Fashion

00:05 S1

Fashion, or ask my sister to buy clothes for me for my Christmas and birthday. Generally, she's got a good idea. Um. Oh, look, I think I manage all right with with that kind of stuff. Yeah, it's a tricky question. I guess I never really thought about it too much. Um, but I don't know if people don't like my fashion style. That's up to them. Doesn't really bother me that much. This is studio one.

00:26 S2

On Vision Australia radio.

00:33 S3

Hello, I'm Sam.

00:34 S4

And I'm Lizzie.

00:35 S3

And this is Studio One, your weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view. Here on Vision Australia Radio.

00:41 S4

On this week's episode, how do you decide what to wear? Does your vision or lack thereof affect your choice in clothing?

00:49 S3

We ask a few friends if fashion is an issue.

00:52 S4

As we always say at this point, please do get in touch with the show. Whether you have experience of any of the issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One, or if you think there's something we should be talking about. You never know. Your story and insight may help someone who's dealing with something similar.

01:08 S3

You can email us Studio one at Vision Australia org. That's studio number one at Vision Australia.

01:13 S4

Org or of course you can leave us a comment on our Facebook page by going to facebook.com. Radio network.

01:26 S3

Hello, Lizzie.

01:27 S4

Hello, Sam.

01:29 S3

So this is something we haven't tackled in a while and, well, we've got a lot of material to go through. So, um, how how do you tackle fashion?

01:39 S4

Well, firstly, I just want to say that this is a topic I could really dig my teeth into because I had it instilled into me as a child very early on, that the way that I presented myself to the world was important. And because of this, I have always felt the need to present myself well. And that includes being fashionable, not necessarily keeping up with trends, but wearing clothes that flatter my figure or go well with my skin and hair color. So yes, I am a firm believer in looking great or looking good, or at least looking presentable. I know there are a lot of people out there that that don't care. Not just blind or low vision people, but sighted people as well. But I for one, really love any occasion where I can dress up.

02:32 S3

The thing that affects me really is my family are quite the opposite. They just simply go, you know what you wear, what you wear, you wear what you like. And if you like it, then you like it. And if other people have anything to say, it's their problem, not yours. Plus, of course, I grew up in Darwin where basically fashion goes to die. So, um, pretty much if you are wearing, say, a nice pair of jeans and a and an open collared shirt, people ask, oh, where are you going? Looking so flash. So those are the two things, let alone my eye condition, which basically means that, um, my perception of color is just completely skewiff. So that's kind of my side of things. But let's listen to what a few of our friends have got to say about this issue.

03:26 S5

Quite simply, I don't don't when when we're clothes shopping, we buy colours that will go together anyway. So it doesn't matter what I put on as long as it works.

03:37 S6

I color coordinate my outfits necessarily. What I do is I have a certain spot for things in my wardrobe, and I always put things in their places where I want them to be. And I always ask people when I pick out an outfit, when I buy it, Or I asked my mom, like, what color am I wearing? Or if anyone else is around, I'll say, does this look okay with these two? Matt. I love that. Yeah. Okay, well, funny story. I didn't realize I'd been sending my son to school in a. I've got a beautiful ten year old son in a dark blue long sleeve shirt in winter. I thought it was gray. Um. And one of the moms went. What? Why? And I went, it's great, you know? No, it's really dark blue. So nobody ever picked me up on it. We kind of laughed at it. My son didn't care. It is what it is. I wear two different colored socks. I I've just now surrendered to getting a support worker coming in, seeing that I'm in the office now, and I do have to address that more office. Office style. Yeah. The support worker now, and I've had to hand over the ironing because burning myself and putting pleats in places they shouldn't be. There's some things I've just gone no more. Yeah. And so I the thing I hate to do because I was a carer is asking for help, but my life runs a lot more smoothly and the anxiety is at a bay when I do reach out and say, you know what? I do need help with this.

05:30 S4

Of course. Yeah. And it's interesting because some people really don't care about the colors and things. And, and I suppose if they don't need to care.

05:38 S7

Then then by. All right, they don't have to. But like I also take great pride in my appearance and, and like to dress smart casual and stuff. And if I'm going somewhere where I know that I want to make a good impression with my clothing. Yeah, I'll always get a bit of help just to make sure you know that my outfits are matching and everything, so it's exactly.

06:01 S6

And when you're on a good thing, I usually buy 2 or 3 of the same in different colors. So that's one can really trip you up. So, you know, there's probably some friends. There's probably some friends I wouldn't leave in charge of my clothing just for a laugh. They would, you know, have a go at me. But that's all in jest. You know, I, I've had to reach out for, uh, I've had this new job now for a couple of months, and I do have to dress smart for the office. And it is about color matching. We just were speaking two weeks ago, and it's implementing this week and last week that we're going to discuss different outfits, because I'll wake up in the morning and I cannot tell you what the day before, what I'm wearing, I'm very spontaneous to the mood I'm in, how I wake up to what I wear. Um, very connected like that. So if someone said you're wearing this tomorrow, my rebelliousness would go. I'm not wearing that tomorrow. So I give myself a lot of choice. Um, and we've got just a clotheshorse in the spare room that I can just grab that outfit off now.

07:02 S7

I think that's a very female thing.

07:04 S6

Yeah, yeah.

07:05 S7

You wake up and even if you got, you know, the night before, you've got it all planned out. Like, this is what I'm gonna wear. You wake up in the next morning, and whether you put it on, you just don't like it. Or you get out of the shower and you're like, no, I wanna do something different. There's always something, isn't there?

07:19 S6

100%. I'm a very, you know, spiritually energy, energy based person. And it will that morning I might just go no I don't. Yeah I pick when I'm walking just about getting ready. But yeah the makeup as my eyesight goes as well. The makeup thing. Oh, God.

07:44 S4

Okay. Very interestingly, she was talking about sending her son to school in a dark blue shirt instead of gray. Carly was. And that's something that I've never dealt with because my up until the age of, I think about ten, my parents or my Oma, when I stayed with her, they picked out all my clothes. So I was always going to school in the right clothes. However, I do have some tips that I can share.

08:07 S3

Mm. Please do.

08:08 S4

So what I tend to do is buy dark colored bottoms. So, uh, black skirts or navy pants or charcoal jeans, something that is darker. And then most of my tops, give or take a few, like my activewear tops, are lighter in color. Therefore, it doesn't really matter what I pair together. I could do a black skirt and a light blue top, or a charcoal jeans and a pink top, but as long as the bottoms are dark and the top is light and it's a material that flatters me and makes me feel good, or you know that I really like. Generally, I can make an outfit out of everything. In fact, I have one skirt and two different tops that go with each other. And it's it's funny because the two tops I have are made of the exact same material. They're exactly the same cut. They've got exactly the same like puff shoulder, but both of them match the skirt because the skirt has, uh, flowers that are multi-coloured. And yes. So both of these shirts, either the red or the green, match part of the flowers. So I tend to get things that are versatile and that can match with anything. I don't usually get bold statement pieces that you know are hard to match, because then it just complicates things.

09:29 S3

Well, I've got a dark colored bottom as well, and I've got got some cream for it, so, um, that's a good news anyway.

09:35 S4

You're hilarious.

09:36 S3

Yes. Anyways, um, my my battle has constantly been with socks, believe it or not.

09:41 S4

Yeah. So I get.

09:43 S3

This. I've, um, in the past bought several pairs of socks and especially the ones that have got, like, um, different colored rings around the top or something like that. And so I'll be walking around, especially if I'm wearing shorts or something like that with socks that don't match. So my trick to that nowadays is to make sure if there's any color on these socks whatsoever, It's on the soles of the feet below the shoe line, so that I can mix and match to my heart's delight. What's funny, though, is it drives Heidi bananas when I hang them out and they're mismatching. And it's like, well, what's the difference? The colors are on the bottom. Bottom of the of the of the sock. They're not on the thing. It doesn't matter which order you put them in.

10:29 S4

That's hilarious. Sam, I have to say, because I am the exact same. Heidi, I feel you. I understand your pain. It drives me absolutely insane when I go out to the washing line. And Steven's hung up the socks, and there's the pairs aren't next to each other. I have white ankle socks. All my ankle socks are white, my black socks are thin, and they all have a certain, like, band around the top. I have my Anytime Fitness socks which are purple and they are thick. Now my support worker recently convinced me to buy these. Have you heard of these tradie socks?

11:01 S3

Oh yes. Yes. Yeah, I love these things. This is the other thing as well, is that, um, my feet do not react well to shoes and socks and stuff like that and they sweat. Um, ridiculously so. Just a normal pair of socks I will go through in the space of three weeks. So they have to all be sports socks. And now they've, um, producing black sports socks, which to me that's fantastic, because now I can wear reasonable clothing and have socks that match with my black shoes and black trousers.

11:35 S4

These tradie socks that I got, uh, duped into buying. I love them, by the way. I don't regret it. One pair is purple, like my cycling outfits are all purple and one pair is, uh, black and gray with some purple on the sole. But the the thing that I love about these tradie socks is both pairs feel different, so I can distinguish which ones are the purple and which ones are the black and grey.

11:59 S3

That's a that's a good thing. Um, that's. Yeah. So I mean in some ways yes, we face the same problems one because yes, as I said, my television is completely skewiff.

12:09 S4

And I don't have any.

12:10 S3

That's exactly right. Anyway, on to our next set of people.

12:18 S8

Oh well, you couldn't have asked a better person. First of all, I've got a fully sighted daughter. Um, and I had two older sisters, so. And these particular older sisters, you know, used to elbow me in church and God knows where going. Stop it. Stop squinting. You look like you look stupid. Now stop it. So I became very much aware, very young, that we actually live in a sighted world, not a vision impaired world. And, you know, I might pick my nose, but somebody three blocks away could probably see me. So it's that being aware of how you appear to others. So I'm very, um, I've been very brought up to look people look at people when I speak to them. Stand up straight. Um, those sorts of things. I took a great interest in makeup, hair, fashion at probably a young age, maybe. Probably all my life, to be quite frank. And I do have a little quiet obsession with clothes and shoes. Hence, I have a big house with lots and lots of shoes and clothes. And I Instagram a lot. Like, I look at people and I. I use social media and I see what's trending and I learn from my kids. Like my daughter will say, oh, mum, you know, this looks great or this. And so it's just been around educating myself, I suppose, on on what's what's cool.

13:49 S2

This is studio one on Vision Australia radio.

13:57 S9

Wow. Goodness. Oh. Because it's so easy to look like a blinky, isn't it? Especially if you don't have anybody to correct you and tell you how that shirt actually doesn't go with those shorts and the and the socks. You've got different colored socks on or something like that. Yeah. It's always nice to ask someone who has eyesight before you go sticking on a pair of shorts and a pair and a shirt, and then walking out of the house, and then coming home later on and saying to your wife, oh yeah, honey, I'm home. And then she says, oh my goodness, what have you got on? And you've had that on all day and you didn't know.

14:32 S10

So you'd say, you've got to live in Fashion Advisor.

14:35 S9

Exactly. Hallelujah. I live close to the city of of Milano. How about that?

14:43 S11

Again, I'm lucky in that I have a pretty good idea of what I look like, and I also have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't work in regards to to mixing and matching and stuff. And I've basically probably been wearing the same kind of outfit since I was 16, so nothing much changed there. I'm lucky in that I do see basic colors. I just don't. And sometimes a red or a purple. A light purple or something may look the same or that type of thing. Um, and I kind of like darkish kind of colors anyway. And I found one of the things that I've used my NDIS support person for is, is to go shopping. And I felt build up a good rapport with that person. And I trust, you know, they see what I already wear and we go somewhere and they'll help me pick an outfit out, which is, um, yeah, much better than going with my mum. Uh, so I have had to rely on the judgement of other people in the past. And, you know, once I've got home, I, I know what it what it is, but picking it out and doing shopping has been a bit tricky in the past. But yeah, now get that professional support person to find the right look, the right size, the right price and all that type of business.

16:24 S12

With fashion, I've always learned to just, I guess, sort of work out what I wear a lot of. Sometimes I wear colours or sometimes I wear black and white or black and grey. It just depends. And my wardrobe, I've now like, colour coordinated it so I know where all my stuff is.

16:43 S3

That's a good tip.

16:43 S12

So just for me to.

16:45 S3

Just make sure that everything that goes together stays together.

16:48 S12

Oh, yeah. Or like, all my black stuff's in, like, a section. And then my other colours are all. It's like all in coloured sections now.

16:56 S3

Oh, that's a good idea. Yes. Okay. I should think of that myself. I get it all mixed up, though.

17:01 S1

Okay.

17:07 S4

Matthew, welcome to studio one. My very first question to you is, did you.

17:12 S3

Lizzie? Um, we're running three minutes short on our fashion program. I'm going to need to fill in some time. Hello, Matt. How are you going?

17:20 S13

Yeah. Not bad. Trying to survive the warmth.

17:22 S3

So tell us what your relationship with fashion is.

17:26 S13

Oh, I'm a full time nudist.

17:28 S3

Uh, how do you pick and choose what sort of clothing you would wear? Or do you have a, like a lot of us. I live in, um, fashion expert.

17:35 S13

Oh, I have a live in fashion expert called a wife. Um, and she helps out with this, and she she's fussy because she just doesn't want other people to, uh, um, go blind. I suppose he goes like there's one blind person in this household. We don't need the millions of the rest of the world to lose what they've got left as well.

17:53 S3

Have you committed any major fashion faux pas? And when did you realize that you had.

17:59 S13

Had a little split in the pants, which I didn't know that was there until I decided to run, and then it became a little bit bigger than little. So it's at least I was wearing some underwear that day. Um, otherwise it would have been an interesting sight for some.

18:14 S4

I've done the very same thing at school, and I was wearing white underwear under dark blue trousers, so it did not look good.

18:20 S3

That's one of my tricks, actually. Is dark underwear underneath pale clothing. That's, uh. So, you know, it just takes the light to shine in a particular direction. And all of a sudden, everyone can see what you're wearing underneath your clothes. Good, good fun on that.

18:35 S13

Yeah. And you wonder why I'm losing my eyesight here. Lizzie.

18:40 S14

Okay, guys, I'll leave you to it.

18:41 S3

Enjoy your chat.

18:43 S13

Thanks.

18:43 S14

Bye.

18:48 S15

Color coordination. I have a lot of base colors. So your blacks. Mostly because they go with anything. And most of my clothing has the bright colors. The only one. The only ones that I can actually see. So that, um, you know, I've got green pair of pants, track pants that can be matched with a green top or something like that. Okay. Yeah. But for the most part, I have fairly neutral colors on. Um, and match it with whatever other like I might have a black pair of jeans and I might put a colorful top on. Yeah. So that they just match because most of the dark colors I can't tell apart.

19:29 S7

Yeah. And I think that's the thing, like, as, as a person with a visual impairment, as long as you have those specific items of clothes that you know are a certain color and will go with anything.

19:39 S15

Yeah. And that's the other thing you actually have to memorize. Like I bought stuff thinking it's one color and somebody will tell me, no, it's actually this color. So then you actually have to memorize that that particular item is that color, not the other colors. And so you know which one to match them up with.

19:57 S3

The main thing I would.

19:59 S1

Say is.

20:00 S3

Probably keeping on top of on top of my beard. That's been a big thing. I'm known at, um, at work for having quite a big sort of, um, bushy kind of beard. And it doesn't always look the best. Probably, um, could look better. I, um, at the moment, my hair is quite long. I've, um. Growing up, I never really had long hair. And then one day, about, I guess 6 or 7 years ago, I decided, oh, I'll just. I'll just keep it long. I won't cut it for a while, see how it goes. And I really enjoyed it and I've kept it like that. But, um, at, um, at some point it does, um, it does need a bit of a haircut and, um, I can't sort of. I've never really, um, shaved manually. I've just had, um, the electric ones because, um, with, with my vision, I'm not sort of super confident to sort of see exactly where I am on my face. And I need a very small, like, mirror and all that sort of thing. So that's that's a bit tricky. But, um, other than that, I think, um, the fashion, fashion choices, I don't know, they could probably improve, but, um, yeah, I think I, um, do okay there. And I don't have any issues with, like, picking clothes out, and, um, what I do, um, occasionally gravitate towards is brighter clothing that stands out so I can sort of see where my socks are, where my shirts are, um, all that sort of thing. But, um, yeah, that's probably in terms of my look, those are the main things.

21:46 S2

Okay. Um, again, as the vision's gone, I've had to change the way I do things. So I find it difficult to tell between, um, navy and black. Um, so I do mark my clothing with, um, a tactile marker. Um, I have yet to use the pen, friend, but I maybe get to that one day, but at the moment it's just like a little tactile marker that's washable on the tag of the the blue or the black. Um, article of clothing. I have a very well organized wardrobe where I know where things are. I use seeing AI, I use the color filter in that, and I'll just hold that over the color over and it'll tell me if it's blue or it's black. Um, sometimes hot pink and red are really hard. Anything that's similar. Um, so I do use apps. I have been known to use be my eyes. Um, I volunteered to, uh, just to make sure that I've got the right color. Um, not a lot, but I have had use. I have used be my eyes. So I yeah, I try and use, uh, technology as much as I can, as well as just being organized. I use a lot of tactile, so I know what my clothing feels like.

22:55 S7

Just related to that. How important do you think it is for blind and vision impaired women to put their best foot forward when going out? You know, so making sure that their clothes and hair and makeup is done presentably and nicely. How important do you think that is?

23:11 S2

I think it's very important. I think it's very, very important. In fact, I'm a huge advocate for, um, uh, women in particular with disability to still be able to dress really nicely, to still be able to look, um, uh, to put makeup on, to do their hair. Um, you know, people will make the comment, but you but you can't see it. But I say other people can see it, though. Other people can see it. And I, I think that whole look good feel good and, you know, and the, the way you present yourself, the way you enter a room and the impact you make on people, no matter where that is. I think that's really important. And I also think there's a misconception that when you have a disability or vision impairment or whatever it may be, that you still can't be desirable, you know, and, uh, that might be crossing over into another conversation. But, um, I still think it's really important to still, as a woman, be, you know, to be, you know, to be, to look attractive, to look presentable, to look, um, empowered almost because you, you, you know, you hold your head high and I think I, I used to love and I don't do it so much now since I've become a para athlete. And, you know, I'm not getting in the corporate gear anymore. But I used to love being able to get up in the morning, put on some nice corporate gear, you know, a pair of heels, put do my hair and makeup, then put my dog in my left hand and walk down the street of Parramatta in Sydney with my head held high, with my dog doing the work and feeling quite empowered. And people will would look, would would stop me and go, are you training that dog? I was like, no, no, she's mine. And they go, wow, gosh, that's not what we again, that's not what we expected.

24:51 S7

And I know.

24:54 S2

You know.

24:54 S7

I love that.

24:55 S2

I'm chuffed when people say to me, that's not what I expect. I said, good, then my job's done.

25:02 S7

I've had a very similar.

25:03 S16

I want you not to.

25:04 S2

I want to look like any other woman going to work walking down the street. I want to look like any other woman. Maybe sometimes better. You know what it's like with a dog, Lizzie? You're gonna attract attention. And I remember when I got her, a colleague at Vision Australia said to me, because I wasn't sure I was in tears going, oh, I'm not sure if I'm ready. I'm not sure if I'm ready. And he said to me, yeah, you're ready. But he said, remember us? He said, you're not invisible and you're not going to be invisible anymore. He said, you're going to attract a lot of attention. Um, and because of the dog, people will want to know about it. They'll want to pet it. They'll want to engage. They'll want to, you know, um, so, so all of a sudden, you're not invisible anymore. People will will see the dog, look at you, look you up and down.

25:49 S6

Kind of.

25:50 S2

Trying to figure it all out, you know? Um, and then people just want to help you, so. But yes, to answer your question. Absolutely. I think it's I think it's very, very important. I really do I think it's important to to just be out there and and looking. I think it's good for anyone, any sighted person as well, to get out there and look their best. Um, no matter what they're doing.

26:17 S17

So I pretty much just live in my activewear these days, which makes things easy. So I'm either in cycling kit or gym kit most of the time. So yeah.

26:27 S4

I feel.

26:27 S17

This. Yeah, I'm probably not the best at matching outfits and stuff. It's not that I can't see them, it's just I don't know what to wear.

26:39 S3

That's a wrap for this week. A big thank you to Sophie, Locky, Sean, Emma, Kylie, Caroline, Roberto, Simon Chong who you can hear in plain sight on his podcast there. Also a thank you to Sam, Collie, Lily, Maddie and Matt and well, we'll hear from Jodie in just a second. Next week. Well, it's up to you, Lizzy.

27:03 S4

Lizzie. We'll be talking about blind faith, or more specifically, how faith shapes our outlook on our disability.

27:10 S3

But between now and then, please do get in touch with the show. Whether you have experience with any of the issues covered on this week's episode of Studio One, or if you think there is something we should be talking about. You never know. Your story and insight may help somebody else who is dealing with something similar.

27:25 S4

You can email us at studio one at Vision Australia. Org. That's studio number one at Vision Australia. Org or of course you can search for us on any of the good social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram by looking for VA Radio Network. We want to hear from you.

27:42 S3

This program was made possible with the support from the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at. And over to you, Jodi.

27:53 S18

Uh, with, uh achromatopsia. I'm completely colorblind, so I don't really give two hoots what anybody else thinks. I'll wear what I want to wear. And if nobody else likes it, well, that's their problem, not my problem.