Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent, by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American host Aubrey Carter, the IELTS Wiz and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.
And to get you transcripts delivered by email every week, go to all T worm .com forward slash subscribe Are you seeing the latest fashion revivals happening?
The 90s are back. Listen in today to get one example of a fashion trend in China that's coming back, and learn how to talk about these revivals… in English.
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Hey there, Aubrey, how's everything going today?
I am great Lindsay, I have a question for you.
We were talking about fashion trends today.
Have you noticed anything that's coming back around fashion -wise right now?
Oh for sure. for specifically, I think about the wide -leg jeans.
When I see people at very wide -leg jeans, maybe at the mall or anywhere, I think 1995, 1994, for a long time we wore skinny jeans or at least straight leg, and now they're like big baggy jeans.
I remember those from high school and now that's what my kids want to wear.
I know, it's so funny.
What about you? Have you noticed anything else that's coming back?
Those for sure, and also Crocs.
did you ever wear crocs?
That's more work. All kids were now.
They're like these rubber shoes, plastic what are Crocs?
Even made of. But and they're all with the croc pins.
I'm curious, you guys out there listening if crocs are super popular where you live, I feel like that's all teenagers and young kids want to wear right now.
Yeah. And this is something that comes up a lot.
It comes up sometimes across generations.
Do you have that conversation with your kids?
Like when your kids are like, look at these cool wide leg jeans, they're so new.
And then you're like, they're not new.
Absolutely. I feel like this comes up a ton in conversation with my parents, co -workers friends, because it's surprising when we see something come back that we expected to be gone forever.
Right? They'll still be a trend.
I'm like, really? I did not expect that to come back.
So it's such a fun conversation.
Yeah, personally, I'm holding out for skinny jeans to come back soon because I'm not planning on getting rid of my skinny jeans.
I think we, I think we talked about this recently on the show, but I just, I'm a slow adopter.
A lag. I do know I have switched to like straight leg jeans, but I can't do super, baggy.
I don't like the mom jeans.
Look, I love for skinny jeans to come back to.
Yeah, I just don't find them very flattering on my body.
Yeah. I'm not very tall and I just need like tighter fitting clothing.
You know that's so tricky.
Like I want the trends that are their best for my body type.
Can we just do that please?
I know it's weird. It's weird.
So anyways, this is such a key connection topic, whether it's cross generational with your kids, with your parents, whether it's with your peers, your friends, your co -workers, we can start a conversation very quickly and easily about these changing fashion trends.
Everyone will have something to say, everyone's interested, everyone's noticed some trend that has come back.
So this is a great way to connect in English and it's also a great way to share your culture.
If you're talking to someone from a different culture, they probably have very different trends that they knew when they were younger.
And so it's fun to find out about your friends' cultures.
right because sometimes fashion can be based on history as well we're going to get into an interesting example in just a minute but first Aubrey we got to hit that follow button.
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Alright, pretty good.
Awesome. So yes, we're excited to dive into a really interesting example about a fashion trend coming back right young people are actively embracing and wearing traditional Han Fu clothing in China.
And this is awesome.
I saw some pictures of there beautiful, these really beautiful flowing robes.
Yeah, amazing. I wish that our culture had such respect for the past you know.
I feel like many cultures, older cultures around the world, older civilizations, do have more respect and tend to bring back things from the past - More than we - I feel like when something like this Hanfu comes back it really does show respect for traditions, for maybe what you have a picture of your
grandmother wearing.
I love that idea to really respect history and and show a love for it.
Yes, and so it would be good to be able to describe aspects of traditional clothing in English.
And this is not just for specifically Han fu but for anyone that wants to describe fabrics and the way fabrics look or feel.
These are key vocabulary words that we're going to learn today.
Right? Yes, because if you want to talk about this and someone says, oh, you know I'm unfamiliar.
What is that? What is hanfu clothing?
Then you would need some vocab.
You could say that it's a very flowing fabric, lightweight, flowing fabrics, and a wraparound robe.
So that means a fabric that wraps all the way around and often attaches.
Yes, and I love this word elaborate.
So we can say it includes elaborate head pieces.
Elaborate means what, Aubrey?
Yeah, so fancy, intricate, it definitely is going to be there, maybe multiple pieces, or lots of different fabrics or maybe feathers, I imagine.
I could see someone calling head pieces from the 20s in the U .S.
elaborate, right, wear them to a party and there's big feathers, they're beautiful and really impressive, yeah.
Elaborate is a great adjective.
The 20s would have been a very cool time to be around, it would have been one of my top up three choices.
A really interesting time, you know, kind of right before the Great Depression hit and people were just loving life, you know.
Yes. Right. That's what I wanna see that flapper look come back like Han Fu Clothing has, right?
This is interesting, when you see something experienced like a fashion revival like this, especially among young people, like you said, Lindsay, not only is it embracing our history, but it's going to dictate what trends become popular from there on out, right?
everything is like a ripple.
And then what is popular in 10, 20 years will be affected.
So that's cool when we see these trends come back.
Yeah, we can call this a fashion revival.
And often, there's a new flare on the old piece of clothing.
Often it's not just wearing the exact same thing, there are changes that are happening that designers are putting to a spin off.
Absolutely. Very a little bit of a spin off.
Their own take on it to make get a little unique, which is always fun to see these little changes.
Yeah, I love, you know, our country is a lot younger than China.
Obviously we don't have such a rich history.
We don't have anything as old as, um, Han Fu this with Han Fu could comprises all traditional clothing classifications of the Han Chinese.
Okay. Um, with, uh, I mean they have a recorded history of what more than three millennia.
So for us, it's like, something came back from the 1980s, the 1990s.
And we're thinking of this as a trend coming back.
It's almost mind -blowing to think that a fashion trend could come back from so long ago?
Yeah, for sure. I love it.
But is there anything that we can speak of in terms of revival?
We talked at the top of the show about the baggy jeans look.
Yo, the 90s was all about baggy jeans, the skaters and other ways of wearing your clothing loose.
I remember I used to cut, I'm sure you probably did this too, Abri, I used to cut my jeans at the bottom and try to fray them even though that they were brand new.
or peg, you remember pegging pants where you would like, because before they were skinny jeans, we would turn them into skinny jeans by like holding them up so funny.
I haven't seen that come back, but we have had some fashion revivals for sure.
We've seen a lot of these nineties trends coming back.
Eighties trends. Sometimes I'll see someone wearing a neon, like a neon on a t -shirt.
I'm like, up eighties are coming back.
Oh gosh. That's why I love skiing these days.
These days, the neon ski suit is back in style.
And it That is awesome.
That's amazing. I actually love that.
I need to go skiing just to see some mDS great maintained.
You'll see a woman and like all knee on pink.
The whole thing is knee on pink or knee on yellow.
It's just great. So funny.
So I mean, this is the connection skill for today.
Right? Each of us has a different culture and as we're having fashion revivals from different eras, but how do we talk about it so those are, this is going to be our key takeaway and our key skill.
We're going to learn in the episode.
Yes. Yes. And we are going to share four terms that you will need for these conversations, right?
To talk about fashion revivals trends that are coming back.
And our first one is to say something is back in style.
Right. This talks is describing something that was popular, but then was not trendy for a while and now it's back.
Yeah. For example, it seems like Crocs are back in style.
I see them everywhere.
Accurate. Yeah. Or, what - Lads back in style.
I think they were all the rage when I was in high school, and this is a fun bonus all the rage That means extremely trendy extremely popular.
Yes write that down listeners great bonus for today all the rage people love it then of course things go out of fashion they become no longer trendy like skinny jeans are out of fashion But I still wear them and I'm the same way Right it's funny how teenagers right they're wanting to be very trendy
at least in the US but you know once you're 30, 40, you don't care quite as much about being some people like myself you know, so we might still wear skinny jeans even though they're out of fashion and we might just admit it, and I'd wear it as a badge of pride.
As long as you don't mind your kids coming home and saying, Mom why are you wearing those jeans?
Yeah, they might right?
I don't know kids I think expect their parents to be out of style out of fashion right they're like like they want to be trendy but they don't care if they're parents.
They don't want. No, I feel the same way when I was a kid I didn't expect or really want my mom to be in fashion that would be kind of strange in my head.
I would almost prefer to look out of fashion.
That's so funny what else?
Another, another sample?
Yep, you might say, you know, if you're trying on a dress, you might say Do you like this dress or do you think it's out of fashion?
Especially if you're pulling it from your closet, right, you've got decades of clothing Maybe you're like, Ooh, is this out of fashion or can I still get away with wearing it?
I love it out of fashion is the key word there.
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Okay Aubrey, we've got another one and this phrase applies to so much more than just fashion which is why I'm excited for our listeners to learn this today.
Yes, this one's much more flexible, right?
It's go full circle.
So, it's like after a long series of events or changes, then you're back to the same situation you started with.
So you could definitely use it with fashion and set or hairstyles, you could say, we've really gone full circle with hairstyles.
Everything that was popular when my mom was young is trendy again, but I love that you mentioned that Lindsay.
It's not just about fashion.
Right? I actually think we should do another episode just on this concept of full circle and explain all the scenarios that native speakers do say this because we say it quite a bit and it's like you connect the dots and then you say this and maybe there's a little laughter and recognition of what you've
said. You've been on a journey, right?
Absolutely. And we use this a lot in Business English as well so be sure that you're following here and also on Business English because that might be an episode we plan for the Business English podcast.
All right. Power everyone, and type in Business English and hit the full button over there so you don't miss that episode.
All right, good. Number four.
What's the four Thabri?
Bring back. So this is a way of saying make trendy again.
Like I could say, I hope they bring back neon colors.
I think they're so fun.
It sounds like they are bringing back neon colors on the ski slopes.
Yeah. Sometimes I wonder who's day.
I mean, I guess obviously fashion designers with the world, the New York Fashion Week.
But how do they who just wakes up one day and says I want the 90s back right then everyone who is they right?
Yeah, often I feel with slang I feel like they is teenagers right adopting lingo.
But with trends Yeah, it's a lot of it is probably the fashion world dictating.
What's right. Yeah, interesting Okay, and then another simple sentence teenagers are bringing back 90s trends.
Okay, Aubrey Should we got a dive right into a role play?
Okay, let's do it. You and I are discussing current fashion trends in this I'll start us out.
Okay, do you think these shoes are out of fashion?
They're so comfortable.
But maybe a bit outdated?
Oh, no, I think those are back in style.
It's hard to keep up these days.
But I feel like shoes always go full circle.
I think you're right.
Well, if they're not trendy, I say bring them back.
I don't usually pay attention to trends that are all the rage.
I just want to be comfortable.
That's so me. I just want to be comfortable.
Or I think for me, oh, I actually bought a square, do you know Queer Eye, the show Queer Eye?
So, you know Tan on queer eyes, he's my favorite.
He's fantastic, I love him so much.
I bought one of his courses, I think it was on Coursera or one of the other course platforms on fashion actually.
And one of the things that he teaches in this course is get your stable pieces, your classics and build your whole wardrobe around your classics.
So, a good leather jacket, a really nice high end pair of jeans that are still comfortable, white shirts, like the classics, right?
That's good advice, right?
And then you can build from there if you want to accessorize.
Absolutely. Yeah. Anyways, I recommend Tans Fashion Advice.
He's fantastic. He definitely knows more than we do.
That was great. Alright, so should we go back through this?
Yes. I started with, do you think these shoes are out of fashion?
So I've pulled a pair of shoes from my closet.
But I'm like, maybe I could still wear these or are they too outdated.
Yeah, that's good. And then I said, no, I think those are back in style.
It's hard to keep up these days but I feel like shoes always go full circle.
One of the many things that always goes full circle.
It's so true right.
Some things like converse, I feel like never went out of style, but some shoes do and then come back like Doc Martens or Crocs.
So yeah, back in style definitely implies that they were out of style for a while.
They weren't trendy but now they're back.
Yeah. And the worst is when there's a trend.
And you want to be able to wear it because you think it's cute but you just can't for whatever reason fit your body into it.
I used to love Converse.
I used to want so badly to wear Converse when I lived in New York and I tried, but I created lots of problems with my feet because they're so narrow.
Converse are super narrow.
Your feet are too wide.
I just couldn't wear Converse after that but I was heartbroken.
Converse are really narrow.
That's true. Yeah. It's true.
Alright. And then you said Aubrey...
I think you're right.
Well, if they're not trendy, I say bring them back.
Yes. So this is kind of funny, right?
This is who's they?
Who's them? Whose they are?
I want them to bring this back.
Yeah, for sure. What else?
What else? And then you said, I usually don't pay attention to trends that are all the rage.
This was our bonus, meaning extremely popular and trendy.
We'd say it's all the rage.
Yeah. But if we just come away with just that phrase today, we will have really gained some natural native English.
to use right away. Absolutely.
Right? This is so vital.
It's such a great connection skill sharing and teaching others about your culture and trends that have come and gone.
What a fun way to connect in English.
Yeah. What's our takeaway?
Anything else? I mean, that's really it.
Right, Aubrey. It's about that connection moment, and any time you find a moment where people are experiencing the same thing as you, whether it's fashion or lifestyle, trends, things like that, go into that.
Right? Like a little bit, spark a conversation chat it's interesting.
Everyone's interested about these trends that are coming and going.
And whoever you're talking to, if you come from a different culture, right, maybe you are interested in Han Fu Clothing or you've worn it before whoever you're talking to will be interested in these cultural differences.
So use it to connect.
I love it. Good stuff.
Well, you have a nice day.
I'll talk to you soon.
Awesome. You too. Bye bye.
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