TLC’s What Not to Wear hosts, Stacy London and Clinton Kelly, insist you should always be able to button your jackets. While I love Stacy and Clinton, I completely disagree! I never button my jackets…ever! It’s not my personal style, nor do I like the uber-constricting way it feels. Typically a size 8 jacket fits me well. Because I have a wide torso and back, if I wanted to button my jacket, I would need to purchase a size 10 and have many costly alterations made. It just doesn’t make sense to do this, as I’m just not a buttoner. Are you a buttoner or a non-buttoner? As an image consultant, I  always like to find out if my clients prefer to button their jackets or leave them open, as it will many times determine our choices. Whether you’re a buttoner, a part time buttoner, or a non-buttoner, here are a few considerations:

• If you button your jackets, even part time, you should never have any pulling across your back or at the buttons. When pulling occurs, you will need to buy a size larger and have the jacket tailored

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We love our jeans. Whether you wear jeans for work, weekend or going out on the town, the following tips are sure to help you find a fabulous fit and love your jeans (and the way you look in them!)

• For the apple shaped woman (slim legs with weight in tummy and chest,) look for a higher rise with straight legs or wide legs, such as trouser jeans.
• For the triangle figure type: look for a contoured waist to prevent gaping. Straight legs or boot cut jeans with a dark wash are best.
• For the rectangular body type: lots of details such as fading on the thighs and whiskering will help give you curves. Low rise straight legs or skinny legs are best for you.
• For the hourglass body type: Flared legs or boot cut jeans are best. See Triangular for more tips.
• For the inverted triangle body type, wide legs or boot cut jeans will give you more volume on your bottom half. Add curves with fading and whiskering.

No matter what, be sure to check yourself in a 3 way  mirror when trying on jeans. As Clinton Kelly from What Not to Wear, said when he was in town, "the only reason to wear (Read more...)

Something from Clinton Kelly's Makeover America show at Macy's last month has been weighing on my mind. Before the fashion show started,  Clinton mentioned to us that as women, we should try to wear some blouses. He was rather comical when he tried to imitate a woman, "Ooh, but that's so fancy!" To which he replied, "No, it's not. A blouse is just a shirt for women." This got me to thinking; I hardly have any blouses in my wardrobe. There are a couple of reasons. One, I have a hard time with fit. My back is very wide, so I always get pulling through the bustline. Two, most of the blouses I see either have ruffles or bows, and I'm not a ruffle and bow kind of girl. However, because of these reasons, I never have a blouse on my shopping list. I don't really put out my radar for blouses for myself. Now that Clinton has given me the challenge, I'm going to put at least one blouse on my shopping list for fall. It might mean that I have to go up a size and have it altered. Knowing that I'm not going to be buying a ton of (Read more...)

I just got back from seeing Clinton Kelly (from TLC’s What Not to Wear) “Makeover America.” at Macy’s. The turn-out was amazing and even more amazing were the transformations that Clinton performed on 15 Denver women! The show started out with C.K. offering to do a couple of audience member style critiques. First to jump up on stage was a blond haired woman wearing a black zip up hoodie with kangaroo pockets and black jeans. He first told her that black was not “her” neutral. She was washed out in the black and needed to look for a softer neutral such as navy or khaki. Next he told her that hoodies do nothing for anyone, and the pockets just give us a kangaroo pouch! Our next volunteer was wearing a pair of jeans that were far too saggy in the seat. Kelly stressed the importance of fit in a great looking jean. He claims that making your butt look great is really the only reason to wear jeans. This subject was also wearing a bright colored, horizontally striped t-shirt. While horizontal stripes aren’t always the worst thing, Clinton emphasized that they can tend to make most women appear a bit (Read more...)