The sun has got his hat on, but what are you wearing????
Now is the time of year when you really need to be checking the labels in clothes to see what they’re made from.
Generally, natural fibres are cool and comfortable as they can breathe and allow sweat out and fresh air in. Man-made fibres can’t absorb moisture so have a tendency to keep sweat in and fresh air out. Nice, bit like a greenhouse.
Look for cotton, linen, silk and blends of. Viscose and Tencel are man-made fibres but from natural resources so aren’t too bad.
Avoid nylon, polyester, acrylic and the like at all costs.
Shapes are important too; go for looser styles and avoid skin-tight restrictive shapes. It’s not an excuse to look like a tent though, NO elasticated waists, trousers still fairly fitted around the top, dresses with a bit of waist shaping.
Stay away from tights of any description.
Go for minimal jewellery, remember fingers swell in the heat, lots of jewellery can make you sweaty and some metals can discolour. So go natural with your jewellery too. Wooden jewellery is heaven, it’s light, comfortable and while wearing it your skin is giving it a nice polish!
Categories: What to wear.....
Tagged: man-made fibres, natural fibres, summer clothing
Just a few thoughts on the homogenous cheap virus that’s taking over our high streets.
In Asda they’re selling £5 men’s shirts and £5 women’s outfits, the rise of Primark seems unstoppable.
They’re not doing you a favour, which is how they love to present themselves. Think about it, a blouse and a pair of trousers on the rails in Asda for £5. How? How did they get there from China, Hong Kong, Vietnam for £5? How can 2 garments be made, all the fabric and components bought, it be packaged, shipped halfway round the world, distributed to the right store, labelled, photographed, advertised and everyone involved in this long chain make a fair profit for £5? Something has to give.
I wrote to Asda’s customer services recently asking them just that question while they were busy plugging their £5 women’s work outfit. What happened? Nothing. They didn’t even grace me with a reply. What does that tell you?
If you want to find out more, have a look at these websites:
http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/
http://www.cleanclothes.org/
Categories: The Clothing Industry · Trends
Tagged: Asda, cheap, clean clothes campaign, clothes, fashion, labour behind the label, Primark
If you’re buying an off-the-peg suit here are a few things to look out for to make the best choice.
- Make sure it fits you around the shoulders, armhole and across the back. These are the most glaringly obvious places if a suit jacket is a bad fit.
- Jacket lengths – short and fitted if you’re curvy.
- Be careful with below hip length jackets, it is hard for a jacket this length to be flattering.
- Choose single breasted if you’re big chested or have a thick waist.
- Double breasted only really look good on bean poles.
Ask yourself:
Can you move your arms in it?
Can you sit down comfortably in it?
If you need a real work horse of a suit stick to mainly synthetic blend fabrics. Not the nicest to wear but certainly the strongest and the easiest to care for.
Think about what you want that suit to do for you. Will you be wearing it to interviews, meetings, conferences, meeting clients? Then you want it to make you feel confident and a good fit is even more crucial, you don’t want to spend your time fiddling with the uncomfortable bits. And try to think outside of the black, grey, navy box. Hard I know with th limited choice available, but it’s worth the extra effort.
If you have plenty of separates that you’re happy with (ie. skirts, trousers, dresses) and just struggle with the jacket (often happens with all those pesky female curves), think about having just a jacket made to co-ordinate with your existing separates.
Categories: Business dressing
Tagged: comfort, fit, jacket, off-the-peg, separates, suit
At this in between time of year, attention grabbing tights and sensible long socks are a good way of starting to shake off winter. Wear a pair with your new sandals or even last year’s sandals. Guaranteed to make you smile.
There’s a sad lack of choice in the hosiery department in the shops so check out these websites;
www.mytights.com
www.tightsplease.co.uk
A few little hints:
- Avoid super sheeny shiny tights unless you are very confident and have perfect pins. They have a tendency to make legs look like sausages. Not a look to aspire to I don’t think. In the same vein avoid loud patterned tights if you have anything less than legs eleven.
- If possible choose tights with the highest possible natural fibre content (ie. cotton/wool). I know it’s not always possible with hosiery but trust me, the more natural they are, the less you will sweat.
- Falke do fantastic quality hosiery as do Wolford.
Categories: Accessories · Spring 08 · Trends · What suits you?
Tagged: Accessories, cotton, Falke, hosiery, sandals, Spring, tights, Wolford, wool
So full swishy skirts with tight belted waistlines are set to be all the rage this summer. Good news if you have a waist, bad news for those of us that don’t! Where there’s a will there’s a way though.
- All but the perfectly waisted should avoid full gathered skirts in heavy fabrics ie. denim. They’ll make you look like a tent. Go for light cottons or linens, maybe even layered skirts.
- Big bold prints are good but make sure you pick out one of the main colours in the print with a solid coloured top. The darker the better.
- Waists that aren’t born can be made. There are loads of big belts around. If you’re not blessed with a shapely waist never ever wear a waisted swishy skirt without a belt, you need to be wearing it with a nice wide belt – the wider the better, which will reduce the width of your waist. Avoid skinny belts like the plague unless your emphasising a teeny tiny waist.
- Length is also crucial with this one – above the knee is not for the faint hearted. Your best bets are just on the knee or just below (usually the thinnest part of your leg). Longer lengths are best kept for swishy cocktail party type affairs.
The waist is also making a return on trousers. Quite a hard one to pull off, look for the following to make those high waisted trousers a big hit rather than a hilarious miss:
- Deep waistbands.
- Absolutely no way choose tapered or skinny leg shapes.
- If they’re wide legged they need to be a snug fit around your waist, hips, bum and the very top of your thighs otherwise they’ll look like clown trousers.
- Curved front pockets will break up the long expanse up to your waist.
- Be careful with back patch pockets, the wrong shape or the wrong size and they could end up making you look like the back end of a bus.
- Best to look for a yoke at the back.
Happy waisting!
Categories: Trends · What suits you?
Tagged: skirts, SS08, trousers, waisted
BBC4 has recently run a very interesting programme about the tradition of English tailoring and bespoke clothing on Savile Row. It’s well worth a look to find out more about handmade clothing and the history of bespoke clothing.
You can watch it with the BBC iplayer through this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b00909d4.shtml
It’s only available for another 4 days though!
Categories: Business dressing · What is Bespoke clothing?
Tagged: bespoke, Savile Row, tailoring
February 22, 2008 · 1 Comment
Who owns a piece of clothing that can make you feel relaxed, comfortable and confident as soon as you put it on? When you wear it people tell you how nice you look, how healthy you’re looking, or ask if you’ve been on holiday or lost weight?!
This is the power of well cut, well fitting clothes that suit you.
Choosing the right clothes for your physical appearance in the right colours can make you look slimmer, healthier and feel calm and confident.
What you wear and how says an awful lot about how you feel about yourself and what your attitude might be towards your business and your customers. A simple example; how would you feel if you were served in a cafe or restaurant by someone with dirty clothing and messy unwashed hair? Probably not looking forward to eating the food they’ve dished up.
With a critical eye and a bit of help it’s possible to learn how to disguise areas that you don’t feel confident about. It’s easy to spot people who are wearing things that are wrong for them, they will fiddle, fiddle, fiddle with the clothes because they feel uncomfortable and all that’s achieved by this is to draw everyone’s attention to the exact place that they would rather disguise.
Before you get dressed or plan what you’re going to wear think about the bits that you’re not confident about, but also, think about what you will be doing in the outfit. A few examples; if you’re likely to get hot and sweaty wear dark tops or keep your jacket on, if you need to do lots of leaning over then avoid low cut tops. Similar advice applies to men; how many men have you seen sat down in very smart suits with their trouser legs riding half way up their calves displaying Christmas socks?! Can you take them seriously after that? I can’t!
The “uniform” approach. Sometimes it’s appropriate in certain situations, to blend in when you’re not the star of the show. However, lots of work situations call for a bit of “you”. If you just blend into the background you’ll have to work that bit harder in order for people to remember you. This is especially important if you’re directing meetings, giving presentations and making sales pitches. If you’re most comfortable in a “uniform” style then at least invest in some interesting accessories or shoes and at this time of year how about some neon tights?!
As one of my clients recently said of the business garments I designed and made for her; ” …now I don’t have to worry and I can concentrate on my meetings.“
Blog topics in the coming weeks: shopping for accessories, London fashion week – which spring trends will work for you?
Categories: Business dressing · What suits you?
Tagged: business, colours, confident, London fashion week, suits, Trends, uniform
