steps to a stress-free wardrobe
does choosing what to wear stress you out? Are you in the majority of women who wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time? How often have you stood in front of your bulging wardrobe and wailed “I haven’t got a thing to wear” before you start pulling clothes out, trying them on, and discarding them on the bed because you’re not happy with how they look or feel on you? You’re not happy with your body and you don’t know what suits you when you go shopping? Those feelings mean that, when you finally decide what you’re going to wear, you’re frequently not at all happy with the finished look, and sometimes you can be more focused on the way that you appear than on what you’re supposed to be doing – and that unhappiness will impact how others perceive you too! How would it feel: • To open your wardrobe doors and be able to put together an outfit with ease? • To look great without having to spend ages thinking about it? • To know how to draw attention to your good points, and how to detract attention from the not so good features?
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key principles If you want to stop the stress, there are four key principles to remember… The clothes you choose should work with: 1. Your Hair Colour, Eye Colour and Skin Tone Choosing colours with the right mix of depth, undertone and clarity will make you look vibrant and healthy. Choose the wrong colours and you’ll look washed out or overwhelmed by what you’re wearing. 2. Your Style Personality Choose clothes from designers and shops that create an overall look that matches your personality. 3. Your Lifestyle Choose based on what you are going to do in your clothes: either day to day, or for a specific event you’re going to.
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key principles
4. Your Body Shape, Scale and Proportions Choosing clothes that enhance the body you have (rather than the body you would like to have) will make you like what you see in the mirror more. That, in itself, will give you more confidence and reduce the stress you feel. So, think about whether your body outline is curved or straight; have you a large or small frame, and do you have a proportional imbalance that could benefit from employing some visual illusions? You might be put off by these key principles:
And, of course, you can, but sometimes you might see photos of the results and not like what you’re seeing. How do you feel at the moment following that approach? I assume you’re stressed since you’re reading this guide. Following the key principles will help to give some structure to your wardrobe so you always feel you have something to wear and know what suits you, whilst remaining authentic to your personality.
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body shape A lot of women aren’t sure what their body shape is… ….probably because so many different body shapes have been described in the media, however, there are essentially three types of silhouette and for simplicity I’ll focus on these in this guide: Ask yourself, is your body outline from your shoulders to your waist to your hips curved or straight? Body Outline
You have:
Look a bit like:
Curved Inward
A clearly defined waist
)(
Curved Outward
A waist which is larger than your hips
()
Straight
Little waist definition (waist and hips are a similar size) and can be very athletic
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clothes shapes Different body shapes suit different clothes shapes… No kidding! But sometimes you wouldn’t think that when women of all shapes and sizes wear the latest fashion because “that’s all there is to buy in the shops”. Whilst it might seem that way, if you know what works for your body shape, you will start to see that there are things that will work for you. Employing the key principles will save you time and money as you will be able to quickly discount many clothes. You will learn to scan a shop floor for colours, then shapes, that would enhance you - and ignore everything else! As a result, you will create a wardrobe that works for you. A wardrobe that you can stand in front of and choose what to wear without stress.
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clothes shapes
the inward curve Here are some key clothes shapes that work for an Inward Curve outline:
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clothes shapes
the outward curve Here are some key clothes shapes that work for an Outward Curve outline:
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clothes shapes
the straight outline Here are some key clothes shapes that work for a Straight outline
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fabrics Certain fabric patterns and weights work better with different body shapes: • Heavier fabrics will make you look bulkier • Curved body shapes work best with fabrics that drape and stretch • Stiffer fabrics will mask a lack of curves • Curved patterns work best on curved bodies • Stripes, checks and geometric patterns work best on straight bodies You can learn to use patterns at strategic points to draw the eye towards, or away from, a particular point on your body.
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combinations Make clothes work for their keep! The key to a wardrobe that works to make you look and feel fabulous all the time, and reduces the stress for you of deciding what to wear every morning, is only to buy items which you can combine with at least three other pieces in your wardrobe in order to create different looks. Doing this will allow you most flexibility to pull together outfits that work for most occasions.
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However, that doesn’t mean that you should go out and buy yet another pair of black trousers/white shirt/blue t-shirt, or whatever your particular buying habit is unless you’ve decided that you are going to adopt a specific “uniform” to wear all the time (like Steve Jobs). It means different colours, necklines, fabrics, shapes or patterns - and maybe stepping out of your comfort zone!
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combinations
But you don’t need a lot of clothes! There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with having a lot of clothes, but if you’re not wearing them because they don’t suit you or don’t fit, they are just adding to your stress. You could create 24 different outfits just with these 9 items in a capsule wardrobe:
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cost Is how much a new outfit costs usually the deciding factor for whether you buy it? How often have you shied away from an item that really catches your eye because it’s too expensive, and instead have ended up running out at the last minute to pick up a £15 top from the supermarket that you wear once but that’s OK “because it’s cheap”? Or you buy something in the sales because it was “a bargain” then never wear it at all? When you buy something new, think about how often you are likely to wear it. A new winter coat could be worn 100 times in a year and you might keep it for a couple of years. If you spent £100 on that coat, and wear it 200 times, the cost per wear is 50p. Compare that to the £15 per wear of the supermarket top. Which is cheaper now?
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cost
Do a quick calculation… If you know you are going to wear something a lot then spending a bit more will allow you to buy an outfit that’s a better quality. If you’re not driven by fashion trends but instead buy clothes which suit your bodyshape, that better quality item could stay in your wardrobe longer – so even if you spent more money, you could still achieve the same cost per wear overall. Obviously, there are going to be times when you will want to spend more on a special outfit you wear once or you may not have much money to spend on any outfit. That’s where you can put the key principles into play in the sales, on eBay, or in charity shops to buy some real bargains that you will wear time and again. Over time, you will create a co-ordinating capsule wardrobe that will serve all of your needs.
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take action Now you’ve got a bit of work to do… • Carry out a wardrobe audit and remove what isn’t right for you according to the key principles • If it doesn’t fit, don’t wear it, you won’t flatter yourself! • Look at which outfit combinations you can create • Identify the gaps you need to fill • Know which shops sell clothes for your colouring, body shape and style personality and start looking there - you can also quickly scan the websites of big department stores to see what they offer • Buy items that work for you when you see them in the shops – you can guarantee you won’t find them when you’ve got an event looming! • Don’t duplicate what you have in your wardrobe already (OK, maybe you can have two identical staples but only so you can have one on, and one in the wash )
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take action
Remember the key principles from now on‌ Buying a whole new wardrobe in one go is beyond the reach of most women, but using the steps in this guide means that you will eventually have a wardrobe full of clothes that work for you. You will be able to choose an outfit with ease - although bear in mind we have only scratched the very tip of the surface, and haven’t looked at your specific body shape and proportions. It may be that having an individual Image Makeover is something you have previously thought of as a luxury, but if you think about how much money you have wasted on clothes over the years, you will find it is a cheap investment in comparison to the expensive mistakes you have made buying clothes that hang unworn in your wardrobe.
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my belief‌ I believe when a woman changes her perception about herself, starting by changing what she sees in the mirror, it has a knock on effect that filters through her whole life, and the possibilities for what she can do then are endless. It may seem really superficial to put so much emphasis on appearance, but low self-esteem can be crippling. Feeling good about what you’re wearing helps to improve your overall confidence. You start to change your own internal dialogue through hearing some positive messages, and overcome some of the self-limiting beliefs that hold you back.
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