For the most part, my significant other Greg likes what I wear. I attribute this to the fact that we have very similar aesthetic preferences. We both like strong, sleek, simple, modern, edgy and retro silhouettes. Nothing too bohemian, earthy, whimsical or ornate. We adore geometric patterns, bold contrasts, saturated colours, black & white, military styling, turtle necks, textured surfaces, zipper trims, superb quality and clever design detailing. We’re two peas in a pod.

But there are things I love to wear that don’t go down particularly well. For example: ruffles and frills, shiny fabric, poufy sleeves and lace. I’m happy for Greg to say those types of silhouettes are not his cup of tea. I appreciate his opinion. At least he has one! But that doesn’t stop me from wearing these items. I just know that on the days I wear ruffles, shiny things and poufy sleeves, Greg is not going to love my outfit. And that’s okay. We can’t both love everything all the time.

Does your significant other like your style? Is it important that they like what you wear? Do you ever wear items that they don’t like? I’m really interested to hear your thoughts on this one.

Update: It turns out that Hanna from the forum wrote an interesting personal perspective on this topic just yesterday. Her experiment, asking her significant other to describe her style in 5 words, is a great idea.

Note: When I wrote this post I had quite a broad definition of “significant other” in mind. The The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy captures it well. “A person whose close relationship with an individual affects that individual’s behavior and attitudes. A significant other is usually a family member, spouse, child, employer, coworker, friend, or lover, who serves as a role model or whose acceptance and approval is sought.”

There is going to be a lot of black in the Autumn and Winter collections this year. More than normal. I adore the right black wardrobe items and my personal style wouldn’t function without them. Black is a good basic and certain items just look best in this colour. But I’m a little worried about the sea of black that’s forecast for stores this season.

Black is not flop proof. It can look dull, severe and lifeless against the skin, especially as you get older. Yet for many women it’s become an easy fallback option because of the perception that black is versatile, chic and slimming. Black is all of those things, but it has to be worn in the right way. It can look great when worn head to toe, if there is ample textural interest. Texture adds movement and depth to the hue, bringing it back to life. Black is also beautiful paired with white, cream, grey or rich reds, blues and browns. As for the rest, it’s a little trickier to get right.

I hope there’s enough colour variety this season. Although it’s stylish to wear black in the right doses, it’s refreshing and uplifting to wear a colour other than black, especially on a chilly day. Do you wear too much black?

Some typical pairings of black items this season. Wearing black with black is often encouraged, once again confirming my earlier suspicions about a 90’s revival in fashion.

The 80’s revival of fashion has brought back skinny zippered  jeans, but the modern incarnation is longer, sleeker and full of stretch. What would we do without stretch! I shudder to think. It’s the only way to wear tight clothing.

I was enamored with the idea of sporting zippered skinnies again because of my weakness for zipper detailing. I also fell in love with how the hems cascade over the foot and expose the ankle bone when unzipped, adding an unexpected and interesting detail to the outfit. So I recently added a premium pair to my denim collection and they’ve become a fast favourite. I’ve worn them three times in the last week.

These particular skinnies are tighter than my other pairs, but surprisingly more comfortable because they’re softer with more stretch. And you can’t even feel the zippers. Because they’re tighter, they’ve added a bit of curve to my legs which is a welcome change. It’s nice to have a variety of skinny jeans, each with a slightly different look and fit.

Zipper detailing is quite masculine and severe, so I like these jeans best when contrasted with feminine touches. Above on the left I’ve matched them with girly items: a ruffle blouse, oversized pearl beads and low yellow pumps. But I couldn’t resist throwing in the androgynous boyfriend blazer for some 80’s fun. A huge blast from the past, but much improved and I’m enjoying every second of it.

I’ve added similar feminine accents in the outfit on the right: a waterfall draped top, Chanel-esque jacket and chunky pearls. The buckled black booties are edgier, but I like how they contrast with the prim and proper top half of the ensemble.

The zippered skinny is also great zipped-up, where it essentially becomes a normal pair of skinnies. Above you can see a close-up of my new pair zipped and scrunched with flats. I wasn’t sure about unzipped with flats because of the length, but I wore this look yesterday and it worked fine. Lots of possibilities.

If you don’t like skinny jeans, this item is not for you. But if you’re all over the silhouette like I am, give the zippered version a try. They are available at Banana Republic, Martin & Osa, Nordstrom, Guess, Armani Exchange, Bebe and Shopbop at the moment and they’ll turn up in more stores as the season progresses.

I like to think of personal style as more of an art than a science, which is why there are very few absolute rules on YLF. I love to encourage ensemble creativity and out-of-the-box thinking because no one likes to be boxed into a rigid way of doing something forever.

Guidelines that take into account your body type are important though. I believe that you need to master some principles of good style and dressing to flatter your body type before you begin to manipulate these guidelines. As Maya put it in the forum:

“you can’t break the rules until you understand them”

Artists like Picasso, Van Gogh and Chagall developed their abstract style over time. They were well trained in the classics first, studying the basic principles of line, colour, depth and composition for years before they defied the odds and came up with the non-traditional abstract master pieces that defines their artistic style today. They mastered painting what they saw, and then they began to paint what they felt. The same can apply to you and your personal style.

Once you know what works best for your body by following the guidelines, you can either keep things simple and leave it at that. Or, you can challenge yourself by bending the so called “rules”. The point is not to regress by deliberating wearing unflattering outfits in an effort to be creative and individualistic. That’s counterproductive. At the end of the day, our goal is still to look and feel good in what we wear. The challenge is to make a typically unflattering look, look flattering. And it can be done.

I like to challenge my body type guidelines because I enjoy trying something new. This keeps things interesting and after all, it’s my bread and butter.

Here are some of the ways I bend my own guidelines:

• Wearing V-necks and scooped necks: my long neck, regular bust size and bony chest looks best in high necklines (turtle, funnel, slash, mandarin or cru). Lower necklines end up making me look like an ostrich and my bony chest is unattractive. But by finding low necklines that are cut high at the shoulder neck point but low in front helps shorten my neck. Also, a chunky necklace or scarf adds just enough chest coverage to make the style work.
• Surrendering my waistline: I look best in form-fitting, waist- defining styles because they add curve to my straight-ish body. But I’m all over the deconstructed revived 80’s silhouettes of right now so I had to make them work too. For starters, I keep the bottoms extra sleek and the shoulders of the tops or jackets extremely tailored so that my ensemble is somewhat structured. I also add girly detailing like low heels, ruffles and pretty accessories to balance out the androgyny of the look.
• Wearing shorter length skirts and dresses: my shapeless legs look best in knee-length skirts that finish around the knee cap. But hemlines have been getting shorter and finding skirts long enough has been hard. But for the first time ever, I’m wearing hemlines five inches shorter than what I’m used to as long as I wear them with slouchy boots. That way I get extra coverage and a bit of volume around the lower leg area.

Sally from alreadypretty.com and I were telepathic last week as we both thought about tackling this subject at the same time. Sal’s great post entitled “figure flattery as a limiting factor” cuts straight to the chase and you should definitely have a squizz.

You’ve just been challenged to take a make a traditionally non-flattering item for your body type look flattering. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with.