How to use clothes as instrument of confidence, this week on Smart Casual

Smart Casual is IMAGE’s first fashion podcast, in collaboration with Kildare Village. In our bi-weekly chats we examine why we wear the clothes we do and deal with personal style in a way that speaks to you. 

There are many ways to use fashion to influence your mood, and wearing clothes as armour is a feeling that every woman knows. Whether it’s an LBD, a power suit or jeans that fit like a glove, confidence through fashion is a woman’s secret weapon, which is why we wanted to chat about it for our third episode of Smart Casual.

On the show this week, our hosts chat about when they first began to view clothes as an instrument of confidence. For Dominique, it was her college days of experimentation with styles – for Marie, it was a standout moment in a London Harvey Nichols. While our hosts’ personal styles have developed a lot since then, those moments stand to how they use clothes now to shape their identity.

Smart Casual’s special guest this week is no stranger to the power of power dressing. Ingrid Hoey is Ireland’s premier celebrity stylist (although, as she says, she hate the word celebrity) and counts stars like Amy Huberman, Laura Whitmore and Sharon Corr among her clients (and her close friends). Her career in fashion is long and varied, beginning as a buyer at F.X Kelly and going on to become a premier stylist (with a job as a marketing manager in between). This week’s interview with Ingrid is warm, funny and authentic, and it was a pleasure to have her on the show.

Episode 3 of Smart Casual, in collaboration with Kildare Village, is available now on SoundCloud and iTunes – make sure to like, subscribe and rate us wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Smart Casual is hosted by Dominique McMullan, Marie Kelly and Niamh O’Donoghue, and produced by Erin Lindsay. If you can’t wait to download, have a listen to the new episode below: