How to Wear It
Something we are always talking about in our design process at Radical Yes is the idea of ‘end use’. That is how you will really be using the products we make in your day-to-day life, and importantly how you can wear them.
It’s at about this point that working with a skilled stylist who can give us a new lens and focus to the key styles in the range, helps us elaborate on our key end-use ideas.
Introducing long-time friend and collaborator of our brand, Melbourne based stylist Karinda Mutabazi.
Karinda has a long history in styling including work for stage performance, music artists as well as fashion styling. Karinda has worked all over the world including adventures in London, New York and Los Angeles and defiantly brings an international aesthetic to her approach. Most importantly, Karinda has a strong pull towards a sophisticated use of colour in her work which is what made our styling session idea with Karinda an obvious and seamless partnership.
We asked Karinda to edit the collection, taking her pick of the shoes and showing us IRL ways our customers can easily wear them. Watch the video and see below our favourite tips to making flat shoes effortlessly chic.
Tip 1 – Go Colour On Colour with our Olympia Aquatic
Karinda’s favourite way to wear the aquatic loafers is with other vibrant tones like her bright fuschia pink pants. The bright-on-bright idea though gets a relaxed twist with the casual Aries Arising ‘No Problemo’ sweat shirt layered over a pinstripe shirt to anchor things. It’s this kind of radical styling – bright mixed with classic elements / tailoring mixed with streetwear - that we love Karinda for as it draws a strong line to our own ‘intentional aesthetic.
Tip 2 – Use classic prints like pinstripe and checks to contrast the Olive Ophelia
Pinstripes are a great way to bring calm and classic to any outfit making them a good pairing for many of our shoes.
Karinda let me wear this brilliant 3.1 Phillip Lim dress which mixed 2 of my favourite garment situations – pinstripe and grey jersey – that we then match to our Ophelia Olive shoes. We both liked how this made the seriousness of the Ophelia shoes more playful. Layering a dress with jeans is another radical signature where in Melbourne Winter it’s normally a purely pragmatic decision.
Outfit: @strateascarlucci Suit, @allsaints Grey Marle Sweater
Tip 3 – Adventure Awaits Clogs can be dressed both active or sharp
On queue from our customer questions, to explore the two different ends of our Active-Sharp spectrum Karinda presented us with 2 ideas for dressing everyone’s new favourite clog silhouette.
First up, with more active ideas. We went ‘70s with a modern twist’ choosing printed flared leg pants mixed - to keep the feeling weekend and modern - with a @strateascarlucci satin bomber jacket. The Mango tone of Adventure Awaits really speaks into this 70s mood making it a good match to the more primary tones of the blue pants she selected from @arthurapparel
We also explored ways to wear this shoe to work. Karinda selected a more structured blazer from @bulclothing as the bones for this idea and then used a bright yellow @mcintyre_merino knit as a sunshine party
Left: @strateascarlucci Bomber Jacket, @arthurapparel pants; Right: @bulclothing Blazer, @mcintyre_merino Sweater, @designaspace skirt
Tip 4 – Bananas Trainer speaks best to an Intentional Clashing energy
Use the Mango laces as a jump point for layering your outfit colours. Karinda showed us how she used elements of the pink palette in the shoes to speak to tones in the printed tones of both the LF Marley Dress and @sandroparis striped Jacket.
Tip 5 – Orion Skies in Dirty Cream works in larger sizes because of the black bumper we have used on the upper to contain the toe.
As a size 42 foot, Karinda showed us how the Orion Skies in Dirty Cream still works for larger sizes because of the optical illusion of the black bumper on this shoe.
Cloud 2.0 Retro Trainer
Lucent Zip Boots show us how gold can be evening special or daytime neutral depending on what’s on top
One of the most popular looks from our live viewers was the mix of the Kowtow Latte toned Cotton Canvas jacket and skirt which speaks effortlessly to the gum-coloured sole on the Lucent boot. It somehow makes the gold just shimmer and pop effortlessly like a lake under a perfect sunset.
Barbar Pink Boots have Easy Winter Weekend Commute Dressing written all over them.
Yes! There is such a thing ;>
We love pairing our Barbar Chelsea boots with more relaxed weekend silhouettes like unstructured trench coats and oversized knits. Karinda showed us how to wear the soft pink tone with other neutral palettes – like creamy white and pastel blue on the one hand to give a really soft mood to this shoe.
