I really want to 'dress for success' as a housewife, piano teacher, and mother, and that means I need a well defined list of essentials and allowed extras in the three main categories of clothes (including underwear and outerwear), accessories, and shoes that suit my body: olive, Pear/A shape, petite... along with a makeup, haircut and hairstyles that suit my hair and face: long, thick dark wavy curls, round face, prominent nose. With that list, I will toss stuff from my wardrobe/bathroom. Always comfortable, always beautiful, suited for every occasion. Goodbye closet of stuff I don't use! To the waste bin with fads, for now I need to stick with the minimum!
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| PetiteEarlyMorningStyle.com |
Turtle Neck Tops
With these tops you look as if you have a wide neck and appear shorter as well. The empire waist tops and dresses are great for full-figured women and so are the wrap ones. Read more: Fashion Mistakes Full-Figured Women Should Avoid
Mom jeans? Fancy fingernails? TracksuitsMuffin tops. Scrunchies. Suntan hose. Slut shoes. Visible panty line. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Oh-No-She-Didn%27t/Clinton-Kelly/9781439163160#sthash.l7gjupJG.dpufMuffin tops. Scrunchies. Suntan hose. Slut shoes. Visible panty line. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Oh-No-She-Didn%27t/Clinton-Kelly/9781439163160#sthash.l7gjupJG.dpufMuffin tops. Scrunchies. Suntan hose. Slut shoes. Visible panty line. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Oh-No-She-Didn%27t/Clinton-Kelly/9781439163160#sthash.l7gjupJG.dpufMuffin tops. Scrunchies. Suntan hose. Slut shoes. Visible panty line. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Oh-No-She-Didn%27t/Clinton-Kelly/9781439163160#sthash.l7gjupJG.dpufGAP IN THE BACK
The most common alteration I do for my clients, besides hemming pants and sleeves, is fixing Gap in the Back, a problem of which you are all too aware if you carry your weight in your hips and/or rump but have a relatively small waist. Yes, it’s a drag when things don’t fit perfectly off the rack, but that doesn’t mean you should settle. People with great style don’t settle! When I see a woman who has chosen to walk around with all that extra room in the back of her pants, I wonder why she doesn’t make good use of it — you know, treat it as a marsupial-esque ass-pouch for storing her belongings, like a turkey sandwich and a romance novel.
Gap in the Back is really nothing to get yourself worked up about. When you find pants that fit you beautifully everywhere except in the waist, buy the damn things. Then find someone who knows how to sew. A small gap can be fixed with a little nip in the center of the waistband. A larger gap can be closed with two darts on the waistband, one over each butt cheek. When you get the pants back — voilà — they’ll fit and you’ll feel silly for whining about how pants never fit you.
freckledfox.com
Outdated patterns make you look out of touch with society and can age you at least a decade. Of course, retro patterns often become trendy, but they’re usually done in modern cuts and in modern fabrics. More often, over the course of any given decade or so, prints will develop a general feeling to them. For example, in the recent past, florals have trended away from looking like literal renditions of flowers and moved toward the abstract. And painterly prints have been gaining popularity.*
freckledfox.com
To look modern you have to shop on a regular basis in trendy stores and occasionally pick up a magazine to see what fashionable people are wearing!
*As this book was going to press, little pink & purple rosebud florals (á la “Little House on the Prairie”) became all the rage. Who can keep up with this crap?! You can!
Ladies, ladies, ladies. How many times do I have to tell you this? You must have a professional bra fitting every two years, even if your weight has remained constant, or anytime you gain or lose a minimum of ten pounds.
...I will tell you, however, that pendulous breasts don’t look so good in clothes and that’’s because clothes aren’t constructed to accommodate a bust that hits the belly button. Clothes are designed on dress forms. Where is the bust on a dress form? About halfway between the shoulder and the elbow. (I know dress forms don’t have elbows, smarty-pants. Try to imagine where the elbow would be.)
The truth is, I’m kind of fine with cropped pants — when they look good. But they rarely do. I am beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt convinced that the vast majority of women buy them because their length is one less thing to worry about. “Well, they fit in the waist! It doesn’t matter what length they are.”
You can’t just go around wearing pants any length you want! It doesn’t work that way. Try to achieve one of the following lengths, or your look will have that neither-here-nor-there quality I find so damn annoying.
The shorter and wider you are, the more likely you are to look like Spanky from the “Little Rascals” in a cropped pant. Wear Bermuda shorts or long pants instead!
- Full-length pants should rest about a half an inch off the floor in the back.
- Full-length jeans should rest about a quarter of an inch off the floor in the back.
- Skinny jeans should hit at the ankle or be worn stacked (pushed up).
- Pedal pushers should hit just below the kneecap.
- Walking shorts hit just above the kneecap.
- Clamdiggers are meant to hit at midcalf.
PetiteEarlyMorningStyle.Blogspot.com - Ankle pants should be cropped just above the ankle bone.
Advice on shoe repair, commuter shoes, etc.
Look, I don’t know how much information your brain can accommodate, but I need you to clear out a little gray matter for the following concept:
The shoe always, always, ALWAYS sets the tone for an outfit.
Think about that for a minute. It’s deep. It’s the reason nuns don’t wear stilettos and strippers don’t wear orthopedic shoes.
You could be sporting a five-hundred-dollar haircut, flawless skin, an Italian silk blouse, a fierce Dolce & Gabbana pencil skirt, and a diamond the size of Rhode Island, but if you do it wearing chewed-up, gnarly heels, people will think you’re a slacker. Seriously, I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve seen women wearing shoes well past their expiration date, and there’s this sloppy, careless vibe that clings to them. It’s a little like, “I sleep on a mattress without sheets, I have Chinese food in my refrigerator that’s older than Miley Cyrus, and the backseat of my car is filled with empty Big Gulps and ketchup packets.”
freckledfox.com
Sometimes shoes can be repaired and sometimes they can’t. The best way to find out is by visiting your friendly local cobbler. Mine’s a peach! Going forward, if you know you’re going to put a lot of mileage on a pair of shoes, bring them to the shoe repair shop before you wear them and ask for heel protectors or heel taps to be added. A very small investment of time and money will add months — maybe years — to the life of your shoes.
On a related note, I’m a big fan of the commuter shoe when executed properly. Your office shoes should be fabulous, but wearing exquisite crocodile pumps on the train, subway, and across five city blocks doesn’t make a ton of sense. Buy yourself a shoe bag and carry your good shoes with you in a tote. Not only will the shoe bag protect the shoe, it will prevent contamination of the contents of your commuter tote. While you’re traveling to work, wear something more comfortable — but still cute — like a ballet flat, a wedge, or a boot. You’ll notice I did not suggest sneakers, and that’s because they look really stupid with a skirt or a suit. And if you need evidence of that, it’s time for you to watch Working Girl again.
freckledfox.com
No heel - no hose.
Of course, if you'd like a book, this one looked great from the description:
Cleverly organized like a woman’s closet, wear this, toss that! outlines the 30 pieces of clothing and 30 accessories plus beauty basics every woman must own.
Amy provides immediate style answers for real women:
• 700 wear/toss items
• Over 1,000 product suggestions
• You-heard-it-here-first steals and deals
• On-sale items to avoid regardless of price
• 24 “save-me” products to rescue you from any fashion emergency
A long cardigan that graces over your curves or a super drapey wrap that resembles a blanket?
A shade of red lipstick that says “bombshell” or one that’s says “I’m trying too hard”?
Other interesting topics: hiding Buddha belly, a big booty, wide hips, thunder thighs, and heavy calves
Other books:
Before You Put That On: 365.... By Lloyd Boston
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Thanks so much! I greatly value thoughtful comments!! ~ Gabriela