Organizing Your Wardrobe

Hello. I recently took time to (yet again) reorganize my wardrobe and based on the reaction of a friend to this information, I realize that a lot of women do not understand that the main reason it always looks like they have nothing to wear is because their wardrobes are so disorganized. It is important to, every once in a while, declutter your wardrobe AND organize it. That way, you are able to very easily remember what items of clothing you have.

Many of us have very basic wardrobe space. Our physical wardrobe is made up of a top shelf on top of an empty space with a hanger rod. This can be very limiting for most of us. We have more clothes and accessories than we have space for. Our clothes are hung and folded without much thought to their placement so we end up with clothes at the back of the wardrobe that we never wear because we've forgotten that we even have them.

To be able to keep track of what you own, you have to come up with an organization system that will help you keep track of what you own. What I do is to hang clothes with similar items together. In my clothing space, starting from the back, are all my cardigans, hoodies and jackets. Because Lagos is hot most of the time, they can be back there and I can be sure that when I need them, I will reach for them. And because they are all in one place, I can see what I have, when I do reach for them, and make an informed decision on what to wear.

Next to them are my formal dresses, followed by dress shirts and then blouses. After that are my polo shirts, then T shirts, then other cotton/ jersey basic tops. These are followed by my casual dresses, then formal skirts, then casual skirts. Finally my formal trousers, then casual trousers, then capris and then my shorts. Everything is arranged from lightest to darkest colors within their category. My jeans are folded at the bottom of the wardrobe according to color. From lightest to darkest. With my own system, I am able to find, very easily, whatever I need, to put together the look I am going for each day.

I hope I have been able to inspire you to organize and come up with your own system that will help make getting dressed every morning, an easier experience, enabling you to utilize what you already own. Remain fabulous.

Developing personal style

Hello.

There is something about the way certain people dress that sometimes, when we see a certain clothing or accessory item or something else, we say " that is sooooo so and so". It's called personal style and it gives us (at least fashion wise) so much character. Think Mai Atafo in his fitted suits, Nneka with her bohemian chic, Kim Kardashian in her feminine, figure flattering clothes. There are so many ways and directions that one can go in developing personal style.

Of course the first thing to do is to assess your already existing style. What do you tend to lean towards? Are you are classic dresser, fashion forward or romantic? You need to understand what you are comfortable with so that you are developing your style in a way that is sustainable for you. You need to determine what it is that you are trying to achieve with said personal style. Do you want to be more memorable, or do you want to be more chic or to just be more experimental? It may help to study a lot of celebrities' style and you will begin to see that you prefer certain looks over others. It is important however, to know the difference between using someone else's style a template and being a caricature of the person

At first, you may have to follow the look of your favorite celebrities, but after a while, your confidence will grow and you will understand yourself and your preferences to begin to grow in your own direction. Just make sure that it suits your own personality or you will not be comfortable with it. Decide what you are comfortable changing.

You could decide that you want to change your hair, for example. You may want to try a new hair style or color for a while if changing your wardrobe is not what you want to do. Just be sure to change it in stages so that you get comfortable with the idea of change and to be sure you that it suits you. Or you could start to wear certain colors a lot. This is another way of being unique without changing the type of clothes that you are comfortable with. You can start out with a couple of shirts, or a few scarves to be sure that you really like the color and that it looks good on you. Another way is accessories. Chunky jewelry, a particular style of sunglasses or just always having sunglasses on or cocktail rings are another simple way of changing or developing style. Truly, the possibilities are endless.

Naturally, as you become sure of what you like and what you want, your confidence will grow and your style will develop. I really hope I have been helpful. Remain fabulous.

Getting out of a Style Rut.

Hello. Do you find that most of the time you reach for the same clothes over and over again? Do you have problems deciding what goes with what? Or do you always feel like you have nothing to wear despite having a wardrobe filled with clothes? If you answered yes to any of these, then you are probably stuck in a style rut.

Most of us have a fashion comfort zone that we feel safe within and try not to dress in a way that is outside of that.Unfortunately, it just keeps us from developing our sense of style and feeling bored with what we have in our wardrobe. Our style should always be evolving in the same way other parts of our lives evolve.We just have to be willing to try new things; new shapes and silhouettes, new colors and textures.

The key to getting out of your fashion comfort zone is to take the time to organize your wardrobe, and then plan your outfit before hand. Take the time to think of how you are going to put an outfit together. Don't just reach for the same old, same old. By organizing your wardrobe, you are checking to see the tools your have at your disposal to help create the look you are going for. You need to ensure that you have your wardrobe basics because that will give your options to build your outfit on. If you don't work on your essentials first, your attempts at being stylish will get messy.

Once you know what you have in your wardrobe, you need to put thought into how you put things together. The main things with putting an outfit together is your figure and your coloring. Stand in front of the mirror naked and decide what your best features are and accentuate them and what your flaws are and hide them. What ever you put together must flatter you. How you choose to do that is up to you. It is also very helpful to put colors that suit your skin tone around your face. The right colors will make you look prettier.

I really hope this has added some value to you in your quest to evolve your style. Remain fabulous.

How to dress youthful without looking like you are trying too hard.

Hello everyone. I've noticed that these days, I sometimes find myself looking in the mirror, wandering if what I'm wearing is age appropriate. The thing is, I still feel so young and yet I know that my body is not quite were it was a few years ago. I was telling a friend a few days ago that I have just a few more years to wear shorts of a certain length and that I know the time is coming when I'll have to take the length of my shorts about four (4) inches lower. As much as I want to dress as young as i feel, I am only too conscious of the fact that there are very few things worse for a woman than the perception that she is an 'old mama youngy' (I'm sure y'all know what I mean by that).

So how can you dress in a way that makes you feel young without coming across as trying too hard or inappropriate? Well there are quite a few of them.

Jeans.

The cool thing about jeans is that you can wear them whether you are two or twenty or forty or sixty years old. The only problem I see with older women wearing jeans is that most of them, especially over forty, tend to close their eyes to what the current trends are and go for cuts and washes that were trendy when they were younger. No matter your age, get yourself a pair of jeans in a cut and wash that flatter your body and you can be sure of being appropriate AND sexy.

Dresses.

Again keep your eyes open for current trends. Pretty print or block colored dresses in bold or pastel colors that show some skin (but not too much) make any woman look feminine and youthful. They soften your look and make you seem less of a matron. If showing skin is uncomfortable, you can always throw on a cover up.

Body Shapers.

These little miracles in fabric form help you life and pull in any dangling or bulging bits. They help you hide your flaws so that you can wear clothes that you ordinarily wouldn't and give you an attractive silhouette. There are many brands and types to help you with your hips, thighs,stomach, breasts and even some for a total body lift. Be sure that it is firm but not tight as you don't want to spend your time uncomfortable.

A sexy bag.

The wonderful thing about handbags is that they don't care what size you are so every woman can partake. So please forget the big, bulky, matronly handbag and get yourself something with attitude. There are enough bags that are practical but yet have character and they help give you a youthful look.

Shoes.

Another thing that you can go all out with are sexy shoes. As long as it doesn't affect your posture, you can wear any height, any color and any style.

Make up and Hair.

As you get older, the mantra becomes "less is more" when it comes to make up and hair. With make up you want to look natural as you get older. That is not to say that you can't do a smokey eye or bold lips. What it does mean is that you must not have too much going on at once.

Hair should also be natural looking. Avoid overly long weaves or shouting hair color. Simplicity is the key.

I hope I've been helpful in some way. Till me meet again, hopefully soon, remain fabulous.

The Ankara Handbag

Hello. Have you been thinking of adding some Ankara to your wardrobe but don’t want the head to toe Ankara look? Or do you live outside Africa and don’t have access to a good dressmaker or designer that works with the fabric but still want to show off ‘ethnic’ fashion? How about getting an Ankara handbag? Very easy to style, it is one of those things that will give your wardrobe that added oomph. It will very easily turn your ‘tee shirt and jeans’ outfit into something notable.

There are a good number of African handbag designers that work with the fabric so getting one should not be that hard. Since it is clothe, it’s easy to clean and maintain. All you need to do is make sure to make the bag the focal piece in the ensemble. Yu don’t want too many things clamoring for attention.

I hope this short post has inspired you add a little variety to your wardrobe with an Ankara bag. As always, remain fabulous.

How to choose a handbag.

Hello. Today I’m going to talk to you about choosing an everyday handbag. For a lot of us, buying a handbag over a certain price (depending on budget) doesn’t make any sense. We don’t believe it’s worth the extra money to buy what I like to call a ‘serious’ handbag. I’m not talking here about designer bags. I personally am yet to buy my first big name designer bag so that is not what this post is about. I’m talking about a good quality handbag. A lot of ladies would prefer to own twenty cheap bags that two or three quality bags.

What they don’t seem to understand is that when it comes to handbags, you get what you pay for. Quality bags last so much longer than cheap (disposable?) bags. Those handbags that you buy for four (4) thousand naira that you have to change every year are costing you more than the bag someone else bought in 2006 for twenty thousand, carried everyday for four years, rested for six months and has been carrying everyday since and is still in perfect condition. Your four thousand a year handbag habit has cost you twenty four thousand naira in that same time and you probably don’t have anything decent to show for it. At the end of the day, when shopping for your basic everyday bag, cost per wear is a good consideration. There is now the added benefit of second hand value if you choose to sell through a ‘vintage’ stop.

Making the move from buying cheap bags is quite a serious business for a lot of us. I remember when I first made the decision that it was time to start carrying quality bags. When I thought about how much it was going to cost me, I almost changed my mind. However, when we do get to that point, a lot of us don’t quite know what to look out for and some even assume that because it costs more, it must be better quality.

The first thing to do when buying a bag is to pick it up. A good quality leather bag will always have some weight to it and the handles will be quite sturdy. Another thing is that stitching will be very neat and very secure. As an example, I know that an authentic Hermes handbag’s stitching is so secure that if the stitch gets broken at a point, the rest of the stitch will remain in place and even the next point will not unravel. It will stay put. Also, ALL the edges around a good handbag will be covered so that you cannot see the roughness of the leather. All hardware on the bag will be strong and of good quality. The zips will be metal with big sturdy teeth. The lining of the bag will be some kind of soft leather like material and these days most good bags come with a lot of compartments inside for you phone, credit/ atm cards, a key ring etc and even an attached matching purse for you money.

I hope this has been helpful to anyone thinking of buying a quality handbag. Don't forget to enter the competition below. Entries close on Saturday at midnight. Good luck. Remain

fabulous.

Updated Wardrobe Foundation

Hello everyone. I’m so glad that you stopped by today. Its been a busy few days for me but it’s been really good. I trust that you are in good spirit. For the last few days, I’ve been thinking about what young ladies coming out of school and getting their first job and thinking of what I believe should be the first set of clothing items that she should buy. Let’s call it her wardrobe foundation. I’ve done a post on this before so this is an update.

So let’s say you just got you first big pay cheque and you want to update you wardrobe from that of a girl to that of a young woman. What are the first things to spend your money on, assuming the said cheque isn’t blank?

The White Shirt.

Popular convention says that you should start out with one white shirt. Experience has thought me that that is not adequate. You need at least three white shirts to start with. Idealy, these should include a plain, formal looking botton down, long sleeved white shirt, the other two can have some kind of feminine details like frills, pleats, lace etc. Just remember not to go too crazy if you want to wear them to work. When purchasing, be on the look out for quality of fabric, cut of the shirt ( to be sure that it flatters your figure and washing instructions. You don’t want to end up with a ‘dry clean only’ when you are on a budget.

Blue shirts.

After you have you most basic white shirts, you need to own at least two blue shirts. As in the case of the white, you can’t make do with only one. The particular shade of blue should be based on what shade suits you the most. One plain, formal looking, botton down, long sleeved blue shirt and another more feminine, more detailed shirt. Look out for the quality and feet and washing instruction as above.

Camisoles

One of the most important elements especially for work, are camisoles. You can never have too many of them. It is with your camisoles that you can really go crazy with different colors. Just remember that they should always be worn under a jacket to keep from looking unprofessional because of the fact that they show your arms.

Suits.

You need to start with at least two pencil skirts. One plain black, preferably high waisted pencil skirt and the other can be either black pin stripped or some other neutral like navy blue, gray or brown. There are those who think that you can buy trousers in place of skirts. I don’t agree. I think that because of the conservative nature of the avaerage workplace, you want to own at least one skirt. Ideally, you should not start with Trousers until after at least two skirts. Of course you start with black and work your way through the other neutrals. I think that at the foundational stage of your wardrobe, you should think more in terms of separates than an actual suit. So next should come two jackets. First a black plain jacket and then either a black pin stripped or a navy jacket. Note that with jackets, fit is key. The bodice of the jacket should fit your body closely but not be tight. The shoulder of the jacket should also not extend beyond your natural shoulder. Also, with formal jackets and skirts, you have to be very careful with the care label because so many of them are better dry cleaned and so you have to be sure of whether it’s hand washable or mashine washable depending on what your resources are. The wrong cleaning process and your jacket, skirt or trousers will not just last as long.

Accessories.

To start your wardrobe you need a pair of COMFORTABLE black shoes. I know a lot of people say court shoes/ pumps, but I think that they have to be shoes that you can be comfortable with. Just be careful that they are formal. Anything from the court shoes/ pumps to ballet flats to loafers to stiletoes are adequate. You also need a neutral big handbag. It could be a grab bag, a tote, a shoulder bag, what ever as long as it is somewhat formal looking. With both items, it is important to buy the bast quality you can afford as it may not be ideal to to have to change your basic bag too often. Your basic bag should be able to hold its shape through the abuse of everyday use.

With these, you have started your journey into your adult wardrobe. As a lot of older women will probably tell you, building an enviable wardrobe is a marathon, not a sprint. As long as you nail the foundational items, you can take a bit of time to start to build a wardrobe that will have pieces that you can still enjoy even after.

I hope that this information has been helpful. Remail fabulous.