At the Brisbane Parklands in light summer shirt. I only wore that shirt once and since got rid of it.
My wardrobe sucks, sadly, along with my image, so I’m making some changes. I’d decided what I want to achieve so now it’s time to get on with it. To bring you up to speed I want to build a solid wardrobe of clothes that I love to wear, that I feel confident wearing and that work with each other to present a cohesive overall image.
The simplest place to start is to define what image I want to be. So, I better choose one. OK, um ….
WHAT IS MY STYLE?
There are a number of different style groups, which Trinny and Susannah have broken down into more groups. I’m going to look at the Trinny and Susannah styles to get an idea of what works for me.
There are 12 styles (their magic number obviously) that they’re working with. How do they work for me.
Well seriously, I’m not the pulled together, not a hair out of place type. Not even close. I have curly hair and I’m actually far more likely to brush up against something or drop something on my clothes than any other person I know. I am rough on my clothes. I don’t mean to be but I just get ‘involved’ in whatever I’m doing and I’m usually quite shocked to find that I now have a great big spot of god knows what on me. So that immediately rules out Ice Queen, Diva, High Maintenance and Minimalist.
I’m curvy as all hell so that eliminates Gamine. With all those curves I prefer a feminine look so that eliminated Androgyny.
I’m not interested in doing outrageous or stare at me different (too time consuming for me) so that excludes Cutting Edge Cool and Avant-Garde Eccentric.
Obviously the Rock Chick or Boho are ideal for me as both can pull off the vaguely scruffy look I seem to specialise in with ease. Boho sadly just confuses me. I would never be able to figure out whether I was badly dressed or fashionable. Rock Chick by contrast is actually quite an attractive look and one that I think would suit me. Still, I do want to present a more professional image and Rock Chick is not going to be it. Plus, seriously, I’m not exactly wild and free, much as it sounds fun. I’m interested in learning and growth and success and stuff like that which is pretty much the opposite of what the Rock Chick is all about.
SO WHO DO I WANT TO BE?
That leaves Sophisticate and Bombshell. The Sophisticate is assured and stylish and the Bombshell is hot and sassy. Pretty much they’re really different types of styles.
But you know what, I think there are appealing aspects to both of them, and equally unappealing aspects.
I like classic clothing and that chic, authoritative look. Where I fall down is the whole neatness aspect. I usually start the day neat and then end up just every so slightly shabby. I work with a woman who is High Maintenance and next to her its very noticeable. She always looks immaculate from start to finish. Me, not so much. And I like it that way. I like to make the effort in the morning to put together an outfit and then just go through my day. I’m not a constant touch up sort of woman.
There’s also the severity of the classic look that bothers me. It can be just plain boring at times. I guess the way to deal with that is to go with designer wear where the richness and beauty of the garments, even in classic cuts really show sophistication and style. But designer wear is out of my budget when I have to redesign my whole wardrobe.
Bombshell is going to work well with my shape. It really is. I just have those curves going on that really are impossible to disguise without looking enormous and very frumpy. Sometimes I find that’s a real detriment for me. I’m trying to be serious and communicate and find that people, OK men, are staring at my breasts. I don’t like it. At all. I understand that big curves have become fetishistic in this society, much as it rankles, so, for my own benefit I like to tone things down somewhat.
Then there’s the aspect of Bombshell is every so slightly tousled and that is going to work for me very well. The bright look at me makeup though is not. And not so enamoured of high heels. They tend to give me a sore back.
From that I’m going to go with a mixture of Bombshell (sassy and sexy and touchable) and Sophisticated (authoritative and classic and understated).
How I’m going to do that I have no idea, but something will come to me I’m sure.
