TV style crushes and Don O’Neill’s fashion journey: Smart Casual is now live

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.

Growing up, what were your favourite sources of fashion? While Vogue and Elle stood high on the shelves out of reach for many a young budding fashionista, the place to go to view all our clothing dreams was the couch in front of the television. Female TV heroines were our inspiration for many reasons, and their strong sense of personal style has always been a major factor in our collective aspiration to be just like them. This week on Smart Casual, our hosts are reminiscing on the TV stars they loved to watch, at a simpler time when Instagram wasn’t the main stream of style inspiration.

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From Cagney & Lacey to Beverly Hills 90210, Bewitched to the Olsen twins, to the modern Mad Men and Killing Eve stars, the glamour of the TV screen has been a fixture in our hosts’ minds for many years. As women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, Edaein, Sarah and Marie all have very different memories of fashion on TV, but all remember the same feelings of excitement and jealousy over the clothes — whether it’s Samantha’s cute 60’s polo and mini skirt, or Sabrina’s red leather trousers (a controversial choice).

Our guest this week is Irish fashion designer Don O’Neill. Hailing from Ballyheigue in Co. Kerry, Don is now based in New York, where his formalwear brand Theia has seen him become massively popular in celebrity circles — his designs can be seen on everyone from Oprah to Meghan Markle to the Kardashians. While his designs are high profile, Don himself is delightfully down to earth, and chats to Edaein over the phone from his New York studio about his journey to success, why he aims to dress every type of woman with his clothes and how inspiration can crop up in the unlikeliest of places.

Episode 21 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 Marie Kelly, Édaein O’Connell and Sarah Rickard and produced by Erin Lindsay. If you can’t wait to download, have a listen to the new episode below:

Read more: Ageless style with Mary Dunne and Sandra Wilson: Smart Casual is now live