A series of 5 articles. Part 5 of 5.
Fashion can be used in various ways - to express yourself or as I talked about before, use it to make you feel in some way. Here are my 6 best tips on how to use fashion to your advantage, and how to build the perfect wardrobe.
1. Find garments or accessories that make you feel like your best self! The key here is to find something that genuinely makes you happy. And most importantly, makes you feel good! This can be a blazer, a top that you love, a work bag that makes you feel professional or a scarf in a color that you love.
2. Make an association to the garment/accessory so you think of confidence or courage when you wear it. Wear it on those days that you need it, or everyday! I personally use my blazers (and I have a few favorites with shoulder pads) that give me that confidence boost.
3. My best shopping tip: If I find a garment that I like, I usually don't buy it right away. If I walk away and continue with my day, and still think about the garment a lot after that, I know it's a good buy. If I forget it and don't think about it that much, I'll most likely forget that I even have it in my closet. That’s how I bought my best pieces that I absolutely love! Also, a good guideline to buy key pieces is to think of three outfits you'd match the new garment with.
Picture example below: I chose the blazer and the Signature briefcase here as key garments. Here, I've created a small wardrobe of basic garments in matching colors that all can be matched together to get different styles. This makes it easier if you’d like to add a seasonal or trendy garment into your wardrobe, like accessories, colorful jackets and so on.
4. Build a wardrobe with basic garments like a good pair of jeans, tops in neutral colors and other pieces that you can match in various ways to create different looks. Add key pieces and you’ll have a wardrobe with less garments, but many outfits. Use for example Pinterest to find inspiration, this makes it easier when you look for new garments or clean out the closet! Less is more! Invest in quality pieces, that you know you feel good in.
5. What part of your body do you love the most? It's the first question you should ask yourself. Then focus on enhancing that! Switch the mindset from hiding to showing off.
6. Find out what colors and styles that fit your skin tone. There's absolutely no right or wrong, but as a stylist we always work to enhance the body of the client, not hide it! So find out what undertone you have, warm or cold (or neutral) and what colors that fit you the best. Intense colors or pastels? The face can feel more alive and energized when using the right colors! Here's a quick guide;
Undertone
- Cool undertone characteristics: blue/purple veins, you look better in silver and you get easily burnt in the sun.
- Warm undertone characteristics: Green veins, you look better in gold and you easily get a tan in the sun.
- Neutral undertone characteristics: blue/green veins, goes well with both silver and gold etc.
Only determined by your undertone, we can't say that a color works better than the other - but we can say that a share or tone of the color works better. Warm skin tone = warmer shades in the color like red and yellow. For a cold skin tone, go for more blue, purple and green colors. Neutral goes well with both.
So, how do I know if I fit better in light blue or dark? This is where it gets interesting. The second aspect we look at is the contrast between your skin and your hair color. If the contrast is low (for example fair skin with blonde hair or tan skin with darker hair) - the recommendation is to try lighter colors with more white or black - creating pastels or neutral colors. People who have a high contrast (like dark tan skin with black or colored hair, or fair skin with black hair) - can pull off clearer, sharper colors a bit easier.
The closer the hair color is to the skin - the lower the contrast. The higher the contrast - the brighter of a color (and vice versa). There's absolutely no right or wrong, for example there's more than 400 shades of the color red, so look for a color with the right shade and tone and your skin will glow! But most importantly - choose what colors you like the best, and have the courage to try something outside your comfort zone.
Use fashion to your advantage. One of my favorite quotes is “visualize your highest self, then show up as her”, and this goes so well with fashion. When I visualized what I wanted to feel like when I walked into my future office, it also became clear what I wanted to wear when I did. I wanted to wear a nice suit with some heels, some cool black sunglasses, crystal jewelry and a stylish laptop bag (maybe also a small poodle with a glitter necklace). So that's what I started building my wardrobe on, and now basically everything I own is suits and sparkly jewelry. It makes me feel like a successful business woman every day, walking towards my dreams, simply because I choose to do so.
xx Sofia
