New season looks exciting!!

It was great going shopping last week. But then I always say that! LOL. However I was really excited to see the new season clothes flooding into the shops. It always makes me happy when fashion starts to align with real woman's actual body shapes.

For instance. While the tunic/over dress is still huge, the shape is not so billowy or full. I am seeing lovely cuts, with more nipped in waists. And for those dresses that are still generous with fabric that you can loose your body in, there are gorgeous tailored blazers everyone that you can throw on over the top and instantly create a great shape. Which is YOUR shape! Boobs, waist, hips - hooray, the perfect womanly hourglass shape.

Lots of great colours for both warm and cool tones. Double Yay. Another thing I am loving is the mix of fabrics. Gorgeous cotton cardigans with satin sleeves, or knit tops with chiffon or see-through draped sleeves. Sigh. Its bliss!

Enjoy this season, its going to be great. More news to come with some more specific bits and pieces that I really like. Stay tuned - stay colourful!!!

Trudi www.wardrobeflair.com

Combining colours with confidence!

Did you know that by combining interesting colours together, your outfit takes on a whole different look? In the simplest form, adding colours to base colours like black, grey and brown can give amazing results. For instance, if you are wearing all black, then a bright, chunky necklace in a fabulous colour will make others stop and say 'gosh, you are looking great today'. Even if you are wearing the same old clothes you have been for ages.

People can become obsessed with matching. So often I see a woman walking down the street wearing say a black and white patterned skirt, with a black top and black shoes. Well co-ordinated you say, but to my eye I see TOO much matching and zero added colour. I would have her in the skirt, a coloured top and maybe silver sandals with matching or colour contrasting jewellery.

What colours go with what you ask? Cool colours with cool, warm with warm. Lets take burnt orange. A safe combination would be with brown, a daring partner would be with the sludgy light green that is currently out in the shops. I wear these two colours together often and always have people say 'wow, I wouldn't have put those together but they really do work" in a very bemused voice!

Wearing colours does take confidence, but the key is to start slowly and work up to combining your colours together. I helpful hint is to look at the colours on patterned skirts, dresses and accessories. Often these are well combined - but not always! So if you pick up that dark purple skirt with bright lime green swirls, then yes, you can see the colours together look amazing. If the skirt scares you, think about buying a purple T-shirt and a simple long string of lime green beads with a pair of jeans. Easy, but a fun and interesting outfit.

Trudi www.wardrobeflair.com

Clothing Swap parties sweep the nation

I love fashion phases. The ingenuity of people who realise that they still need to buy clothes, but the recession or even fear of the recession has made people a lot more wary of spending lots of money on clothes.

The second-hand clothes market boomed last year. Savemart, Sallies and Trademe were the main benefactors of people's hard earned clothing cash. I was totally in my element! I LOVE second-hand shopping and being able to show people how to do it effectively and breaking down some stigma barriers was great.

However, we are now riding the wave of the NEW phase of Clothing Swap Parties.! Whoa ho!! Let's swap!! I think this is a great idea. However, being just a tad 'anal' about getting it right I do however think there is a whole lot of swapping going on, but swapping of bad clothes, for more bad clothes?

Unless you have had your colours and shape analysis done, how do you know the new '5' items you picked up will not sit in your wardrobe like the 5 items you gave away? hmmmm, a bit tricky. My suggestion is this. Either invest in getting a one-on-one with someone, and finding out this info so you continue to save money on clothes irrespective as to whether you buy second-hand, new or swap. Or check out my website for the newest option, a colour and clothing swap party all in one! www.wardrobeflair.com

Colours done, consultant on hand to run the show to make sure its fair AND to make sure what you pick up, is right! Two and a half hours of fun, colours, clothing, trying on and basically having a consultant on hand like your own personal shopper. Plus some new items for the wardrobe.

Jump on the swap bandwagon. What a great way to recycle, pick up some new bits and pieces and get rid of all that stuff you just don't wear. Key things to remember when organising a swap party. Think about who you are inviting. If you are all roughly the same size it does help. But if not, then make sure everyone brings LOTS of clothes and ask them to bring pieces that are too big or too small so you cover as many sizes as possible.

Trudi www.wardrobeflair.com

Super Swimwear

Greetings to all and a very happy new year. I hope you have all had a great break and managed to stay DRY! Goodness me! Who would have thought the summer in our wonderful city of Wellington could have been quite so nasty?

But its not over yet and there are plenty of day and hopefully sunshine to go. Therefore I am going to stay positive and still post about swimwear - even if we haven't managed too much outdoor swimming.

As always a logical approach is needed when buying swimwear. You need to break your body down into two sections - upper and lower. The considerations you need to take into account are as follows:

UPPER - what is the size of your chest? if its above a cup size C, you need to have medium to large sized straps, a plunging neckline in V or round and great support. A block colour may also slim down this area as will great panelling if you are opting for a one-piece. How is your tummy looking? (loaded question I know considering so many of us have had kids!) but if its an area you want to hide, then opt for that one-piece, and try and find rouching on the side of the costume. Pattern is your FRIEND when your tummy is bigger so go for a medium sized pattern.
Those that have a smaller upper body and chest size need to go with a higher neckline or a padded bikini or suit. There seem to be a lot of them around at the moment (yay!)

LOWER - if you have larger thighs than your upper body then go for the 'boy shorts' rather than a higher cut pant. This is much more flattering. Boy shorts are also quite good at being a little higher on the tummy if you are going for a bikini. Those that don't have thighs should do the opposite and wear a higher cut bottom.

Use pattern to your advantage. For instance a smaller chested woman can wear a patterned upper 'tankini' and a block coloured pair of boy shorts if she also has some curves below. The opposite being a larger chest woman having a block top and if she is smaller below than above, then a patterned or floral pair of bottoms would be idea.

There are many great swim-wear shapes out there suited to ALL body shapes. So just step back, assess your body, break it into sections and deal with each section rather than trying to look at the whole body in despair and thinking nothing suits you. It does!

Happy swimming! Happy holidays!
Trudi www.wardrobeflair.com

Pretty Party Frocks

Great word isn't it. Frocks. And, contrary to what a lot of people think, dresses are just SO low maintenance. No matching needed. All in one. Easy peezey I say, but most of you would disagree and say it's a nightmare to find the right one.

However I am here to help you with a few rules when perusing those racks of shiny, shimmering numbers.

Here we go, pretty frocks rule 101.

If strapless, then wide straps - you can always put a bolero or tie cardigan over them so don't be afraid of buying them.
A nice fitted band under the chest. This nips your waist in, even if you don't have much of one. It does the same job of creating an hourglass figure. Out with chest, in with waist and out again with hips.
Generosity around the tummy. It might be a fold, a bit of rouching. Anything that skims the tummy is great.
Gradual A-line skirt that falls to just below the knee. Covers hips, balances out larger boobs.
If stuck on colours, silver for cool tones, gold or bronze for warmies.

Favourite shops for dresses. At the moment there are a few. I particularily like Jacqui E dresses. Well-cut, good shapes, always usually have a good amount with the above critera.

If the dress is plain, then bling it up with a great, chucky necklace - see www.wardrobeflair.com if you have problems with this. Colour shoes are also a great way of giving an outfit a boost.

Patterned dresses, keep the accessories simple.

Most of all, enjoy wearing it! Stay away from boring black. Choose colour. Accessorise. Feel comfortable but stylish in your dress.

Happy and safe festive season everyone. www.wardrobeflair.com

Warm tones can't find clothes

Just a quick note to all those Warm tones.

Can't find any clothes? I just wanted to say, it's not you, have haven't suddenly lost your knack for scanning and finding warm tones. There just ISN'T ANY!

It is pretty dire. Take heart, the new season stuff should filter down into the shops in the next few weeks and maybe, just maybe, it will have some warm tones.

If not, its operation Savemart, Salvation Army and Trademe. When the seasons are not kind to a particular palette, it just means we have to find other ways of sourcing our clothes.

Good luck warmies! Fingers crossed we shall get some new season clothes soon. Cool tones, enjoy your moment. The shops are FLOODED with colour for you.

Always plenty of new stock jewellery for both warm and cool tones online at www.wardrobeflair.com

Green - great or gross?

I know these seems like a bizarre post. About a colour? But over the many years of looking through people's wardrobes and hearing reactions to certain colours and shapes, what stands out is that SO MANY people have a real dislike/hatred/phobia towards the colour green.

I can almost guarantee you that at some stage this week, I shall drape a green cloth over someone and they will say 'oh yuck green, I never wear green, I just really don't like that colour."

Why is this? If I ever went back to school to study, I would do a thesis on why people dislike the colour green. What most people don't realise about colour is that there is a warm and cool counterpart. If you drape a cool tone in a warm khaki green they stick their tongue out and pull a face. They should! It looks awful. HOWEVER if we drape them in a bright, clear green, it looks amazing.

Here are 2 of my rather silly theories about why people don't wear green.
1. Too many of us had green uniforms for school. It put us off. We had to wear it for so many years we had a lifetimes worth of green.
2. NZ is a very green country. Maybe we don't want to blend into the bushes? (I know this is getting silly... but there has GOT to be a reason!)

If anyone else has any other theories as to why people dislike green, send them to me. I am strangely interested in the weirdness of this! I almost feel like I have to get to the bottom of it. The people who say they don't like green often can't tell me why. But then they see the RIGHT green on and can SEE it look great, but they still struggle with it. Its like its ingrained in them that they can't wear it? Strange but true.

Me, I LOVE green. The reason is that I have hazel/green eyes. When I wear green it makes them look greener. I also LOVE green on people with blue eyes. I believe it even looks better than blue on blue-eyed people. Its the contrast of the blue eyes on green near the face. Looks sensational.

So people of NZ. Wear more green!!! there is the right green for you out there. You won't blend into the forest - unless you are in camouflage gear and NEED to blend in.
www.wardrobeflair.com