki. I really like chartreuse. Chartreuse is not going anywhere, you guys. Yes. I mentioned that the other week when we were talking about colour. Look at you, fashion reporter. I know. And it's a fun word to say. It is. Chartreuse. And like pistachio is very much around, but I feel like there's not enough depth in pistachio for me personally. So I think chartreuse is something I can lean into. And Cobalt. I want to do Cobalt. Oh, you'd look great in Cobalt. You would look great in Cobalt. We'd all look great in Cobalt. That's all we're called. But yeah, I feel like I'm just really excited.

3:43I'm feeling inspired. My favorite shows were definitely the Kate, Kalmyer, Magda Butrom and Mons. Like Mons, I feel like was just so fucking cool. Sorry, I'm swearing a lot this morning. She don't know what's in my coffee. She's been to New York. She's back, baby. But no, I'm feeling excited and I'm feeling very inspired. And we saw that there was a bit of a kerfuffle that happened, which I think we've covered to a degree. Naima, can you take us through that again? Yes, we saw it last week. CDFA CEO Stephen Culp has resigned following an incident that happened where he forcibly restrained PDAB protesters.

4:19I actually hadn't watched the video until this week. And sorry, what the fuck? Yeah, right? It came up in my feet. I'm like, hang on, what? I found this so hard to watch, you guys. I saw the video on news.com.au and I was stopped in my tracks. Like, in what planet is it ever okay for a man to literally manhandle a woman, let alone a peaceful protester? Like, it made no sense to me. After when I saw that he resigned, all I wrote was good, as he should. Yeah. As he should. You just can't progress from that. Sorry. that like you've assaulted someone basically. Yeah, literally. And it's so regressive because it's like this man is in such a powerful position and his role has so much importance.

5:06And we can dissect this. We can go so deep. Like I feel like we could really unpack it to a layered extent. But in what planet is it actually ever okay to use your hand to silence somebody or use your body to actually restrain somebody? This is a fashion show, guys. It's PR, okay? It's not E-er. I saw someone say that on TikTok and I just had to retweet. I don't know what that means.

5:34I found the comment section, well, the CFDA actually posted like a steel carousel, a steel image on their Instagram that announced that he had resigned. And I found the comment section quite confronting. A lot of it was quite positive of, you know, he has such a legacy. He's done 20 years of amazing work, which may be the case. But I don't know if that like really erases the action that we saw captured live on camera. Not to mention it wasn't his place to be acting as security. He wasn't hired to be security, nor was he hired to forcibly remove someone or pacify them. And we saw in following shows from I think it was the H &M show, security handled this entirely differently.

6:19Like they were protesting. The protesters were there. They were walking alongside models in the runway and security just kind of escorted them out as they came along. So it wasn't violent. It didn't interrupt the show. Like, yes, they were protesting, but it wasn't to the point of what happened with Stephen Kolb in the COS show. Like that's not what you're required to do as the CDFA CEO. Not even your show. Like it was just a guest. And it wasn't just the one person. And he was like escorting out like multiple people. It was just baffling to me. And irrespective of your own personal opinions or how you feel about Peter, I feel like, again, there's just no time or place to actually inflict such harm on other people.

7:02Especially in the sense where I do feel like they were very peaceful in their protesting. Like, sure, they disrupted and sure, they were inappropriate in their conduct, the protesters. But at the same time, I'm like, there's security for a reason. To your point, Jo. There's no need to actually get involved. and also something I found quite confronting as well. The audience members around him, like you could see that they were clearly like, what the fuck is happening? They didn't know what to do. And like if I put myself in that position, I also wouldn't know what to do. Like you would be, it would be so uncomfortable.

7:33So it's really such a shame that I think the COS show became more about that incident rather than the show itself. Well, there you have it. There's our update on that scenario. At the time that we spoke about it last week, he hadn't resigned yet. So we just thought we'd provide you with that update. But on today's episode, we are talking about, is it weird to copy your friend's style after an article that we saw in Glamour Mag? And we're also going to be talking about Law Roach and his newest client, Kim K. So let's jump into the app after a word from today's sponsor. Fashion lovers, you'll want to make note of this one in your diaries.

8:07Melbourne Fashion Week is returning from October 19th to 25th. If you've attended in previous years, you'll know it's an exciting celebration of our city's iconic fashion scene. This year's program is packed full of events, industry talks, public installations, shopping moments and fabulous runway shows at stunning locations all over the city, like the NGV and State Library. There are more than 300 participating designers and retailers across more than 100 free and ticketed events and sessions taking place throughout the week. With so much incredible design talent in Australia, this year Melbourne Fashion Week is proud to spotlight local designers, including Bianca Spender, Claire, Clothing the Gaps, Out the Label, Gammon Threads, Grace Lillian Lee, Lucinda Barbie, Nagali, Purple and more.

8:50Plus, the popular Free Capsules program is back at five locations across the city, featuring the incredible work of more than 30 talented local designers and creatives. Tickets are on sale now and you can check out the full program on the Melbourne Fashion Week website. Thank you so much to Melbourne Fashion Week for making this episode of Stylish possible.

9:11Okay, our wonderful producer Zoe put this article into the Slack channel this week and I felt personally triggered by it. It was an article called Is It Weird to Copy Your Friend's Style by Glamour Mag. And I have actually gone on mic on this podcast and said it's okay to copy people. So when I saw this, I was like, oh no. Yikes. I've gone completely against what this person has. But I thought it was really interesting reading the article. The overall sentiment was copying people you follow online, normal, copying your stylish friend that you see every day, a little bit more complicated. Yeah, throughout the article, they referenced a quote from Lauren Santo Domingo, who's the co-founder and chief brand officer at Moda Operandi.

10:01She once summed up the phenomenon on Twitter this way, imitation is the sincerest form of stalkery. She also said there's a subtle but meaningful difference between being inspired by someone and trying to recreate them. You know it when you see it. As you can imagine, there was a lot of discourse in the comments. People had a lot of opinions. Yeah. Another quote from the article said, take the recipe, not the finished dish, which sounds remarkably similar to Annika's sentiment. Was that you, Annika? That was me, guys. I'm in the comments. Don't mind me, my burner account. Okay, Channing Tatum.

10:33What was everyone's thoughts on this? I would agree that it's a little bit more complicated okay yeah you personally I'm not bothered by this like I'm not bothered by copying at all I think on Wednesdays we can all wear pink and something that I just you know kind of come back to is you can copy my look but you can't like replicate my aura

10:58wow I got my silly pants on yeah you really do silly pants aura top oh my god this is too much Yeah, I think for me, I don't know why I like instantly was like, no. I think my style is so shaped by the women in my life. I have like a lot of stylish women in my life and stylish men, but mostly stylish women. And I think my style is like an amalgamation. Yeah. I really tried hard at that. An amalgamation of all of their styles kind of melded into one. especially at the shameless office everyone here is really well dressed so I often find myself coming in and being like oh this is a bit of like a Zara outfit or this is a bit of a re outfit but I think probably the differentiator here is that style is very different to an item so I think there's a part of this article is basically she's talking about how she like you know would buy exactly an item that her friend was wearing.

12:00But I think that's okay because the way that you style something or wear something and how that fits into like your wardrobe that you've collected over time is very different to how someone else would. So for that reason, I don't think it bothers me. See, I think you need to read the room because I think if you've got a friend that you know really well, this is someone that you're seeing multiple times a week or that you're very close with, if you know that friend really thrives on having a unique style and they pride themselves on that and they're like yeah I get these one-of-a-kind things and I shop at really niche places and I go out of my way to look really unique and not like everybody else and you then go where's that from and you go and buy it and you wear it the next time you see them they're not gonna love that like I think you need to know your friend like if they're the type of person you know like if I've got a pair of silky brown dish pants and my friend goes, oh, they look really cool.

12:56Where are they from? And then they buy them. I'm not going to be offended by that. But like, I wouldn't say I have a unique style. So if I knew someone that was very unique, I wouldn't then be trying to replicate what they're wearing. But I do agree that you can style it completely differently. It can look completely different and you might have completely different body types as well. So this piece of clothing could look entirely different but I just think it's about not taking someone else's creativity from them and I think that a lot of people really value that. I feel like I agree with you here like I think if you're gonna seek inspiration just be mindful of where it's coming from if it's someone you're seeing every day maybe give them credit where it's due and actually just maybe be like respectful of the fact that hey love what you're wearing love that piece love how you put it together I'm gonna like you know replicate it or do you mind if I actually get that head to toe look because I also think there is quite a clear distinction between imitation and inspiration so inspiration is kind of like you're taking notes you're like inspired by you want to reference pieces and kind of adapt it to your own blueprint whereas copying exact items copying the exact head to toe look yeah re-wearing that exact look maybe like a couple of days after that person has that might create a little bit of discomfort especially if that's someone that you actually really genuinely like and care about, and you know, they've got such a unique and strong personal style, they might take a little bit of a fit.

14:15I think it's also dependent on the item too. Like if I spend a couple of hundred bucks on like a show pony item and it's a jacket that everyone's going to be like, wow, that's a really cool jacket. And you've just found it somewhere random and you're really proud of this particular find. You're like, this is amazing. And then someone very close to you buys the same thing. And then you're constantly like, are you wearing the jacket? No, I'm going to wear the jacket today. Well, one of us has got to change. yeah you don't want that kind of scenario yeah I think the point around like acknowledgement is important exactly rather than being like just buying it it's just being like oh my god I love that would you mind if I also buy it the people who are like quite unique in their style and spend a lot of time and finding these brands I think they normally don't mind when someone does find it I think people who have quite a unique personal style find a lot of joy in expressing that and probably from other people seeing that and wanting to contribute in it I think when you have like more of a unique style it's like sometimes you don't feel a scene so when someone else does like it it is quite nice you're like oh cool you know for me I think I've got a few scenarios where like me and my friends have bought the same things I've always felt like yes we're gonna match like I quite like that but I understand definitely when I was younger I would find frustration when I wasn't as like secure in my style I would find frustration when someone wore the same thing as me or bought the same thing as me because I would feel like it didn't make me as unique.

15:36But I don't know, style isn't unique. You can't own a certain style. I think what would annoy me is that they haven't acknowledged the fact that I have gone to the effort to do it. You know, that's kind of the thing when it was like multiple times. I think the multiple times thing is also a thing. Is it like, are you a repeat offender? Yeah. Like a once-off scenario, probably not going to think twice about it. But if there's someone in your life that's constantly like why is this person buying everything I have that is kind of annoying yeah yeah and I think as well like back to your original point fashion is objective and I think fashion is truly a sense of inspiration as a whole and we're all seeking inspiration from someone or something yeah so I think that's why personally I'm not too bothered but when you are repeat offending yeah when you aren't giving credit where it's due I do think as well that can obviously create a little bit of friction perhaps but a little bit of tension but But it's kind of funny because my best friend, Jill, she's actually like my constant source of inspiration.

16:33Like this woman is immaculate. What looks good on her, though, doesn't always look good on me. But I totally take notes from her. She's like the person I go to if I'm doing like if I'm going to make a large ticket item purchase. See, I would like go to you. Oh, I'm very flated. An example with like me at my friendship group, me and my friend actually bought like the same denim jacket. and then we ended up buying different bottoms. So it was like a matching set, dark, kind of like a fitted dark denim with brown stitching jacket. And then I bought the midi skirt and she bought the pair of jeans and what ended up happening is that we could swap when we wanted to.

17:12So you've got to use it to your advantage, guys, you know? Totally. I feel that. Twinsies, but they're not twinsies. You know what? I feel like in my circumstance, like I copy Jules all the time. Jules has phenomenal style. She is like honestly impeccable. And she's got, again, guys, it's her aura. You can't replicate that. She has a way of wearing things that she looks so like unbothered, polish, but just effortless. And that's hard to recreate. Like I shop in her wardrobe and I jump on in there. Don't look like Jules. Like Jules, actually tell me, come into the comments. How do you feel about how inspired I am by you?

17:48And like in circumstances, actually, maybe it's okay that we live in different countries, which makes us better because otherwise we'd probably be showing up to places and she might be a little bit pissed. Yeah, Jules, let us know if you're actually annoyed at Annika copying you. Yeah, tell us, Jules. Leave it in the comments. Go on. But I feel like I'm actually such a lazy girl. Like my dress sense is I'm getting older. I'm like so much more unbothered, so much more like I wear sets all the time. Like that's my hack. Wear a set, you'll always look like more put together than what you actually achieve to be.

18:18Yeah, that is a very easy styling hack. So easy. Yeah. Yeah. Monochrome. We're seeing colour soon. And colour. And colour? Mm, it's coming. I think also there's a little bit of comfort in the fact that if there's maybe someone who's copying you, just know that you're always going to be ahead. So they're the ones copying you. You'll always find something new. You'll be a step ahead, you know? Glass half empty, glass half full. There you go. How many sayings do you have? I don't know. Like I'm a walking cliche at this point. It's like you're rattling them off. All right, next we're going to talk about Law Roach and his new client and his latest physician with ASOS, but that will be right after a word from today's sponsor.

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19:38So last week, ASOS announced that they were naming Law Roach their stylist in residence, which is a newly created role as part of a strategy called The Stylist to inform shoppers on how to wear a product rather than simply adding more choice. Other additions to the ASOS team include makeup artist Pat McGrath as a guest beauty curator, which is also another really big get for the brand. Like these are huge names for this retailer. And Elias Medini, known online as Elias, who founded Fashion Week Watch Parties as a contributing editor. He actually did that video where he like revealed the Schiaparelli dress that Law Roach got onto the plane in six hours or however much it was.

20:16Eight hours. It was his video. Ripper breaking. Yeah. Okay. And then over the weekend, it was announced that Law Roach is also styling Kim K. So Law Roach didn't actually announce this himself and neither did Kim, but someone posted a photo of Kim styled in the YSL Fall Winter 2004 Tom Ford era gown that she was wearing to the opening night of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Someone posted this and Law Roach reposted it and said, new client X. So that was his announcement to the world. And now everyone's just in a frenzy. I wish I could be like that nonchalant about something so epic and so big, but it just, it's not in my body.

20:55It's not like I would not ever be able to do that. But it's very Law Roach, isn't it? It's so Law. Like in Law, we freaking trust. I love that he doesn't have to do like a LinkedIn update. It's just new client X. Imagine being like that famous. It's just like, huh? Yeah. But it's a pretty big announcement for both Kim and Laura as well. If you're not familiar with Laura Roach, we actually did a whole episode about him like way back in the early days of Stylish, which we'll link in the episode notes. He calls himself an image architect, not a stylist, just to be very clear. So a little bit different to a stylist.

21:26And he's most well known for styling Zendaya and Celine Dion. But interestingly, he also styled Lewis Hamilton, who is Kim's latest boyfriend for several years. Yeah, for like a number of years, actually. And he's since changed stylists. So I'm like, wait, how has this come about? I don't know if they're still friends or something or how this has ended up, you know, becoming a thing. Chris is really good at connections at Chris. Exactly. I theorise that maybe Law is going to be Kim's stylist for like major events and red carpet moments. And then she will have a separate stylist for, you know, the day to day stuff and smaller events.

22:03because she's worked with Danielle Levy for a really long time, like a number of years as well. So I'm interested whether that relationship is continuing and Laura is just stepping in for more of these major moments and Dani's looking after the day-to-day. Yeah. I wonder if there's like, she's probably got all his favourites of the show. She's in season two coming up and I know there was like a lot of big looks in the season one press tour. But I wonder if there's also like something big that Kim's doing that we don't know about and that's how far ahead you have to get a stylist involved. Totally.

22:35And I think as well, Kim is becoming so well known for loving the archive. And all of her looks are very archival pieces, like those most treasured pieces. We all know that Law Roach has so much access and he has got so much access to, again, going back to the Scarpa Rally dress from within eight hours, the runaway onto Zendaya's body. Crazy. Crazy. Like world record breaking. That is something I think Kim would be all over. She'd be like, how do we make that happen for me? so having that stylist in her pocket I think she's gone to the right place I absolutely love this partnership and I really think that some amazing looks are going to come out of this like I'm very much looking forward to it and Kim has spoken openly before about her struggle with finding her personal style as well and I think unfortunately Kanye's influence on her especially as they were about to go through their separation and him kind of reinforcing those insecurities in her that she didn't know how to dress and she was getting lost without him in terms of what to wear and she's actually really flourished outside of that relationship, I think, in her style.

23:34I honestly think her looks are a thousand times better now than they were back then. It was so muted. It, like, took away her personality. Yeah. Even, like, this one look we've seen, which is just, like, iconic. Tom Ford is known for being sexy. Like, that sexy, like, knows how to dress a woman. That is so perfectly aligned to Kim. I wonder for Lore as well, because Zendaya has had such, like, a banger year this year. like movie after movie after movie, a lot of big press tours. I think next year is meant to be like a quieter year for her from a movie front. I think she did like six movies for this year or something.

24:08Next year is meant to be quieter. So I wonder if he needs a splashy client to still stay on our feeds, you know, like someone who's really big and maybe Kim's planning a really big year next year so he can still kind of stay relevant, you know, strategically. Interesting hot take over there, Naima. Okay, well, can we now flip this? Because then something I'm intrigued by with the ASOS partnership, like great that they're leveling up, great that they're looking to elevate, especially the high straight. But when I think of law, I do think of profile premium. I'm thinking Zendaya. I'm now thinking Kim.

24:41There is such a juxtaposition between that level, like that elite level, to ASOS, which is affordable, which is sometimes I would associate more youth focused. So I'm actually really intrigued to see how this perception is received by the ASOS customer. Because working in fashion, it's something we come up with quite often, like brands wanting to rebrand or shift their strategy to adapt to a new target market. And it's really interesting to me because I think, how is he going to take, you know, what he's known for, what he's synonymous with, like those more profile leading archival words, so to speak, and adapt it to ASOS?

25:17I think that's a good point because I actually don't know if he has many clients that are like their day-to-day style. Most of his looks are for runway. That we know of anyway. That we know of. Yeah. But I do think he's been working towards this more like accessible side of fashion for a little bit because he's been on, he's a judge on Project Runway. He is. That actually, to be honest, doesn't like fully align as well. But with ASOS in there kind of does kind of sit in the middle for me a little bit more. Yeah. Right. You know what? We love a diverse portfolio. I actually like I so where I stay in New York is like this really sick hotel that's opposite Rick Owens and one day when I was coming out of my hotel there was just like chaos on the streets of Soho.

25:55Law Roach was just coming out of Rick Owens and you guys know his hair like his hair is just like something in itself. Like I'm like are you eating sardines every day like how's that coat so shiny but like I saw this man's hair just from behind and he was in like a double denim like Canadian tuxedo. Looks so chic and I knew it was him because of his hair. Yeah it's iconic. So maybe we've got a hair care product coming out soon too. I don't know where I'm going with this, but I'm just like, he's just iconic. Well, I love this from ASOS because I think that there's a big disconnect for people. And I think it's a reason why there's so much overconsumption of how to put things together.