The skies may be grey but that doesn’t mean your outfit has to be. Winter is the perfect time to inject some colour into your look and stand out amongst the crowd.
All to often at this time of year the streets are awash with shades of Black, Navy and Charcoal, however new Signature STYLE can advise you how you can look colourful and stylish whatever the weather, you are onto a winner!
How 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 trapped in black? A recent survey found that 41% of our wardrobes are made up of black clothes – sound familiar?
Each one of us on average, own 3 black tops, 3 black pairs of trousers, 2 black skirts, one LBD (little black dress) and 4 pairs of black shoes.
No wonder the people we know and love rarely notice we’ve been out on a shopping splurge – marvellously, it really does all look the same to the untrained eye!
I checked my own wardrobe against these statistics and found I have 4 black tops (always worn with another one of my colours over it), 4 pairs of black trousers, 4 black skirt (rarely worn) and 7 pairs of black shoes, if you include my boots.
Some of us head for black in the shops as it is ‘safe’ and some of us opt for black because it’s in a style we like and it just doesn’t come in any other colour. Or some ladies feel it’s slimming and undoubtedly darker colours are more slimming, but there is a problem with black. It just doesn’t suit everyone.
When 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!
