What is Work Wear Today?

On Thursday afternoon I was asked to attend a business lunch taking place on Friday afternoon. Eek! After determining that yes, there would be tiramisu for dessert (I have my priorities) I instantly panicked about what to wear.

 

My usual uniform is too casual for an event like this, and I couldn’t remember what business-appropriate outfit I’d worn when I’d last seen these people. So, off to the stores I went.

During my shopping excursion, I was reminded first hand of how hard it is to find fashionable, work-appropriate wear these days. I tried on some great day dresses, but they were all too short to be OK for this sort of meeting.

great Milly dress, but too short for my event

I next went for slim-legged work pants, but none existed (ugh!)

great classic pants, but not trendy

Finally, I found an absolutely gorgeous high-waisted, knee-length black pencil skirt, which I needed to fill a huge, gaping, pencil-skirt-shaped hole in my wardrobe anyway.

back-pleated pencil skirt via forever21.com

All this shopping and the many failures made me sympathetic to those women who must dress professionally every day, and struggle to find trendy options.

I learned from my own experience that it’s best to pick one anchor item, and let it make your statement. For example, while I would have liked to wear my perfectly modern pencil skirt with ankle boots and a big bow headband, instead I paired it with sleek pumps and a mod jacket. I still looked, and more importantly felt, on trend; but in order to blend in with my conservative peers, I kept the silhouette simple.

And the bonus was, the tiramisu was amazing

Finding Inspiration

Where do you find inspiration for your own personal style? Most of us (even stylists) don’t draw from an endless well of creativity and therefore must look outside of our own ideas to gain some fresh inspiration.

How do you do that, you ask? The resources are endless.

1. Start with clothes you already own. What are your favorite pieces? Not the ones you wear the most, but the clothes you’re still so excited about. For me, I have a yellow ruffled top with a grey satin ribbon belt that I adore. I’ve probably only worn it three times, but just looking at it makes me so happy! What items do you have that are like that? Once you’ve determined what they are, write down why they’re your favorites. For me and my yellow top, it’s the romantic ruffles paired with the gloomy grey. I love that combination. So, that’s a good place for me to begin: romantic items with a little edge.

Maybe I’d get a dark grey tank with a sweet half-bow detail:

half-bow tank via nordstrom.com

and pair it with some fingerless leather gloves and my knit motorcycle jacket to toughen it up.

2. Imitation is the best form of flattery. Whose style to you admire? It should go without saying that buying their exact same sweater, jacket, boots, etc. isn’t flattering in any way and shouldn’t be done. However, you can draw some ideas from them. Personally, I pay attention to people who are extra-proficient at mixing prints and try to figure out the fundamentals of what they do so I can replicate their ideas (not their exact look!) within my own wardrobe.

some successfully mixed prints

3. Watch a movie or some good TV. Yeah, yeah, yeah everyone’s inspired by Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O., Marilyn Monroe, and all the other icons. But there are countless other stylish characters that go unnoticed and under-appreciated. When I think back on movies I like, most of them I love for the clothes. Do you pay attention to character wardrobes? They can provide a wealth of ideas for you! I love Penelope Cruz’s wardrobe from her role in Vicky Christina Barcelona. The epitome of gypsy summer chic (but no cigarette for me, thanks)

The inimitable Ms. Cruz in character

Satin and suede fringe? I wouldn’t have paired those on my own.

4. Just pick a trend. When nothing is right, nothing is good enough, nothing has the “wow” factor: just pick a trend. I did this. I picked animal print. It’s everywhere, it’s a trend that goes on forever, and I don’t have much of it. All of a sudden I started noticing zebra-patterned beading, and embossed-leopard flats (or even better, the yellow flats below!). I started putting it together with stuff I already owned: “I could wear these flats with tights and that striped mini-skirt. I could wear that tank under a blazer with the sleeves rolled up and some bold ankle boots. I could wear….” and on and on.

Jimmy Choo flats via saksfifthavenue.com

Sometimes all you need is a push. It might not even feel like the right direction at first, but you have to force it a little. You’ll end up with a whole new look you would have never tried before!

When you want something new, and can’t find anything to buy….

Ever have that problem? I did last weekend. I had some spending cash, and was excited to spruce up my wardrobe with some cozy stuff for the chilly weather. I traipsed through store after store and didn’t buy one single thing. How depressing! Nothing seemed exciting enough to warrant the purchase. There were plenty of blah-blah options, but who needs those?

Luckily, there are some easy solutions to this common, discouraging problem:

1. Buy accessories. Rachel Zoe herself (swoon-idol to stylists everywhere)  recommends this, and she’s right in doing so. Purchasing some fun accessories can make what you already have feel so much more exciting. So, what to buy?  How about some fun, mixed-element earrings…

crystal cluster earring via forever21.com

Or a sweet, feminine scarf…

rosette scarf via bananarepublic.com

a pile of bangles is a good option….

mixed bangles via forever21.com

you could also consider investing in a beautiful pin (not just for your granny anymore)…

begonia pin via alexisbittar.com

2. Go old school. Another option when you just can’t find anything good at the conventional stores is to shop vintage.

Buffalo Exchange- a great beginner vintage option

Truthfully, I don’t shop vintage shops or thrift stores often, because I get kind of grossed out by them. However, I have found some really brilliant pieces at various second-hand shops before, so it’s still worth looking. The nice thing about buying vintage is, obviously, no one else will have the same item as you. Much more special! I usually have better luck buying vintage coats or skirts versus tops or pants. It still never hurts to check out the whole store.

3. Re-invest in some quality basics. Buy a great new white button-up shirt, or a gorgeous pair of black pumps.

black pumps via zappos.com

It will really take your other clothes to the next level. Remember: basic doesn’t have to mean boring. It’s all about the quality, the details, and the fit. Those three selling points can make even the dullest of items feel luxurious, and in turn, multiply the outfits you have in your repertoire by serving as the anchor for some of your statement pieces.

4. Find new inspiration. This is what I did when I hit my shopper’s block last week, and I’ll share how I got re-inspired next post!

Mini DIY Projects

Well, hello old blog. Haven’t seen you in weeks! Truthfully, dear readers, I’ve been so busy.

First, I had to spend some serious time contemplating if the jade nail trend is for me.

Jade nails at Chanel, where the frenzy started

I decided it is, but as the true jade polish (seen below) isn’t available, I’ve been searching for a suitable substitute.

The real jade polish-so pretty!

Next, and far more time consuming, I ran into a conundrum finding a good skinny jean. The thing is, I have loads of nice skinnies, but I needed some I could wear daily, to go for walks, than can get rained on and muddy, or worn to a rock show and get just gross without having a heart attack over ruined spendy denims. Usually you can get some at Marshalls, TJ Maxx, or the like for around $10-$15 but they just weren’t there.

Then I stumbled upon this little tutorial…..and this successful adult-jeans version. Perfect! The only problem…..I don’t own  a sewing machine. Can you believe it?! All my DIY fashion fixes are done….very slowly. By hand. With lots of errors and mis-matched thread (Just keepin’ it real).

My by-hand, circa 1800s solution would simply not work for this project as I really can’t see myself hand-stitching denim, only to rip out the seams when they aren’t perfect and start all over, followed by zigzag stitching the edges….UGH! No way.  Thankfull,y a very generous woman loaned me her Janome 3022 machine for a few days and I went crafty-bananas.

I’m thrilled to say that not only was the DIY skinny jean experiment a great success, it was super simple. And quick! I whipped through four pairs of old boot-cut jeans that were lying around and going un-worn. I’ll post the pictures once I figure out how to get them off our fancy SLR that I am very intimidated by.

After finishing that project I went on to fix other items in my closet; un-done hems, hacking inches off of skirts and dresses, turning turtlenecks into scoop-necks (twice). Did you know you can pretty much use a zigzag stitch on knits instead of needed a serger?! For my very simple purposes, it worked great!

I don’t know how I’ve lived so long without a sewing machine. I almost cried when I returned it. Since then, I’ve been hunting for the very model I borrowed as it was so easy to use. So, sorry to have been neglectful, but you can expect lots more fun, easy, DIY posts in the future!

Happy crafting to all!

Home Hair Repair that Isn’t.

I stepped outside this morning into some very cold air. So cold, I had to turn right around and go back inside for a coat, lamenting the loss of summer (still!) the whole way. It’s not just my attitude that suffers in the newly crisp air, my hair does also. Following a season of swimming pools and sunshine, dry air and central heating aren’t doing my locks any favors. As readers of my blog know, I’ve been desperately trying to grow my hair out for nearly two years and it’s finally at a length I like, so chopping a couple inches off the ends just to fix some minor damage seems a bit heart-wrenching.

So, once again I turned to at-home remedies. I thought to myself, how hard can it be to make a great, deep-conditioning mask for my hair out of stuff in my well-stocked cupboards? After all I had great success with home pedicures. So I searched for some make-it-yourself hair care recipes. The results kinda scared me, to be honest! They called for some crazy ingredients. Here are just a few:

1. mayonnaise: The texture seems like what I would want in a hair mask, but I don’t want my head to smell like chicken salad sandwiches. I eyed the bottle of coleslaw dressing hanging out in my fridge (I figured it was a close enough substitution) but there was no way I was going to spread it on my hair, no matter what you mixed it with!

raw eggs

2. Raw eggs: a huge number of recipes called for raw eggs. Maybe it really works, but that sounds like torture to me. Cold, slimy eggs on my head?! no thank you.

3. A pliable block of tamarind. Ummm…seriously?

Ylang Ylang

4. Ylang ylang. Not surprisingly, I don’t have a stash of ylang ylang just hanging around

5. Apple cider vinegar. I know that this is supposed to balance the pH of your hair, but this just scares me a little bit. I have colored hair, so I’m not sure this would be the safest thing.

6. All manners of oil. I’m Italian, so in my mind, olive oil cures everything. I rub it on my lips before bed to keep them soft, I used in it my at-home pedicure, and my mom even rubs it into her face. But rinsing 3/4 cup of oil out of my hair sounds terrible. Not to mention, oil treatments are not safe for colored hair.

I finally got brave enough to try using milk and a mashed banana, two common and not-too-disgusting ingredients.

“I’m going to put a mashed banana on my head!” I announce to my husband when I march into the kitchen determined to fix my hair

He just looks at me strangely for a minute while I begin preparations. “Is this for your clients and the blog?” he asks. I confirm. “Carry on.” he tells me and wisely leaves the room.

I’m going to be really honest with you. It felt and looked like I had puke in my hair. So gross! But I left it for the recommended 15 minutes. And it made no difference. At all. Nothing. Total failure!

So, I went to option two.

$1.50 glitter hair bows from Forever 21

These darling little clips didn’t make my hair softer, stronger, or smoother. But they did make it look better. And anything with a bow, ruffle, or sequin makes me supremely happy.  So, I call it a hair repair success. If you’re brave enough to spread tamarind in your hair, go for it. For me, I think I’ll buy these sweet little bows in every single color and call it good!

Organizing Your Closet: Part 3 — Organizing your accessories and maintaing a clean closet

By this part of the closet-cleansing process, you should be feeling good. You’ve purged your closet and tidied it up. Now it’s time for those last little details.

Accessories:

Your jewelry, handbags, hats, headbands, gloves, scarves, etc need to be kept neat, too. I believe the systems where everything remains visible at once are best.

I got a spiral shaped earring organized for $7 at Claire’s years ago and I love it. All my earrings fit on it and I can see all of them at once, which makes getting ready in the morning so much easier! They still sell organizers made in the same idea, but now they are much better quality and $20. Almost every little farmer’s market or street fair has someone selling screen in a picture frame that you can use to sort your earrings, too, but I find the backs get easily warped using these.

earring organizer via flickr.com

My mom uses plastic bead-organizing trays to keep her earrings sorted. This is also a great concept! If you have lots of earrings you can stack the trays on top of each other neatly. I prefer to have my accessories out in the open rather than tucked in a drawer, but on the other hand, this keeps her jewelry from oxidizing unlike my system

bead tray via ebay.com (only $8!)

For necklaces and bracelets the very best way to organize them that I have ever found is to use this:

coffee mug tree via amazon.com ($9)

Because my jewelry wardrobe is overflowing, my husband made me one that is extra tall and has extra long arms. If you buy one, be sure it’s like the picture where the arms/branches are horizontal and not tilted up, which will cause all your necklaces to be jumbled together. I seriously love using this. The bracelets go nicely on the shortest branch, and the other two tiers are for necklaces which stay lined up, not tangled, and completely visible. You can put hooks in the wall, or buy other little organizational gadgets, but that is my recommendation.

Handbags should be stuffed with tissue paper (not newspaper, it will stain the delicate lining of your bag)  so they retain their shape and placed in their dust bags is possible. If they didn’t come with a dust bag, an old pillowcase is essentially the same thing. It’s a good way to protect the material and keep them clean.

Hats and headbands do best on hooks placed near your tops, since that is what you’ll be coordinating them with.

Scarves should be carefully folded (if silk) or rolled (if knit) and placed side by side in a drawer.

Maintaining your clean closet:

Now that your wardrobe is more workable and accessible, it’s a good idea to put some practices in place that will keep it that way.

1. The easiest and biggest way to keep you wardrobe nice is to put items back in the right place and the right way. Every time! Don’t hang anything inside out, fold your shirts rather than crumpling them, and line your shoes up the way they should be. For me, I tidy my closet before going to sleep so it’s ready for the morning rush of getting ready and I don’t have to trip over yesterday’s cast-offs.

2. At the end of each season take all the clothes to the cleaners that require that special care. At the end of summer take your gauzy sundresses, anything silk, and anything delicate that doesn’t hold up in the wash. At the end of winter, take your coats-especially those that are wool!, sweater, and trousers. You get the idea. This makes it so that when they are needed again, they’re immediately ready.

3. Keep the area around your clothing clean, too. Vaccuum, dust, and don’t let burned-out light bulbs hang around-change them right away.

By keeping your wardrobe maintained, you save yourself the major headache of doing this massive overhaul every few months. Instead, at the end of a season, you’ll flip through your stuff, discard what you don’t need, and be ready for the coming months. Voila!

Organizing Your Closet: Part 2 — Developing your organizational system

some seriously organized socks

OK, so we’ve purged our closets of all the unnecessary, unused, ill-fitting items. Now it’s time to organize what we have in a way that will simplify and streamline getting dressed. This portion is a really individualized process as everyone’s needs-and closets-are different. But here are some good ideas to get you started:

1. Start with the small stuff: pair all your socks so you don’t have to dig for the matching set. Discard any that are missing their other half.

2. Roll your hosiery to keep it from growing in to one giant, tangled hosiery hairball. It’s so much easier to grab what you need when everything is neatly lined up (see the lovely example above, via Flickr)

3. Fold every shirt the same way. It makes looking though a stack of tops a neater process and they will look so much pretty on your shelf or in your drawer. Likewise for your pants (those that aren’t hung up), and sweaters, etc. Create your own standard and stick with hit.

4. Really organize the clothing you have hanging up. This will take some thinking on your part: figure out what makes the most sense for you. Maybe you’ll organize your tops by sleeve length, or by season, by color, or something else. But take the time to put them in place now.

5. Place your shoes in pairs and keep them together. Get a shoe organizer if necessary. (there are approximately 10,000 varieties to pick from). Nothing is worse that a big jumbled mountain of shoes.

6. Make sure you have good lighting and a mirror near by to make putting your outfit together easier.

7. Label where applicable: drawers, containers, or anything in a zip-up garment bag that you can’t see through.

Up Next: Organizing your accessories and maintaining your organized closet.

Organizing Your Closet: Part 1- Closet Cleansing

Now that the new season is fully under way, it’s a good time to organize your closet. This is a daunting task for anyone, it requires time, effort, and stress. But it has to be done! An unorganized closet doesn’t allow you to make full use of the pieces you own. They’re crammed back in the corners where you never see them, and it’s easier to just wear the same few things that are easy to grab, rather than fight the dust bunnies to re-discover some of your other stuff. A change in season is a good time to tackle this project as you’ll be needing different items than you’ve been wearing all summer. So, it’s time to get started!

The first step is a good purging of what you have. I’m sure you’ve heard that you should get rid of any item you haven’t worn in a year (or six months), or that you should discard anything you don’t absolutely love. I don’t agree with either of these common rules. Here’s why:

1. You may not have worn an item in a year because you forgot about it, or you didn’t have anything to wear it with. That isn’t cause to get rid of anything.

2. No one absolutely loves every item in their wardrobe. If they did, there would never be the common complaint of “I have nothing to wear!” when you in fact have a full closet. This too, is not cause for discarding anything.

Instead, I recommend taking the following steps.

1. Carve out a good chunk of time. If you have kids, get rid of them for this period: have dad take them to the park, pawn them off on a friend, or hire a babysitter.

2. Unload everything from your closet and drawers (and anywhere else things are hiding)

3. Immediately discard anything with noticeable stains. Seriously, I don’t care if you love it but accidentally spilled some coffee on it. Stains are not fixable problems.

4. Toss anything that doesn’t fit and that can’t be altered or that you won’t get altered (it can be expensive, and be realistic). If you’re holding on to some items that are too small but you’re hoping to fit into some day, stop it. You’re only making it harder on yourself by drawing attention to the fact that they don’t fit yet. The best way to handle a continued weight loss is to purchase items that fit and look good now but can be altered to still fit you later (trousers, button-up shirts, skirts, and dresses are good options).

5. Anything that is pretty worn out from the previous season should also get the boot. No sense letting it crowd your closet for a whole year while you wait for more warm weather only to get a couple more wears out of it.

What stays:

1. Good quality items that are in wearable condition

2. Items that can be worn in at least three different ensembles and to at least three different occasions. The obvious exceptions to this rule: evening wear, swim wear, athletic clothing, and that one (ONLY ONE!) yucky outfit you keep for yard work.

3. Items that you don’t continually wear but are sentimental are OK to keep within reason. Example: wedding dress: keep. A relative’s (mom, grandma, sister) wedding dress: discard.

If you have a mom, sister, or good friend that shares your size it’s always nice to offer them your discarded clothing first. My mom, sister, and I do this with each other. It’s a fun reason to get together anyway. Otherwise, you know the drill: donate it to charity, or just throw it in the trash. However you choose to get rid of your old clothing do it right away or you risk some items sneaking back in to your closet.

The same thing goes for your shoes. If they smell, are worn out, don’t go with anything, pitch them! It’s always more obvious when shoes are out of style than it is with clothes. Get rid of any that aren’t current.

Last step- put everything back in your closet. We’ll pick up there next time!

Leather, fur, or neither?

Oh dear, how the leather & fur controversy rages on! It’s true, year after year each side continues to hurl insults at each other and make drastic accusations. The good news is, no matter how you feel about leather, fur, or animal products, fashion has got choices for you. Check these out:

7 For All Mankind leather mini via saksfifthavenue.com

or

banded satin mini via forever21.com

Both of those options play into the ’80s vibe that is still going strong this season.

Stuart Weitzman clutch via zappos.com

or

Liz Claiborne clutch via zappos.com

a colored clutch is a great jolt of color to a drab winter wardrobe, and helps you pare down what you carry with you.

non leather bootie via nordstrom.com

or

Sofft fold over suede boot via nordstrom.com

So you see, it’s possible to go leather free without turning up decked out in the yucky, plastic, PVC, or pleather options. But if you’re a leather fanatic, you’ve got choices, too (Such as the gorgeous Balmain mini dress recently worn by both Shakira and Pink! To. Die. For.)

The point is, the designers really played nicely to both sides. Could this mean this issue will meet a harmonious end in the future? No, but at least we’ll all be better dressed.

Summer is over! Transitioning my wardrobe to fall

Usually I am so excited to see fall roll around. After all it brings with it some great things: apple pie and cider, Halloween parties, my birthday, and most importantly– the best fashion! This year, however, I am deeply mourning the passing of summer. It’s with sadness I notice the shorter days and cooler temps. I’m determined to keep summer alive in my wardrobe as long as possible!

1. My gauzy, lightweight summer frocks will be paired with opaque tights, ankle boots (more on the hunt for the perfect pair later!)

2. Flirty camis and tanks will be made seasonally appropriate by covering my chilled arms with a chunky sweater or knit motorcycle jacket- which is a more all day appropriate that traipsing around in tight leather from dawn till dusk! Bonus: the jacket shown is only $20!

3. Mini skirts are cozified (not a word but it should be!) with sweater tights and Minnetonka Moccasin boots

summer transition1 by thestylistspeaks
featuring Fat Face dresses