Style Channel
Lesley Crawdford and her assistant Kylie Gonder from SBS play ‘dress ups’ with the jewellery at our three rooms store in Paddington.
We talk to SBS Stylist Lesley Crawford about jewellery, television and personal style.
1. As the stylist for SBS, which programmes do you work on?
My team – Kylie Gonder (3 days per week) and Michael Lo Sordo (2 days per week) and I work across all programmes for SBS including 4 news programmes each night for World News Australia (6.30pm & 10.30pm), NITV News and ‘The Feed’ on SBS2. We also style the presenters for all the Sport programs, commissioned content, as well as Insight, Dateline and Living Black each week. A very broad range of programs. We also do promos and publicity shoots for all the SBS Programs.
2. When you style a host, what look or feel are you conveying to the audience?
We feel SBS has a very distinct look, which we try to uphold with each programme while allowing the personal style to come through with each of the presenters. It is important that the clothing being worn reflects a professional look but also one suited to the brief of the program. We enjoy challenging the norm here at SBS and want to keep the viewers visually stimulated!
3. What are the differences in styling for television and styling for real life?
On television we need to pay special attention to the shape and silhouette of the clothing. Although we love exaggerated and oversized silhouettes for real life these shapes don’t work for the newsreaders when worn sitting down behind a desk. Form fitting and slim clothing is more flattering on TV. We also have to be careful with the use of print and colour. The clothing needs to not be distracting against the background graphics. This is something that you don’t need to worry so much about in real life. Clashing patterns and bright colours are always exciting to see on people in real life.
4. Due to the nature of television, are there restrictions or preferences in the sort of jewellery that you choose?
It really depends on the personal style of each presenter as to what they are comfortable wearing. We enjoy using statement accessories but sometimes a large necklace is best saved for an event rather than being worn on a News program. There are some restrictions in terms of size and movement where we need to make sure that a necklace doesn’t move or make noise, which would interfere with the microphones.
5. What attracts you to antique and vintage jewellery?
Christopher and Ian have such a great eye and we are continuously inspired and blown away by the unique pieces we find in three rooms. We find jewellery in there that you just can’t find anywhere else. Whenever we are struggling to match a tricky colour of a dress we know we can find the right piece from their collection of Antique jewellery.
6. What jewellery trends for this season are getting more airtime?
We try not to follow trends but diamonds are always a go to favourite of ours from three rooms because they work so well with a variety of colours and styles. We also love the amazing Vintage Danish silver pieces.
7. What have been the favourite pieces that you have used this year?
Kylie is in love with a pair of Diamond and Sapphire drop earrings that are Art Deco looking in design. She is also a bit obsessed with opals so there is an incredible ring in at the moment which she loves. I prefer all the bolder pieces in the shop such as the Silver necklaces.
8. In your opinion, how important is jewellery is a woman’s overall look?
Jewellery is a very important addition to any outfit. It completes a look and helps to define personal style.
9. Do you ever get viewers commenting on jewellery pieces worn on SBS?
Yes, all the time. This is what we hope for so we can direct the viewers to the lovely suppliers that we loan from.
10. When it comes to jewellery, what defines your personal style?
It depends on the mood, the outfit and the occasion. It is fun to play with colour, shape and texture and most importantly we don’t like to take ourselves too seriously!