245: Colour and Style Q&A: Curated Wardrobe, Beige Outfit, and Creating a Go To Outfit.

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What challenges me is how to move from my existing wardrobe to a more curated style – especially with a restricted budget.
I have a really nice light beige dress pants and jacket that I really like to wear in summer. As an “enigmatic”, I tend to wear it with a darker top.
I was thinking it would be nice to get some more wear out of it before winter sets in. Would you have any ideas how to wear it? or should I just forget about it until next summer?
I love my taste in fashion and I have fun with it too. But, getting dressed for work in the morning is a real pain. I love looking put together and I have very nice clothes but lack the desire to take the time and effort to do so. Since my job is casual I mostly opt for activewear (cute activewear though). I wish for the motivation to wear those faves in my closet

243: Colour and Style Q&A: Greens, Stay Warm in Cold Office, and Flattering Clothes.

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Can you reinforce for me the difference between cool and warm greens. I know olive is warm but it is those greens that are somewhat sage and those that are mint greens that confuse me.
I would love to know how to stay stylish and warm in a cold office? I feel my style is ruined as everything nice I wear leaves me cold and I have to always wear a big cardigan. My other issue is that I am slim but often get bloated so what looks good in the morning has me wanting to cover up by evening. Any hacks for this other than more cardigans?
I don’t know how to put things on that are actually flattering. I need clothes that are comfortable and practical as I live on a farm, but when I do go out and want to look more stylish when I see pics of myself I can’t believe I went out looking like that.

242: Colour and Style Q&A: Retired Wardrobe, Personal Style, and Seasonal Clothes

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I’ m having trouble working out how my wardrobe needs to change, heading towards planned retirement. I”m Still struggling to reduce the size of my wardrobe. Particularly knowing whether it’s really worth keeping the items that only get worn once in a blue moon.
I feel that I do not fit in and have had people comment on my relaxed style being not feminine and being told that I should wear more dresses and consider wearing makeup. I have short hair and I am considered to be weird and strange as I love the outdoors, watersports and rugby.
How to make summer clothes look more seasonal

239: Colour and Style Q&A: Farm lifestyle, Black neutrals, and Black Wardrobe.

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I’m a farmer’s daughter / farmer / farmer’s wife / farmers mother so my lifestyle has always needed comfortable & practical clothes. I’m now 70 & recently retired.
I still want my clothes to be comfortable & practical but I want to wear pretty & smart things as well. Your quiz says Relaxed but the colours you link to that are revolting…. they belong down the paddock up to my ears in mud or dust. Please can we have some Nice, Pretty, Smart & Practical style suggestions with no heels in sight?
My neutrals are black, navy and grey in the autumn/winter, and beige in the spring/summer. I’ve got a good capsule wardrobe and I look after my clothes. I am definitely a classic but being retired, it’s mostly casual. I always wear jewellery and makeup.
However, to make everything work better together I need to get over my aversion to wearing black and navy together – do I need to drop one of these colours? My accent colours are reds and turquoise/teal, both of which I love but, again, I’m not so keen on wearing them together in an outfit.
I have a few handbags in neutral colours plus tan, but have recently settled on a good grey leather bag, which seems to go with everything, and means I don’t need to change my bag very often, something I’m bored with doing.
How to introduce color (not primary) into my basically black wardrobe.

238: Colour and Style Q&A: Petite, Caribbean Descent Body, and Stylish at 50s.

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I’m 5 foot tall. Even where there are petite ranges, the ‘petite’ element seems only to apply to width, and not height as well. I know I’m well under the average, but I find it difficult to believe that a size 8/10 is likely to be for the same height person as a size 16/18. Plus sizes have whole ranges – petite seem only to be a percentage (and not a large one) of a store/line’s merchandise. Finding something that fits – it’s a challenge, and often dispiriting.
In light of the pandemic and my gaining more weight than losing it, I believe my shape has become an “O.”
I am of Caribbean descent and therefore have inherited more behind than hips. How should I take this into account when figuring out what to wear. I can’t seem to find anyone — either online or in books — who takes this into account. I don’t have wide hips just a big bodacious backside.
I’ve lost 70 pounds in the last eight months. I’m not sure I even know what is supposed to be stylish for someone that is in their 50’s.

236: Colour and Style Q&A: Retired, Petite, and Casual.

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I’m retired, have a large bust and am petite plus have lymphedema so need compression stockings – I find it hard to find attractive clothes that work for me It’s a struggle to find items I like.
I am a petite O and recently bought a summery print skirt that is the right length ( top of my knee) according to your formula. I wore it with a solid knit top again the right length ( high hip, just covering the fullest part of my belly), but I see they are just about equal in length! Do I just go with it or do you have another thought?
I’m retired and have nothing between more formal corporate clothes and super casual as my life is now very casual and doesn’t suit the classic/formal clothing style I’ve been living in for many years and some guidance is needed!

232: Colour and Style Q&A: INFJ, go to outfits, and mixing neutral with undertone.

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I’m an INFJ and the idea that I can “let style slip” in favor of comfort and versatility (from 16 style types) really resonated with me. I love clothes, and this still happens! What can I do to combat this tendency and keep committing to outfits that have unique style?
I think the hardest thing, I am not a morning person, so I don’t do a lot of thinking before my first cup of coffee and my wardrobe is so uninspiring that I often don’t get dressed until I absolutely have to.
Additionally I sew as a hobby and would love to sew things for myself but the last few items looked great on the mannequin but just didn’t suit me. Needless to say, I haven’t made anything for myself in a while.
I’ve been wondering, can I mix neutrals with different undertones, such as black with warm grey or cool taupe with warm navy? Finding a truly cool navy has been a challenge for me.

231: Colour and Style Q&A: Value and Colour, Contrast, and Changes.

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My question is about value and color, given that mine seem to change drastically based on lighting. Regardless of lighting, my skin has a lot of color, but my eyes and hair both seem to do a pretty drastic shift in color and value based on lighting when I look at myself in photos ., I’m really not sure how to interpret my value contrast. I would love to hear your advice on the topic!
I have a more yang physicality (body—larger bones, a relatively straight waist) but am otherwise quite yin (personality/voice/movement/facial features). How does one deal with this contrast to create a harmonious look?
My biggest style challenge at the moment is how to get the courage to make the drastic changes I know I need to make with my image and style. I’m 35 and I’ve had zero style for so long that I worry that if I suddenly start wearing makeup and flattering clothes and beautiful jewellery, I’ll feel clownish or like I’m playing dress up.
I’d say my ideal style is 70% relaxed, 20% feminine and 10% unique/quirky. But my actual current ‘style’ is whatever is boring, comfortable and cheap 

228: Colour and Style Q&A: How can I dress my portrait area? Why is it so hard to form my own style? How to formulate a capsule wardrobe?

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I’ve just had thyroid surgery and, as a result, I have a 7cm scar on the front of my lower neck. How can I “dress” my portrait area without drawing attention to the scar or having to wear scarves or jewellery over it?
My style isn’t cohesive enough. When I make moodboards, they feel to all-over-the-place and don’t convey a unified style. Of course, I could just set artificial limits for my style, and that would make my wardrobe cohesive, but I don’t want to do that. I want my likes and personality to form one unified, visually appealing and memorable style. Like a wardrobe for a fantasy character. I want my style to be beautiful, distinctive, cool, and memorable, like a cool eccentric character. I love creating characters. When I design their wardrobes, it comes really easily to me, to make a distinctive, visually appealing clothing style for my characters. But when I try doing it for myself, it’s too messy and incohesive. I just don’t understand, why is it so hard to form my own style? I’ve been at it for 5 years now. It’s so easy to create a style for a character. When I create a character, I know their characteristics and create a visual style based on that.
How to formulate a capsule wardrobe to take me into the next phases of my life – 50s 60s 70s?

227: Colour and Style Q&A: What are the specifics for cheap jewellery? How to icorporate my darker greens into my wardrobe? What to wear when you’re petite and plus size?

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In a video you said that you look at the details of jewelry to avoid buying “cheap”. What specific things do you avoid? What specific things do you want?
I want to incorporate my darker greens into my wardrobe but am having trouble working out the best neutral to go with them. My palette is “Elegant”: Value contrast medium/high, Colour contrast medium. Charcoal and greys seem to make the greens quite dull and my burgundy make me look like a Christmas decoration. Think need a happy medium, something that will give the green a “bite” without going too “carnival”. Is there a neutral that would do the trick?
What to wear when you’re petite and plus size

226: Colour and Style Q&A: How can I look more feminine, new ways to wear your clothes, and find clothes for large hips.

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I would love to feel feminine in my clothes. I have V figure (strong) and have always felt very masculine because of it. And I was not born with style. So it is always struggle to choose and combine clothes and I rarely feel good in what i chose. And with my figure it is always Problem to find nice clothes which match my back and breasts and wouldn’t be too big around belly.
How can I look more feminine while flattering my V shape figure?
My biggest style problem is to think of new ways to wear my clothes. I don’t get new clothes very often at all. I like thinking of (and wearing) new outfits, but I don’t have a whole lot of clothes so I sometimes really run out of ideas. Any ideas?
I’ve discovered as I have been trying to find clothes large enough to fit around my newly enlarged hips I have way too much fabric from my waist to my inseam in the front. Is my only hope a tailor to customize clothes or is there a special size or rise or shape that might help?

225: Colour and Style Q&A: How to avoid looking frumpy, how to evolve your style, and dressing the casual life.

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It’s my understanding that people gain weight during covid. I used to pants. Now I tend to only wear elastic pants, skirt, top and dress. How to avoid looking frumpy?
My new challenge is focussing more on how to evolve my style. I am happy with my style but keen to branch out further and avoid ruts.
I have a casual life and would like to know how to look polished in comfortable clothes. I believe that when you look good, you feel good.

224: Colour and Style Q&A: Personal style, pants, and stylish mum.

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I never know my personal style, I feel overwhelmed with all the pictures I see on social media and what clothes I like and then when I end up buying clothes they either don’t look right on me or I don’t feel good or confident in them, that’s one of the reasons I feel shopping so difficult.
It seems that cropped pants are very popular right now. I’ve tried on some in stores, but couldn’t find any that looked good on me. My legs and body are the same length, but my thighs are long and my legs from knee to ankle are short. My ankles are slim, but I have big feet. The slim legged cropped pants make my hips look very wide and my feet very large. The larger legs look equally bad. I’m an H shape with a flat butt. I normally wear slim cut pants that are straight leg or boot cut, but I’d like something cooler for casual summer wear. Most all the blogs say to never wear capris, but I’m wondering if capris the same length as my ideal skirt length wouldn’t be my best bet. You posted a blog with a very complicated mathematical formula for finding the best skirt length. Mine is at the bottom of my knee and I think that is right
I have work clothes, church clothes, social and dressy clothes. I’ve never been much into leisure wear. Now that I am at home I don’t have “stay-at-home nice clothes”. I don’t want to wear my work clothes and ruin them but I don’t have nice casual clothes. I hate “tight-feeling” clothes like jeans when I want to be comfy. I don’t have any visitors or anyone coming to the door. Any suggestions?