1. When buying basic wardrobe items (suits, skirts, blouses, slacks & jackets) focus on solid colors.  Neutral shades are easier to mix and match and never go out of style.
2. Knowing your natural skin tone will be your first clue to what neutrals are best for you.  A warm skin tone has gold undertones.  A cool skin tone has pink undertones. (warm colors have golden undertones such as orange, yellow, gold, rust and olive green-cool colors have blue undertones such as navy, purple and white)
3. Stay predominately within your natural undertones for prints.
4. Remember to balance stronger clothing colors with stronger makeup colors and softer clothing colors with softer makeup colors
5. Your personal neutrals are best shoes and handbags (navy, black, brown, etc.)
6. Don’t wear shoes that are a lighter color than the predominate color in your outfit.
7. Gold or silver can be worn by anyone as long as you are wearing your correct makeup and wardrobe colors.
8. Choose darker colors skins and leather belts in Winter and Fall and lighter, more fun in Spring and Summer.
9. If you want to look taller, wear one color from head-to-toe
10. Color impacts your appearance most when it is worn at the face.  Therefore if you are considered a “cool” season, touches of warm can be worn best when used as accessories or anything not closet to the face.  Similarly, touches of cool can be added to a “warm” season if it is not worn at the face.

A better wardrobe doesn’t just “happen”.  It is a deliberate effort that creates harmony in your closet and life!  You will reap the rewards of a job well done and always:

“Look Good, Feel Great and Have FUN Doing It!”

They even make getting dress seem effortless yet it eludes you!  You too can have a look that is pulled together.

The key to knowing what looks good on you is to take each part of your body and understand it!  Look at your body’s characteristics.

Look at:

1. Face Shape
2. Body Line
3. Coloring
4. Style Personality

Through makeup techniques you can enhance your best facial features.  Getting the right hairstyle will ensure you are complimenting your face shape. Knowing your face shape will also help you selecting the best earring shapes!

Knowing your body line will help you choose the most flattering shapes and styles so that you can look balanced.  You will know where you can add bulk and know how to accent the positives.  You’ll  learn how to wear accessories to draw attention to your face.  Finally, knowing your body line will help you choose your shoe styles to make your legs look their very best!

You personal coloring is key to selecting the right colors for your wardrobe.  Choosing the right colors will ensure that you only have what looks good on you, and makes you feel great every time you get dressed.  Th right colors will help you choose the correct lipstick and even coloring your hair.  It does matter!

Knowing what your style personality is quite possibly were most style mistakes are made!  Many women try to emulate a friend, colleague or style icon, but if it is not your own style then it will never feel like you!  Check out the “orphans” in your closet and ask yourself why you don’t wear it.  Is it the color, fit or is the style all wrong?

A confident image starts with knowing these 4 components of who you are.  Be confident in your image and you will always:

“Look Good, Feel Good and Have FUN Doing It!”

It’s all about choosing the right core pieces and an added side benefit is that it is a great way to stretch your budget dollars.  You’ll find yourself confident in your clothing knowing you are appropriately dressed for all occasions.   The most versatile core wardrobe begins with the following items:

1. Two suits in your best neutral shade (solid) (4 pieces)
2. Matching blouses (these can be patterned or solid) (2 pieces)
3. Jacket or cardigan in black or navy (1 piece)
4. Skirt or slacks in black or navy (1 piece)
5. Blouse in white or cream (your best color) (1 piece)

With these 9 pieces you can mix and match 20 outfits!  Build your core as your budget allows and keep in mind your goal.   You don’t have to have the core all at once!

The key to a confident core and making it work is to focus on solid colors and year round fabrics such as worsted wool, crepe, rayon & rayon blends, wool gabardine and cotton.  This minimizes your costs and adds greater versatility to your closet.  Once you have achieved success in your core, don’t forget to split them up so you can see the potential that is there!  You will find that all of your pieces will mix and match beautifully and you will always:

“Look Good, Feel Great and Have FUN Doing It!”

I’ve been finding a lot of pennies lately on my walks.  Today I found another one heads up!  That’s supposed to be good luck. So what do pennies and the song have to do with style?  It’s finally come to me!

If you have followed my posts you know that I’m all about accessible, achievable style.  Style is accessible and it is achievable, but it all starts in the closet.

Just like it takes 5 pennies to make a nickel, it takes at least  5 foundational pieces to build your wardrobe.  You must have foundational pieces to create the backdrop of your wardrobe.

Those 5 pieces will take you everywhere you need to go. Start with the season you are in and collect these pieces methodically until you’ve created your foundation.  Before you add any odd, random other pieces, focus only on those!

The “fountain blesses” these 5 pieces:

1. Neutral Solid Jacket (try to make this a matched suit)
2. Neutral Solid Slacks
3. Neutral Solid Skirt
4. Novelty Jacket
5. Dark Jeans

I give a “heads up” on these additional pieces once you have your 5 easy pieces:

1. LBD
2. Khakis
3. White jeans for summer
4. Denim jacket

Work on your foundation this season and you will:

“Look Good, Feel Great and Have FUN Doing It!”

This question honestly has everything to do with EVERYTHING.  It works for writing a book, buying a car, house, setting financial goals and yes, even creating a wardrobe.

You see we can always make things better.  It’s when you are in the process of achieving these goals that if you sidestep and change course barriers to success begin.

It’s one thing to be working toward a goal, but something altogether different when change keeps getting in the way of achieving that goal.  Having pondered this long and hard I came up with these ideas that may help you move forward, achieve that goal and allow yourself to tweak things along the way.

1. Begin with the end in mind (know what the end looks like to you and define it).
2. Back up from there and physically write down everything that you think it will take to get there.  Do you need shoes, suits, dresses, lingerie, hangers, shoe boxes, etc.  EVERYTHING.
3. Decide what your current budget will allow?
4. How much do you think it will cost to get there?
5. When do you want to have it complete?
6. Know what change is acceptable (you may not be able to purchase all the shoes or the color you have decided to work on isn’t available  right now)
7. Be flexible with your date of completion (you may find that “life events” get in the way-it’s o.k. to move the date)
8. Know that it is a process.
9. Set weekly, monthly and quarterly goals based on your personal time frame.
10. Do have fun with it, because it is all a learning process and the more invested in the process you are, the better the outcome will be!

Above all, lighten up a little bit.  Don’t be harsh on yourself when life gets in the way, just stay focused and look at the list again and check things of along the way.  You’ll feel wonderful about the process and you’ll:

“Look Good, Feel Great and Have FUN Doing It!”

You don’t get to walk across the stage, and receive your diploma without some level of commitment somewhere along the line.  A Boy Scout doesn’t achieve the rank of Eagle without a high degree of planning and commitment.  You don’t create success overnight-even though the term “an overnight success” may lead you to believe this.  A successful wardrobe is not created in one shopping trip.  There’s always a plan to your wardrobe success.

The Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared” says it all.  I’m committed to my business, but sometimes I get off track because the plan is not being followed.  So it is in life, to be successful and find joy that comes from success, planning comes first.  Planning doesn’t guarantee your success though.  You must be committed and go at it systematically day by day, week by week, month by month and so on.

As we move through life we “graduate” from certain stages and find that we can often get lost in the detail.  Life gets in the way and often we lose the path that was so clearly defined.  There’s always a way to find your path back!  Many women come to me when they have lost their way and are trying to get back the style they once felt connected to.

Beginning their “Journey to Style” is a way to that will help them create a plan and systematically create the wardrobe that works for the life they lead today!  Planning and commitment go hand in glove.  My mother always said “measure twice, cut once” and it is true.  Before you purchase that next clothing item ask yourself these questions:

Does it fit my body?
Does it flatter my body?
Does it feel really good on me?
Is it part of my overall plan in my closet?
Will it go with at least 3 other things in my closet?

If the answer to these questions is “yes”, then you can feel confident in adding it to your wardrobe NOW!

Commit to creating a plan for your success by building a wardrobe that works for you and you will find that you always:

“Look Good, Feel Great and Have FUN Doing It!”

I recently saw The Blind Side for a second time.  Normally, I don’t watch movies more than once, but I did and realized that I enjoyed it just as much.   This time though, I was more  aware of what the actors were saying and wanted to share some thoughts with you.

Do you ever consider  protecting your “blind side” ?  Do you even know what your blind side is?  Protecting your “blind side” means knowing your weaknesses and surrounding yourself with a team to support you.  As an image consultant and style coach, I  teach you to use clothing as part of your support team.  What are you doing to develop your team in the closet?

If you follow my posts, you know that I have talked often of building a closet based on 3 things: core, accents and accessories. In a business casual world, it’s easy to forget the basic building blocks and suddenly you find there’s nothing to work with.  The foundation crumbles and nothing is protecting your “blind side”.  You walk into the closet and say those dreaded words, “I have nothing to wear”.

Sandra Bullock is the mother, Lee Ann Touhy, who steps in to help an young man grow up.  He only has a bag of clothes and she takes him shopping one day.  Having difficulty making a decision about what shirt to buy “Lee Ann” says :

“well, there’s one thing I know and that is if you don’t like it in the store, you sure as heck aren’t going to like it when you get it  home”.

WOW, I thought, wonder if anyone else really heard that?  I certainly didn’t the first time around.

So, I ask you, “what’s protecting your blind side”? What are you doing to build a foundation so that you  are protected when you need it most?  Do you have a solid core to work with?  Are you focusing on building accents in your closet and finally do you have accessories that give your blind side some umph?

If you don’t protect your “blind side”, if you don’t build your core, your blind side is vulnerable and you’ll fall victim to being a style mistake.  Get your “blind side” protected and you’ll:

“Look Good, Feel Great and Have FUN Doing It!”

Read How to Build a Wardrobe Based on Purpose

I took a picture of this pine frond to encourage all you allergy sufferers out there that you are almost done! See, there are only a few pods left on the frond…

What is causing your misery in the closet? What is it that you are suffering from?

• It is too many t-shirts?
• Pants that don’t fit?
• Can’t find any dresses that you like for spring and summer.
• Do you even know what looks good on you?
• Are you in a style funk?

Any one of these could be the simple cause of your misery and unlike pollen this cannot go away until you learn the source and understand how to fix it.

You have a chance, one chance this summer to “fix it” or at the very least get a great start to understanding your style misery.

Come to StyleCAMP, June 19th.

We are busy working on new educational opportunities for you so if you have always wanted to come, don’t wait any longer.  The next learning opportunity won’t be until the fall!

Discover the cause of your misery and you’ll learn how to :

“Look Good, Feel Great and Have FUN Doing It!”

So, what you might ask do clothes or creating a wardrobe have to do with failing to launch? Sometimes we don’t feel as if anything is going our way.  There’s no movement in our lives or if there is it feel all wrong, negative.

“Things stay the same because they stay the same!” We fail to launch in essence because we don’t make changes-however little they may be.  If you find that your life is a bit stagnant and you are simply tired of not moving forward, try making a few changes.

• Clean your closet
• Move out the clutter
• Focus on one thing this season

When you make room for change, expect change, change will happen.  Learn what colors are best for you.  Focus on getting the very best fitting pants.  Go try on jeans until you get the perfect style for you.

Your failure to launch may be the one thing that is keeping you from bigger things.  Yes, it really can be as simple as changing one thing.  It is the one thing that may start movement in your life…

Focus on ONE- O-N-E thing and you’ll:

“Look Good, Feel Great and Have FUN Doing It”

I attended a 3 pm church wedding in April recently and what I observed was all over the board. It was either party wear or weekend casual, hanging out wear. So here’s a note to the bride and groom:

• If you care what your guests wear, please have a dress code on the invitation
• Understand what a dress code means by today’s standards
• If you don’t know what to suggest, please solicit the advice of a wedding planner

Here’s what to wear if there are no instructions on the invitation AND you will be attending an afternoon Church wedding. Minimally, please consider the following and remember that you’ll never go wrong dressing up:

• Ladies, I suggest you wear a dress or skirt with a nice blouse (no denim please)
• If you are going to wear sandals or shoes with no hosiery, please make sure that your toes are polished and feet groomed.
• Make sure you have heels on your shoes and they are not worn off so you are clicking up the isle or sidewalk
• Definitely NO FLIP-FLOPS to a Church Wedding
• Carry a nice simple clutch and not your every day satchel

• Gentlemen, I suggest you wear a pair of dress slacks or khakis (pressed please) a long sleeve dress shirt (ironed)
• A sports coat is not required but a nice touch and doesn’t require a tie
• If you wear a tie, please put a coat on with it
• Shoes guys are just as important, even if you are not wearing a sports coat.  NO tennis, athletic or Docksiders please.  I’d like to see a polished loafer or lace up shoe to finish out your look.

It doesn’t have to be hard to get dressed for the wedding and you don’t always have to find something new.  Consider it a time for celebrating and “dress-up”.  You’ll find that dressing up will put you in a festive mood and you’ll actually have more fun!  You’ll let go a little knowing that you are dress just right for the occasion and you’ll:

“Look Good, Feel Great and Have FUN Doing It!”

Next, What to Wear to an Evening Wedding