Skip to main content

๐Ÿ“™ Part 2: Describe a person who wears unusual clothes

Listen to Rory's vivid description of Maria's 'vampire meets Star Wars' outfit! He shares top-tier vocabulary to talk about people with a unique sense of style and explains how to do it complimentarily.

Podcast cover
๐Ÿ“™ Part 2: Describe a person who wears unusual clothes
IELTS Speaking for Success
0:00 / 0:00
People and PersonalityParaphrasingSoftening OpinionsRelative ClausesAdding Strong EmphasisDescriptive LanguagePhrasal Verbs

This episode's vocabulary

Stick out (phrasal verb) - to be very noticeable because of being different.

Complimentary (adj.) - praising or expressing admiration for someone.

Gear (noun) - the equipment, clothes, etc. that you use to do a particular activity.

Run-of-the-mill (adj.) - ordinary and not special or exciting in any way.

Casual clothes (adj.) - casual clothes are not formal or not suitable for special occasions.

Flair (noun) - a situation in which something is done in an exciting and interesting way.

Sheer (adj.) - not mixed with anything else; pure or complete.

Underdress (noun) - underclothing.

Trimming (noun) - (a piece of) decorative material added around the edge of something.

Eye-catching (adj.) - very attractive or noticeable.

Show stealer (noun) - something or someone that โ€˜steals the showโ€™.

Convention (noun) - a usual or accepted way of behaving, especially in social situations, often following an old way of thinking or a custom in one particular society.

Mortally (adj.) - extremely.

-

Questions and Answers

M: Rory, are you ready?

R: I am dressed up to party. I'm dressed to impress.

M: Bring it on.

R: Well, when it comes to people who dress unusually, Maria, someone who sticks out a lot is you. And I mean that in an entirely complimentary way. I'm used to dealing with people who are dressed in sort of dull business gear or sort of run-of-the-mill kind of casual clothes. But, whenever you show up, there's always at least either a flair or color or a significant break with the expected style that sort of draws my attention. And it's not just my attention that gets drawn, it's other people's as well. So I feel very well supported in this idea. Um, I think my favorite memory of this phenomenon was when we were waiting for a meeting to start at our former workplace. And that's how we originally knew each other, actually. Um, and you showed up in a dress that was like, it's sort of like a cross between a female vampire from the 19th century and an imperial officer's uniform from Star Wars. If you can imagine that combination. I mean, that's my best explanation for it. It was like sort of sheer dark gray with a kind of bright red underdress, and the trimmings were also bright red as well. And that carries on to this day, though, it doesn't have to be something quite so serious. I think you've got a sort of pink fluffy sweater that's quite eye-catching. And the shoes are always a show stealer as well. Despite the fact that it sort of breaks with convention, I quite like it, though. I mean, after all, if everybody dressed the same, I think it would be quite dull, to be honest with you. I can't imagine what it would be, what you would be like if you didn't dress like this, in fact. So, I think that really sums it up quite nicely. And hopefully, you won't be too mortally offended by the fact that I picked you as the unusual person, as the unusually dressed person I should say. But there you have it.

M: What's about your friends? Do they think that I dress in an unusual way?

R: My friends frequently comment upon the things that you wear. In a positive light.

M: Oh, thank you, Roro. That was nice. Cute.

-

Unlock the full episode

This preview includes the vocabulary and model answers. Unlock the full audio, the episode archive, Rory and Maria's discussion, and speaking practice with band estimate and feedback.