Here is a silly, but fun question to ponder this afternoon: excluding underwear and socks, what is the most common item of clothing or footwear in the world today? And by “common”, I mean by quantity. If we collected all the items of clothing and footwear and put them in piles according to their category, which would be the pile with the most items?

At first I thought the answer was obvious. In this order:

1. T shirts
2. Jeans
3. Sneakers

Then I began to have second thoughts. With China and India having such large populations, where do the unique clothing items from those cultures fit into the list?

What do you think is the most common item of clothing?

You enjoy fashion and want to look hip, interesting and cool, so you tastefully pick out trendy items that like you back. But you don’t wear those items you love because you’re worried that people will think that you’re trying too hard. They might think that… you care too much about what people think. Oh, the irony!

I hear this concern about trying too hard quite often, and I don’t understand how it all got so complicated. You don’t need to wear every trend to be trendy. To me, when you wear one or more of the current trends, you are trendy. That’s the long and short of it. So I am absolutely sticking up for the word trendy and consider it a compliment.

Fashion and trends unite us, but it’s style that sets us apart. It’s how you personally style a trend that counts. There is nothing “cookie-cutter” and negative about wearing a trend when you wear it well and make it your own. Sport a trend with confidence, sass and your own special stamp and you’re super stylish in my book.

On the other hand, wear a trend that doesn’t work for your lifestyle, persona, age, or body type and chances are high that you will look like you’re trying too hard. That’s when the trend is wearing you rather than you wearing the trend.

And then there is your environmental norm. Sometimes people feel they won’t fit in if they are the only early adopter of new fashions. This is more irony — it is choosing not to wear new trends that is the conformist option in these situations — but I do understand that the environmental norm is powerful and sometimes it just isn’t worth the effort to challenge it. Just be sure you aren’t confusing your individual norm with the environmental norm.

I keep coming back to the main reason I love fashion. It’s fun! Getting dressed in the morning is fun! Keeping abreast with the latest fashion trends is fun! It doesn’t mean that you have to wear them all. Pick and choose the ones you fancy and leave the rest. Liking a fashion trend and making it work for your unique style is in itself a fun challenge. Fashion trends inject the necessary “now” into your style and I think that’s important.

If you look great sporting a trend and it makes you smile, wear it. Of course, effective execution is everything. And everyone has days when they just don’t pull it off. But excluding an item from your repertoire because of what other people might think — isn’t that trying too hard?

There is a fantastic variety of hair product. This makes sense, given that there are products suited to all hair types and hair styles. Short straight hair, for example, requires completely different product to long curly hair.  Add in the variables of colour treatment, climate and budget and a multi-billion-dollar industry of hair care products is born (I’m extrapolating from a market research report in 2005 that put the hair care market at $7.6 billion in the US alone).

I have short, straight, razer-cut, hair and I like the texture to look extra piece-y and choppy. So after a wash and quick blow dry I apply a small helping of my favourite hair goo. I use Alterna’s Caviar Radiant Smoothing Lotion. It’s NON-STICKY, which is extremely important to me. I cannot tolerate sticky hair goo — it makes me feel like I need to shower and wash my hair.

It’s pricey, but Alterna lotion goes a long way. It brings out the rough edges of the razer cut and also adds a healthy shine to my hair. I’ve been using it since cutting my hair short again and will have an apoplexy if they discontinue the product. I’ve tried other brands and nothing yields the same good results.

Have you found a brand of hair goo that works for you? I’m sure others would enjoy hearing about your preference as it might help them to make better product choices. Hair stylists in particular, please weigh in with your professional opinions.

Over a year ago I wrote that shoulder pads were making a comeback. Well, they’re back. Still fringe, but in full swing nonetheless. At the moment you’ll find sharp shoulder padded looks in jackets. You’ll find them in tops and dresses too but not as frequently. I LOVE the look. They’re a fun and much improved 80’s flashback, so a big fat yay from me.

This time round fashionable shoulder pads are a lot more streamlined and tasteful than they were 25 years ago. The pads look more integrated and part of the garment as opposed to an afterthought. In the 80’s I often bought shoulder pads separately and piled them on under my shirts and jackets. Thank goodness the silhouettes are more tasteful today. The perfect shoulder padded jacket is not hard to find and I’m so impressed with the industry’s clever designers. I’ve found two over the last year and I simply can’t get enough of my plain black version, which is the more versatile of the two.

Strong shoulder styles aren’t the best look for women with broad shoulders and extra strong shoulder lines, unless they have the height to balance it out. Not that we cared about that back in the 80’s when we all looked like we were going to topple over. But if you have narrow shoulders, a dainty shoulder line, sloped shoulders or regular width shoulders, you might find that you really like the look.

Greg didn’t like my strong shouldered jackets at first. But after seeing them a few times they grew on him.  Have they grown on you too? Are strong shoulders jackets a yay or nay? If they are a nay for you, do you like them on other people? Does your eye need to (re-) adjust to the silhouette?

You don’t need to spend a fortune if you like this trend. H&M, Urban Outfitters and Express have some super, budget-friendly options in at the moment and they’ll be even cheaper when they go on sale.