LH AGENDA > personal style

personal style

I was chatting to one of my favourite clients about what she loves about using a stylist and she was saying it’s really about the confidence it gives her. Projecting style starts with your attitude and feeling good about yourself. Many people have the following misconceptions about being stylish, are you one of them too?

You have to be a size 6 model to be stylish

So not true!!! Being stylish has absolutely nothing to do with your size, it’s about working with what you’ve got and showing off your best assets.

Being stylish is expensive

Nah ah.. You can still be stylish on any budget, whether you have $50 to spend at Target or $5000 to spend at Prada, looking good isn’t about money, it’s about choosing what shows you off to your best advantage. Styling should be made easy and it shouldn’t look like you have tried too hard, otherwise it just won’t look quite right.

Here are 8 helpful tips to keep styling simple;

Step #1- Invest in basics

Invest in quality basics as they will be your starter point to all outfits. By basics, I mean;

Jeans
Black Pants
T-shirt
Blazer
Collared shirt
Little black dress
Sweater
Cardigan
Singlet top
Knee length skirt

Seed Blazer

Country Road White top

Witchery Charcoal Cardigan

AG Jeans – Willow from David Jones

Step #2- Accessorise

Have fun with accessories. Add unique accessories such as jewellery, scarves, bags to make your true style stand out.

Try the Mimco Love Not War Scarf

Step #3- Check the fit

Make sure all your clothes fit, try on all your garments and look at yourself in the mirror…I mean reeeeaaally look at yourself and ensure you check the following;

Buttons and zips should be easy to do up
You should be able to move comfortably
Garments should have smooth not puckered seams
Hemlines should hang level, ensure pant hemlines just touch your instep and cover approximately half of your heel

Step #4- Know your Assets

Know your assets and show them off. If you love your legs then don’t be afraid to wear that short skirt that make your legs look oh so long!

Step #5- Understand Fabrics

Understand how fabrics drape on your body. Shiny fabrics reflect light and make areas look larger. Dense textured fabric, i.e. tweed will absorb the light and can be used to hide problem areas.

Step #6- Love your clothes

Treat your wardrobe as an investment that you are building slowly, piece by piece to eventually be full of clothes that you actually love.

Step #7- Dress everyday

Make an effort to dress up everyday, even if you aren’t going out. This will change your attitude to be more positive plus give you the confidence to try new styles.

Step #8- Be true to yourself

Know your style and be true to it. Be confident and don’t get caught out by buying what’s ‘in fashion’ if it is not truly you.

Finally, the next time you feel like it’s all too hard and revert to throwing on the trackies and a baggy t-shirt, take some advice and ask yourself, how do those trackies actually make you feel?

Shannon Johnson

Shannon Johnson is a Personal Fashion Stylist and Director of Living for Style. Living for Style is all about easy styling for the people without the time to really think about what to wear. If you get up in the morning and often wonder.. What am I going to wear? Then she would love to help! With over 10 years experience in fashion and 5 of those years based in London she has the knowledge and know how to give you the opportunity to feel confident and shine. Shannon is currently based in the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

Featured image: J Y F

Working 9 to 5 no longer echoes the typical work situation of women in this day and age. There is less pressure to commit to time and location when it comes down to getting the work done. Trust these tools to enhance the work experience and dynamics of your team.Work places that are ‘virtually friendly’ exhibit a culture that is accepting of cross-location work, across time zones, geography and simply working from home. As technology continues to impress us with its capabilities and functionality, we are expected to reciprocate these tools into more effective virtual experiences that sometimes exceed those face-to-face experiences! So how does technology enable us to work from anywhere? Any time?

Virtual Tools

Collaborative Documents

Google Drive Ad Screenshot

Web-enabled users can work and edit on the same document in real time. We can bypass the rigour of sending through a single document through the network of your company by using collaborative document tools like Google Drive and Microsoft Skydrive. Not only can multiple users be working on the same document, it can also track history and comments. Also, the timeless predicament of what comes after version v0.99 is a worry of the past with some having inbuilt version control features.

Virtual Meetings

Microsoft Live Meeting Screenshot

Conducting meetings online are not only more interesting, collaborative and effective, but they avoid the hassle of booking a room and herding everyone in. Using tools like Windows Live meetings or Team Viewer, users can comfortable see your presentation and contribute to the discussion. Features like drawing, desktop share or switch presenter can make it all the more engaging and truly communicate your message.

Web Conferencing

Whether it is audio or video conferences, conferencing tools enhance the work experience through greater interactivity. This not only gives an added dimension to meetings through visuals or the audio but it also becomes more engaging. Google Hangout have additional functionality to share Google Docs so that you and your team can truly benefit from a multi-dimensional workspace. This can help overcome some of the obstacles typical of office meeting rooms like procrastination, focus and multi-tasking.

File and Folder Sharing

Dropbox

File sharing and storage is critical to group collaboration. Dropbox is one tool that can enable file and access management. You can select which folders you want to share with your team, which ones are public and, by default, the rest would be personal. Cloud storage tools such as Dropbox can maintain the most recent version and track who last updated the file. Best of all, it removes those annoying emails with version changes whilst keeping inbox storage low!

More effective virtual experiences that sometimes exceed those face-to-face experiences!

We can now remove that conventional idea that sitting in an office is the most effective way to work. You no longer have to physically next to your team to get the most of team meetings. Knowing these virtual friendly tech tools, you can now literally work from anywhere. Trust these tools to enhance the work experience and dynamics of your team. Do you currently use any of these tools or know of any others? We’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Sandra Haddad

Sandra is a business analyst currently working in a financial services firm in Sydney. She loves fashion and is passionate about innovative new technology.

Featured Image Credit

I have picked 3 of the key trends from the international catwalks to add to your workwear this year! I hope you caught my first article on monochrome!

The next big trend for 2013 is Green! Every year Pantone ‘the global colour authority’ picks a colour from its extensive range to be its chosen hue and this year it’s emerald green.

Green is the new black ladies!

Emerald Green

emerald green

Untold Boatneck Sleeveless Top Was $95 Now $48 (House of Fraser)
Ottoman Hands Circle Drop Earrings $41.06 (ASOS)
Fever Polly Peplum Dress $199 (Frockoholics)
Joseph Watch Short Stretch Cotton Blazer $505 (Net A Porter)
Tiffany Villa Paloma Palm Bead Bracelet $975
Giuseppe Zanotti Lagoon Suede Pumps Was $500 Now $250 (Style Bop)
L’Wren Scott Pencil Skirt $845 (Style Bop)
Jill Sander Emerald Leather New Malavoglia Bag $1645 (Style Bop)
Alannah Hill At Your Service Dear Belt $119
Nicole by OPI Khloe Had A Little Lam-Lam Nail Polish $14.90

Tips on wearing green:

Wear with gold, red, silver or rose jewellery.
Pair green with white, blue, pink, purple, gold, grey or black.
Best colour shoes to wear with green? Beige, black, brown, yellow, red, pink, purple or even leopard print. Lots of choices depending on your office environment!
If you don’t see yourself wearing green just add green accessories to your wardrobe: a bag, belt, jewellery, shoes or even nail polish!

Green is such an easy addition and there are different shades to suit every skin tone!

But which green?

Olive and emerald greens are great for brunettes and dark skin types.
Bright green is a great choice for warm blondes.
Mint green is a good colour for ash blonde and grey hair.
And you lucky redheads any shade of green is great for you!

Will you be adding green to your Autumn work wardrobe?

Stay tuned for my final instalment of ‘Key Trends For 2013!

Mama Stylista

Mama Stylista is a Mother, Stylist, Presenter and Blogger with over 15 years experience in fashion having worked as a fashion buyer, event organiser and stylist. Founder of the ‘Mama Stylista‘ blog that combines Motherhood and Fashion!

Editors Picks

We loved this story and emerald green soo much that we got all inspired and went on a hunt for our favourite pieces. Here they are:

Leaders in Heels Editor in Chief Kasia loves…

VIKTOR & ROLF Long Sleeve Sheath Dress, Shopbop $1160

And Style Editor Sharon loves…

Design Studio Stone Teardrop earrings $29.95 at MYER

Featured Image: Swamibu

Unless you get a taxi from door-to-door, or have a much coveted rock star parking spot, getting to work and back involves walking. And then there’s venturing off to get your lunch, popping into your favourite coffee shop up the hill, after-work drinks, offsite meetings, the list just keeps on going.

No matter how hard we try we all end up walking too much to be in pain so a comfy yet stylish shoe is a must have.

Now I’m not saying you need to ditch your heels and wear them all day, you can absolutely do a cheeky swap in the elevator! But you can definitely look stylish and be comfortable at the same time. No more white running shoes with black stockings please ladies!!!

Statement flats

Stunning statement flats are the perfect answer. You’ll still looking super stylish and on-trend whilst remaining cool and comfortable. There are soooo many great pairs to choose from at the moment. Round toes, pointy toes, patterns or plain, buckles or trim the choice is yours. Pick a colour on the opposing side of the colour wheel to the main piece of your outfit to give a real pop of colour. Then team it with a matching accessory or two to give you that great “Corporate with a Twist” look.

The perfect walk-to-work shoe in fabulous statement colours

Neutral flats

Now I take comfort very seriously so I’m a big fan of keeping a pair of ballet flats in my drawer at work. They’re ideal for an impromptu lunch a few streets away or for running off to unexpected errands at the chemist or supermarket. And they’re perfect for when I’m wearing in a new pair of heels and I just need to give my feet a bit of a rest. For this purpose I recommend a classic neutral pair that’ll go with everything. And the best thing about neutral is that you can wear them every lunchtime and no-one’s really going to notice.

The perfect walk-to-work shoe in great neutral colours

Now I love heels as much as the next person but sometimes they just don’t cut it so check out some of the latest and greatest flats – your feet with thank you in the long run… and so will your podiatrist when you’re 70!!

Sharon Hall

Sharon is the founder and Head Stylist at Frock Star Styling. She’s passionate about making style achievable for everyone, everyday. She’s completed the Advanced Personal Stylist Training Course with the Australian Institute of Styling and is an ACMUSE accredited makeup artist. Dedicating over a decade to career in television Sharon has worked for all the major Australian networks as well as the BBC in London. She has extensive experience styling for TV, print and runway as well as for her style-challenged friends. Personal & Corporate Stylist @ Frock Star Styling Sydney, Australia.

Featured image: reverses

With the enormous selection of fashion garments that women have to choose from, it is confusing for some women to decide just what is appropriate for the office and still look stylish and fashionable.

Lets face it, most women want to look stylish, some just have a better understanding of what the word ‘style means and how to interpret that for themselves.

In my opinion, an office is an office, and if you want to be in a mindset of getting the job done, then you must dress in a way that inspires you to feel like you are at work. Ask yourself, what am I doing today, who am I meeting and what do want to achieve today? Do I need to look sophisticated, powerful, demure, casual, businesslike, fashionable? These are the decisions that will determine what you wear.

Your wardrobe needs to have key pieces that form the foundation for building great outfits. From there you can ‘play’ with seasonal pieces and accessories that allow you to create your signature ‘style’ .
Invest in a great fitting suit in a trans-seasonal fabric. Choose a colour that everything goes back with. Navy, charcoal or taupe are great options. Signature jackets in colours or patterns will be your salvation.

Basic ‘unders’ are camisoles in different colours and a selection of blouses or tops that intermix.

Spend at least 30% on great accessories, shoes, handbags, scarves, jewelry, belts. These will allow you to change the look of the same outfit many times.

Don’t forget grooming. Well manicured nails, makeup, tidy hair, clean clothes, polished shoes, and hosiery all go towards you projecting the right image and style that you are looking for.

Work your style, keep it appropriate and own it!

Julie Hyne

Julie Hyne is an accredited image consultant and stylist who has a history of working with companies who demand a great appearance. She works with clients to create their signature style from fashion that suits them. Julie is compassionate, caring and knowledgeable on what women are looking for in building a great working wardrobe.

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