Mamamia Out Loud: BONUS: Nothing To Wear

You're listening to a Mamma Mia podcast.

Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast is recorded

on.

Hey Out Louders, it's Mia Freedman in your ears all alone today for a second, but I've

brought a friend and I have a special treat for you.

You've probably heard me talk about the brand new Mamma Mia podcast that I've been working

on behind the scenes.

It's our new fashion and style podcast and it's called Nothing to Wear.

Don't be intimidated by the fact that I'm saying fashion and style.

It's actually for anybody who wears clothes because it's a podcast that helps women of

all ages and shapes and styles figure out what to buy, how to wear what you've already

got and how to navigate your already full closet.

But today's episode that I want to share with you is all about sneakers and the guest

host on it is me and I explain how to style sneakers confidently, how to wear them to

work, to dinner, what to wear them with in your current wardrobe.

I'm really just a fountain of incredible information about sneakers.

Host Lee Campbell is just great at asking me lots of questions.

So I think you'll like it.

It's a bit of a hoot this show.

Here it is.

I hope you enjoy it and if you want to listen to more episodes, you will have to subscribe

to this podcast so that you get it in your feed each week and we'll put a link to that

in the show notes.

Whoever said orange is the new pink was seriously deserved.

Morals for spring.

Groundbreaking.

Oh my gosh.

You have to do it.

You live for fashion.

Hello and welcome to Nothing to Wear, the podcast that solves fashion problems, helps

you level up your wardrobe without spending a fortune and makes getting dressed fun again.

I'm Lee Campbell and every week I talk to an expert who is going to help us work out

how to get more out of the clothes we already own and tell us exactly what is and isn't

worth adding to our wardrobe.

And today's show is all about sneakers.

2023 really has been the year of sneakers, which has been wonderful news if you're a

fan of comfort and style, but some women get a bit freaked out by them.

Can you wear sneakers to work with a dress or a skirt?

Which sneakers?

And what about socks?

Mama Mia co-founder Mia Friedman gets more joy out of clothes than anyone I know.

When she collects sneakers, which we all know is a nice way of saying she's obsessed with

them and can't stop buying them.

I can't recall a time in the last year when she wasn't wearing sneakers and I see her

most days either in person or of course on Instagram.

And so she's going to explain how to wear sneakers at every age for every occasion, aren't you

my friend Mia?

I sure am.

Hello and thanks for having me.

Hello and I love that you're in the studio with your feet up on the chair wearing sneakers.

How did our Samba sneakers?

This is my new favorite podcast, so I'm very excited to be on it.

Yes.

So Mia, before we get into sneakers, what are three words to describe your style?

Sneakers is one.

The second is evolving or in flux.

That's probably two words because I'm so known to myself and others as being the sequin lady.

I used to say my style was if a rainbow threw up on you, that was my style, but now I just

want to kind of dress like you and like Aschiketti.

It's like 90s minimalism, which could not be further from sequins and bright colors.

But you still do a popper color, but it's more sort of considered.

Yeah, it is.

And sneakers definitely seriously would be one of the words that described my style to

the point where I've been trying to force myself to sometimes not wear sneakers like

maybe one day out of seven.

OK, well, we're going to need to get into that because I'm scared of sneakers.

Now, there's a theory that most people wear 10% of their clothes, 90% of the time.

So there's a whole wardrobe sitting there, but we go for our favorites.

What's on high rotation that makes up your 10%?

Without wanting to sound boring, my added Sambas really added us is having a moment in my life.

I've been collecting Sambas, which means I've been buying too many of them.

We're going to be talking about those later.

So Sambas in all different colors, also a pair of bright blue added us

originals, tracksuit pants that are like that kind of not nylon, but very polyestery.

Yes, I've been wearing the hell out of the hour with what?

With everything, like with a blazer, the pop of color.

It's a particular added us blue, which I just really, really love.

And so I wear that with a blazer and trainers and lots of necklaces.

So the other thing that's in high rotation.

I bought a new necklace from a girl who was my friend, maybe many, many years ago.

She was dating another friend of mine and I sort of lost contact with her.

And she's now become this jewelry designer.

She's got a label called Fiorina Jewelry, and she does really great chunky things.

And I bought my first piece from her when we were in Melbourne a few weeks ago.

And it's this quite chunky silver.

I usually wear gold jewelry, but it's this quite chunky silver necklace

that I have just been wearing most days of the week.

And another thing I've been wearing constantly lately

is I bought some singlets from Basic.

So I love a white singlet and they have these white singlets.

I got it really oversized because I don't like anything tight.

And it's just scoop neck.

It's not too long and it's got a round bit at the front.

So I got it in white, gray and black.

And the white is the winner.

So I'm wearing that good basic from basic.

All right, we're getting into it sneakers.

I have a love hate with sneakers.

For me, sneakers are something you wear to the gym, but obviously there's

way more what is to wear them.

I do not have any bad feelings towards my body.

But just the day I was made, whoever made me just went leg foot, no ankle.

So I felt that's been a struggle.

You've got a cankel. I've got a cankel. I've never noticed.

I don't even have an ankle.

It just goes straight into my foot.

But for that reason, besides gym wear,

I struggle with sneakers.

So can you start and tell us the difference

between exercise sneakers and fashion sneakers?

Is there a difference?

There really is.

So anything that you could wear to go to the gym, you should not wear

not with active wear.

So if you want to wear active wear around, even if you're not exercising,

wear your gym sneakers.

But the kinds of sneakers, you know, when I say Nike, you'll know what I mean.

You know, the kind of ones that have got good support, good cushioning.

You don't want to wear those.

They're not fashion sneakers.

Fashion sneakers are pretty much anything else.

OK, even look, we'll get to the hiking sneaker later.

That's for the very advanced.

But I'm really surprised that you don't like wearing sneakers

because even if you are worried about how they make your legs look or how short

you are, a lot of women are too scared to wear sneakers

because they say they're too short.

I also am very short.

It's not about the height.

I think it's what used to be in my head

and also sneakers weren't a fashion item maybe 10 years ago.

But I have sombers as well, and I wore them through winter with a wide leg

gene, but now I don't know how to wear them going into spring and summer.

OK, so what if you are too short or you feel like you don't have the right

leg shape? That's old school thinking, right?

Well, look, you know, our philosophy on this show as encapsulated by you

and Melee is if something makes you feel good, just wear it.

Like just wear it.

And if something doesn't make you feel good,

don't force yourself to wear it just because someone tells you that you should

or because it's trendy, right?

So you've got to wear whatever you want to wear, trends be damned.

But if you do want to wear sneakers and you're self-conscious about it,

pants are very long at the moment.

So a sneaker poking out of the bottom of pants.

Linen pants are good.

Exactly. Under linen pants.

Amazing.

The other thing that's very good if you're worried about being short

is what's called flat form sneakers.

Now, some people might remember a fairly awful period in fashion

a few years ago when wedge sneakers or high heeled sneakers were a thing.

That's Isabel Moran. Yes, I recall.

They were awful and most brands did their version of that.

That was a dark time.

Didn't like those. I never bought a pair.

They're almost coming back, I've seen.

Yeah, look, they're good for giving you a little bit of height,

but a better way to do that and more modern way is flat form.

And that's, I guess, the word for platform, but it's not silly.

So it's just it's on a little bit of a platform, not a huge platform,

but it's just like the sole is a little bit elevated.

So flat form sneakers under, again, long pants, a long skirt, jeans.

Can you wear them with a pretty skirt, like a floral pretty skirt?

Or to me, that's a bit like, oh, that's pretty and that's tough.

Or is that cool?

Do you mean sneakers in general or platforms?

Yes, sneakers.

I'm wearing them with a skirt today.

Beautiful, like duck egg blue.

Yeah. So the reason why they can make dresses look really modern

is particularly when you get to a certain age of which I'm in my 50s,

you're in your 40s, but you can get to that age where wearing

a really feminine dress, like a floral dress or something,

can be really aging in a way that it's not on a younger woman.

You can almost look like you're doing dress up.

Yeah. And if you then wear a flat shoe or a ballet flat,

you can just suddenly feel a bit frumpy.

I know I do. And a bit themy, like Charlotte from Six in the City.

I'm just thinking she wouldn't wear a sneaker and that's fine

because she's got that very particular look.

Yeah, exactly. And Carrie wouldn't wear a sneaker either.

And so sometimes if something can look just a little bit old fashioned,

like a pretty dress with a pretty shoe, but wearing a sneaker can make

pretty much anything you are and just feel more modern.

It's a bit unusual.

Yeah. So like a floaty dress, a long skirt.

It needs to be the right kind of sneaker.

So I would say a plain sneaker.

You wouldn't wear a tricky sneaker, like a sneaker that's coloured or...

Because you can get, you know, like Seed and Country Road do,

I guess what I would call it almost a sand shoe, like a very simple white classic.

Yeah. All leather, it doesn't look sporty in any way.

So is that like a good entry level, quote unquote, sneaker?

100 percent.

I'll just quickly take you through the six big trends in sneakers at the moment

because it's not just like, do I wear a sneaker?

Do I not?

Because there'll be people listening to this who are like,

they've been wearing sneakers for ages and they want to know what kind of sneaker.

Because I've been wearing sneakers for a lot of years,

but the kind of sneaker that I wear has changed.

So the first trend that you'll notice is retro.

So that's like the Adidas sand, but all of those things that look kind of old school.

The next one is like hiking sneakers, where you can see the tread.

And it's like that big chunky sandal.

It's kind of like a hangover of the big ugly dad sneaker.

Very advanced. I'm not going to go there.

OK.

I had an affordable pair from Zara because I wasn't sure about that trend.

I did it in winter with a tight legging because it felt like chunky.

Yeah.

But I don't think I could do them in summer.

That was very happening, but that's a trend, the sort of the hiking shoe.

Then there's the designer sneaker.

So Chloe, for example, have just brought out a sneaker a little while ago called the Nama.

There's Golden Goose, of course.

So these are sneakers that are going to set you back over a thousand dollars in some cases.

And that's just silly.

I mean, if you can afford it and you want to knock yourself out.

The Golden Goose look dirty anyway.

They do. So the Distressed Golden Goose sneaker is something

that a lot of people have copied as well.

But I wouldn't if you're an entry level sneaker, don't start with that.

Also, just because they're so expensive.

Then, of course, the perennial sneaker that's always going to be in fashion

is the white basic trainer, unadorned, doesn't have color on it,

doesn't have tricky laces, doesn't have sparkles, nothing.

It's just very, very simple.

A few years ago, everyone was wearing Stan Smiths for Adidas.

That's an example of just a plain, classic leather.

You can also wear it in canvas.

Definitely spray it if you can wear it in canvas.

And it doesn't say a particular season.

So you can actually have them year after year if you look up to them.

A hundred percent.

Another shoe that's an example of the retro trend is Converse.

Converse will never go out of fashion.

High tops, you know, high tops like the Nike Air Force or Converse high tops.

That is a little bit more advanced

if you're concerned about your leg being cut off in a certain place.

Avoid those to wear them with.

High tops can look a little young.

They make me think of American college.

Yeah, exactly.

So high tops, be a little bit careful of that.

But there's sort of the broad trends of the moment.

OK, and then colors.

Are we doing white with a pop?

It's like, I mean, you used to wear a pink sneaker, I'm sure.

I do. I have a number of Converse,

but I've discovered that I don't wear them enough.

So I've got a fluorescent pink pair of Converse.

I've also got a bright blue pair.

I've got like an orangey pair and I've got a lemon yellow pair.

I don't wear them.

Was it because you were trying to work a whole outfit around the shoe?

Yeah, I thought, well, if I like them, don't do that.

It's much better to just buy white.

I would stick to white.

I've also got sneakers that, you know, are like all glittery and sparkly.

But most people don't have like a whole sneaker wardrobe.

Well, speaking of a sneaker wardrobe,

what do you think there's just like one or two styles?

Yeah, if you're starting out.

Yeah, if you're starting out, so start with your basic white.

What I would suggest is going to a department store,

because then you can see a lot or looking at a department store online

because then you can see they've got, you know,

rather than if you just go and one particular label.

Yes, that's the best way to see a big price range.

Yeah, I agree. You know, before we recorded,

I went and had a look and found an amazing pair of seed shoes for like $29.

And then all the way up to like, you know,

around a hundred is where a lot of shoes fit, particularly if they're leather.

But you can find a really well priced,

doesn't have to be a particular label, just a straight white trainer.

I would definitely say if you're investing in more than one pair at a retro one.

Now, that might be converse.

It might be there's a great label called Autry, A-U-T-R-Y,

which I really like, which comes in loads of different colours.

But the whole sneaker isn't coloured.

It's just got coloured accents.

So I've got a pair of those that are white leather,

but they've got like yellow accents.

And I find that that works quite well with a lot of your wardrobe.

Yeah, yeah, I do.

You even do a sneaker with a suit and I love that look on you.

And I nothing more modern.

I agree, but I just think a lot of people wouldn't go there.

Once they've got their suit on and they're putting their shoes on before they go out the door.

I mean, obviously, if you're a barrister, maybe that's not ideal.

But talk to me about the unexpected thing you wear with sneakers.

Yeah, I think that a lot of particularly Gen X women will have a working girl hangover.

I don't know if you remember that Melanie Griffith movie.

It was a very big thing in the 80s that women would wear these short skirts

and their little worksuits and then they would have to go on the subway.

So they would wear like they're running shoes and then they'd get to work and they'd get changed.

And that has been very scarring for a lot of women.

But sometimes sneakers can be right for work under certain circumstances.

It depends what industry you're in.

But firstly, they've got to be very clean.

Remember, if you've got white trainers, not if they're leather,

but if they're canvas like converse, you can throw them in the wash.

I washed mine weekly.

I bleached them inside, like soaked them inside, chucked them in the washing machine,

leave them out the sun to dry.

If they're leather, just use baby wipes, you know, you know what else I use for my white ones.

You can get a pen from Bunnings.

It's like a grout pen and I just use the white grout pen and I do my whites.

And then I've used the black grout pen to fix other high heels where it's the black scuffed.

That's really great.

I would suggest in terms of wearing them to work with a suit.

You just want a little bit of that pop of white poking out the bottom

and being really clean, being really understated.

You don't want to be tricky.

But maybe even to dinner if it's not a corporate environment.

Even if you're heading out to dinner with friends,

it doesn't always have to be a dress and flats in spring.

No, it doesn't.

And I think that wearing sneakers in an unexpected way,

particularly with something more formal.

So if you've got something more elevated, like a pretty dress, like a flowy skirt,

like a really sharp suit or a blazer, that's how you can dress up a sneaker.

But if you're wearing trackies, obviously, and you wear a sneaker,

that's going to dress it down.

So I think if you're elevated above the sneaker, the other way is accessories.

If you have like a nice accessory, like a nice bag,

it'll make your sneakers feel more elevated.

And that's I think another trend we're seeing a bit is people are using their fancy bag,

you know, the bag they bought once to go to a wedding.

They're wearing them more casually and that would look great with a suit

and a sneaker, whereas I guess you probably generally reach for a more casual bag,

but it's almost reaching for the unexpected to pair back with the sneakers.

What sneakers can also do is help you get more mileage out of some of those

more dressy things in your wardrobe.

Like you might have a dress that you bought to go to someone's wedding

or you might have something that's sequined.

I wore a sequined dress with sneakers the other day

and that made it immediately feel fresh.

Yeah, it wasn't a very formal occasion.

So it completely downplayed the sequins and the sequins elevated the shoes.

So it worked really well.

Love it.

What are the best sneakers to wear with jeans?

Does it matter on the cut of the gene?

Yes.

So if you're wearing, I know that wide legged jeans and baggy jeans and mum

jeans are in a lot of our wardrobes now and have replaced skinnies.

If you're doing that, don't wear a chunky sneaker.

Wear a sneaker that's quite low profile by low profile.

I mean low around your ankle that's peeping out the bottom.

If you've got a lot of volume in your pants, wear a pretty understated

sleek sneaker, not a chunky sneaker, too much volume and just too heavy.

There's just too much going on downstairs.

The other sneaker that you can never go wrong with any jeans is Converse.

A pair of white low profile Converse, not the high tops will look good with any

style of jean. I've even seen the Converse now that slip on.

There's no lace. I've been considering those.

It's like a slipper Converse hybrid.

There are a lot of different types of Converse.

I would stick to white and just don't go tricky.

If you could only afford to buy one pair of sneakers, what should they be for

the audience? Or for you or for me?

Again, I would go straight white.

I would go a white low profile Converse or another brand that is really

lovely is the Veja brand.

I think that's how you pronounce it.

Made famous by Meghan Markle when she came to Australia and she was wearing

some of them. And I've seen a lot of celebrities.

I know Angelina Jolie wears them and they're not.

They're gaudy. They're very simple.

They look a little bit retro.

They're quite paired back and they're unisex.

So men can wear them too.

I think you'll find a lot of the active wear brands.

And I say active wear because that's where sneakers originated from.

But so many of them are now made from post consumer recyclable materials

or ocean plastics.

So it is a category of fashion that are doing really good things for the environment.

And since podcasts are not a visual medium,

if you want our full list of specific sneaker recommendations,

I've pulled together an edit of my absolute best sneakers to buy right now

with pictures and links to where you can get them.

And we'll put a link to that article at the top of the show notes for this episode.

It's very expensive. Damn, honey.

How much are these? 25 percent.

OK, Mia, we end the episode every week on Boozian budget.

Obviously, we're talking sneakers here.

You're not going to love me because I've chosen two kind of fitnessy sneaker

versions, but I'm getting more adventurous with how I wear them.

But first, I want you to start with your budget.

My budget would be I'm going to just throw out a few labels, right?

Which I found they're all under 100.

Some of them are under 50.

Converse, Seed, Forever New and Sandler.

But they're doing a really nice, basic trainer.

Trainers don't have to be designer.

They don't have to be a label.

And you often can't tell the difference. No, no.

Well, mine are from Kmart.

So they're the Kmart comfort sneaker with elastic laces.

I like them because they are just so inoffensive, so simple.

They've got the teeniest bit of like Yeezy inspiration,

but not so much that they're too fashion.

Back when Yeezy was cool.

Exactly. Back when Yeezy was cool.

They come in a white that you could bleach till the cows come home,

but they also come in a khaki and a black.

And so the white I really like because they're not too sporty,

but they're not too scary.

How much are they around? 20 bucks.

OK, that's brilliant.

You can put some on your hands as well.

What's your bougie?

My bougie is actually an app.

So the reason why, if you're a sneaker aficionado,

which I came way before I got really into sneakers,

I had teenage son who was really into sneakers.

What's with young boys and sneakers?

So he introduced me to an app called StockX.

It's an app that specializes in sourcing sneakers from all over the world.

And if you see a picture,

if you see on Pinterest or an Instagram of some shoes that you like,

do a little screenshot, use the Google app to then search that image.

It'll tell you what those shoes are, and then you put it in StockX.

You do a search and it'll source them from anywhere.

So like I've been looking for some unusual color combinations of sambas

when I've gone down. It's like Shazam for sneakers. Yeah.

And so I've spent like a few hundred dollars on...

Sambas can be quite hard to get. They easily sell out.

But you know, you've got to pay postage, but they authenticate them.

You know that they're legit and you can buy them or bid for them.

It's kind of like eBay just for sneakers.

Wow. I've got a bit of a tip too,

because I got some sambas during winter

and I couldn't find my size in Australia firstly.

And then they were so expensive in Australia.

So I went onto Footlocker.com and then I had them shipped to a website called MyUS

and they just give you like a fake US website that lets that website

and then MyUS ships it to you.

And you can also send several things that want to dress

and they'll send them all to Australia at the same time.

Ah, so for the places that don't ship to Australia?

Correct. You can do it that way.

You can do it that way.

Yeah, exactly.

I think Australia Post actually has that service as well.

Wow. There you go.

I think I've bought something through them before that way.

Okay. My bougie, which you're also not going to like,

because it's a little bit sporty.

I've never won a more comfortable sneaker than New Balance.

And remember like last winter, last season,

all the fashion people were doing New Balance as fashion.

So like ripped jeans,

they look really good with this season's Maxi Denim.

So it's, I don't know if I'd wear them with a suit.

Oh, maybe I would, but I have a pair.

The ones I've got are the 327 sneaker.

It's in beige.

It's like a white base with a little beige accent,

tiny platform, but not too chunky or sporty.

Again, it's kind of just an in-between.

Has it got that tread up the front?

So the Solci, I bought a pair of those and I didn't like them.

I have to have the tread up the toe because for some reason,

it makes my ankle feel better.

Not that my ankle's sore, but it just suits my shape.

And I have been able to wear them casually.

And trans seasonally, I'm wearing these really great cotton leggings

that are pants and then a T-shirt and a trench.

And it's like, I'm not going to exercise,

but I'm obviously just running errands collecting my son

and they look good enough for that.

I love it.

One thing we didn't talk about was socks.

Obviously invisible socks, but socks are a trend.

Okay. So I wanted to ask you your opinion on this.

I see many women probably younger than me,

not that ages into it,

but with the mid-calf, cool, pulled up sock.

Yep. How do you feel?

I feel like that's a little advanced.

It's not something I'll be doing.

I bought a pair of gold socks.

And I've been thinking about how to wear socks with trainers

because again, I feel like it's a little bit advanced

and I might be looking a bit try hard,

but I do want to try it.

But otherwise, please wear invisible socks.

Don't just put your stinky feet in your shoes.

And how does an invisible sock differ from an ankle sock?

You can't see it.

Hence the word invisible.

Is it clear?

It should be. It's magic.

It's a magic sock.

No, it's just a really low profile.

So it should be invisible,

but it should mean that your shoes don't stink.

Yeah, and you don't get too sweaty.

Thanks for joining us, Mia,

and thank you for listening to Nothing to Wear.

And if you loved this show,

we would love you if you rated and reviewed it

with a five-star rating wherever you are listening from.

Check out the show notes for links

to everything we have spoken about today.

Next week, we're talking the foundations of every wardrobe,

bras, undies, and everything in between.

See you then.

you

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.