When choosing prints and patterns for your outfits – what’s the easiest way of knowing that a print is going to harmonise with you and your colouring? There are two elements of this – the colour contrast of the print and the value contrast of the print. If you’re new here on Inside Out Style…
Basics are the staples and hard workers of your wardrobe. They often provide the canvas for an outfit. Basics are the plain pieces that are the supporting acts of your wardrobe. They are the simple, the plain, the unadorned tops and bottoms that allow you to create many outfits from fewer pieces. They are the…
What are the right kind of basic or staple garments for you? Should they be simple and understated or more intersting and detailed? Find out more and see pictures on the accompanying blog post: Do You Need Interesting Basics or Understated Staple Garments in Your Wardrobe?
Recently I was on a Facebook Live Q&A session in my 7 Steps to Style private group and one of the questions was about how to look more polished when you have a very ‘relaxed’ personality. What you may not realise is that I, like you may be, are essentially lazy. So how do you…
When you’re out shopping and deciding whether or not you should bring home a new item. How do you know it’s a winner and will earn a place in your wardrobe? Or is it just going to end up as clutter that fills up your precious space? This is a really important step to take…
Would you like to have more joy in your life? I’m not sure anyone would answer “no” to this question. So how do you bring more joy in? And what’s it got to do with a style blog? Fortunately, there are “joy” researchers in this world and one of them, Ingrid Fetell Lee, has found…
How do you express yourself through your clothing? In this podcast with Jill Chivers of 16 Style Types, we discuss how personality influences clothing choices, and how we can use the personality dressing styles to express who we are. There are a variety of well-known personality dressing styles: Classic Relaxed/Casual/Natural Feminine/Romantic Creative/Innovative/Eclectic Dramatic/Bold Rebellious Elegant…
Jill Chivers of 16 Style Types and I have been asked to talk about wardrobe decluttering. Some of you may regularly declutter or edit your wardrobes (this is both my and Jill’s current approach, what you might call a ‘continuous assessment’ method), whilst others may do a larger spring clean every now and again. Jill…
Tips on Wardrobe Decluttering – with Imogen Lamport and Jill Chivers.
Handbags – I think they were my first fashion love (and gosh if I had any design skill, I’d love to be a handbag designer). Before shoes, for me, it was a handbag obsession which started in my university years. I have quite a collection of handbags and love to change up my bags with…
Winter is a time of year that allows you to throw on more, not less, which means it’s way easier to create more interesting outfits as you can keep adding layers of texture, pattern and adding details (unlike in summer, where even adding a “third piece” can be too much, which is why I’ve shared…
I have a business casual workplace, but do a lot of travel, and have many formal meetings in countries like the US and Europe. So I have many shirts, blouses and Jersey tops, and wear them mainly with light trousers suitable for the warm climate in which I work, and also for travel and business…
How we can we honour our style recipes in a retail world where quality is low, prices are high and individuality is minimum? I live in NYC and many of the interesting boutiques are gone and most stores carry very similar inventory. Honouring Your Style in a Mass Market Retail World To feel truly stylish…
Whenever I visit London (and I realised on the way over on the plane – in that 24 hours that is such fun in a tin tube – that it’s been 16 years since I was last here), I love to visit Liberty of London – just off Regent Street in Central London – as…
In this podcast episode, Jill Chivers of Shop Your Wardrobe and I discuss how solid garments can still be classed as heroes. Not all statement (hero) items are prints, so what other elements of garments can be heroes and how can you tell the difference between a hero print and an interest print. Which Kind…
Tell me …. are you often pushed for time? Do you want to know you look great without having to fuss or think too much? Know you can throw on an outfit and some accessories that go together and get out the door? This is what you get when you spend some time work (or…
The era of disposable fashion is coming to a close (well I really hope so), that buy it, wear it once or twice, then throw it out fashion that has been rampant in what is known as the “junior market” (that is the young women’s fashion 16 – 25 age market). And I believe that…
If you have a relaxed dressing style how do you still be yourself if you work in a corporate business environment? This is the topic of Jill Chivers of 16 Style Types and my podcast episode. Why are you expected to dress more formally anyway? Rather than consider corporate dress codes as an imposed restriction…
I bought my first pair of brogues back in the late 1980s, they were the fashion trend at the time – but with a long pointy toe (not quite a winklepicker but heading that way). My next pair arrived into my life in the early 1990s, a rounded toe, and traditional decorative perforations. A third…
When the temperature soars or the humidity is high, being both stylish and comfortable can become really tricky, particularly if your body shape doesn’t suit the wafty, floaty, waistless styles of clothing that end up the most comfortable in the heat. So what kinds of tops work when it’s hot, when a waisted style is…
How to lighten up a colourful, but medium to dark wardrobe for low/medium contrast value. Help Please! If you have overall lighter colouring but you’ve got an overall darker wardrobe, and realise that to look your best you need to lighten up your outfits – but you only have a medium value contrast – how…
