Do you have a friend, mother, sister, daughter or other special female in your life who is tough to shop for? Or perhaps you’ve just run out of gift ideas for her over the years. An elements of image gift certificate is the perfect gift! It’s easy!  Simply choose the amount you’d like to spend or the service you’d like her to have. Then contact me at 303-463-4839,  303-868-8925 or fill in the form on the right.  We’ll discuss her needs and your budget, and I’ll put the perfect package together to fit them both! A suggestion?  A Princess Day:  Treat your mom, best friend or any other special female in your life to a Princess Day.  I’ll take you both shopping at her favorite stores. Yes, you get to come along, but this day is all about the princess! (She not only gets pampering and expert advice, she gets to spend time with you, too!)  Since every wish is her command, we’ll do exactly what she wants…maybe a new outfit or two,  learning what styles look the best on her,  or even finding the perfect shoes for every outfit. (Read more...)

Sure, everyone knows the power of the little black dress, but what about the little blue dress, or the little white dress or the little lime green dress? A somewhat basic dress in almost any solid color can prove itself to be the chameleon we know as the little black dress. Let’s start with the little blue dress. Both a client and I coincidentally own this ocean blue, organic cotton knit dress from Coquette. (In real life, it's the color is more saturated and it's a little longer.) However, we wear it completely differently. Last week, I helped her create outfits for her busy schedule and incorporated this dress into a casual, weekend getaway. We styled it for day with flat sandals and silver jewelry. To dress it up a bit for dinner, all she'll  do is change into higher wedges and larger earrings. I’ve accessorized my “little blue dress” with:

• Black gladiator sandals with silver studs, silver hoops, and silver bracelets.

• Metallic sandals with a 1” heel, antique gold and royal blue drop earrings, and a stack of gold bangles.

• Nude platform wedges, ebony/wood bracelet and earrings.

Because the dress is cotton knit, it (Read more...)

As an image and wardrobe consultant, when I do Closet Audits with my clients, without exception, they want me to tell them if something is outdated. It makes me feel horrible, but sometimes I see things that still have the tags on them, and they’re out of style. Often, my client had just been shopping the prior weekend. How can this be, you ask? It’s the fashion lifecycle. Read on to learn more, and find out how to make sure you never end up with brand new out-moded clothes in your closet. Trends are usually introduced at the New York and international runway shows. As you can see from the chart, new styles start on the left and evolve into a bell curve. Initially the clothes and accessories are quite expensive and are adopted by the Fashion Innovators. As time goes on, the style becomes more and more popular, peaking when it is very widely available to the masses at all price points. (How long each of these stages lasts varies greatly.) As a style starts to fade, it is accepted by the Late Adopters. And finally when the style is virtually gone, it’s adopted by the

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Lace is currently a huge trend, but really it’s nothing new.  I first wrote about lace in the e-Style Tip of the Month for fall of 2008; however, because I focus on professional style, I’ve never really spent too much time on it. Personally, I love the look of lace, but I’ll admit it is hard to pull off in the business environment…until now! Even though summer has barely begun, in the fashion world the collections for fall 2011 have been ready for months. (Crazy, right?!) For fall 2011, Jason Wu has done an amazing job incorporating beautiful lace into plenty of garments that would be perfectly appropriate for the office. Check out Wu’s fall collection on Style.com. Okay, so I don’t wear designer clothing hot off the runway, but I do draw huge inspiration from it. My favorite looks from the collection are the classic,  professional dress worthy pieces trimmed with gorgeous lace. The pencil skirt with the lace trim running down the sides is absolutely fantastic! While I’m not a DIYer, I can absolutely see finding some lace trim and having my tailor update a pencil skirt, blazer, or even a wool tweed coat. It’s a great way to (Read more...)

More than any other Sex and the City character, Miranda’s style has evolved the most. In Sex and the City 2, Miranda, the no-nonsense lawyer and mother of the group is on vacation and at last able to let her hair down and loosen up from her suits. Although Miranda is still “the one who wears suits,” they’re beautiful suits and jackets with the gorgeous shoes the show is known for. In addition to suits, she wears elegant, work appropriate dresses in both silk and more substantial fabrics. As for Miranda’s off-work and vacation clothing, she has branched out into bold tribal and ethnic prints in opulent fabrics. (Look for more of this fabric trend in the fall!) Edgy dresses in silk jersey are also star players in her wardrobe. And Miranda’s accessories are earthy, fun and a little bit funky. Color is absolutely key to Miranda’s style. With her fabulous red hair and green eyes, she is always certain to wear autumnal colors as well as red, royal blue, and black. While most women I meet love how daring Carrie is with her style, I have to admit, Miranda is inching up on Carries heels…Louboutin heels that is!

In movies and entertainment, costumes are designed to help the audience get a feel for who the character or performer is and what they’re like. The costumes also help set the tone for the whole movie. For example, if you were watching a movie set in the 1920’s, but all of the characters were wearing clothing from the 1960’s, you’d probably be very confused and the whole context of the film would be skewed. Another example of discord in a film is Napoleon Dynamite. The movie was supposed to be set in 2004, but most of the characters were wearing clothes from the ‘80’s. (Consider Napoleon’s moon boots.) I was quite confused at the beginning of the movie. The same could be considered true about every day life. While you might not think of your clothing, hair, and make-up as “costumes,” the truth of the matter is that they give everyone  we come into contact with a great deal of information about us. Your image can indicate your personality, values, interests, roles, and even your goals. Do you feel like your image communicates who you really are to the world? Whenever I begin working with a new client, I always start with (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...)

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