11 Style Tips for a more Fashionable You

Day 3 of Fashion Week and I’m dispensing all of my expert advice!

The End.

But seriously, though I am not an expert in the field of fashion, I have learned what helps me feel put together and pretty. Here are a few tips that may work for you, too.

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Color: Don’t be afraid of color. It goes with stuff, too. I used to think that every accessory and lots of fashion that I owned needed to be black or brown, so that it would match my other clothes. Recently, I’ve bought things in colors that make me happy, and surprisingly enough, they usually end up looking great together! It makes me smile to pull out a pop of color. It has become a bit of a quest to find the most interesting option I can find, when looking for something functional–with in my price range, of course. For example, my computer bag. It’s a little more barbie pink thank I thought when ordering it on-line, but I got so many compliments on it at SNAP conf. And it didn’t cost any more than a boring basic black back would have cost. Nothing freshens up a wardrobe or an outfit like some punches of contemporary color!

{You can see my pink laptop case in this picture from SNAP conference. As well as a vintage red suitcase I inherited, and a colorful coat. (So what if my pillow case and luggage bag are boring)}

Remember, if you are looking for neutrals to wear with bolder colors, that you aren’t limited to black or white. Gray and navy function nicely as neutrals and look great with so many fun colors!

Hats: Hats are my new best friends! I don’t have a very extensive collection of them, but I pretty much lived in my hats this summer while we were on vacation. My hair is the type that looks frizzy with out a lot of work, and there just isn’t time to fuss with it every day. A ponytail and a cute hat make me feel instantly “put together” without spending hours styling it. This cadet hat from Charming Charlie, is my go to hat. It is a neutral color, so it goes with most everything, and the bow detail makes it feel feminine and fashionable, instead of just a hair hider. During the summer, I loved wearing my big striped floppy hat. It makes such a statement, and keeps the sun out of your eyes.

{It’s almost easy to pretend that my hair isn’t a disaster underneath my cute hat from Charming Charlie. The scarf and clothes featured here are from Downeast Basics}

Belts: Reachel opened up a whole new world to me when she showed me how I could work with belts to accentuate my waist, with all kinds of outfits. For my body-type, I like these wide ones, but I’m also loving this new double skinny belt I got at Downeast Basics on Blogger night. Reachel taught me to put my hands on my side and kind of shimmy down until they rest naturally. That is your waist, and where you want to draw attention with belts–at least for my pear-shaped body type.

{(Ignore that my hair is falling out after trying on several outfits. I loved this maxi dress from Downeast Basics, but I didn’t love the way it looked on me until I added the belt. The belt came home with me!}

Jewelry: I think most girls grow up enjoying jewelry, but my attitude about it has changed a lot in recent years.

Size matters! I used to think that I didn’t want anything gaudy or outlandish, so my jewelry choices were usually small and diminutive. I am not a diminutive woman, however. I am nearly 5’10” with broad shoulders. I’ve discovered that the scale of my jewelry makes a difference. Just as in home decor, you don’t want to put a tiny lamp on a massive credenza (not that I’m massive, but you get the picture), I have found that more substantial pieces of jewelry make me feel cuter and more feminine. That being said, I try not to put too many large pieces together all at once. If my earrings are a real statement piece, I may not wear a necklace, or a smaller simpler one so they don’t compete for attention.

Have fun! There are so many great and colorful jewelry options available now. A lot of them don’t cost a lot of money or can be DIYed. But I don’t think of jewelry as just fluff any more. You can wear a really basic outfit, (i.e. Jeans and basic solid shirt) and look like a fashionista, simply by wearing some eye-catching jewelry. My advice: Don’t be afraid of large or colorful pieces. And have fun playing with how to put them together!

Basics: When Reachel came over for my closet consult, I was a little embarrassed to point out to her some of the things that were still in my closet that were at least 12 or 13 years old–from when I was teaching school and dressed up a little more often. Don’t all of the rules of organization and purging mean that I should have axed those ages ago? Well, we got rid of some of them because the cut was out-dated (i.e. shirts used to be shorter, and were less flattering to my body type), but we kept other pieces that were pretty timeless. This is where it is probably worth-while to invest a little money in high quality pieces, because you can wear them for 10 years or more. BUT, your closet doesn’t need to be full of just basics, because that gets boring.

Love it!: Have you ever seen someone decorate there home in an eclectic style that works. There things don’t necessarily fit into the same decorating style or even color scheme sometimes, but when they put it all together it looks great! Usually in a case like this, I hear the decorator say, I just get the stuff I really love! That is the common theme. I think the same applies for your wardrobe. One of my goals is to buy less stuff just because it is on sale, but buy the pieces that I am really excited about (hopefully on sale–and as I can afford them). There will be less to purge later, and likely less spending over all. Think about the upcoming fall/winter season. If you have a hat, shoes, bag and coat, that you feel great in, you will look stylish everytime you leave the house. (Who cares if you just threw that stylish coat over your PJ shirt to run the kids to school really fast? They never have to know! 🙂

Know how to work your assets: This is where you may need to call in an expert like Reachel. She is so good at this! But you probably have a general idea of what your basic shape is. The thing I love about my consultations with Reachel is that she isn’t telling me to lose 20lbs and tone up my arms and make over myself to the ideal image. She wants you to feel beautiful as you are now. It doesn’t mean that I won’t continue to try and lose those 10lbs, but I don’t have to wait until I do to recognize what looks good and accentuate it. Have you seen what a difference pocket placement can make on jeans? It’s like instant weight loss/gain.

{Remember Reachel is offering a 30%OFF discount to my readers for any of her fabulous services!}

Get help.If you are having trouble with figuring out what does look good on you, don’t be embarrassed to get some help. Better to find out in the dressing room that the backside of those jeans is totally not flattering, than when you see yourself on a video months later. Pretty sure I’m going to regret posting this picture, but I actually had my daughter snap a picture of my backside in the dressing room before deciding on these cute jeans from Downeast Basics. I think these pockets are pretty fun and flattering.

Follow trends–selectively: I used to think trendy was kind of a bad word. Why spend time worrying about what is IN when it is going to be OUT in no time. The trouble is, I think a lot of women think we are being timeless, when when we are actually just stuck in the trends of a season that has passed. It used to be that I could tell the era that a woman either graduated from high school or got married, because she still dressed according to the rules of that era. Women are getting more and more savvy and there is so much fashion information and advice available that I’m seeing less and less of this. But trends do serve a purpose. They keep things fresh and interesting. They add a little excitement to getting dressed. But don’t think for a moment, that you have to embrace every trend (although a lot of craft bloggers try. :-). Pass on the trends that aren’t flattering to your body type, coloring, or personality. I still don’t own a pair of skinny jeans, and probably won’t, unless I buy some to wear exclusively with tall boots. They just aren’t going to look great on me. My rail-thin linear daughter almost has to buy them to find something that wont look saggy and baggy on her frame. It’s ok. I love trends that hearken back to another era (minus the 80s for the most part). You can look and see what looked good then, and bring it back in a fun way.

Experiment: As with most things, the only way to really get good at something is to practice. Pick a day when you aren’t in a rush to try putting together some outfits. They don’t have to “match” perfectly. In fact, I’m trying to get better at mixing things up more often. You’ll need fewer clothes if you can wear the ones you have with more things and in different ways. Sometimes it is really the accessories that make the outfit. Have fun seeing if you can take something kind of boring from your closet and spruce it up with your accessories, etc.

Confidence: The most attractive accessory any woman can wear is a healthy dose of confidence!  Fashion should be fun! Not fretful. None of us has the perfect body. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t exist (or costs a lot of money. :-), but we all deserve to feel beautiful and enjoy the things about us that make us beautiful. When we know we are putting our best foot forward it makes it easier to enjoy the day. Wear what you love and feel great in, and you will radiate confidence and look like a million bucks!

What makes you feel fashionable? Do you have some tips to add to my list?

{Several of the photos featured in this post were taken at a Blogger night at Downeast Basics where I was provided with a gift card to do a little shopping. This post is not sponsored. The opinions are all my own.}