Real English: Talking about what people wear

Clothes can be loose, baggy, sporty, or too tight. They can match, fit, look good, or bring out your eyes. In this useful English vocabulary lesson, learn how to talk about shopping for clothes, or talking about how clothes fit or look on someone in general. Once you’re comfortable with the vocabulary, make sure to check out the quiz at to test your knowledge. So what are you waiting for? Put on something comfy and get ready to enjoy a practical English lesson. TRANSCRIPT Hey, everyone. I’m Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on commenting about clothes. So, today we are going to imagine that we are going clothes shopping, we’re going into the change room, we’re trying on some clothes, and I will give you some vocabulary you can use to talk about how the clothes fit. And then we are going to look at some common comments you can make about other people’s clothes or about your own clothes. So, first imagine you’re in the change room and your friend is with you, and maybe your friend is trying some clothes on. Okay? And your friend comes out, and they’re wearing something that is very, you know, maybe very sporty, or loose, or baggy. Don’t know what these words mean? Let me explain them to you. So, if someone comes out of the change room and you want to comment on it, you could say: “It’s...“ And if you want to modify, you can say: “It’s a bit“, like a little, or: “It’s not _______ enough.“ And you see all these words here, all these adjectives, and you can basically put: “It’s not _______ enough“, plus any of these adjectives if you think it’s not something enough. Okay? So first let’s just start with all these words and explain them. So: “It’s very“ or “It’s a bit sporty.“ Okay? Now, “sporty“ means athletic. So, imagine, you know, something you wear for cycling, something tight, something for the gym, yoga pants, anything like this. “Oo, you look very sporty.“ or “It’s very sporty.“ Or maybe: “It’s not sporty enough. It needs to be more sporty or sportier“, if you will. Next we have “loose“, so think of loose. All right? Lots of space. So, if something is: “It’s too loose.“ Okay? You can say: “It’s loose. It’s a bit loose. It’s too loose“, or: “It’s not loose enough. I want it to be more loose, to be looser, to have more space.“ And a similar word to “loose“ is “baggy“. So, those of you who were children or you grew up in the 90s and you remember MC Hammer and his MC Hammer pants that were super baggy, they were called parachute pants, but they were super baggy. Right? So, like, you’re wearing bags on your pants. Usually many, like, cargo pants, cargo shorts are very baggy. Okay? So also similar to “loose“. Next, the opposite of “loose“ is “tight“. “Whoa, it’s too tight.“ Or: “It’s a bit tight, a little tight.“ Or: “It’s not tight enough. I want it to be tighter.“ Okay? Next: “stretchy“. So think of the word “stretch“. Stretch, stretch your arms. Material that is stretchy is usually, you know, used for sports, but you can also have, like, you know, formal dresses that are stretchy. Clothes for pregnant women are often stretchy. You have, like, those mom pants with the extra stuff for the pregnant lady. Anyway, some of you know what I’m talking about if you have ever seen a pregnant woman with, like, pregnant pants. They’re very stretchy, you can stretch them, so you can say: “It’s a bit stretchy.“, “It’s too stretchy.“, “It’s not stretchy enough.“ Some of us like our pants to, you know, have a little more space to be able to stretch them a little more on either side. Next: “Wow, it’s very flashy.“ Think of, like, the flash on your camera. So, if an outfit, if someone’s clothes are flashy this means they get your attention. They’re like an advertisement, a billboard, like a flashy commercial. Think of, like, their outfit has almost lights on it. Not literally lights, but it gets your attention, like: “Wow, that’s very flashy.“ If it has very bright colours, for example, it can be very flashy. “Plain“. “It’s too plain.“ Or you can say: “It’s a bit plain“. “Plain“ means normal, boring. “Bland“ is another word you can use. Check it in the subtitles, which are in this video. And this just means, you know, it’s normal, it’s regular, like a white t-shirt, it’s plain; there’s nothing special about it, it’s just a normal shirt. Okay? And finally, get used to using this word, it’s a very good word especially if you can’t say the word: “comfortable“, you can say: “comfy“. So, “comfy“ is like a diminutive form of “comfortable“. It’s more of an informal way to say “comfortable“. You can say: “Ah, it’s very comfy. Yeah. Yeah. This feels good.“ Right? Like that shirt. […]