Find your Clothing Utilization Rate

Not only did  Emily Post give  good advice on how to act like you came from the upper crust of society but she also gave some pretty nifty wardrobe tips.

Emily Post, circa 1922, "Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home"

'In the world of smart society—in America at any rate—clothes not only represent our ticket of admission, but our contribution to the effect of a party. What makes a brilliant party? Clothes. Good clothes. A frumpy party is nothing more nor less than a collection of badly dressed persons. People with all the brains, even all the beauty imaginable, make an assemblage of dowds, unless they are well dressed.'

Ms. Post was also brilliant on style.

1.Don't be a Sheep
are the dressed-to-the-minute women who, like sheep exactly, follow every turn of latest fashion blindly and without the slightest sense of distance or direction.

2. Chic is....
The woman who is chic is always a little different. Not different in being behind fashion, but always slightly apart from it.

3. Chic is not....credit card debt
you must not buy clothes out of proportion to your income, or out of keeping with your surroundings.

HOWEVER
But a woman who has talent, taste, and ingenuity can be suitably and charmingly dressed on little a year, especially at present.

And a smart stylish woman with talent, taste and ingenuity (which you all have, believe me even if you don't) knows how to wear the same piece of garment over and over again in very refreshing ways. Need examples? Check the last post.

In fact, Emily Posts receommends against having too many clothes. And the best way of see if you have too many clothes is to calculate your Clothing Utilization Rate.

'A very beautiful Chicago woman who is always perfectly dressed for every occasion, worked out the cost of her own clothes this way: On a sheet of paper, thumb tacked on the inside of her closet door, she put a complete typewritten list of her dresses and hats, and the cost of each. Every time she put on a dress she made a pencil mark. By and by when a dress was discarded, she divided the cost of it by the number of times it had been worn. In this way she found out accurately which were her cheapest and which her most expensive clothes. '

I have too much stuffff to actually put it on one piece of paper but why not make a Look Book of your own closet?

Take your camera and take a snapshop of each sweater, dress, pair of jeans, shoes, belts etc... Develop the pics and stick into those clear sheets in a binder.

Might take a little bit of time but think of how knowledgeable you'll be about your own closet? I can testify that from starting this blog I have become so much more creative with my style after taking pics of my clothes.

'When getting new ones (clothes) she has the advantage of very valuable information, since she avoids the dress that is never put on, which is a bigger handicap for the medium-sized allowance than many women realize.'

Admit it, you've been there. And if you already have that dress/shirt/skirt you never wear, promise yourself to work it in. This week I played around with a semi-sheer floral top that I purchased back in high school from Delia's.

What to throw out in your closet? What to keep?

Keeping with the last post, one of my favorite parts of TLC's "What Not to Wear" is when Stacy London and Clinton Kelly throw out the fashion victim's closet.
Basically they just tear threw their wardrobe with absolutely no mercy while showing the kind of disgust we usually reserve VH1 reality shows. (admit it though, you're a sucker for Charm School, Rock of Love, I love Money, I Love Money 2, Megan Wants a Millionaire etc...etc...)

Usually the whole entire wardrobe gets thrown out. Like everything but the clothes on the fashion victim's back. And then they are left to wander the stores of New York City in one shabby outfit.

Hopefully it hasn't gotten that bad for most of you. The point of NO return.

You open up your closet. You see bags from stores with sweaters with tags hanging out. Jumbled hangers, a pile of handbags, socks everywhere, scarves stuffed in the back, pairs of jeans long forgotten, cocktail dresses that seem impossible to fit into again.

It's so bad for some fashionistas that they hire Professionals! Get custom-made closets and even get an extra storage unit.

But with these simple steps, you can achieve a livable closet that is not only easy to navigate but hosts an endless possibility of new outfits.

• First take inventory of everything you have-clothes, shoes, bags, accessories maybe even makeup. This way you at least have a picture of everything you own. This will help you decide later if you have a coherent style
• Clear out the whole closet space. There should be nothing inside, just a big empty space for you to work with
• Divide up your clothes into: Dresses, sweaters, dressy tops, casual tops, jeans, pants, sweats, skirts & shorts, coats and  jackets
• Sort through the piles and 'refamiliarize' with each piece of clothing. Try to remember why you have that piece. Was it a gift? Was it when you were going through your Madonna phase? Was it what you wore to Prom?
• Try on EVERYTHING! This may be time consuming but there is no other way to see if something actually looks good on you. Sometimes it even helps to take a picture, we all know sometimes the mirror liesssssss.
• Okay, now comes the work! What to keep and what to toss? Be tough! Be honest with yourself! If it still has tags are you really going to wear it? If you decide to keep it, promise yourself that you will wear it at least 5 times this year. Swear! Toss anything that can't be repaired. Toss anything that doesn't fit and can't be tailored. Toss overalls. Toss grandma dresses. Toss pleather mini-skirts if you are over 40. Add leather pants to that. Toss ironic tees. Toss tees that have TV shows, movies characters, dolphins, fairies or wolves on them. Toss short puffer coats, they don't look good on anyone! Toss any Halloween costume that you wear on a casual basis. Toss anything that is shredded or has chains. Toss jeans that give you a muffin top. Toss anything that barely covers crucial body parts. Toss jackets that make you look like a line backer. Toss UGG Boots and Crocs (unless you need them for purely functional purposes.) Keep 3 sets of nice sweats and 5 work out tees. The REST-TOSS. Otherwise, you'll fall into the "I just want to be comfortable" trap, aka NO STYLE.
• Keep your Classics-white button downs, wool pencil skirts, cashmere cardigans, trenchcoat, lacy tanks, LBD. Keep bright colors. Keep wide belts, skinny belts, belts in general. Keep your suits if they still fit. Keep lacey pieces. Keep boyfriend blazers. Keep boyfriend jeans. Keep tights. Keep leggings. Keep scarves. Keep at least one black tie dress-these can usually be redone to make it look like a new dress! Keep wide-legged trousers. Keep ethnic pieces. Keep ruffles. Keep wrap dresses. Keep wrap sweaters. Keep plaid shirt. Keep leather bomber. Keep florals! (Big this Spring.) Keep white tanks. Keep basic tshirts. Keep animal prints. Keep great vintage finds.
• Visualize your closet design. Layout where the hangers will go. Where the shoeboxes will go and where your handbags will go (where they won't be squished!) Got a small closet? No problem. Get creative, go to the Container Store for some ideas. They have clear shoe boxes, hangers for belts, rolling drawers, and boxes that roll under your bed.
• Now you know what clothes you have, where they will go, organize them how the stores do it: group first by color, then by type. So all the blacks together, all the blues together, all the reds etc...Then all the black blouses together, then all the black skirts...you get the idea.
• A cute trick I like to do with my shoes is take a pic of my shoes, print it and tape it to the outside of the box. That way I can protect and store my shoes while not searching for them.

Now, GO HAVE FUN!

Take a pic of your shoes, print it and tape it to the outside of your box

KEEP

Vintage Christain Dior Sheath

TOSS

Fabulous! You are 1 step closer to a confident stylish wardrobe that uniquely reflects you!

"What Not to Wear" on TLC Fridays, 9:00 pm EST

Are You a Fashion Disaster?! Part 1

My favorite show "What Not to Wear" on TLC aired it's new season this past Friday.

For those of you who are not familiar with "What Not to Wear," it's a makeover show where Fashion consultants, Stacy London and Clinton Kelly, ambush it's victims who are usually nominated by their own family members and friends.

Yes, it sounds kind of cruel at first, but they are given $5,000 to buy a new wardrobe and after watching some of the hidden footage of their victims, it's kinda understandable why they were nominated...

And the shocking part is that the fashion victim is usually suprised he/she was nominated.

So that brings me to the question...How do you know if you are a Fashion Catastrophe???

Being an avid watcher of "What Not to Wear" I've been able to sum it up with these few guidelines:

1. You're not Dressing the body you CURRENTLY have. Meaning, you are wearing clothes that would fit you perfectly if you were 20 pounds lighter. or if your hips were smaller, or if you were 2 feet taller. That's wrong! Wear clothes that flatter you now and Yes! it's common to have a lot of clothes that are off-the-rack not fit you correctly so again, make friends with a GREAT tailor.

Just because you can button them doesn't mean it looks good

1. 1 Okay going off the last point, to dress the body you currently have you need to KNOW the body you currently have. This can be hard for most women. In "Look Good Naked" on LifeTime, when most women are asked to estimate their size relative to other women, they usually think they are 2 sizes bigger than they actually are. So, how to get a grip on reality??? First, you can always ask for a fitting at almost any department or chain store (even H&M,) just ask a sales associate what they think would be your size. Break out the measuring tape, take your measurements (chest, waist, hips etc...) and take them with you next time you go shopping. Next, go to your closet, and access if your clothes are fitting you honestly.

2. You don't dress for your age. Um Moms shouldn't be dressing like their daughters and vice versa. I'm okay, with doing retro, vintage or being fresh but there is a limit. ok? Denim mini-skirts on 40 year olds is just wrong. And yes, before I did say you can shop your Mom's or Granma's closet but think of it as vintage hunting. Look for pieces that fit current trends, are classic and fit you well or are unique/designer (such as a Louis Vuitton Top Handle.)

Mom Jeansssssssssss..never good any age. It makes Moms look bad.

Do snag Designer vintage bags she doesn't carry anymore.

3. Your wardrobe is holding you back from that promotion. It's true and yes, it's shallow but people do judge you by how ou look. And that includes the workplace. You have all the talent and work ethic it takes to make it except you look like homeless colorblind wreck. Hmmm..time to relook what you have in your closet. Like they say, don't dress for you the job you have, dress for the job you want. So true.

Be polished and Chic for work please

4. Men don't look you in the eye when they are talking to you. Yea, you're funny and charming and smart and men should get to know your wonderful personality but they don't even know what color your eyes are or if you have a face for that matter. Don't be naive, you look like a skank. You're best friend probably won't tell you to your face but strangers are whispering about your 'low self-esteem' behind your back.

5. You look like a homeless colorblind wreck who never mentally progressed the age of 14. There shouldn't be much explanation to this, you look like you don't own a mirror. You think you are being cute and quirky and everyone smiles a lot at you when you talk and tell you are 'special...'

6. You Just Don't Plain Ol' Care. When asked about style, you always answer you just don't think abou it. You are too busy curing cancer, raise kids, learn spanish, saving the world. Blah Blah Blah, style is for the narcissistic and you're above that and you don't care what other people think. Well, B-SSSSSSSSSS. If your style shows you don't care, then it's going to be interpretted as you don't care about yourself or about other people as much. Think of it this way, how would you dress if you were meeting the President or the Pope? That's how you should dress when meeting anyone. You may not dress for yourself, but at least dress to show some R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Don't wear flip-flops when meeting the President, no matter how much you like/dislike him.

My favorite part of "What Not to Wear" is when they throw out the clothes. Some wardrobe are sooo bad that Stacy and Clinton throw out everything but the clothe's on their victim's back.


I'm hoping none of you are that bad. But that brings us to our next entry-What do you Toss? And what do you keep?

"What Not to Wear" on TLC Friday's @ 9:00 pm EST