10 Ways with Pleated Skirts

I am not talking about the gaberdine wide box pleat sewn down version ours mums wore to go shopping at David Jones in the city. No my mum didnt do that either, but you get my drift. 

Pleated skirts started with Prada, Miu Miu & Valentino & are more sunray (slightly narrower at the waist & graduating to a touch wider at the hem), fine fabric (polyester, silk etc) without any sewn down parts.

Here's the Prada SS 2012 inspiration...

Best part? 
They are great for most body shapes including petites.
If you are petite, keep the length short & not anywhere near the floor. 

1. Shock 'em colours

 

2. Ice cream shades

3. Classic navy (or any dark colour)

 

Notice how the pleats are narrower at the top & at hip level, they automatically get wider,
(rather than graduating to wider)? This is a good way to control bulk around the tummy.

4. Sweater or sweatshirt

Not sure how she is managing to keep it assymetrical,
as half tucking in wouldnt be a wise idea (due to the bulk).

5. Beige loves white

Accents in leopard & red.

With black accents & a cotton or linen shirt.
Be careful. Linen has alot of body & if tucked in,
may add too much bulk in the waist area.

Ooh! Leopard sandals with sox.

6. With fur

7. With that denim jacket, always a denim jacket

8. With a paper bag waist 

This is a good one for those carrying weight around their middle. Lift the skirt up your ribcage to the narrowest part of your torso. Cinch with a 2 cm wide leather belt for a more sophisticated look.

9. With a leather jacket

10. Preppy style

If navy is your black, its a marathon not a sprint.

This is important, so you have an obligation to Style into Action to read it.

I was recently chatting to a lady around my age, who has fair colouring & low contrast between hair & skin. She was wearing black and indicated she wears a lot of black.

I asked her if she has considered navy as it is softer & flatters light complexions better.

She agreed with me, but went into bit of a spiel about how navy is very hard to find.  

Hhhm.

If you want something in navy today, yes it may be hard to find.

If you want to build up the navy component of your wardrobe, its not something where you wave your navy wand & its done. You need to keep your eyes & ears open over a number of seasons.

As someone very clever said about fashion “it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

If you expect to plug most of your wardrobe gaps in 1 or 2 shopping sprees, you are destined for disappointment. Every time I hear a stylist offer the “shopping option for re-building the wardrobe” I shake my head. Off the rack is too unpredictable to be able to re-build anyone’s wardrobe in a day to two of spreeing. 

So if you want to plus some navy gaps for year round wear & its winter? You may have better luck waiting until spring for transeasonal pieces – too many stylists will encourage you to buy the navy pieces that are on offer at the time of the sprint – eg: a heavy sweater, a roll neck (but you are busty) or a tealy-navy which is all the rage this winter (even though you look better in grey based navys). After all, the items did look OK on you & we are out shopping, & its navy-ish, so lets go for it. 

Wrong. OK is not good enough and just because its navy, doesn’t mean its right. For you. By remembering that effective wardrobe building can only be done over a long stretch, you can hold back here. With confidence.

So how long does it take? It depends on how grand your requirements are. If you want a couple of navy tops it may only take 1-2 seasons & often less than that. If you want a selection of capsule pieces in navy to replace the black component of your wardrobe, it will take 4 seasons (two summers & two winters) in my opinion, to get to a workable collection. Plus it would continue to be an ongoing thing part that.

The lady I was talking to wasn’t a 16 year old who loves to turn over her wardrobe with fast fashion trends every week. She was a mature woman who favours classics. She liked to shop. 

But she didn’t think that there was any navy which she had missed in the last few years. I beg to differ. Navy wasn’t there last season, but it was there for a couple of seasons about three years ago - & that’s just as a distinct trend (in addition to navy bits & pieces along the way).

Like I said:
If navy is your black, its a marathon not a sprint. 

PS: The runway is Preen SS 2013. In navy of course. 

10 Ways with a green gown (& a Bottega knot)

Pick a Bottega Veneta knot:

Then pick a green gown:

Giambattista Valli

Issa

Bibhu Mohapatra

St John

Erdem

Halston

Monique Lhuillier

Reem Acra

Roberto Cavalli

Elie Saab

The beauty of green for formals is that its not a common colour - so you will stand out.

The only tricky part is selecting the shade of green which best suits your complexion.  Everyone has a shade which they can wear with stunning results.