Wardrobe affairs, fashion histories and Kate Moss tantrums. Welcome to 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. 

Fashion is a personal thing. The relationships we have with our wardrobes depend on our personalities, our moods, our histories and of course, the weather. Personal style and the relationship with our wardrobe is something we spend a lot of time talking about in IMAGE, and so it seemed like the perfect subject to kick off our brand new fashion podcast Smart Casual.

Smart Casual, in collaboration with Kildare Village, looks at the psychology behind our clothes. Our hosts, Fashion Director Marie Kelly, Digital Editor Dominique McMullan and Digital Leader Niamh O’Donoghue, wanted to discuss the ways in which they engage with their wardrobe and how they interact day-to-day.

Marie has spent years curating her wardrobe to become her armour for life – she feels like she can do anything with the right outfit, so her connection to clothes is quite emotional. Niamh also has an emotional relationship with fashion, but for a different reason. As someone with a curvature of the spine, clothes don’t fit and sit normally on Niamh’s body, which has guided her to a wardrobe of tailored, sharp suits and separates – what she says makes her feel her sexiest. Dominique has a personal style that sits on the cusp of feminine and edgy – and she loves to plan her outfits. Getting prepared for a big outfit gives her joy, but, as all our hosts agree, there are some days where wardrobes are just draining.

The discussion gave way to our very first interview on Smart Casual, where Marie spoke to iconic Irish stylists Catherine Condell and Sinead Keenan. With their years in the industry, we knew that they would have stories to tell – and none were so fascinating as the tales of their Brown Thomas charity fashion shows in the 90’s and early 2000’s. With guests like Bono and Ali Hewson and a catwalk filled with legendary supermodels like Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington, the shows were the stuff of fashion dreams.

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But while Sinead and Catherine’s career histories are so compelling, Marie wanted to know about their personal fashion histories too. When asked about their first fashion memories, the guests’ answers were adorable – we’ll leave you to enjoy them for yourselves, but not before catching a peek of Sinead’s first big style moment, complete with purple dungarees.

The first episode 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 very first episode below.