Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We started this super podcast because we want you to use high-level words collocations, phrasal verbs and gorgeous grammar in your everyday English and in your IELTS speaking exam.
Rory, what have you been doing recently?
Quite a lot, actually.
I've got a teacher training course to write and then actually I've got two teacher training courses to write and I've been writing my diploma as well.
So it's quite a lot, really.
Oh, my God.
You're going to wear yourself out.
Oh, it's interesting that you talk about wearing myself out, because today we're going to talk about clothes.
Yes, dear listener, in Speaking Part 1, they can ask you questions about clothes.
Rory, are clothes and clothing fashions important to you?
Not really.
I'm not much of a fashionista, but recently I've been looking at some cool stuff that keeps being advertised on Instagram and I've been taking a bit more of an interest, but it's definitely not the most important thing for me.
What different clothes do you wear for different situations?
Well, I suppose I'll dress formally for proper work occasions although, And then informally whenever it's, you know, just like day-to-day work.
I'm quite lucky in the sense that I don't have to wear like a uniform or a suit and tie or anything like this for the kind of work that I do right now.
Do you wear different styles of clothes now compared to 10 years ago?
Oh, definitely.
Yeah, I used to wear clothes that were much baggier, for example.
But now I suppose they're a bit more close fitting, a bit better fitting in general, probably.
Indeed, after some prompting from you, Maria, I decided to reassess my wardrobe.
So it's panned out quite well in that sense.
So yeah, I've definitely changed my fashion tastes over the last 10 years, over the last decade, for sure.
Good for you, Rory.
I'm proud of you.
Yeah, when I saw you... You're proud of me for doing exactly what you told me to do.
Exactly yeah, because when I saw you for the first time, you were wearing some what?
Dirty torn jeans or That was a bit of a mess you were.
Were you in this gothic stuff like, oh no, being a goth thing?
I attempted to be a goth for a day, but then i realized it would be a bit um, the demands are a bit onerous, to be honest, especially in terms of the makeup.
Um, so no, Do you think the clothes we wear say something about who we are?
A wee bit.
I think I've noticed that if people dress more unconventionally then they tend to be a bit more free thinking and a bit more creative.
Whereas people that dress more formally tend to be a bit more.
What's the word?
They're a bit more organized and sort of industrious work and task oriented.
So, yeah, it says a little bit, but.
I don't think it's the defining feature of people.
Also, are people this way because of how they dress, or do they dress because they have these kinds of personality traits?
But it's definitely, there's some connection there for sure.
Do you often buy clothes?
Well, still not often enough.
Usually I wear things until they fall apart, and even then I can stitch them back together again in some cases.
But I'm going to start trying to buy clothes more often, just because I'm kind of getting into fashion more.
Not seriously, but there are some nice clothes out there that I think I would like to buy.
Rory, are clothes important to you?
But I don't think it's like the most important thing by any means.
I think it's more important to have like a decent character, for example.
Do you have your favourite pair of jeans that you hang on to?
Yes, I've got two favourite pairs of jeans actually.
They're sitting next to me.
Oh, alright.
What kinds of clothes do you wear?
I usually just wear.
Well, since we're talking about jeans, I usually just wear jeans and long-sleeved shirts, for example.
That's what I'll wear on a daily basis just because it's comfortable.
And then if I'm going on a night out or something, then I might wear a slightly nicer dress shirt, for example.
But it's usually this combination of jeans and long sleeve shirts.
Would you ever spend much money on clothes?
Up until recently I probably would have said no, but lately I've been spending more money on clothes just because I have it now.
And I kind of like trying on different things now.
It's not the biggest thing in the world, but it's still quite cool to look good.
Yes, I agree.
Do you think men and women have the same view of clothing?
No, not in the slightest.
In the main obviously, people are unique and different, but in the main men tend to be more relaxed about what they wear.
Whereas women, while they've got a much greater range of options in terms of what they can wear, tend to be more neurotic about getting the right combinations.
Although it does pay off in the end because a lot of people are quite well dressed.
You're well dressed, for example.
But I think men and women, generally speaking, have very different attitudes about clothing.
Which is ironic because some of the main leading fashion designers are men.
But then they're outliers, so that's probably not the same as the majority of people.
Rory, thank you so much for your answers.
No problem.
Okay, first of all, how do we pronounce it?
Do we say clothes, clothes, clothes?
What's going on with this word?
Not clothes for sure, but you can say clothes or clothes.
Both pronunciations are both quite acceptable.
Is it the same as, like, close the door?
Close.
My clothes.
My clothes.
Close the door.
It sounds similar in connected speech, doesn't it?
Yeah, yeah.
So, dear listener, like, don't worry about pronouncing clothes because it's impossible.
Say just clothes.
Like, close the door.
Open the door.
Close the door.
My clothes.
My clothes is expensive or are expensive.
Mm-hmm.
It's a question, Rory.
Oh, sorry.
Well, my clothing... He's dozing off.
He's dozing off, dear listeners.
He isn't on coffee.
He isn't on coffee.
Um well, my clothes are expensive because it's ending in S.
However, you could say my clothing is expensive or my taste is expensive.
Yes.
We wear clothes, right?
But also we can say put something on.
So what's the difference?
Wear, put something on and try on.
Well, when you try something on, you're usually checking to see if it fits and everything, and you haven't bought it yet usually.
Obviously, you could try on clothes if you're trying to find an outfit for a night out.
But this is usually about the preparation.
So if you put something on, this is like at the start, usually at the start of the day when you are in the act of physically getting dressed, for example.
And then when you wear clothes, that's more generally, like you finished putting them on and the clothes are on your body.
So you wear them.
Yeah.
We can also say the verb dress.
Dress formally or informally.
So, to dress, right, as a verb.
Yes.
Could you give us an example with to dress?
Well...
No.
What could I say?
It's your own language.
It's your mother tongue, Rory.
I know.
Master your own language.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely, yes, well done.
We can also say get dressed up, right?
So to get dressed up.
Dressed up meaning like putting on some beautiful clothes yeah, for a festive occasion.
So are you dressing up for your birthday party, for example, yeah?
Um, I certainly hope not.
Hopefully I'll be dressing down for my birthday party.
That's just to dress casually and informally.
And it's my birthday soon, actually, thinking about it.
Oh, when's your birthday?
It's in a month.
Oh, in a month.
Wow.
So in August.
For people who are listening, that will be in August towards the end.
In August?
Oh, wow.
How old are you?
No, not telling you that.
I'll be older.
I'll be one year older.
That's how old I will be.
Could you send me a screenshot of your passport, please?
No.
Right.
So we can say that I prefer wearing smart clothes.
That means formal, right?
Stylish clothes, casual clothes, right?
Casual meaning informal.
Yes. fashionable clothes.
We can also say I prefer wearing trendy clothes or practical clothes and also designer clothes.
Rory, are you into designer clothes?
Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana.
What's your favorite brand, Ralph or Laurent?
I don't really have a favorite brand of clothing, but I definitely am getting a bit more into not brand specifically, but clothes that look good.
Hmm.
Yep.
So, we can say fashionable clothes.
Can I say fashions?
Like clothing fashions or fashion?
Absolutely.
And there are clothing fashions, aren't there?
Are you following fashion to follow fashion?
Like I said, slightly more than I used to, but definitely not nearly to the extent that a lot of my friends do.
So Rory is not a slave to fashion.
To be a slave to fashion.
Not yet.
Not yet, yeah.
Outfit, by the way.
Is it the same as clothes?
Outfit.
The outfit refers more to the style of clothes that you're wearing.
They're in combination.
Can I say like, you have a great outfit?
Yeah.
You've mentioned that you enjoy baggy clothes.
I used to.
I used to.
Okay.
So baggy means loose clothes um basically yes uh, they're not um, they don't fit um in a.
Well, i suppose in a close way, When we talk about clothes, we should mention specific items of clothing.
For example, you said long-sleeved shirts, right?
Long-sleeved, yes.
Sleeved, yeah, long-sleeved shirts.
What about t-shirts?
Yeah, well, t-shirts have shorter sleeves, of course, and I do wear t-shirts.
I'm wearing one today, actually.
But on a night out, you dress shirt?
What did you say?
You dress shirt?
A dress shirt is just a slightly more formal way of saying a shirt with buttons, to be honest, and longer sleeves.
A dress and a shirt.
A dress shirt.
So, dear listener, if you can't choose... It sounds that way, doesn't it?
But it's like, say, dress up, I suppose.
Dress shirt.
Yeah, so you didn't say anything about wearing a suit.
Like, have you ever worn a suit, like a proper suit, trousers, a jacket, a shirt and a tie?
Sometimes to really formal work events, but because I usually teach young people, it's not normally the stuff i need to wear.
You've mentioned some nice words industrious so if people wear formal clothes they seem to be more industrious Generally, yeah.
But of course you have some people that wear formal clothes that are the laziest people on earth.
Trust me, I've worked with them.
But in the main, yeah, a lot of people that wear formal clothes seem to be more industrious.
And some people or other people can dress unconventionally.
Yeah.
What does it mean unconventionally?
Just well, if you think about conventionally.
So most people wear jeans and T-shirts that are probably just one color.
But if you dress unconventionally, then you mix colors, you mix styles.
It's another way of saying it's outside of the norm.
It's not normal.
Yeah, we can say that I wear jeans on a daily basis or on certain occasions.
Exactly.
Occasions meaning events, right?
So, you said that if you wear something, you wear it till it...
I wear it until it falls apart.
Right.
Yeah.
And then if it does fall apart, you stitch it all together.
You stitch it all back together.
I try.
I don't make a very good job of it.
My home economics teacher would not be thrilled with my efforts, but I can stitch things together enough that they'll last for a few more days, for example.
Yeah, so if Rory has a hole in his trousers or jeans, he stitches it all together.
Until I get a new pair.
Careful with the preposition, we spend money on clothes.
Spending money on clothes.
Rory, you've mentioned some nice words about women being more neurotic about clothing.
Well, compared to men, yeah.
If you're neurotic, then you're just sort of obsessively focused on something.
It's got a different meaning in psychology, but usually people use it to mean people are extremely focused, in a slightly unhealthy way, on things.
But it can pay off.
It can, yeah.
Right?
Pay off.
So if it pays off, then it has a positive result.
Absolutely.
And at the beginning of the podcast, we cracked a joke.
You're going to wear yourself out.
So to wear yourself out means...
Well, if we talk about people being worn out, it just means to work so hard that you become excessively tired.
But you can wear out clothes, which means that you wear them so much they start to well have holes in them.
They don't work as well.
They don't fit so well.
Yeah, you can say like I'm worn out, I'm knackered, knackered, I'm exhausted.
Thank you very much for listening.
This is all from us.
We hope that you've learned some new vocabulary and gorgeous grammar.
And as always, we'll see you next time.
Bye.
Bye.
Rory, are clothes and clothing fashions important to you?
Not really.
I'm not much of a fashionista, but recently I've been looking at some cool stuff that keeps being advertised on Instagram and I've been taking a bit more of an interest, but it's definitely not the most important thing for me.
What different clothes do you wear for different situations?
Well, I suppose I'll dress formally for proper work occasions although, And then informally whenever it's, you know, just like day-to-day work.
I'm quite lucky in the sense that I don't have to wear like a uniform or a suit and tie or anything like this for the kind of work that I do right now.
Do you wear different styles of clothes now compared to 10 years ago?
Oh, definitely.
Yeah, I used to wear clothes that were much baggier, for example.
But now I suppose they're a bit more close fitting, a bit better fitting in general, probably.
Indeed, after some prompting from you, Maria, I decided to reassess my wardrobe.
So it's panned out quite well in that sense.
So yeah, I've definitely changed my fashion tastes over the last 10 years, over the last decade, for sure.
Good for you, Rory.
I'm proud of you.
Yeah, when I saw you... You're proud of me for doing exactly what you told me to do.
Exactly yeah, because when I saw you for the first time you were wearing some what?
Dirty torn jeans, or That was a bit of a mess.
You were.
Were you in this gothic stuff?
No, no.
Being a goth thing.
I attempted to be a goth for a day, but then I realized it would be a bit.
The demands are a bit onerous, to be honest, especially in terms of the makeup.
So, no.
Do you think the clothes we wear say something about who we are?
A wee bit.
I think I've noticed that if people dress more unconventionally then they tend to be a bit more free-thinking and a bit more creative.
Whereas people that dress more formally tends to be a bit more.
What's the word?
They're a bit more organized and sort of industrious work and task oriented.
So, yeah, it says a little bit, but.
I don't think it's the defining feature of people.
Also like are people this way because of how they dress or do they dress because they are?
They have these kinds of personality traits.
But it's definitely there's some connection there for sure.
Do you often buy clothes?
Well, still not often enough.
Usually I wear things until they fall apart, and even then I can stitch them back together again in some cases.
But I'm going to start trying to buy clothes more often, just because I'm kind of getting into fashion now.
Not seriously, but there are some nice clothes out there that I think I would like to buy.
Rory, are clothes important to you?
But I don't think it's like the most important thing by any means.
I think it's more important to have like a decent character, for example.
Do you have your favourite pair of jeans that you hang on to?
Yes, I've got two favourite pairs of jeans actually.
They're sitting next to me.
Oh, alright.
What kinds of clothes do you wear?
I usually just wear.
Well, since we're talking about jeans, I usually just wear jeans and long sleeve shirts, for example.
That's what I'll wear on a daily basis just because it's comfortable.
And then if I'm going on a night out or something, then I might wear a slightly nicer dress shirt, for example.
But it's usually this combination of jeans and long sleeve shirts.
Would you ever spend much money on clothes?
Up until recently I probably would have said no, but lately I've been spending more money on clothes just because I have it now.
And I...
And I kind of like trying on different things now.
Like I said, it's not the biggest thing in the world, but it's still quite cool to look good.
Yes, I agree.
Do you think men and women have the same view of clothing?
No, not in the slightest.
In the main obviously, people are unique and different, but in the main men tend to be more relaxed about what they wear.
Whereas women, while they've got a much greater range of options in terms of what they can wear, tend to be more neurotic about getting the right combinations.
Although it does pay off in the end because a lot of people are quite well dressed.
You're well dressed, for example.
But I think men and women, generally speaking, have very different attitudes about clothing.
Which is ironic because some of the main leading fashion designers are men.
But then they're outliers.
So that's probably not the same as the majority of people.
