Clothes & Fashion Topic
Part 1 Questions
Short, personal questions. Answer directly, then add one extra sentence to extend your answer naturally.
1. Are you interested in fashion?
"Not especially. I pay attention to whether clothes fit well and last, but I do not follow trends particularly closely."
2. What kind of clothes do you usually wear?
"Fairly plain things. Jeans and a shirt most days, and something slightly smarter if I am meeting clients."
3. Do you prefer comfortable clothes or fashionable ones?
"Comfortable, without question. I have owned things that looked good and felt awful, and I never ended up wearing them."
4. Do you spend much money on clothes?
"Less than I used to. I would rather buy a few decent items that last than replace cheaper things constantly."
5. Have your clothing preferences changed since you were younger?
"Considerably. I cared much more about brands as a teenager, whereas now I mainly care whether something is practical."
6. Do people in your country wear traditional clothes?
"Mostly for weddings and festivals rather than daily life. Younger people tend to wear them only on significant occasions."
Part 2 Cue Card
You get 1 minute to prepare, then speak for up to 2 minutes.
Describe a piece of clothing you enjoy wearing
You should say:
- What it is
- Where you got it
- When you wear it
- And explain why you enjoy wearing it
Full model answer
I would like to describe a heavy wool coat that I have had for about eight years now and wear almost every winter.
I bought it in a second-hand shop in a small town while I was travelling, largely by accident. I had gone in to shelter from the rain, saw it on a rail, and tried it on mostly out of curiosity. It fitted almost perfectly, which never normally happens to me with coats.
It is dark grey, quite long, and considerably heavier than most modern coats. There is a small repair on one cuff where the previous owner had it mended, which I have deliberately left rather than having it fixed properly.
I wear it from roughly November through to March, essentially every day. It is not remotely fashionable, and I am aware that it looks slightly old-fashioned, but it is genuinely warm in a way that newer coats simply are not.
What I enjoy most about it is that it has aged well. Most of my clothes look worse each year, whereas this one has softened and settled into a shape that suits me. It has also outlasted several coats I bought afterwards, which says something about how things used to be made.
There is a practical satisfaction in that. I paid very little for it, I have worn it for the best part of a decade, and I expect to keep wearing it for several years yet.
I suppose it has become something I associate with winter itself rather than simply an item of clothing.
Part 3 Discussion
Deeper, more abstract questions. Give your opinion and explain your reasoning with an example.
1. Why do people follow fashion?
Clothing communicates something about identity, so following fashion is partly a way of signalling belonging to a particular group. There is also a straightforward pleasure in novelty, which the industry deliberately encourages through frequent seasonal changes and constant marketing.
2. Do clothes affect how people are treated?
Undoubtedly, although people are often reluctant to admit it. Research consistently shows that appearance influences first impressions in job interviews and similar situations. That seems unfair, and yet it appears to operate largely below the level of conscious judgement.
3. Has the way people buy clothes changed?
Enormously. Online shopping has made buying clothes far easier and considerably cheaper, which has increased how much people own. The drawback is that returns are now routine, and the environmental cost of that constant movement of goods is substantial.
4. Is fast fashion a problem?
I would say it is a serious one. Producing clothing cheaply and quickly encourages people to treat garments as disposable, which creates an enormous amount of waste. The labour conditions involved in keeping prices that low are also very difficult to defend.
5. Should schools require students to wear uniforms?
There is a reasonable argument for them. Uniforms reduce visible differences in family income, which can matter a great deal to children socially. The counter-argument, that they suppress individuality, seems considerably less compelling to me at that age.
6. Will traditional clothing disappear?
I doubt it will disappear entirely, though its role is clearly narrowing. Traditional dress is increasingly reserved for weddings and festivals rather than daily wear. That may actually preserve it, since occasional use gives it a sense of significance it would otherwise lose.
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