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- [00:05]
A
I'm Laura Vinrit, Pool of capital and this is what we wore. Lee Matthews is an Australian designer who started her career as an illustrator and began her fashion journey with simple tea parties at home. I've always been impressed by the way she stays true to herself and really knows what women want to wear. Lee Matthews, I am so excited to talk to you this evening for me and this morning for you in sunny Australia, although sunny winter. Australia winter.
- [00:37]
B
Yes. It's cold. Well, you know, not cold by American standards, by any means, but cold.
- [00:42]
A
Lee, you're not Australian by birth.
- [00:45]
B
I'm Irish. I mean, I'm a blend, actually. I did my. What do you call it? D DNA. I'm all Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Nordic, of all things.
- [00:56]
A
Well, we must be related because of all those things too.
- [00:59]
B
I'm. Now I'm intrigued. I mean, I have always been very interest in Nordic history, I have to say. So, yes, I was born in Belfast in Northern Ireland, and. But we didn't stay there very long. My. That was my dad's side of the family and we moved to Canada pretty much straight away.
- [01:13]
A
Wow. What part of Canada?
- [01:14]
B
BC he worked for a hydroelectric dam construction company. So we lived up in the, like, in the middle of nowhere, on river that, you know, and in towns that no longer exist, apart from a couple of them. Yeah, we're very weird. Very isolated childhood in a vast nothingness. Well, not nothing. I mean, incredibly beautiful. Yeah, obviously.
- [01:40]
A
Everythingness.
- [01:41]
B
Everythingness, yes. That's a very good way to describe it.
- [01:44]
A
What are your memories of that time? I mean, what were you interested in and what was your life like?
- [01:51]
B
Not sewing and not clothes. Yeah, you know, I started to swim when I was 7. I don't have a lot of memories before that, to be honest, because it really was. We. We moved so much from. Because you'd be in a town for six months and. And they'd flood that bit of the river and you'd move to the next. They're all like construction towns. But when I started to swim, which became, you know, a kind. It was a passion and I thought I would be a swimmer for the rest of my life, but clearly that didn't happen. Was devastated, though, when we left Canada. We left and moved to New Zealand when I was 11 because my. We went to live with our grandparents and my grand. My granddad wasn't very well and we never went back to Canada. But I was just at that. At 11, I was just at that cusp where, you know, I'd been swimming for what, seven, eight, Nine, like five, six years and I was tipping into becoming like a seriously competitive swimmer.
- [02:45]
A
Yeah.
- [02:46]
B
And we left. So that was the. Something that took up every moment of, or waking moment of my day, apart from going to school and skiing, was suddenly gone. You know, we were living in New Zealand with my grandparents in sort of what could only be described as kind of weird and idyllic and surreal and unreal and profound, I suppose. Yeah. It was a big change. And maybe that real paradigm shift from freezing white, remote still, to verdant blue, wildly full of bird and animal life. The. The contrast was so shocking. I kind of remember that and feel like that was when I woke up or something. Do you know what I mean?
- [03:35]
A
Yeah, yeah, I really do. I really do. Do you have siblings?
- [03:38]
B
I do. We all had the same sort of moment of awakening.
- [03:42]
A
Yeah. Yeah. How long did you stay in New Zealand?
- [03:46]
B
I came to Australia when I was 19, so. And then I moved to the UK and then I came back. I tried to go back to Ireland, actually, and I. I mean, I'm Irish by birth, but I'm certainly not Irish by nature, I don't think. I mean, I went back thinking I was going to kind of live and work there and I'd been. I start. I was. When I finished school, I did art at school and was good at it and thought I'd be an art teacher. That's what I thought I'd do at the Catholic convent. It was not what I was expecting. It certainly wasn't that fairy tale experience. I mean, it was lovely to see my family, but not to be there. And it was just at the end of. I don't think that the troubles. Troubles, yeah, really the over and my family were quite involved in it all, so it was all very tense. So I thought, you know, I don't. I think I want to go home.
- [04:31]
A
When you left at 19, did you know what you wanted to do at that point or did you feel like you couldn't follow it through in a country as small as New Zealand? Or what was the impetus for that?
- [04:40]
B
Yeah, I guess so. I don't know, actually. I don't know what drove me out. I just. I'd done quite a lot by the time I was 19, because I left school early and I'd driven all over New Zealand in my vw. I'd. I'd did wildlife illustration at the local museum and because I thought I wanted to be a. To draw plants, basically. I was good at drawing, but that was not really interesting enough either. And what else did I Do I made clothes in the garage to make extra money. I taught swimming at the local pool. I had a little group of troubadour girls that I used to teach swimming to. I kind of did a lot of things to see what stuck. And in the end I couldn't find anything that, that stuck particularly and wondered if it was somewhere else. And by then I was illustrating, sort of doing independent illustration for small publications and came to Australia and landed a job at Vogue randomly not illustrating. I eventually became an illustrator with them, but just doing like very low level graphic design, which I did not study. But I think in those days, you know, no one really cared. You know, if you could hold a scalpel and slap a bit of glue on something you could hold straight line, you could get a job.
- [06:02]
A
But I mean you landed at Vogue. Had you had interest in clothes at all? I mean, did your mom sew? Did you have.
- [06:09]
B
Oh yeah. My grandmother was a seamstress. So I did spend a lot of time sitting, you know, under her coattails, picking up the pins and being bossed around horrendously. She's incredibly bossy. She was a post war grandmother. So everything in the house was made from something, you know, like every. All the bath were. Were corded or crocheted bits of fabric. You know those mats, what are they? Rag mats. And was full of rag mats that every piece of furniture was covered in something that had been thrown from. Away from something else. All the lampshades were ice cream containers with like crocheted plastic around the edges. Quite seriously a very weird DIY charm. And she was a really great cook as well. So, you know, she was kind of an all round. What would you, you know, the, those domestic goddesses of the time. She could so look, had an incredible garden, was a terrible gossip and taught you to sew. Yes. Yeah.
- [07:14]
A
And what do you remember the first thing that you, that you made, I.
- [07:18]
B
Want to say, actually I think it was a, a teapot cover, like a cozy. And I believe that it was, it was patchwork. And I, you know, you have to search together, put the quilting in and, and I hand quilted it. I was all hand sewn. I didn't. And she had a, a Treadle Singer machine. So, you know, it was a treadle machine. That's what I learned to sew on, which is such a, such a beautiful piece of machinery. Like amazing.
- [07:51]
A
And probably makes you understand construction in a different way, I would think.
- [07:55]
B
Well, being able to control the speed of a machine is, is like driving a car, you know. And that's what you could do with a treadle. So if you had a. A sharp needle and control of your pedal, you. You could basically make just about anything. She was a, I suppose you call her a tailorette. She used to make. Made to measure jackets and coats and like everything. She was pretty good at it. I wouldn't say they're the most beautiful clothes on the planet, but they were very of the time.
- [08:24]
A
Did you connect to that immediately or that was just something in the background of your mind as you were illustrating and starting at Vogue?
- [08:31]
B
Oh, I did do textiles at school, which I like. I mean, I did a lot of screen printing and quilting. Like it sounds really daggy but it wasn't. It was fun. It was a good thing to do. I did a lot of stuff with textiles which, you know, didn't turn into clothing at the time because there wasn't really a vehicle for. I mean, apart from making my own clothes, which I did do, wasn't a vehicle for that really. I mean there was one designer at the time, his name was Marilyn Santee, who was a really fantastic woman and she was of a, I suppose a bit of a come to garcon vibe and very adventurous layered sculptural pieces which I. Which did resonate with me. But I never imagined that I would makes things and for a living. Do you know what I mean?
- [09:23]
A
Yeah. And you got to know her clothes from working at Vogue?
- [09:26]
B
I knew about her when I was in New Zealand and then she used to actually stock a store here in Australia. The owner, which was a woman called Belinda Sieper, she had a chain of stores here called Belinda. She was sort of the first pioneering independent multi brand store, I would say in Australia that really succeeded. She had about five or six stores by the time she. She actually brought the mining distribution into Australia as well. So she's quite entrepreneurial.
- [09:58]
A
That's when you first met those clothes.
- [10:00]
B
That's right. And they were in her store. And I sort of discovered her pretty quickly after getting to Australia because, you know, I fell into the job at Vogue. Then all my friends became people that I worked with. They were in fashion. I just naturally gravitated to that, I guess.
- [10:15]
A
Did you connect to it immediately? Was it a natural fit?
- [10:18]
B
I guess, yeah. I mean, I enjoyed. I was very much a. I didn't have very much money in those days. So I was definitely a vintage clothes shopper, which was not the Vogue look. But you know, I think I did because I could alter everything. I did alter everything. I used to you know, buy little old men's pinstripe suits and, you know, tailor them. And I do actually still have a few of the things that I saved and coveted, one of which was a yoji, a long yoji or yellow organza shirt. God knows why I thought that that was something.
- [10:55]
A
Yeah.
- [10:55]
B
I wanted so badly. And a couple of comme to garcon things that I just couldn't. Couldn't stop thinking about, which I did also save for. And I still have those things, which is weird, right? That's. That's a long time ago now. So, yes, the. The resonance of, like, the beautiful color or the gorgeous construction or a beautiful shape. Like, it was all. It was very much about shape and form, I think, and textile. So, yeah, I guess it did, you know, stick.
- [11:26]
A
I mean, you went from assisting to becoming an art director.
- [11:29]
B
Did. Yeah, but not on Vogue itself. I worked on the entertaining guide, which was actually. Which is interesting because, you know, all the other people that are in my life are all chefs. So, you know, I. So the food and fashion thing sort of collided, and I think I was the art director on that for a couple of years. It was great fun. If I hadn't ended up in this industry, I probably would have ended up in. In, you know, not hospitality, because I got fired from the one and only job I had as a. A waiter or waitress or whatever you call it. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Can't hold two plates in two or open a bottle of champagne at the table.
- [12:12]
A
I'm really into cooking, and I think that, for me, the trajectory of fashion takes such a long time. My process is so long, from going to market to writing the orders, to having the clothes made, to receiving, to selling. It is such a long trajectory, and I need the hour long trajectory. Like I need to either fail or succeed in an hour each night. Right.
- [12:33]
B
Yeah, exact. I get that. I totally get that. And actually, the kids are a bit like that too. So now I get to watch them do that, which is really. I really enjoy it. It's like watching you not so much watching your life come to life in front of you again, but it is interesting to see the same needs or personality emerging in your kids. It's. It's. I. I found it really fascinating.
- [12:59]
A
It's happening to me too. I totally agree. And so did you have children at this time when you were working with Vogue?
- [13:05]
B
No, I didn't, but I. But. But soon. Oh, no. I was 27 when I had my first child, and. And that was I working. Yes, I. I was working in the Industry by then I was still illustrating freelance and I was still doing freelance work for other people in the art directing kind of world. And I was offered a role at Country Road which was. Seemed so rare.
- [13:33]
A
Oh yeah.
- [13:34]
B
Such a big company. And I was absolutely totally inexperienced but had a bit of experience and I just think that they were taking a chance on injecting something unpredictable into quite a conservative business which I guess was a huge learning company and, and a huge risk for them and. And it kind of worked out for both of us. I didn't end up staying for years and years. It was too. It was too big a beast. Big companies just don't suit my personality I don't think so Once I. Once I left there, once I left there I came back to Sydney because they had offices in Melbourne and I started doing sort of 2 year 10 years in smaller businesses like Marks was a small company. They did. He was also a great sort of fashion entrepreneur. He started his business with import brands and multi multiple stores and then started doing a shirt line and sort of simple men's line and then he started women's wear which I started for him. And I learned a lot about how to run a business by watching those people run these small to medium sized businesses and watched how they grew and, and how hard it was and how they all had different ways of managing it which was has. I mean I often find myself thinking about that time. It was pretty soon after that that I. I had Tilly and Charlie in close succession and that forced me to sort of stop for a minute. So I was making stuff at home for them and for me and you know, and then I would make more of the things that I. Than I needed and I'd have these little sort of tea parties I suppose at home and invite friends and they'd buy things and I'd make more things and it sort of grew into this. I don't know how many. It was like two or three times a year we do them and. And that was a couple of years and the kids were really little and it was fun.
- [15:37]
A
Were you doing it because you were not finding the things you wanted in the market? There's nothing on the market like what you do. It's so orig. It's so different. I've still never seen anything like it. Obviously you had that vision always it's.
- [15:52]
B
Just an extension of me. I don't know if I'd call it a vision. It's just I sit outside of the sort of fashion lane I suppose on purpose because when I've had various attempts at trying to be in never works. I, I, I think the fact that I just used as fabrics that I use have always used. That's what I know how to work with what I like to wear, what I can imagine things in. It's sometimes that's just not nobody wants that, you know. So you go through this periods of this just isn't resonating with the world. But I, but I have managed to retain a very long loyal customer that will just go with it with me, you know.
- [16:51]
A
Yeah, I can tell you they do. Yeah, I've seen that. Did you start your own stores before you were wholesaling?
- [16:58]
B
Pretty much. Yes, I did. Yeah.
- [17:00]
A
Yeah. Which, which I think is a huge advantage too because I always thought that when I first met you and I first saw the collection, I trusted you and the collection so much more because I knew that you'd been selling on your own and you'd been managing this business. You know, you understood the client. I mean you talked to the client, you the client. That that's a really unusual trajectory I would say.
- [17:19]
B
Yeah, I guess it is actually. I never really thought about. Well, you know, I started this such a long time ago. There was no online business in those days. It's like the big boss now but it just didn't exist. You're on your own.
- [17:33]
A
Yeah.
- [17:33]
B
And I'll also. My first store was in Newport which is up in the middle and you know it's up. It was around the corner from my house which was why and next to the school. So it was all very convenient and without any regard for whether you know, there were customers there or not. It was just, it happened to be the right place at the right time and I could afford it. It was really interesting. I learned so much having that store. It was like a incubator for kind of everything that has happened since.
- [18:05]
A
What was the time period between making clothes at home and having the shows at home to showing at Australian Fashion Week?
- [18:14]
B
Probably like eight years. Yeah, I mean it was slow. I've self funded this business. It was never, I never had a business plan. It was just a really truly. It was a. I've made things at home, I found a place to make them not at home. Then that became a store and then there was another store and then you know, it was all funded by whatever we sold in order to put into the next collection. Next shop fit, next whatever. And you know in those days also shop fits did not cost what they do now. It was real.
- [18:49]
A
Right.
- [18:49]
B
Really a different Time. So you could sort of, you could open a, a pretty simple, lovely, you know, very appealing store. There were no kind of megastores. Chanel. Yes. And the big, big, big brands, but small time retailers like myself, you, that, that you weren't expected to, to, to do that. And, and I didn't. And it was not, I wouldn't say it was easy, but it was a very, it was very natural and you could afford to do it.
- [19:20]
A
How many stories did you have at, you know, by, by 2007 when you were showing at fashion week?
- [19:26]
B
Three maybe, I think, I think we had Newport, Paddington and Melbourne.
- [19:31]
A
I mean, because you're, you're also the designer. So how are you running these stores and staffing them and making sure that they opened at 9am that, that must have gotten complicated really quickly.
- [19:42]
B
Yeah. Oh well, you know, it was fine with one and, and it was kind of okay. Two because I did have, I mean, for some reason also, you know, I think I have been incredibly lucky. I've had really great girls to work with me.
- [19:56]
A
You really have. I mean just in my, in my experience, everybody I've met who's ever worked with you has been extraordinarily wonderful.
- [20:04]
B
Yeah, it's interesting. It's always been the way and the, I don't know if it's the type of person that's attracted to the business, but yeah, they, I've been really lucky and it's made all the difference because the level of care has been very high. So I have come to rely on the girls and boys that work in the business for, for kind of everything, you know, to be those people that take on all those responsibilities. I mean, at first, obviously when there were just a couple of stores, it was tricky because they weren't, they were, those people weren't sort of trained up yet into those right roles. But I did have great mentors. Like I did get to watch Mark do that with his business. And I knew what to do or not to do. And I did have Belinda who was also like a mentor and she learned what to do and not to do, you know, in terms of kind of everything. Because God, I would have no clue. You know, I'd never worked in a Same.
- [21:07]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just make it up every day. I know, I know. Well, it's funny, my daughter is asking me about my work last night. She's never really been interested in it and she was like, I just don't know if I'm that into fashion. And I'm like, I am so not into Fashion. That is so very little of my job. I never do that, you know?
- [21:28]
B
Yes.
- [21:28]
A
I mean, my job are these 100 things, and one of those is fashion.
- [21:32]
B
You know, and how you find yourself. Well, what resonates with you in the end? And, I mean, yeah, I've gone a long way around, Come back to sitting in a seat where I actually am genuinely interested in, you know, working in the design room again after a lot of time in other areas, which was intentional because I sort of felt like I lost touch with my own business and I didn't understand lots of what was lots of bits and how to do them. And I've spent a year and a half doing that now, and I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on it.
- [22:15]
A
Was it during the pandemic that that came out?
- [22:17]
B
It was just as things were starting to. To kind of reopen, and I thought, I'm so out of touch. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't understand.
- [22:28]
A
Well, I think a lot of designers had that. I mean, yours, I'm sure, had to do with running a business and designing, But I think a lot of designers were really confused just because y'all hadn't been with people. Oh, you know, so you actually kind of didn't know what people wanted to wear. I mean, you probably did because you had your stores. Like, we would go into market and, you know, these designers would say, well, we didn't do any. We did no evening gowns this season, no long dresses, when it was like an evening wear designer, just because, you know, because of the pandemic. And I was like, do you have any idea how many micro weddings there are? Women want to spend, like, a bazillion dollars on four dresses for their wedding that one night, you know, I mean, it was, like, so out of touch from what was actually happening on the ground, I guess. Yeah.
- [23:14]
B
And how could you have known? I suppose either, you know, I mean, we were very much in the same. Well, everybody was, you know, trying to guess what the hell was going to happen next and who. How it was going to work. And, I mean, I think we just sort of fumbled through, but I definitely did not feel like it was the same business after. So it has been a real relearning, and it's been a good thing, actually. Yeah.
- [23:41]
A
I was gonna say, isn't that exciting?
- [23:42]
B
Yeah. Yeah, it's been a good thing. I feel much more inclined to really dive in to the nature of it again, like the nature of the collection and the silhouettes. And the fabrications and all the stuff that really interests me. It's a bit like, you know, when you're buying for your stores, it's you kind of. It's like theater. You're like. You're building out the. What the store is actually going to look like for a period of time and you're imagining the people that are going to engage with it. Like it's just full imaginary experience.
- [24:16]
A
Yeah, yeah. How exciting it is.
- [24:19]
B
And then you gotta complete it and get onto the next one and. Yeah. Getting it out of your head and onto on into reality. It's a way of being in a way of thinking that it takes time and it's sort of a luxury. But it's also essential and being concerned with whether you understand what just happened with the. I don't know, you know, general business concerns doesn't. Isn't really conducive to it to have a good understanding of the machinations of the business. So that I'm not concerned about it enough to be able to then think happily and easily about what would I like to make next has been good.
- [25:01]
A
I read an interview with you that said you that you prize honesty above all else in your team. Why does that matter the most?
- [25:09]
B
Because it's hard. Yeah, I mean, I guess. I guess that you know, like trust, which is I think why I have had in, you know, like lovely people stay for long periods of time. The mutual trust and honesty between people that hold really great positions within your business and therefore your life. It's kind of a pinnacle of relationship building. Right. And. And because it's a small business and we do have such tight interpersonal relationships that honesty and trust peace is essential because the moment that it wavers just everything goes to. Goes to hell, you know. And. And it's hard. And it is sometimes it can be hard. You know, sometimes you don't agree and it's. Sometimes you don't want to do something and you have to have the. You have to be able to be honest about that and then also be willing to be wrong or to back down or to be flexible.
- [26:17]
A
During your period of relearning the business, what did you do? Did you spend time in each department with each employee?
- [26:24]
B
I started in accounts, I guess.
- [26:27]
A
Ground zero.
- [26:28]
B
Yeah, ground zero in accounts. Then into production, then into actually production and distribution. Then, you know, because the online team, because online changed so much and you know, one. It used to be you'd have one online manager. Now you have like three people in a team and you can actually have More. I didn't understand at all how that worked, and I spent a long time there, so. I did. I did. I. I have spent a lot of time in all parts of business, and I still go into the stores. I still merchandise in the stores just to, you know, which I wasn't doing a lot of, you know, and it feels good to do that again.
- [27:07]
A
Is there anything else that you learned that surprised you?
- [27:10]
B
Yeah, that there was a lot I didn't know. You know, it was. So there's. So that it's a. This is a. You know very well. It's a complicated business.
- [27:20]
A
Yeah.
- [27:20]
B
And there's so many opportunities for things to go wrong. And they do. Yeah. And the devil is in the detail, obviously.
- [27:30]
A
When did you know that you were comfortable with how things were going and ready to refocus on design?
- [27:35]
B
So it would have been about six months ago. About six months ago. Started to feel like, okay, I. Uncomfortable enough to. To try things my way again. I was the last place I ended up in. So, you know, that team has changed a lot, you know, because by its very nature, you know, create kids in a. I'm very much. I love having people that. For that environment to be fluid and for people to be able to come and go and bring things and move in and out. Yeah. But the core of it, the fundament, needs to stay sort of stable. And there were. There have been periods where it's felt like, this is not. We're. We're going down a road I don't want to go down, and how do I steer this back in the right direction without actually, you know, throwing my hands up in the air and taking the toy away? You know, it wasn't just me at that point either, actually. I think everyone in the business was keen to. To sort of calm everything down and refocus. So there was a lot of, you know, this is what we need. Can you help us to get There.
- [28:42]
A
Was part of it or was some of it that the online grew?
- [28:46]
B
Yes.
- [28:47]
A
And in that, like, as the online grows so. So quickly, but you don't really know where the clothes are living, you know, and who you're selling them to, that you sort of lose your. I don't know, like, your center or.
- [29:00]
B
Something, you're a bit rudderless. So, yeah, getting back into the stores and just seeing people, seeing the people that wear the clothes in real life, in real time, seeing how they look in that environment, whether they resonate with you or not, whether they've. Whether the texture is right, whether there's enough Solid and sheer and print and cult. Like just that. That, that. That thing that feeds back to you, who you are, is so easy for that to just get. It can take a season and it can be gone, you know, because you just took your eye off of it. And I have done that in the past, obviously, because you can't. You'd be everywhere all of the time, and you can't win every season either. And I've come to accept that that's just the way that it is sometimes. But it does feel nice to feel like it's a focus again. It's because. Because it is the thing. It's. There's nothing else without it, really.
- [29:58]
A
Right.
- [29:59]
B
If the. The idea. The concept, the idea, the. The entire collection doesn't feel like it came from the source or from. Not me personally, but, you know, the heart of the business and reflects who it is that we are trying to be or are actually, then. Then, you know, nothing else follows. I've made that my kind of mantra for the next little while, and I'm kind of enjoying myself again.
- [30:29]
A
We have a relatively young buying team, and they have been so upset this week, they'll come to me and say, now Mara Hoffman's out of business. Now, I know Vampire's Wife's out of business. I keep on saying, it's just a really hard business. You have to understand, it's an incredibly hard business. Lee, how do you get up and do it every day? I mean, how are you motivated every day? Because it. Because it does. I. I mean, I've been doing it over 25 years and it does just knock you down. So how do you keep on getting up?
- [31:00]
B
I don't know, you know, like, I like it. Must like it a lot.
- [31:04]
A
I do, too. It's the only thing I really like.
- [31:08]
B
Me, too. I don't know, I keep thinking, you know, if I was. If I was going to do something else, what would it be? And. And I know this year we're going to write a. We're writing a cookbook, which I think is. Is so much fun. And. And I'm really enjoying the process of doing that, actually. It's. I don't know, maybe I could go off and do something like that, become like one of those people that writes that. But I don't know, I need to be. I need to make things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I need to make things. And I. I tried to do ceramics and I don't know, it doesn't really. A lot. It was nice, but it feels a bit like A hobby, which it was. And yeah, I don't know what else I would do, to be honest. I, I, it does, it satisfies all sorts of urges. So why wouldn't I, you know?
- [31:58]
A
Well, in looking back on your career, are you surprised that this is where you've ended up?
- [32:03]
B
Probably not, actually.
- [32:13]
A
I don't know if they had them in New Zealand, but we asked all of our guests what they wore to prom. Do they have proms in New Zealand?
- [32:20]
B
Oh, my God. No, they don't have problems, but they do like, have like have these sort of high school graduation marquee events. Yeah, or. Yeah, exactly. And I wore a, I do remember exactly what I wore. I was a really big, terrible tomboy and my nana made me a seersucker. Spotted, teared like apron dress should bring it back, actually, which I, it sounds really cool. It was really, really cool. It was like spotty, all different colored spots. It was hilarious.
- [32:57]
A
What colors?
- [32:58]
B
It was white base, but it had all like pink and purple and blue and yell like multicolored spots all over it. And it was quite a chunky seersucker as I recall. And I, you know, we didn't live very far from school and I had to walk and I, and I, you know, I rode horses, so I had boots on and I put my foot through the hem. And so by the time I got to the party, I would, had already sort of half destroyed my dress and, and, and you know, I had really short hair because I was a swimmer. And I just remember it was one of those hell experiences because I stood in the corner looking, not looking like I was meant to be there at all.
- [33:45]
A
But the dress sounds great.
- [33:47]
B
The dress was great. In fact, I want to bring that dress back.
- [33:50]
A
Do it. Do it. Thank you so much for doing this. I learned so much and I know the listeners are going to. I just love it. Thank you for doing this.
- [34:01]
B
Thanks, Laura. It was lovely.
- [34:05]
A
What We Wore is produced by Capital and Balto Creative Media. The original song Someone so Enchanting was composed and performed by Brit Drazda. Please follow us on Instagram at whatweworepodcast for additional content and show updates. QueenCityPodcastNetwork.
- [34:37]
B
Com.