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Speaker 1
Welcome everyone back to another episode of the Style and Strategy podcast. I,
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Speaker 1
am a little bit under the weather.
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Speaker 1
At the moment I have managed to pick up the,
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Speaker 1
some,
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Speaker 1
flu. Well, we're not even quite in summer yet, but I've managed to pick it up and interestingly, I had a friend tell me, did you know you were sick with this same flu last year?
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Speaker 1
So maybe that's a sign. Maybe that's telling me that I should get my flu shot. Or be it might be telling me that around this time of year, it hits that point where I really want to be able to,
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Speaker 1
clear out the decks, reinvent things, and get ready for that new 2025 or that new year.
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Speaker 1
Anyway, anyway, I am here and,
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Speaker 1
really excited to continuing this,
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Speaker 1
summer series that I am doing for you as we,
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Speaker 1
move in towards the end of the year heat, which,
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Speaker 1
I'm still having a bit of a pinch me moment.
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Speaker 1
I don't know about you, but I know for me, it feels like this year has absolutely flown by. And I think I say that,
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Speaker 1
even more every. Yeah. And,
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Speaker 1
yet I always say I'm not going to say it this year, but I can't help it because it seriously has,
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Speaker 1
flown by,
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Speaker 1
I think here for for those of us in Australia, we always know that once Melbourne Cup weekend kind of comes and,
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Speaker 1
we shift really,
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Speaker 1
full steam ahead into,
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Speaker 1
the countdown to to Christmas and, you know, trying to get into people's diaries to catch up and with friends and so forth is always,
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Speaker 1
starts to get a little
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Speaker 1
bit harder and a bit of a challenge as well. But yeah, we are coming into that end of the year. And so what I promised,
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Speaker 1
this time round was that I'm doing these little bite size episodes, just picking up on some questions and queries,
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Speaker 1
that you have had and have asked me to run some episodes on with a few hints and tips and tricks.
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Speaker 1
And so today's episode,
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Speaker 1
comes about from a conversation I had with a couple of clients who we were talking about,
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Speaker 1
some,
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Speaker 1
where in the office, and that actually, sometimes it can be really hard because normally,
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Speaker 1
you might have a blazer or something like that, especially for your client facing,
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Speaker 1
and it's just too hot.
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Speaker 1
And so last week's episode, I covered off on, on some of the key recommendations around that. But the conversation that we had ended up this whole thing about snake is in the office. Yes. No. And sandals. Can I wear them? Yes. No.
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Speaker 1
And so
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Speaker 1
that sort of sparked,
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Speaker 1
today's episode. So I wanted to give you a few different options.
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Speaker 1
Outside of your basic white,
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Speaker 1
snake or colorful snake, if you can wear that snake into the office. And I know many offices now, you know,
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Speaker 1
you know, more. So then,
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Speaker 1
even on casual Fridays, are embracing,
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Speaker 1
that smart casual trend as well. But that's where a lot of us,
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Speaker 1
kind of get a bit of concerned going.
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Speaker 1
Oh, okay, not sure how to wear this, but today is around. Well, what if I don't feel like wearing that sneaker?
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Speaker 1
And I want to
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Speaker 1
wear something,
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Speaker 1
a little bit more elevated. So here are a couple of examples,
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Speaker 1
and tips around what to really look for.
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Speaker 1
So number one would be and I'm probably the biggest go to
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Speaker 1
we saw it all through winter,
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Speaker 1
as well.
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Speaker 1
And it's not going anywhere really yet. And it's just coming up in lots of different shapes and colors now as well. So what am I talking about? It is the classic ballet flat. Yes. It's come back with an absolute vengeance.
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Speaker 1
And so many of us are happy to say it back because it gives you that opportunity to be really comfortable and still feel like your footwear is a little bit more put together.
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Speaker 1
Now, don't get me wrong. You know, I love a sneaker and probably a majority of the year I am actually in a sneaker. However,
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Speaker 1
the ballet flat would be that next go to. And when I say ballet flat, I'm talking about that traditional curve. But there's so many different varieties out there, right? You've got your,
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Speaker 1
curved option, you've got your straight or pointe toe option as well.
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Speaker 1
And so you can have a look and play with that. But what we've started to see evolve from the ballet flat is the Mary Jane as well. So the flat round toe or pointe,
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Speaker 1
toe and then with the strap across the front, all of those options are fantastic as an alternative to a sneaker, especially if you're not looking to wear a heel,
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Speaker 1
and you want to be comfortable.
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Speaker 1
Right. And even more so, what we've seen are really, for the first time ever, is this huge array of fabrications that these,
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Speaker 1
Mary Jane's ballet flats,
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Speaker 1
coming in, which,
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Speaker 1
we hadn't seen before.
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Speaker 1
And I think in a couple of episodes,
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Speaker 1
earlier, you may have heard me talk about it, you know, early on in the season that you would see these coming down, but the mesh ballet flat,
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Speaker 1
for summer is everywhere.
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Speaker 1
And so you know, is there a question mark around support on this? Yes, that is support on your foot. Yes.
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Speaker 1
Could you get away with wearing that in an office environment? Potentially. Depends how much mesh. Right.
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Speaker 1
And how well it's actually done.
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Speaker 1
But, you know, that is a great breathable option. Next is you've got like a,
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Speaker 1
sort of a straw like, or canvas.
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Speaker 1
So,
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Speaker 1
ballet flat as well.
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Speaker 1
For those who are a more vegan conscious, that type of thing or want that vegan option,
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Speaker 1
they are available and a great option as well.
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Speaker 1
then there's just that mix of having something which doesn't
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Speaker 1
have to be a fully closed shoe. So that's really my first,
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Speaker 1
major go to as an alternative,
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Speaker 1
to a sneaker that will make you feel a little bit more dressed up.
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Speaker 1
And like I said, a plethora of colors. And if you're really looking for that,
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Speaker 1
injection into,
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Speaker 1
summer, then you're looking at the whites, the silvers, you know, or the neutral kind of tones as well. If you're preparing for our,
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Speaker 1
coming into winter,
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Speaker 1
then really, there's no other color that I would go past. Then something in that wine, plum or Burgundy,
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Speaker 1
because we are going to see that everywhere.
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Speaker 1
Short life.
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Speaker 1
Second on the list would actually coming back to your classic loafer,
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Speaker 1
and the slim line version of the loaf
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Speaker 1
come through. And very similar to the,
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Speaker 1
ballet flat. You're seeing it in, like a plethora really, of options. So I'm not just talking here. Colors,
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Speaker 1
material construction, fabrications, that type of thing. But we're also seeing it in terms of, you know, the classic,
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Speaker 1
long tongue,
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Speaker 1
loafer versus a shorter tongue loafer as well.
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Speaker 1
Because that all plays a role in how it looks, in how comfortable you feel in it,
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Speaker 1
because it can actually cut the leg off a little bit if it's up really, really high.
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Speaker 1
But again, there
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Speaker 1
you be able to select, you know,
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Speaker 1
again, that canvas style, the straw style to take you through the summer, you know, a white leather,
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Speaker 1
neutral leather, all different colors,
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Speaker 1
around the sun.
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Speaker 1
So that would be my absolute second option if you wanted to look to something else other than I,
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Speaker 1
sneaker. And then finally around. This is the one that probably gets the greatest debate of all. It's the summer sand wool.
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Speaker 1
And especially in different workplaces. It may, may or may not be appropriate. And I'm going to leave that in your hands,
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Speaker 1
to determine, because everyone's workplace is going to be a little bit different.
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Speaker 1
And obviously, when I'm working with clients one on one, I get a lot of detail around their workplace. What's happening there? What what the sort of dress cut, if there are any dress codes, what what sort of the expectation is are they client facing? Are they not. You know, that that type of thing. So if you're thinking around the sand or
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Speaker 1
again there's a plethora of options available, but there's a couple of things to think through outside of that,
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Speaker 1
you know, determining, let's say.
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Speaker 1
Yep, it works for your, your office environment. And you want to get maximum weight. Then you go right to I want a closed,
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Speaker 1
sort of back to,
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Speaker 1
a sandal and an open toe. Do I want a fully open kind of sandal? And the most simplest of them of all is really just going with a two single straps, you know, really ankle or just over the,
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Speaker 1
the bridge of the the foot and a single strap at the front right, trying to keep it really simple or you might go for what we're saying more of now,
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Speaker 1
is coming back to sort of the string in the not at the front and then another
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Speaker 1
ankle strap at the back, which is actually probably, I would say, one of the most flattering,
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Speaker 1
looks on the foot as, as well. And so again, that's another option if you're looking at swapping out the snake out for an alternative flat. So I hope that,
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Speaker 1
you have got,
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Speaker 1
a bit out of that and, and starting to think through your options for shoes and,
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Speaker 1
will look to apply one of those.
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Speaker 1
So remember, you got your ballet flats, Mary Jane Bay. You've got your life.
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Speaker 1
And then you've got your sandal in a variety of different styles, fabrications as well. Let me know your thoughts and let me know what you've taken away from this episode.
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Speaker 1
Next week I am going to be covering up the topic of sustainability because I've been asked to revisit it again, especially as we're coming up to Christmas,
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Speaker 1
and probably even more so.
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Speaker 1
We're coming up to,
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Speaker 1
everyone's favorite shopping time of year, which is Black Friday,
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Speaker 1
Cyber Monday. So stay tuned for that episode next week. And,
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Speaker 1
I'll take you through my tips and traps for that.
