Broke or Be-spoke for Your Christmas Party Look?

A recent edition of The Sunday Times contained several glossy brochures which, with a perfectly straight face, were suggesting a range of ‘must have’ Christmas presents costing in the £00s and £000s. How lovely to be able to spend around £100 on an exquisite silk scarf from Liberty’s  – examples to the right - as a ‘stocking filler’……!

Broke or Be-spoke?
Few of us have the luxury of putting together a Christmas outfit of designer pieces with 'money no object', so I thought I'd see if it's possible to come up with something similar to a really expensive designer look, using items from the High St.

Red lace is a great festive choice, and a simple fitted shift style works best with a dramatic fabric. You could accessorize your dress with plain but bold shoes in gold, a statement gold cuff, and fabulous drop ruby earrings. Complete the outfit with an elegant black clutch with a gold fastening.

  

Firstly, here's a lovely designer version of the outfit which will set you back a rather eyewatering £4,515 until you add in the ruby earrings which puts another £23,000 onto the cost.....You really wouldn't want to lose one of those!

The Luxury version: Dolce & Gabbana Sleeveless Lace Dress £1,115  

Alice Menter Gold Plated Ruby Cuff £185   

Chanel Vintage Small Quilted Bag £2,730 

Jimmy Choo Metallic Leather 120 Peep Toe Shoes £485 Pintaldi Maurizio Ruby and Diamond Pendant Earrings £23,000

But don't despair ladies, because you can look pretty stunning for a fraction of that cost!

The cheap and cheerful equivalent of this Christmas party outfit is a mere £122.05..... 

Dorothy Perkins Red lace print lampshade dress £39.50  

Miss SelfridgeShiny Rose Gold Court Shoes £20 (sale) 

Asos Revive Superhero Double Cuffs £19 (sale) 

Oasis Leather and Suede Clutch Bag £38 

SONOMA Gold Tone Filigree Cabochon Disc Drop Earrings £5.55 (sale) 

Of course I might have done without a vintage Chanel clutch bag and ruby/diamond earrings for my designer look which did rather push the cost through the roof, but you get the drift! 

Or, if you prefer your red lace dress with sleeves to keep your arms covered, what about this? Gok Wan comes up trumps for Tu at Sainsburys again.Red Lace Shift Dress by GOK £37.50

You can look fabulous without spending a fortune - especially when you know what suits you!
If you'd like to start 2013 with a real boost for your image, then do get in touch to discuss a personal consultation.
Wishing you a very Happy Christmas season,
Best Wishes
Cass 

Fifty Million Shades of Grey

But which one will look gorgeous on you?
At a conservative estimate, there will probably be millions of different shades of Grey out there in the world.....
picture courtesy of www.danalee.ca
Also, there will be equally as many shades of Red, Green, Blue, Pink, Yellow, Purple, Brown and every other colour you can think of under the sun to confuse and beguile us!
picture courtesy of www.plus.maths.org
The trick is knowing which are the right ones to look fabulous on you!

This is where the colour swatch fan you receive as part of your Colour Consultation is invaluable, because our brains just don't retain different variations and shades of colour.
So, because we can't just rely on memory to guide us in choosing what's right for us, your colour swatches will act as an Aide Memoire for your own perfect looks.
They are a guide though - not set in tablets of stone!
Looking back to my own first colour consultation back in the 1980s, when the concept of Colour Analysis was in its infancy, I realise now how little help I was given to understand my own best colours and how to use my colour swatches. I was just handed a selection of swatches and told that these were 'my' colours - so I assumed if something wasn't a perfect match for one of the fabric swatches, I shouldn't buy it. The colour swatches provided were in a nice ring-bound folder but this was quite large and too bulky to carry round in my handbag so it was usually left in a drawer and gradually got forgotten.
After a while, I discovered that almost nothing in the shops was a perfect match anyway and, disheartened by the seeming impossibility of finding anything suitable, I began to neglect my best colours. Darker shades which were really too strong for my colouring started to creep into my wardrobe and once you have got some 'wrong' colours, you often start buying others just to have something to wear with them.....

It wasn't until years later when I went through my Colour Analysis training that I discovered a much better style of colour swatch wallet which can easily be carried in your handbag so it's readily on hand whenever you want to buy something new..
And of course most importantly I learned that the swatches are simply a guide to the millions of colours which you can wear - you don't have to search for a perfect match!

The essential thing is that the colour of the garment you which are thinking of buying blends harmoniously with your colour swatches and looks as if it belongs with them. How does it look with your best neutral colours? If it looks too bright, too pale, too dark or simply clashes when compared against your colour swatch fan, then it's not for you. But if it sits comfortably alongside your swatches, then go ahead and buy!    

I've met quite a few ladies who, like me,  had a Colour Analysis done many years ago and but never really benefited they should have done, because their colour swatches weren't in a handy practical format to keep with them and they didn't have a proper explanation of how to use them - so they stopped bothering... That's a shame, but it's not too late to try again.


All my clients get either a ladies' or men's colour swatch fan as part of their Colour consultation - easy to fold up and carry in your handbag or inside pocket, so it's always with you!
Examples of colour swatch wallets from www.styleandimage.co.uk 

After all, you never know when you'll be tempted by something gorgeous in a shop window, and having your colour swatches handy to check the colour is right for you will stop you making an expensive mistake!  
Equally, when you know it's right for you, you can really buy with confidence and pleasure and enjoy trying your new piece out with lots of other clothes in your wardrobe.

To find which shades of grey - and every other colour! -will look fabulous on you, just call and book your consultation.
Best Wishes
Cass

Curves and Stripes Don't Mix!

Nothing divides fashion opinion quite like stripes!

Every year without fail, usually around Spring time, stripes make a return to the fashion scene. The breton striped top is often hailed as a wardrobe classic.......
Some fashion writers insist that anyone can look good in stripes, whilst others advise extreme caution and avoidance, especially if you are a little more 'well built'.....

My view?  It really does depend on your personal body shape. Balance and harmony are what are important in great personal style, so if your figure is quite straight shaped, you will look fabulous in lines which are straight too. Vertical stripes will suit you if your figure is 'oblong', with a relatively undefined waist and square shoulders.

But if you have a curvy shape, and especially if you are full busted, vertical stripes can look distorted over your curves - particularly wider ones. It's a bit like trying to draw a straight line on a balloon! The angular lines of a stripe are less flattering for a curvy shape in any case - you will look better in flowing curving patterns which harmonise with you. If you desperately want to wear a striped pattern, try a chevron pattern over the bust, or diagonal stripes instead!

The diagonal lines draw the eye inwards, visually narrowing your figure.

Do horizontal stripes make you look wider? Yes, some do. A lot depends of the width of the stripe. Bold broad stripes definitely visually increase your width, but narrow stripes can look good..... 

Regular stripes of all the same size also tend to be more 'widening', especially if they are more than 1 cm in thickness.  Of course there is a huge variety of striped patterns around , with all sorts of different widths and colours to choose from - just remember that strong contrast draws the eye, so don't put bright colours or big stripes across a part of your body that you'd prefer people not to focus on! 

There will be a style of stripe to suit your shape - the trick is understanding what works best for you.

If you'd like some help to discover the styles which really look fabulous on you, then do please give me a call!

Best Wishes

Cass

A great tip to make your legs look longer...

Most of us would love to have long legs to help us look taller and slimmer but we don't always get what we want....
In which case, knowing a few tricks to help us improve our image is always a great help.
If, like me, you wish you had legs that go up to your armpits, instead of the rather short legs Mother Nature dished out on the day, here's a clever little style idea to give the illusion of having longer legs....!

Choose a top with three-quarter sleeves. 

For some 'optical illusory' reason, the shorter sleeve length has the effect of visually lengthening your legs.  (Fabulous outfit above from www.kettlewellcolours.co.uk)

Try the effect for yourself - wearing a long sleeved top, leave one sleeve to wrist-length on one side, and then pull up the other sleeve to about mid-forearm length on the other side. Have a look in a full length mirror and you will see that somehow, on the side with the shorter sleeve length, that leg looks longer!

A higher heeled shoe always helps to extend the look of your legs of course, but choosing the right style is important.
To visually lengthen the look of your legs the best choice is to wear a shoe with a low 'vamp' and a mid-higher heel  (3" plus).

What's a vamp? The point at which your shoes cover your toes or the front of your foot, so a low vamp means something like this (left)

Also, if your legs are a bit on the short side, don't choose a shoe or sandal with ankle straps - it will make your legs look even shorter.
The same goes for shoes which cover the front of your feet - shoe-boot styles or brogues. If your legs tend to the shorter side, these will just take length away from them visually, and are best avoided.

If you'd like some help to make the most of your figure, then please do get in touch!
Best wishes
Cass 





      

Keep Your Legs Looking Professional

It can be very tempting, when we come back from a fabulous holiday abroad and have a great suntan, to go without tights.
It's wonderful to be able to show off a pair of bronzed bare legs but this look really is best kept for your casual wear - don't do it when you are dressing for business!

It's especially important to wear hosiery if you work in a fairly formal environment and need to wear a suit or similar business-like attire.

Bare legs can just look tacky with business wear - especially if your skirt is around knee length. It doesn't matter if you have got a terrific tan, you won't look professional without stockings or tights.
Nor will your your smart business shoes benefit from having bare feet in them all day - from the perspective of either freshness or shape.........! 
Whilst a tan definitely helps to mask any imperfections in your legs, hosiery does an even better job of concealing any aspects - thread veins, uneven skin tone or rough skin, or knobbly knees - that are less than ideal, and keeps those legs looking well-groomed.
Sheer glossy hosiery in a nude shade works wonders, so keep your working look polished and sophisticated, and leave the bare legs and strappy sandals for casual or social outfits.

For a professional look, a closed toe to your shoe will always look best. A small peep toe can work but the shoe should otherwise be fairly conservative. A simple court style is classic and timeless. If you want a little more excitement, try a patterned or colourful court!

Kick Ass Court Snake Leather Shoes from www.office.co.uk

If you'd like any help with your image, then do get in touch!
Best wishes
Cass

Whatever has happened to James Bond's DJ?

Gracious Heavens, I can't believe that the normally scrumptious Daniel Craig was looking so much less than his best at the premiere of 'Skyfall'.

What is wrong? Well, his dinner jacket doesn't fit properly for a start. We expect to see 007 wearing a perfectly tailored tux, but here he is showing far too much shirt cuff - those sleeves aren't long enough! Of course we know there is a fantastically toned chest under there, but the jacket shouldn't be so tight over the torso that it pulls.

If your jacket is too tight and your sleeves are too short, it looks as if you can't afford one that fits properly, and have squeezed yourself into something you wore when you were younger and slimmer. Or, that you are a nightclub bouncer wearing a jacket supplied by the Management......

No more than about half an inch of shirt cuff should protrude beyond the end of your jacket sleeve gentlemen, and you don't want drag lines across the body of your jacket when it is fastened.

I'm also very unimpressed by the shiny midnight blue fabric of Daniel's DJ. Yes, he is a fair man and yes, dark colours like black close to the face are not great for fair people, so perhaps the midnight blue was intended to soften the black/white combination. It's still so dark anyway though, that it doesn't make any difference, and the shiny non-matching material just looks odd and tacky. Is he about to start calling out the numbers for a game of Bingo?
Evening dress for men should be black only with a matt wool fabric for both dinner jacket and trousers. Anything else will make you look like a game show host.
And whilst we are about it, what's with the contrasting buttons on Daniel's shirt? No, no, no, your dress shirt (in plain white only please, no frills or strange colours) always looks best with the buttons concealed under a placket, or at least in plain white.
Here on the right is 007 in Casino Royale wearing evening dress as it should be worn and looking truly sharp,classy and elegant.

And here we can see the contrast with how much better his co-star Javier Bardem looks in his classic and properly fitting dinner jacket.

Last but not least, what has Daniel done to his hair?
That short slicked back style reminds me uncomfortably of Hannibal Lecter and has put at least 10 years on him.....

I'm looking forward to seeing the film, but come on Daniel, do yourself justice!

Cass

Colours For a Slimmer Silhouette

Many women who feel they are heavier than they would like to be choose to wear dark colours - navy blue, dark brown or grey and above all black - because they believe that dark colours are more slimming.

There is some truth in that belief.  It's certainly the case that very bright colourful patterns will draw the eye, so if you don't want to attract attention to certain areas of your body, it's best to keep vivid colours and bold patterns away from these. The current trend for patterned trousers should be treated with great care for instance! If you have very slim legs, all well and good, but for those of us whose thighs seem to be constantly seeking more Lebensraum, patterns on the legs are most definitely best avoided........

Just a monochrome look can be very dreary though, and if you are already in low spirits because you feel overweight, wearing gloomy dark colours is hardly going to cheer you up.

There is a much better and cleverer way to look slimmer, by using colour to your advantage.
How? It's easy, combine a dark and a light/bright colour to create the illusion of a slimmer silhouette.
Choose a top in a pale or a vivid colour. Then over it, wear a dark coloured jacket, cardigan or long draped wrap which falls in straight lines down your torso.
The eye is drawn inwards to the lighter/brighter coloured panel at the centre of your torso and 'skims over' the darker colours on the outside, which visually slims you.
Here's an example of an outfit which would achieve a helpful slimming effect for you and give you some fabulous colour in your look too, from  Kettlewell Colours Ltd  at www.kettlewellcolours.co.uk 

Use colour on the upper half of your body with lots going on around the neckline and shoulders - jewellery or a scarf - to lift the eye to where you want people to look - your face!

The fashion world started to pick up on the slimming benefits of the 'dark with light or bright' combination last year when Kate Winslet visually shed 2 dress sizes with her stunning red and black Optical Illusion dress at the premiere of the film 'Carnage'.
Since then, 'two tone' dresses, skirts and tops have become increasingly popular. There are a wealth of options around this season in a variety of colours and patterns to help you look slimmer and stylish too!

Right - Lace Panelled Skirt from www.next.co.uk
Below Right - Short Sleeve Colour Block Panel Dress from www.matalan.co.uk

Looking great isn't just the prerogative of the very thin! If you'd like some help with your personal style and look, then please do get in touch so see what I can do for you.
Best Wishes
Cass