Last week’s blog post about stacking led me to think further about outfits and styling and my own thought process behind that too. I'm absolutely not saying I'm an expert or that anyone needs to do the same as me but I do find reading about someone else's style and styling process really fascinating. A bit like watching someone else do their make up!
Ok, so one of my roles during and after uni was for Topshop, working as a Style Advisor, which was a great job! It was so interesting to be able to style lots of different types of people in all shapes and sizes as I learned so much.
I think one of the things that first attracted me to vintage clothing was how it was made to flatter a woman’s shape. I’d spent all of my teens in low cut jeans that didn’t fit properly and clothes that were uncomfortable. Finally finding clothing that pulled in at the waist and actually gave room for a bum was a revelation!!
I love to create new looks and combinations with clothes and I think it’s absolutely vital to get to know your shape and figure out what flatters you. For example, I’m quite bottom heavy so I know that anything that balances this is better. I’ll go for slash necks, halternecks, strapless, off shoulder or high necks. I also know that I need to accentuate my waist as I look like a sack of spuds in anything that doesn’t have a waist. More than anything else, I'm a firm believer in the fact that clothes should always fit. It absolutely does not matter what size they are, as long as they fit well.
Fav brands for clothing at the moment are Miss Bamboo, Vivien of Holloway, Freddies of Pinewood, Violets in May, The Pretty Dress Company, She's Dynamite, Piplotex, Di Brooks, Vixen by Micheline Pitt and so, so many more! There'll be more blogs on this at a later date, fo shiz.
As I mentioned last week, colour is a BIG thing for me. It's great to pick 2-3 key colours for an outfit and then have an accent pop of colour. I actually think most people can wear most colours, as long as it's considered. For example, mustard is a tricky one for me so with a mustard top, I’d wear a black neck scarf so the mustard isn’t right by my face. I’d also make sure I’m wearing a really bright red lipstick and maybe a black cardi over the top.
I also think that accessories are extremely important (obviously!) so I tend to go top to toe with jewellery, a scarf, hat or hair flower, belt, shoes and bag to complement the outfit. I’m REALLY into coherent looks so, if I’ve got a western inspired daytime outfit, I’ll match everything accordingly. Brown boots, casual jewellery, more casual bag etc and Era is also a bit of a thing for me so I’ll try and make sure I’m matching eras as best I can but I’m in no way perfect at this! I'm also a bit of a stickler for my outfit being suitable for the event/day. I also style all of my shoots but I'll let you decide if that's a good thing or not!
All of this is well and good but I reckon the most important thing about fashion and clothes is to just have fun and express yourself. At the end of the day, if I feel good in what I'm wearing, it absolutely doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Life is for living!!
*As a side note, writing this and looking for images, I've realised how few really good photos I have of me and my friends! I'm sad that I have no photos of any of my grandparents in their old finery so note to self, take many lovely pictures whenever I can.*
