In the words of Coco Chanel “A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous”. In this post I am going to share with you a few tips to make sure you are always classy, and to see what dressing classy ISN’T, just scrool down to number two.

1. The shorter the skirt, the lower the heel…


… and vice versa. Sometimes a short skirt with heels can work but generaly it is a good idea to wear a short skirt or dress with leggings or thick tights! Unless you are wearing leggings a denim mini skirt with high heels is an absolute no-no! With flats, however, they look great.

Image: pollsb.com


2. Expose only one area of skin



If you are wearing a revealing top, make sure your skirt is a reasonable length. Showing of a little bit of skin is sexier than revealing everything (look at the picture above and you’ll see my point)

Image: posh24.com


3. Slim bottom half, baggy top half. Baggy bottom half, slim top half


If you are wearing a looser fitting top, don’t wear baggy jeans otherwise you’ll look bigger than you are. Wear straight/skinny leg trousers instead. If you are wearing baggy trousers (such as boyfriend jeans) then don’t wear a baggy top as well. Choose a tight fitting top.


4. Wear clothes that fit


Like in the point above, wearing baggy clothes will make you look frumpy and bigger than you are. If you are wearing a large dress you could always add a belt on the waist to give your self a feminine shape.

1. Add a ’statement’ necklace
If you have a simple outfit and don’t want to have many small accesories to dress it up then simple add one big ’statement peice’ such as a necklace or a chunky braclet. To make it stand out pick a vibrant colour, or if you are wearing an LDB either a big silver or gold chucky necklace would look very sophisticated.

2. Bright coloured jeans If you really want to stand out from the crowd (who will all be wearing blue or grey jeans) then opt for bright colours such as purple, red and even green, in my outfit I have used mustard coloured jeans. If you do choose bright coloured jeans make sure you don’t have a bright coloured top or jacket – you don’t want to look like a rainbow!<






3. Vintage Clothes
Trawl vintage shops and even charity shops (where you might find a vintage bargain) for clothes that no one else will have.


Image: Constance-Victoria


Check out Rolling Stone Vintage for some pretty vintage styled clothes.

If you can’t buy a whole vintage outfit look around for pretty broaches or earings to complete your outfit.


The best way to make an outfit YOUR own is to dress the way YOU want and not follow the fashion. Dress in what suits you.

You’ve probably heard this before but “what looks good on your friend may not look good on you” but it’s true. Of course, buy fashionable items but try to keep big investements (such as a coat or your LBD) in classic styles that will never go out of trend.


Image credit: Make sure to check out http://constance-victoria.blogspot.com for more vintage clothes and if you have a blogger account follow her!

Red is a bold colour, a daring colour, it can even add glamour to the simplest of outfits. Whether its red lips, red shoes, a red bag or a red dress I’m going to show how to wear it and what to wear it with. What’s more this colour is so classic that it will never go out of fashion, you can incorporate it into many trends.

Red Lips


Red lips go best with your LBD and black shoes. Alternativley, you could choose a different colour shoe, it doesn’t matter too much – but avoid red shoes and bag as well – you don’t want to look too matched up. This outfit would look great on brunettes or blonde – curl your hair for a true 40s look
Red Shoes

Red shoes look can look great to add glamour to a casual outfit – and a great way to quickly transform and outfit you’ve worn in the day with your flip flops to an outfit you can wear in the evening. Personally, I love red high heels with skinny jeans and a cute top
Red Bag

A red bag is great for adding colour to one of this seasons big trends – neutral tones!

Red Dress

Blake livley in Versace – Fall 09

Sigourney Weaver in David Meister
When choosing a red gown for evening wear there are a few tips to rememeber;

• Although short red dresses look nice, long gowns give a real wow factor
• With eye make up, stick to neutral/white eyeshadows or a smokey eye look look good too – just remember not to have to much (concentrate on just one feature, whether it be smokey eye and pale lips or bright lipstick and cream/white eyeshadow)
• Pick black or neutral colour shoes (don’t go for contrasting shoes unless you know it’ll work!)
• You can go for almost any cut you want, really – so try expermimenting with in-trend cuts (e.g. one shoulder)

Denim shorts – a must for the summer. You could even make your own from old jeans! The great thing about this style is that you can wear it with almost anything – apparently a denim top half too according the the double denim trend. Denim shorts can be chanelled into any style too, whether it be boho, preppy, gothic… 

They also look great with just a tank top and flip flops if you really can’t be bothered to take time to pick out a perfect ensemble. For summer evenings at the beach just throw on a hoodie. 
 

I LOVE these shorts, they are definaltey my top pick for the summer. They cover several trends in one item. Nude/brown colours – check, tie-up shorts – check, wide-leg – check, pleated – check, high-waisted – check. This may not be an investment peice as it’s unlikley to last for several seasons (unlike denim jeans – which’ll be here for years) but it’s very ‘vintage-y’ isn’t it? 

You could wear these with black tights on days when the weather isn’t as hot and I think it looks best with a blouse tucked into it. Although these shorts aren’t very versatile they are good for day or night.

 

Pastel coloured shorts will look really great with femine, floral blouses and, again, these are great for day or night. If you don’t like girly blouses then pick a plain vest and wear with a black blazer. I chose cream flats for this look but high heel also would look nice in black, brown or any nude colour

Here are a few edgy peices you will need to ‘rocker the rocker look’, the most important item being the biker jacket, obviously. Think The Ramones!! Studded biker jackets are in trend this season as well as studded combat boots too. An alternative to the biker jacket is a denim jacket, although try to avoid this when you are wearing denim jeans/shorts too. I know the double denim trend is in right now but it’s unlikley to last (at least I hope it doesn’t, I think it’s awful!)

Combat boots are a great way to ‘grunge up’ a girly dress, such as the white one (above) from TopShop. If you do wear a dress, pick a plain light colour or a dark patterened dress but make sure you wear it with edgy accesories ..or a biker jacket ..or combat boots. An alternative to boots are converses.

Onto the laced tights now. Don’t chuck them away when they start to ladder, it just gives adds to the effect. Wear them with a dress or under shorts. As for shorts choose a pair of high waisted cut off shorts. I can find the style in the picture above anywhere so you could always cut up a pair of your mums old jeans?

Jeans are a staple in any wardrobe. For a ‘rocker’ look choose black skinny jeans or, if you don’t want a completly black wardrobe choose acid wash jeans.

My favourite item essential is the rock band T-shirt. Whether it’s The Rolling Stones, The Ramones, Guns n Roses or Iron Maiden, wear an oversized T-shirt, or even a mans T-shirt as the womens T-shirt can have shorter arm lengths.

Studded accesories are also in fashion at the moment, but avoid wearing every studded item you own at the same time.

With your make up – you can wear plenty of eyeliner – but don’t attack your face with it. I’m sure there are “how-to” tuts or youtube.com. Also, red lipstick is another essential item in your wardrobe – esspecially if you are going for a Blondie or Courtney love sort of look.

So, that’s the essential items you need and here a few inspirations to look at…

from left to right: Taylor Momsen, Alicepoint, online clothes store model
Fashion blogs are a great way to find out what is in fashion and what isn’t, I always think fashion bloggers are more fashionable than celebrities and here a few of my favourite blogs: http://www.knighttcat.com, http://www.rantingsofafashionaddict.com, http://www.wishwishwish.net
I might do a series of these ‘essential wardrobe items’ posts… what do you think of them?

If you buy anything this summer, make it a patterned maxi dress. You can buy them from most shops now it’s getting near to summer. The dress will look great with sandals and a denim waistcoat or cropped denim jacket. An ‘american-indian’ style brown, suede, fringed, shoulder bag is perfect for the boho trend. When picking shoes go for gladiator sandals in the summer. In winter boho suede boots like these look perfect with jeans. As for the jeans pick a lightwash or white colour and baggy shorts also look great. When choosing a skirt pick a gorgeous patterned one or a plain colour, teird skirt (like below) – wear the skirt on the hips with a plain white vest top. If you are not confident enough to wear a cropped blouse (like the one in the picture above) then look for a long patterned tunic, wear with lightwash jeans like the ones above, from TopShop.

Head bands, colourful chunky necklaces and oriental detailed earings are all accesories necessary to pull off the look. Another important item of clothing to complete your wardrobe is, of course, a fur waistcoat.

For inspiration just look to Nicole Richine and Sienna Miller

What do you think of this trend??