The Spring accessory: Tights!!

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.

The return of the waist

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!

What to wear for work?

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?