Personal Style Etc.

[ShoestringTravel]

ShoestringTravel - thanks so much!

I have been feeling much more positive recently, and hope to be stumbling out of my sartorial malaise!

I think that most of my issues arise due to me purchasing online, which is pretty much the only way that I can obtain what I feel to be quality garments at present. My home town is rather small and most of the high street stores are a little too trend led for my tastes, and the stores which I would like to visit are located in cities much too far away for me to visit on a whim. (or even for less than £100 train fare).

A recent disaster was my new APC coat: gorgeous, exquisite thing, but the XS literally swamps me. I was so upset by that, but was aware of the risk when purchasing it from Sweden. I have missed my return date, too, so am hoping to sell it for at least something close to what I paid (which was an insane amount for me, admittedly).

Still, I shall learn from this, and persevere. I will also do a bit of local research into alterations.

I've had thick wool coats altered, too, if that helps! They can take in just about any seam on the thing; I recently had one wool coat that fit great, but was ridiculously long, so the tailor lopped off 12 inches of it, and now it's a nice trench coat length. Maybe a tailor could take in the side seams and adjust the sleeve lengths for you? Good luck!

 

[Jenna-maria]

i have never had anything tailored...it seems, so hard work
and here it is super expensive, so i rather buy things that fit or not buy it at all.

yesterday one thing popped in my mind:
last year i did not wear anything except black tights with dresses/skirts/shorts or leggings with tunic dresses/dresses.
but this year it have been all about jeans and loose fit, cozy shirts.
i cannot image to wear leggings ever again.

just asking everybody (who wanna answer),
have you find your dream pair of jeans?

i have!

they are from h&m (some wierd reason h&m jeans works me the best, i just buy the more expensive jeans...not those stupid stretch jeans that cost 12euros...), dark denim and fit perfectly. i actually bought them late last year but they were too small and now they fit perfectly! YAY!

i would buy anothe pair but they do not sell it anymore.

 

[softgrey]

I'm starting a new part-time job working in a retail shop. Apparently we have a strict wardrobe requirement of which we can only wear black. So black dress, black pants with a nice top, black skirt and top, etc. We can wear a colored shirt if it's under a blazer though. Basically I was told that if my back was to the customer then all they should see is black clothing. It's to make us easy to identify for the customers I guess. However or accessories and shoes can be any color. So while I love the color black I've come to realize that I don't have much of it in my wardrobe apparently. I have three black dresses, one black skirt, one black cardigan, and one or two appropriate black shirts. So it's quite limited I suppose. Which means it looks like I'll have to purchase a black blazer and another shirt at least.
Anyways, my question is how do I spice up my work look without breaking the rules? I want to look professional yet stylish so that customer will want me to help them. This is my first retail job and I guess I just want to make the right impression.

we have a couple of threads on this that you many want to look up...
one on all black, all the time...
and another on how do you wear black...

the main thing that comes out of both threads though is that it is about TEXTURE...
mixing different fabrics adds another layer of interest to an all black look and works beautifully...
good luck with the new job...

 

[softgrey]

i have never had anything tailored...it seems, so hard work
and here it is super expensive, so i rather buy things that fit or not buy it at all.

yesterday one thing popped in my mind:
last year i did not wear anything except black tights with dresses/skirts/shorts or leggings with tunic dresses/dresses.
but this year it have been all about jeans and loose fit, cozy shirts.
i cannot image to wear leggings ever again.

just asking everybody (who wanna answer),
have you find your dream pair of jeans?

i have!

they are from h&m (some wierd reason h&m jeans works me the best, i just buy the more expensive jeans...not those stupid stretch jeans that cost 12euros...), dark denim and fit perfectly. i actually bought them late last year but they were too small and now they fit perfectly! YAY!

i would buy another pair but they do not sell it anymore.

we also have a thread on jeans which you might be interested in...
i think it's called all about your jeans...

...

 

[Jenna-maria]

OK, I will check it out!
Thank you

 

[Lapin de Lune]

Could anyone advise with regards to locating a good tailor?
I live in a small town (UK) and so far I have only noticed small, alteration shops that I wouldn't be happy to trust with an expensive item (say a wool coat).
I would love some tips in what to look out for or ask if I call any.

 

[Lapin de Lune]

oh, and Jenna Maria I have been searching for the perfect jeans for over 12 yrs. It has become painful ..

 

[softgrey]

Could anyone advise with regards to locating a good tailor?
I live in a small town (UK) and so far I have only noticed small, alteration shops that I wouldn't be happy to trust with an expensive item (say a wool coat).
I would love some tips in what to look out for or ask if I call any.

i think for something like a coat-
look for a MENS tailor...
they are the most experienced in altering tailored items like that because they do men's suiting and it's a similar concept...

they would have a hard time with jersey fabrics- because menswear doesn't have a lot of that and jersey is tricky to sew because it stretches...
but for anything tailored, a classically trained tailor should be able to do a fine job...

and i wouldn't worry that it's a small town, clothing construction is basically the same all over ---unless we are talking about a beaded evening gown, it shouldn't really make a difference.

 

[vandekamp]

oh, and Jenna Maria I have been searching for the perfect jeans for over 12 yrs. It has become painful ..

ughhh tell me about it.

 

[Lapin de Lune]

i think for something like a coat-
look for a MENS tailor...
they are the most experienced in altering tailored items like that because they do men's suiting and it's a similar concept...

they would have a hard time with jersey fabrics- because menswear doesn't have a lot of that and jersey is tricky to sew because it stretches...
but for anything tailored, a classically trained tailor should be able to do a fine job...

and i wouldn't worry that it's a small town, clothing construction is basically the same all over ---unless we are talking about a beaded evening gown, it shouldn't really make a difference.

Thanks for the tip! I have actually decided to keep my coat - which looks utterly transformed when the sleeves are shortened. I am going to make some enquiries into tailoring after the weekend.

 

[softgrey]

hope that you had success with your alterations lapin...

 

[tourist10]

I'm pregnant right now, and since this is my second pregnancy, all the novelty and excitement over my changing body is totally gone. So fashion wise, I have summer months on my mind, since that's when I might have a chance of fitting into normal clothes again. Especially shorts, which I haven't wanted to wear in years. I basically want to be looking like this

but swapping out the wedges for flats like these Margielas

(pics from lagarconne.com)

I wonder where I will be able to find shorts like these without the high price tag?

Anyway, not sure if anyone else is dreaming of summer!

 

[Chanelcouture09]

^Zara perhaps ?

 

[Chanelcouture09]

oh, and Jenna Maria I have been searching for the perfect jeans for over 12 yrs. It has become painful ..

Topshop, particularly Topman have brilliant jeans, i know I'm a guy but i bought two pairs recently from Topman in a skinny fit and they fit perfectly, one pair was a plain black stretch skinny jean and the other was a waxed denim again in a skinny fit, both are gorge!

 

[RedandNavy]

I have a question regarding that neon trend... What do you think of it? Somehow it deeply fascinates me. I'm always a lover of anything colorful And some of those neon looks make my heart beat faster. But I'm not sure how I could wear it? I'm 32 now and wore neon dresses as a kid in the eighties... but isn't this trend more for the younger crowd?! I'm fascinated by neon denim jackets... but how would you wear them? Is any of you jumping on the neon bandwagon?

 

[Tinetush]

^I like neon. But I only use it as a pop of colour in an otherwise neutral outfit.
I think denim jackets can be hard to style if one wants to avoid the somewhat young rugged look. But I think one can make neon denim jackets look more polished if it's worn with neutrals, for example; navy trousers, grey t and a yellow neon denim jacket. I think the trick it to keep the rest of the outfit more classic in terms of pieces and colour.
In general I really like pairing navy and/or grey with neon as they give a softer look than black does.

 

[lucy92]

I wonder where I will be able to find shorts like these without the high price tag?

Anyway, not sure if anyone else is dreaming of summer!

so you want baggy shorts without a high price tag? why not try mens shorts? the gap and banana republic might have some reasonably priced ones.

 

[tourist10]

thanks for the suggestions chanel and lucy!

lucy - that's a really interesting idea that I didn't think of! The only concern is finding a pair with some drape, men's shorts often seem very stiff at places like gap

redandnavy - I'm around the same age, and personally neon does not appeal to me, but I really like tinetush's suggestion of pairing it with navy and gray. It could work!

 

[softgrey]

In general I really like pairing navy and/or grey with neon as they give a softer look than black does.

i'm really with you on this one...especially navy...
so much cooler and more modern that with black...

black w/neon is too 80's retro...
it's not interesting or creative or new ...or cool...
imho...

B)

i also don't really like entire garments that are all one solid neon colour...
you could go blind from that...!!!...
......
what i like are some of the gorgeous prints for spring that have some splashes of neon---Preen s/s 2012 comes to mind immediately...

 

[RedandNavy]

Thank you for your opinion, Tinetush and Softgrey!

I'm not sure yet whether I'll include a bit of neon into my spring / summer wardrobe. I like it but I'm not sure it would really match my other pieces. I love strong colors in general, but I agree: Pairing them with navy and grey is much nicer than with black. I've more and more moved away from black in the past three seasons. It looks so hard to me nowadays, especially when combined with the strong colors that I like.

I'm thinking of maybe buying an accessory with some neon in it. But I'll wait a bit longer until I decide. And I have to look carefully at my stuff again and decide what would actually go with it. I never want to buy something in a trend that makes me buy a lot more things to have something to go with it. Even if I like it.