To sleeve or not to sleeve, that is the question

sleeveHow many of us feel their arms need to be slimmed down or have bingo wings? How many of us have gone to a dinner dance during the winter and have frozen or had to invest in a pashmina to cover our arms and keep us warm? I can see you all putting your hands up, me too.

In the past there have been campaigns by well known magazines, asking manufacturers to put sleeves in garments – and are they? No they are not. I was out personal shopping with a client recently and I could only find one evening dress with sleeves.

So, this season is no exception and it is not only relevant to dresses and tops, we see the return of the Gilet in the fashion stakes and the sleeveless coat! (It reminds me of a recent genius piece of marketing I saw in a sandwich chain – the breadless sandwich – isn’t that a salad I thought to myself? They were selling like hot cakes!)

Both are an anomaly to me. Jackets and coats should have sleeves just by their very nature – right?

The Gilet is often seen as a garment worn to give extra warmth to the core of your body leaving your arms free for practical tasks. Forget practical, this is now to be a core fashion item in your wardrobe.

This season you can choose denim style or be a biker babe. The dedicated denim lovers can ‘rock’ their jean jackets without sleeves. They can be thrown over anything and worn with white shirts to sequinned pencil skirts. The biker babes are wearing theirs to toughen up summer frocks or layering with winter knits. The best bit though is you can DIY the look and cut off the sleeves of an old worn jacket.

Are you seeing double?

18When I work with my clients giving them advice on what styles / colours best suit them, the major thing we need to take into consideration is their personality and lifestyle. As well as chatting through their preferences and asking about their lifestyle, I also ask them to complete a style personality questionnaire which defines whether they are creative, dramatic, romantic, classic, natural or city chic.

Ladies whose top score is classic, love to match, they like to look smart and elegant but their main priority is to co-ordinate. They will always wear the same items in their wardrobe with the same things and probably hang their clothes in outfits rather than separates. So anyone out there who is classic will love what I am going to say next and can interpret this fashion in a more pared-down way. However the dramatics, romantics and creatives can make this fashion their own. So get out there!

Transitional Outwear

6873106802_2_5_1Transitional Outwear For The New Season

In this month’s newsletter we’re helping you identify the best outerwear options for your colour, style and body shape. Enjoy!

Getting dressed at this time of year can be tricky. Days start out cold and crisp but end warm and sunny, frequent bouts of rain necessitate outerwear but it’s not time for your Winter coat just yet. What to do?

Thick layers, hats and heavy coats are still several weeks away but in the meantime you may be looking for some transitional outwear to keep out the chill whilst we move from Summer into Autumn.

 Here we showcase three top choices for Autumn 2015…

THE school run / BE A STYLISH MUM!

personal stylingIs there nowhere to hide from the eye of the school gate fashion police? My clients tell me that all they want to do is wake up in a daze, climb into crumpled jumper and jeans and get the children to school with their hair and teeth brushed.

But no. The school run has become the place to look stylish and be judged.

Do you think this is a result of ‘celebrity culture’ again? Not only have we all got to be waif-like, we have to look chic but casual. We see them in magazines dropping off their off-spring not a baby sick stain in sight!