There are a plethora of style rules to follow and sure they’ll help you look fabulous and flatter you body and colouring. But doesn’t it sometimes get boring following rules. I wanted to show you in one outfit the rules I’ve followed and the one I’ve broken.
Verily dress
Breaking the Rules
Today I wore a Verily Dress with a red shrug. Notice how the red shrug jumps out of the photo? It almost looks luminous because it’s a bright warm red, and my colouring is cool, so it stands off me and is really obvious.
Cleo insisted on being in the photos
So even though this red is not my most flattering red and draws attention to itself but given I’m not wearing it directly under my face so it’s not reflecting anunflatteringshade of red onto my face and as it’s only on my arms and shoulders it draws attention high up my body toward my face so I am getting away with it.
Following the Rules
What are the rules that I’m following? Well the dress has an empire line which is flattering for my H shaped figure. Plus the pattern is mostly vertical through the body which also works for me. And the colour of the dress is high contrast which works with my high contrast colouring.
bead necklace
The jewellery I’ve chosen works with the colour and pattern of the dress. The tie-dye pattern creates a small dotty style pattern and the necklace I’m wearing is made up of multiple beads which are reminiscent of the pattern.
Then the bracelets, there are 3 black jet and then one silver which you can see is made up of lots of silver balls, and then the snake which has a snakeskin pattern engraved into it plus a line of the black jet which matches back with the other bracelets and they all are ‘bitty’ which works with the pattern in the dress fabric.
The ring is black and silver which also relates to the dress and the bracelets.
So on the whole I’ll follow most of the rules, but may break one at a time (cos I’m human!).
Which rules do you always follow? Which style rules do you break?
Love the leggings. I wear a pair with skirts, too, and I find they save the skirt & flats combination very well (otherwise my short shins look too short).
I don’t know what rules I break… I don’t use belting on my waist because I can’t stand having a belt above my low-rise-jeans-line.
I think I break all the rules! I wear random pieces of clothing and pile on the accessories and hope for the best. I like standing out 😛
I don’t wear fitted (negative, zero, or very little positive ease) even though that makes me look even fatter than I am, because I don’t like the feeling against my body. I never wear a belt, but I don’t know whether I’m supposed to-I’m one of those women who used to have one body type (narrow hips and shoulders, slightly defined waist, large bustline) but gained a bunch of ill-distributed weight in the last 10 years and now I’m not sure what shape I am or how to dress.
The main one I ignore on purpose is the low-vamp shoe. I can’t keep them on my brick-shaped feet, I must have secure straps across my instep.
I don’t recall you doing this analysis before – it’s so useful. As soon as I saw the photo of you in that outfit I thought you looked great! How fantastic to understand WHY you look so great in it.
I do get bored of those blogs where people simply post shots of themselves without analysing / describing why they’ve made the choices they have.
Thanks for another great initiative!
Thanks Donna – I probably haven’t done this before!
Agreed! LOVE the analysis…especially since I’m a short-waisted….something.
Love you in the Verily dress and shrug. Leonie is a genius in designing to work with – not against – our bodies!
Thanks Nikki, I love her clothes, great quality and she designs for a range of body shapes too so there is something for everyone.
i love that dress imogen! i’m still working on it but i’m pretty sure i am a short-waisted H and would love a dress like that for my very own. seeing it on you and thinking about some of the empire-waist items in my wardrobe – i think this is all starting to click for me!