Jasmine Yarbrough opens up on strong women and the importance of fashion

In a revealing interview with leading fashion figure Eva Galambos, Jasmie Yarbrough, who recently married Karl Stefanovic, talks about her style, business and the importance of trusting instincts.

Bride of the hour, Jasmine Yarbrough, has opened up in an intimate interview revealing how she has risen above the public glare and coped in the eventful year leading up to her lavish Mexican marriage extravaganza to Karl Stefanovic at the One & Only Palmilla resort last week.

The new Mrs Stefanovic has been reading the Brene Brown book, Rising Strong, in the lead up to the sunset nuptials and leaning on strong, resilient women she describes as her “rock of strength”.

The shoe designer also says “for a life well lived you have to be willing to put yourself out there”, and has been focusing on being brave, daring to dream and developing a backbone.

Jasmine Yarbrough modelled for Parlour X’s new season Isabel Marant. Picture: Instagram/@ParlourX

“Women are so resilient — no matter what life throws at us, we rise stronger,” she told Paddington’s Parlour X director Eva Galambos in the exclusive new interview on the boutique’s website, Parlour X, in which she models new season Isabel Marant.

“The women around me remind me of that every day, and I am so thankful for that.”

The telling interview, conducted last month for the X Files section of the fashion retailer’s blog, was focused on female leadership in the fashion industry.

It is part of an In Conversation series Galambos, an 18 year successful veteran of the fashion industry who owns the bricks and mortar store on Oxford Street as well as a thriving luxury online store, conducts.

She is now a Stefanvoic after tying the knot with TV host Karl Stefanovic. Picture: Instagram/@jasyarby

On its Instagram posts Parlour X describes Yarbrough as a “fashion force”.

While the interview focused on Yarbrough’s shoe brand Mara & Mine, it delved into the 34-year-old’s beliefs and how she was avidly learning the secrets of success from Houston-based, New York best-selling author, Brene, who has spent decades studying courage, vulnerability and shame.

Coincidentally Brene, who has a TED talk called The Power of Vulnerability, is coming to Sydney for a seminar in July of 2019.

She has been described as a fashion force. Picture: Instagram/@ParlourX

Yarbrough works in the fashion industry as a shoe designer. Picture: Christian Gilles

“Sometimes I think that one of the secrets of success is just to be brave enough to try. I’ve been reading a great book recently, ‘Rising Strong’ by Brene Brown,” she told Galambos.

“There’s a part in it where she writes, ‘I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage, or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time’.

“Just putting myself out there …. It’s one thing to have a dream, but in order to make it a reality you have to be willing to open yourself up to being critiqued along the way,” she said.

“It really does require a backbone — you cannot just give up when it’s hard. The thing is, we don’t want to learn from our successes, we learn from our mistakes, the things that didn’t go right. I believe it’s how we use those experiences — whether we have the guts to turn that failure into a real lesson and transform it into a strength — where we become wiser along the way.”

The couple got hitched in a lavish resort in Mexico.

It was one of the most talked about weddings of the year.

She also opened up about how her nanna’s style “has always inspired me” and that her friends “constantly inspire me with their strength, wisdom and humour.

“I’m surrounded by strong women, who haven’t always had the easiest of rides. They’ve each gone through their own hardships and tough times, yet they’re often the ones reminding me to laugh, and being a rock of strength for me.”

And she was learning to trust her instincts.

Karl Stefanovic and Jasmine Yarbrough official with their bridesmaids and groomsmen. Picture: Supplied

“Trusting your instincts is so important, but it’s also one of the hardest things to do! I feel the same way, staying true to your values is the only way to be truly happy, both personally and professionally.

“One of the main things I’ve realised about women is that being empowered is not just about circumstances, but it’s about how you feel in the midst of them.”

In contrast to Stefanovic’s ex wife Cassandra Thorburn’s comments last week that “life is not a fashion show”, Yarbrough emphasised the importance of fashion in a woman’s life.

“It can often sound superficial or one-dimensional, but a woman can be transformed in the way she feels through fashion, this does play a huge part in instilling confidence and with self-expression. Feeling completely at ease in our skin allows us to just get on with the things that are really important.”