As predicted, there have been loads of floral designs on skirts, dresses, tunics and tops this season. I think there is a floral for everyone, even if you don’t like prints.

I tend to like floral patterns that are abstract or geometric. Sometimes they are nicest when the actual floral design is a little hard to discern. I don’t like florals that look like Sanderson floral upholstery, or ditsy country-flower prints. I tend to tire of this type of print quickly. I might like the freshness of the vibrant colours at first glance, but I’ve had enough of the look after two minutes.

If you prefer to keep your clothing print free, there is also the option of floral printed shoes. I like this option and last season’s Faryl Robin shoes are still going strong. Do you like floral patterns, and if so, what kinds?

These are my kind of florals, but busier and brighter designs can be just as fab and very Summery. Horses for courses!

Time and time again my conclusions are confirmed: curvy gals look better in dresses than their slim counterparts. Aesthetically, dresses look best when they are filled in the bust, hip and bottom department. This requires curves and ideally a more voluptuous body type. Straighter bodies tend to lack the curves to fill out a dress silhouette in the best way, and therefore don’t look quite as fab.

The aesthetic conclusion makes perfect sense. Dresses were originally designed for women (I’m excluding Scottish men that look sensational in a kilt). Pants and jeans were originally designed for men. There was method to this madness. Woman are curvy; men are not. Perhaps this is why women with slim, straight boyish bodies look great in jeans. But they need to step aside when it comes to dresses because curvy girls have them beat.

Pretty dresses, but even these beautiful models are too slim to truly do them justice.

As a fashion stylist with training in both psychology and fashion design, I found myself marrying both directions in a discipline I call “fashion therapy”. I stumbled across an article in Psychology Today that really resonates with this philosophy. My views on the true meaning of style are captured perfectly by the author:

“style is a life-affirming expression of your character and spirit, a conviction that you are worth knowing, worth looking at and can present yourself well”.

I believe that personal style has two aspects: the internal and the external. Your personality and attitude towards life makes up the internal part; and how you physically present yourself to the world makes up the external part. They are inextricably linked. Time and time again, I’ve seen what a little magic on the outside can do to bring out the magic on the inside. I see this happening with my own clients, forum members and my underprivileged clients at Dress For Success (where I work as a volunteer dresser).

In a world of varying body types, countless retailers and overwhelming clothing choices, it’s no wonder that many of us are lost when it comes to dressing and grooming our bodies in the best way. So, in an effort to create clarity within this fashion chaos, we started youlookfab.com. Dressing well and the ability to express a great sense of style through clothing are things that can be learned. As the author in the article states:

“Fashion is in the clothes. Style is in the wearer”.

This is why we question the latest fashions and discuss how they can be worn with style. Even though I talk about fashion every day, YLF is more a style blog than a fashion blog.

Yves Saint Laurent said “fashion fades but style is eternal”. Coco Chanel said “Beauty is no guarantee for happiness, strive instead for elegance, grace and style”. When we look good we feel fabulous, but by the same token, feeling good is an essential ingredient of good style.

When the distance between your shoulders and natural waist is longer than average, you are long-waisted. Gals who fit this description should wear clothing that shortens the torso, raises the waistline and lengthens the legs. Here are a few guidelines:

• Wear a waist-cinching belt in a contrasting colour. This breaks up the length of the torso. Belts that match the colour of your bottoms are particularly effective.
• Wear high belted style jackets, coats and blouses. Wrap blouses are especially good.
• Layer with contrasting top colours to visually break up the torso.
• Wear tops that taper above the natural waist like empire lines.
• Wear tops tucked into pants and skirts with mid to high rises to raise the waistline.
• Look for tops with horizontal detailing like stripes, yokes and exaggerated collars. This raises the eye upward and the waistline too.
• Wear skirts at the knee and with a heel to balance out the leg line.
• Wear pants extra long and with heels (my PPL theory).
• Avoid pants with cuffs. They shorten the leg line and draw the eye downwards.

As usual, this is about restoring balance by putting the emphasis in the right place.

Left: An empire blue top with waist-cinching white belt over a pair of white pants shortens the torso beautifully. Middle: A top tucked into a high-waisted pair of pants or skirt does the same. Right: The empire line shortens the length of the torso by focusing above the natural waist.