I did a few
quick laps at the mall at Bondi Junction yesterday in the afternoon. I sat down
for a late lunch at The Coffee Club (BLT sans dressing).
Bear in
mind that I live in the northwest – my locals malls are North Rocks & Carlingford
(with a customer a few years older than me), Castle Hill (my preference by far)
and Parramatta (I dislike this centre). Chatswood now has the Zara drawcard,
but it’s too crowded for my liking. If I want to clothes/accessory shop I go to
the city and Woollahra for very specific stores which are not found elsewhere
in Sydney.
I don’t
normally visit Bondi Junction unless I am in the area on business. I find all
its special stores can be found in the city, along with even more options, so
it makes more sense to go there instead.
So what did
I notice at BJ mall?
That the
people were dressed deliberately.
Without a
doubt, by far, this was the most outstanding tendency.
I'll repeat that because it's important and I don't want you to miss it.....I noticed that the people were dressed deliberately.
It wasn’t
that their clothing was expensive (although some were).
It wasn’t that
their accessories were expensive (although some were).
It was that
they took care to combine everything on their body with an eye for the details.
Nothing is thrown on randomly or last minute – the pieces are planned. And when their looks sent an effortless vibe, trust me, it had taken effort.
I am not
talking any super human effort here – just simple things like:
* Is my underwear invisible?
* Do my clothes fit properly?
* Do my clothes flatter my best features?
* Do my clothes hide my worse features?
* Do the colours I am wearing flatter my complexion?
* Do my accessories look well taken care of?
The above concerns are what makes a well dressed person. You can do all of this by yourself or,
if these things overwhelm you, you outsource it to someone else.
I can
guarantee you that if you take care of what you wear and how you look, you will
look better than if you don’t.
The other
interesting thing was that the clothes weren’t necessarily streets ahead in the
expensive stakes. Sure, there were regular sightings of cashmere sweaters
instead of wool, designer jeans and silk scarves, but there were a lot of non
descript basics which didn’t scream money.
What did
stand out though, were the accessories.
I'll repeat that, because it's important.
The accessories stood out.
Yes, there were a considerable amount
of designer labels and there was a freshness about them – nothing looked war
torn, like you see in the suburbs. It was these accessories which were selected
& thought out well, to make the person look special.
In my
world, freshness in accessories doesn’t mean buying the latest look head to toe
– it means looking after whatever look you have chosen and having one piece
that is current. Current can mean a colour, a shape, a silhouette, a texture or an actual item.
Just to be clear, even you'll nail the accessory requirement even if you accessories are old - as long as they are well looked after and somewhere in the mix, ONE piece nods to the current trends.
In summary, that's two words:
Deliberate &
Accessories (looked after & one current piece)
Just for good measure, here is a previous blog about dressing deliberately.
http://styleintoaction.blogspot.com.au/search/label/deliberate
.JPG)
