What Lies Beneath

What Lies Beneath

For anyone who knows me well, then public humiliation and ridicule is not top of my list for favourite pastimes. However, having made a decision to shape up and loose weight, I’ve had multiple people tell me I don’t need to! Great that I’m obviously doing my job properly by disguising all my wobbly bits but not great for my discerning customers who can’t visibly see my day to day “challenges” that I have with my body shape.

​I therefore decided to be very honest with you all and share the less than flattering photo above to demonstrate the real me without my how to dress rules to rely on! This coupled with my statistics should help you to see that no matter how fabulous the girl next door looks, there will ALWAYS be a challenge that she’ll have to overcome, it’s just that some are more visible than others.

​So here goes (deep intake of breath)……………

Stats:

Height: 6ft 4″
​Weight: 14 stone 9lbs (heavier than Mr Clark since the arrival of Sam Wise 6 years ago, oh the shame)
​Foot size: 10
​Inside Leg: 36″
Dress size: 14 (bottoms/16-18 top depending on shop)
​Swimsuit size: 22 (cringe – need the extra stretch in the fabric to stretch over my ridiculously long body)

Challenges:

Height – obviously
Buying women’s shoes without a heel
Buying clothes – unless I shop in Holland
Underarm cleavage
A belly like jelly
​An inability to EVER go brown!
​A lack of hips to keep trousers where they should be.

​As you can see in the picture on the left, belts are not my best friends, so I avoid wearing them at all costs! Knowing what my challenges are and being totally honest with myself is the perfect place to start when dressing for success as you aren’t trying to fool anyone! I no longer covert styles and outfits that don’t flatter me because life is too short to stand in a changing room feeling depressed at what is looking back. Life is about accepting who we are and what we’ve got to celebrate.

​My personal target is 13 stone which is the weight I was when I started University (my belly was still like jelly then but just in a smaller capacity! That’s the thing about your body shape – it’s to do with the shape of your skeleton so my style rules at 13 stone will be the same as the ones I follow now, just with an overall smaller dress size)! I promise to share with you my good news when I reach my personal target and perhaps a photo or two!!!

Capsule Summer Packing!

Capsule Summer Packing!

It’s that time of year again, schools have broken up and people are rushing around getting ready for their summer holidays.
​In years gone by, I’ve found the process of holiday packing a really stressful experience. However, having learnt from Colour Me Beautiful’s finest I don’t even shudder at the thought now, as it’s all done for you with the help of your colour and style rules. You’ll find that once you’ve created a wardrobe around your colour palette, in styles that suit you, your wardrobe will all start to co-ordinate itself!
​Above is an example of my 2 weeks holiday case both laid out for you to see and then packed and ready for the off. I hope you’ve noticed that I’ve even got room for those all important souvenirs!!!
​My capsule case consists of:
2x’s swimsuits
2x’s pj’s
underwear
3x’s trousers
2x’s shorts
1x’s short skirt
2x’s dresses
2x’s cardigans
2x’s jumpers (fine knit)
Ix’s jacket
4x’s vest tops in wow colours
​8x’s tops/t-shirts
3x’s scarves
accessories
​1x’s pumps
​1x’s evening shoe
​1x’s flats
1xs trainers to wear for journey.
Wherever you’re heading this summer, have fun!

Golden Goddess Or Silver Siren?

Golden Goddess Or Silver Siren?

Having worked on hundreds of faces from age 11 all the way through to my colourful god mum (AKA Auntie June) at a carefree 80, it astounds me that colour theory isn’t universally applied to make-up prescription. It is so important to choose the right tone and depth of make- up colours as in making the wrong choices (like myself in the picture on the right in the coral scarf) you can actually make yourself look older, less healthy and dare I say fatter (these pictures were taken within a week of each other)! I look dire in warm colours full stop, even when it comes to make-up, so it’s cool tones all the way for yours truly, even down to the navy mascara!
​If you’d like to know more about what colours suit you then don’t hesitate to contact me and I’d be happy to help!

Fashion Is Temporary, Style is Permanent!

Having launched my new “Dress To Impress” workshops this week I thought it appropriate to concentrate on style this month!

​We all have our own individual sense of style, some of us more creative than others who feel much happier sticking to what we’ve always done (I say this with a voice of experience as trying new things is a real challenge for me)! Knowing what your style personality is, along with how that translates to the choices you make whilst shopping, is crucial as there will be times when every one of us needs to override our style personality! For example a silk neck tie brings with it a sense of romantic, creative and even dramatic flair, however if you’ve got a short neck and bigger bust, despite “loving how it looks”, it’s better in this instance to step away from the neck tie that will simply make your neck look shorter and rounder and your bust look bigger!

​Time and time again my clients will focus on being a certain dress size. It simply does not matter what dress size you are as long as you’re dressing your body shape accurately and in the right fabric. In doing so you can instantly make yourself look slimmer, fitter and healthier. Once you know your rules on how to dress for your individual body shape, height, scale and proportions you will stop focusing on the size of the garment and will instantly feel more confident in the way you look.

​It’s not just the clothes that we put on our body it’s also the accessories that we wear and carry! Knowing what size, shape, colour and style suits you is crucial to adding the finishing pieces to your overall look. Be warned ladies, the oversized handbag is making an appearance in the A/W 2016 collections. If you’re below 5ft 3″ in height or have a foot size smaller than a 4 I would approach with caution! For all of my clients who are 5ft 7″ and over then next season is your time to stock up on handbags (I know I will be)!

​Remember ladies….. The art of looking good and more importantly feeling good is not labelling your body shape or size, but learning how to make the most of your assets whilst disguising the areas of our bodies that we find the least appealing!

Look Good, Feel Great, Be Confident!