Posts Tagged ‘investment’

“To spend time thinking about what to wear on a daily basis may sound trivial but what we do wear has a huge effect/influence on our mood, confidence and (rightly or wrongly) how others perceive us. Other people can’t or won’t discover who we are and what we have to offer (our personality, humor, intellect and warmth) if they are not ’attracted’ by our appearance in the first place”  – Karen

When you leave the house in the morning you will generally come into contact with alot of people on a daily basis and while you might not particularly care on any given day what some one else thinks about you, you should always care about how you feel about yourself!   Your self worth and esteem are not measured by what clothes you wear but they are definately measured by how you feel about you.  Confidence is sexy!  A smile is contagious!  Being calm and avoiding stress is a great gift to yourself – investing in a style coach is about investing in yourself and there is no better investment I know.

Keep smiling, Karen

these boots are made for walking …

A winter ‘must-have’, ‘no-brainer’ is the boot.  There is a huge variety available in many colors, styles, heel-height and genre but by far the most versatile is the riding boot.  Dress them up or wear them in a variety of casual looks they are the boot that you should invest in (ie. buy the most expensive you can afford).  When you purchase a quality product and you look after them ie keep them clean and well heeled, they should last you 3 – 5 yrs.

When buying a riding boot they need to fit real snuggly and the reason is that they are going to stretch and mould to your feet and legs.  So, they need to have a zip that moves through the ankle area so that the leather here is firm fitting and not slouchy.  If you have curvy calves, and many of us do, then you want the zip to be full length (as opposed to a 1/2 zip).  Even so, when you first try your boot on they should feel pretty snug.  Obviously if you can’t do the zip up or it pinches your skin this is tooooo tight.  But firm is good.

The next important thing is the length.  Boots must come at least 3/4 of the way up your lower leg, although reaching under the knee is preferable.   If the length falls below this mark put it back on the shelf and keep looking – this is because the top of the boot falling below the 3/4 mark will cut the leg area in half and make it look chunkier and shorter than it is, and i don’t know anyone who wants that look!

To acheive this ‘perfect’ fit you will probably need to try on many boots and thats ok.  It is not because you have ‘large, fat, short, ugly blah blah blah legs’ … it is because you just haven’t found the boot that suits you best, yet.  Don’t settle for second best either!  Find the boot that loves you and will love them back and wear them comfortably walking everywhere into the happily ever after.

Over the knee boots are the big thing this winter and are generally mixed with a ‘riding’ boot bottom – just consider whether this is a look you want to wear over the next 3 years?  Also, if you want to wear your jeans in them then obviously they need to ‘give’ more so once you have them home wear them in (an hour a day around the house) so that they mould to you and fit like a second skin.

take your time, shop wisely karen

Classic with a Twist

This classic ‘set’ is a good basic to have in your wardrobe. 1 , or 1 , or 1 + 1 =2 .  You do the math, either way you have 3 options.  However, having seen both a younger woman and a mid-lifer wear a twin-set in the traditional way recently, on two seperate occasions, it really was just a great big yawn.  Both women looked dated and older than they were and that is never a good look.   The simple solution is to twist this classic into an updated style statement.  To do this embellish the cuffs, neckline or bottom edge of one of the pieces using either statement jewellery or a belt (thin for those with a waist, wide for those creating a waist).  Adding permanent embellishments by sewing on pearls, sequins or ribbon will also provide that ‘tjuz’ and add funk to a wardrobe classic.

have fun, karen