📘 Part 3: Clothing and personal style

This episode's vocabulary

Tendency (noun) – a usual way of behaving or happening. → Young people have a tendency to push the envelope.

Push the envelope (phrase) – to go beyond the limits of what is considered acceptable. → Young people have a tendency to push the envelope more than old people.

Trend (noun) – a general direction in which something is developing or changing, especially in fashion. → Young people usually follow and help set the latest trends.

Outlier (noun) – someone or something that is very different from others in a group. → Of course, there are outliers, like with what I just said about my mum.

Three-piece suit (noun) – a formal outfit consisting of trousers, a jacket, and a matching waistcoat. → It's tempting to say people wear three-piece suits at work.

Outrageous (adjective) – very unusual or shocking. → These days pretty much anything goes, provided it's not too outrageous.

Constitute (verb) – to be considered as or to make up something. → The norms around what constitutes workplace attire are more flexible now.

Attire (noun) – clothing, especially formal or specific types of clothes. → Workplace attire is more flexible than it used to be.

Time-saving (adjective) – helping to save time. → Buying clothes online could be quite time-saving.

One-size-fits-all (phrase) – suitable for all people or situations. → Baseball caps are one-size-fits-all.

Testy (adjective) – easily irritated or annoyed. → You might get a bit testy if you wear clothes that are too tight.

Relaxed (adjective) – calm and comfortable. → If you wear comfortable clothes, you're more likely to be relaxed.

Headgear (noun) – items worn on the head, like hats or turbans. → Some religious groups encourage people to wear different kinds of headgear.

Identity (noun) – who someone is, including their beliefs, appearance, or group. → Clothing is used to show religious or cultural identity.

Subculture (noun) – a cultural group within a larger one, often with different interests or styles. → Goths are an example of a subculture that expresses identity through clothing.

Wardrobe (noun) – the collection of clothes someone owns. → She updated her wardrobe with a few stylish pieces for summer.

Fit (noun) – how well clothes match the shape and size of a person. → The jacket has a perfect fit and looks very flattering.

Accessorise (verb) – to add accessories to an outfit for decoration. → She likes to accessorise her outfits with bold jewellery.

Fashion-forward (adjective) – very up to date or ahead of current fashion trends. → His fashion-forward style always turns heads.

Statement piece (noun) – an item of clothing or accessory meant to stand out. → Her rhinestone jacket is definitely a statement piece.

Questions and Answers

Maria: What are the differences between clothes worn by old people and those by young people?

Rory: Well, I suppose young people have a tendency to push the envelope more than old people, just based on the fact they usually follow and help set the latest trends. Apparently that's the case. Older people seem to have a more fixed style. Of course, there are outliers, like with what I just said about my mum in the last part.

Maria: What kind of clothes do people wear in their workplace?

Rory: Well, it's tempting to want to say things like three-piece suits and ties, but these days pretty much anything goes, provided it's not too outrageous or showing too much flesh, of course. Well, and even then, there are plenty of workplaces where that is actually acceptable. The norms around what constitutes workplace attire are a lot more flexible than they used to be.

Maria: Do you think it's a good idea to buy clothes online?

Rory: Well, for some items of clothing, you should be fine. For example, you might want to get something from a company where you have experience at the sizing, so you would buy that online, because you no longer have a need to go in and see if it fits or not, because you know what sizes are appropriate for you. And that could be quite time-saving. Certain clothes, like baseball caps, are one-size-fits-all, so those would be perfect for that kind of thing.

Maria: Do people's clothes influence their mood?

Rory: Well, I mean, if it's uncomfortable, then clearly that isn't exactly going to be pleasant, is it? So you might get a bit testy if you wear things that are, well, too tight, for example.

Maria: And can clothes influence people's mood in a positive way?

Rory: Well, I imagine they could. If you're wearing a piece of clothing you consider lucky, for example, that might make you feel more positively about a situation. And then if you're wearing things which are comfortable, you're more likely to be relaxed. So there are positives, definitely.

Maria: Do you think people would use clothing to show their identity?

Rory: Oh yeah, they definitely do. I mean, you just have to look at certain religious groups, for example, that encourage people to wear different kinds of headgear, like turbans, for example. And then we look at how people are dressed in places like the Vatican, that they also wear different robes for various occasions. And that's influenced by their Catholic identity, and it also allows them to show this identity too. So yes, it's definitely something that can be displayed to others, through clothing in particular.

Maria: Why do so many people care so much about their clothing?

Rory: Well, I mean, we just talked about religious people who wear various kinds of clothing. And so, if you're a religious person, then you would care very much about appearing to be as religious as the other people around you, if you're part of a community. And of course, you might care about the afterlife too. So that's one aspect. Another thing is, people invest a lot of time and money into their clothes sometimes. So from this perspective, if you have made this effort, that means that you care about it. And the other vice versa is also true as well. Because you care about it, you invest a lot of time in it.

Maria: And what about non-religious people? Why can they care so much about clothes?

Rory: Well, like I say, if they're expensive, then you want to look after your clothes and have them be well presented. And that reflects on you as well. There's also, I mean, this is kind of connected to religion, but it's a little bit of a separate issue. There are various subcultures that display their identities through clothing. And so, good presentation in terms of the clothes is a reflection of your connection to that subculture. I think the most obvious one is probably things like Goths, for example, who wear the very dark clothes, lots of leather, dark tones and chains. And so theoretically, the more you have invested in your clothes, the stronger your connection to the subculture.

Discussion

Maria: Young people have a tendency to push the envelope more. Push the envelope is an idiom, right Rory?

Rory: Yeah, it’s for pushing the boundaries.

Maria: Push the boundaries. Go beyond what’s acceptable. Push the envelope. It’s an idiom - behave in more extreme ways, or try new things that have not been acceptable or tried before. Like usually children push the envelope or young people push the envelope. How do we use it in a sentence? What do we use after push the envelope? Or just like children push the envelope?

Rory: Children push the envelope by doing various things, by engaging in various kinds of behaviour to get attention. Young people push the envelope of fashion by wearing more outrageous clothes compared to older people. Allegedly. There are some older people who are not like this. And if they're a minority and they're noticeable, they call them outliers. And that's got to be a C2 word. Come on.

Maria: Outliers. Ooh, nice.

Rory: There's also a book that I'm about to start reading called Outliers. That's why I thought it would be particularly useful here.

Maria: So, an outlier, one word, a person, thing or fact that is very different from other people, things or facts. Hmm. Outliers. Yeah, the Cambridge online dictionary doesn't say if it's C2 or C1 or C5, but yeah, that's a very good word.

Rory: Well, it should.

Maria: So young people tend to push the envelope by wearing more outrageous clothes or by wearing brighter colours or by wearing unusual clothes. While older people follow a more classical approach. So they may not follow the latest trends, fashion trends. And older people have a more fixed style. But there are outliers, so those who do stand out. In the workplace, some people wear a uniform and some people wear formal clothes. So people might wear three-piece suits. You wear trousers, a jacket and a shirt. Or you wear a suit and a tie. And clothes which don't show too much flesh. Flesh here, we mean like your body, like very tight clothes or little clothes that you have. You might have like very little, little clothes? No, we don't say little clothes, few clothes.

Rory: Very revealing clothes, I think is probably the nice way of saying.

Maria: Yeah, like revealing clothes, clothes that show your naked body.

Rory: Well, like I say, there are some places… This sounds like it's a bad thing, but there are some places where that will be encouraged. For example, I imagine if you work in a bar in Brazil, you're probably not going to wear a suit unless the air conditioning is like 100%. In the same way, well, if you work as a life model, then you can't wear clothes.

Maria: You're a life model when a painter paints you without any clothes.

Rory: Well, I think a life model is actually just a person or a living thing. But if you're a nude life model, then you obviously don't wear any clothes. So go figure. Look at us talking about nudity as if any of this is going in the podcast.

Maria: You can use the phrase workplace attire, remember synonym to clothes, an outfit or attire. So some people have to wear a more formal attire, a more formal outfit. But in the other workplaces, the dress code is more flexible or the workplace attire is more flexible. People buy clothes online. I don't understand how you guys do it. And here you can say like some items of clothing could be bought online and it's fine to buy some items of clothing. So some clothes or some items of clothing online. This could be quite time saving. So it saves your time. It's time saving. And clothes that are one-size-fits-all would be perfect to buy online. So we have this like one size fits all. So one-size clothes, like one-size dresses, one-size jackets or like baseball caps, hats. Although we do have different sizes for hats and you know, clothes can influence our mood. So if our clothes are uncomfortable, we might not feel good. It's not pleasant for us. And we might get a bit testy, easily annoyed, not patient if our clothes are uncomfortable. So people usually get a bit testy if their clothes are uncomfortable, angry, annoyed. Yeah, some people have their lucky clothes. Oh, it's my lucky dress. I'm going to wear it when I go to take this test. And the listener, you might wear your lucky clothes when you go to the IELTS speaking test. And you say, oh, look at the examiner. I'm just wearing my lucky shoes or my lucky trousers. Hey!

Rory: Do you want to know a story about when I took my IELTS test? And I am so or I was upset about this. And it's ridiculous.

Maria: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what?

Rory: When I took my test, I took my lucky shirt and my lucky jeans and my lucky shoes. But I forgot my lucky belt. No. So I honestly, this is none of this is true because the concept of luck is it doesn't work this way. But in the back of my head, I was thinking, if I fail this test, it's because I don't have my lucky belt. I was I was laughing at it because it was so stressful and so ridiculous at the same time.

Maria: And you see, if you are wearing your lucky clothes, you will feel great. Yeah, you'll feel over the moon, super confident. But if you wear uncomfortable clothes, clothes you don't like, you'll be grumpy, grumpy, like, I don't like my life, everything is bad. So you'll be grumpy, sad, upset. And also colours, colours influence our mood. If a person wears bright colours, they'll be happier usually. And if a person wears grey colours and the colours that they don't like, so they might be less happy, happy, happy, happy. As for the identity, typical questions are about identity, our identity, like what is identity?

Rory: Oh, identity is just who we are.

Maria: And clothes can display our identity. Rory talked a lot about religion, and that's true. Yeah, so clothes such as robes, robes, these like long kind of dresses that priests usually wear, religious people usually wear robes. And robes can display Catholic identity. And you can say that clothes are a powerful tool of expressing identity, like personal identity and cultural identity. And clothes communicate messages about who we are, where we come from, about our religion.

Rory: Or our lack of religion.

Maria: Lack of religion, yeah. Are you a religious person? You are not a religious person? Like cultural traditions are shown through clothes. And we talk about different styles, patterns. Patterns like in clothes or different pictures. For example, if I wear a traditional dress, my dress has certain patterns. So you can say which country I'm from, for example. And also our clothes might have particular images or faces of people, for example. Different colours, symbols. So clothing choices reflect personal tastes, beliefs, values and cultural backgrounds. Yay. So our identity, obviously. Exciting stuff.

Rory: It is! And all of this about clothes, a subject which I hate.

Maria: Yeah, you see, dear listener. And as Rory is an educated native speaker, he can still maintain conversations about clothes. And you want to be super educated, that's why you should know about the latest fashion trends, clothes and different clothes choices. Thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you in our next episode. Bye.

Rory: Bye.

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