I started writing about transitioning your wardrobe from Winter into Spring, but when I went back to the post I wrote almost exactly one year ago, I realized that the information was still relevant today. So instead of writing the same post again, I’m going to suggest that you take a look at “How to Put the Spring in Your Step“. There was interesting discussion, so be sure to read the comments too.

Having read the post, make a short shopping list if you need one, and spend time in your closet remixing Spring outfits. Perhaps it’s a question of adding silky scarves and a colourful trench coat to your wardrobe assortment? Maybe you need light coloured boots, white jeans and non-neutral jackets?  Lightweight Spring knitwear, colourful belts and printed blouses are also a great idea.

My Spring-to-Winter workhorses are my cream, black and citron trench coats. The extra warmth of their quilting is perfect during our soggy Seattle Spring. My apple green boots, light colored boots, silky scarves and bright knitwear also get lots of wear.

Socks in sandals has been a fringe trend for a year or so. This trend is not to be confused with wearing hose with sandals, which has been trendy and popular for longer.

I really like the “sandals with socks look” on younger gals in particular, and on older gals when executed with just the right amount of arty sophistication. The socks kind of dress down the outfit and add textural interest. It’s a fun look.

In order for this trend to work well for my eye, there has to be a low-ish colour contrast between either the socks and the sandals, or the socks and your skin tone. I don’t fancy the look nearly as much when the colour contrasts are high – like wearing red socks with black sandals, or neon pink socks with green sandals.  I also think the look is best with a chunky, almost clog type heeled sandal, T-strap pump, or mary jane (see pictures below).

So I absolutely vote yay for this fringe trend on others. But I vote nay for me because I don’t wear the style of footwear that’s a prerequisite for the look, and the overall effect is a tad too casual for my style. I’d rather wear a dressier sandal or peep-toe pump with pretty hosiery. What’s your vote?

YouLookFab turns five years old today and Greg and I are pleased. Our baby blog grew up into a bright and vibrant online community that gives us great joy every day.

The last year has been filled with incredible highs and lows. One of the highs was launching the new YLF in September last year. It was the most significant redesign of the site since we launched in April 2006. The biggest feature we added was the ability to upload photos with forum posts, which has turned out to be enormously popular. The front page of the forum shows that more than half of the topics have photos these days.

The low came just over a month ago when we lost an integral part of the YLF family. The loss of our blog star Jasmine continues to cause great sadness at YLF Headquarters.

I’m grateful to YLF for many, many reasons. I have the opportunity to do what I love every day, and I get to share my passion about fashion and style with a worldwide group of friends. Greg and I have never worked so hard in our lives, but we have an enormous amount of fun. And we have the hilarious outtakes from our photo shoots to prove it.

As I have said so many times before, what makes this all so special is YOU. Reading your insightful, witty and thoughtful contributions in the blog comments and forum posts enriches my life. You continue to give YLF your knowledge and support generously and unconditionally, and that is an incredible thing. It also blows my mind that some readers have been with YLF since its inception, and still log on daily. We are deeply humbled.

With Jasmine in our hearts, Greg, Rosie and I extend a very big thank you to all our subscribers, forum members, daily readers and occasional visitors. You are what makes YLF an extraordinary community.

Year 5 was fun, but year 6 is going to be even more exciting. We have some new things on the way and we can’t wait to share them with you.

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Update: I woke up this morning to a very precious gift on the forum. The wonderful, no… killer to the power of killer video below. My jaw dropped, then I smiled, then laughed and then cried. We are so happy and so humbled. Thank you our worldwide YLF family.

This article was sent through to me by a friend and my jaw dropped as I read it. A survey conducted in British Universities showed that almost one in every three women would be willing to die younger in exchange for their ideal figure.

Some 16 per cent said they would swap one year of their life for their ideal body and 10 percent were willing to trade between two and five years.

Many women valued their lives less, with 2 per cent willing to forego up to a decade, and one percent saying they’d give up at least 21 years younger in exchange for a slimline shape.

Most of the ladies taking part in the poll were in the normal weight range (some were apparently underweight), and they ranged between the ages of 18 and 65. Read the full article to see the other things that women were prepared to give up, what they viewed as the ideal body, and what they thought about eating disorders.

Although it is quite shocking to see survey results like this in black and white, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Women in society feel under enormous pressure to conform to some sort of ideal. I’m fortunate that as a fashion stylist I’ve learned that there isn’t one way to be beautiful in just the same way that there isn’t one ideal style. One of the best illustrations of this is the blogosphere, where an incredible variety of beauty and style is on display.