I work with a plus-sized gal who dresses extremely well. I’m always excited to see her sport ultra-trendy styles appropriately and effortlessly. Her favourite look at the moment is a comfy and superbly flattering knee length printed jersey dress worn over leggings. She finishes off this ensemble with patent accessories and funky specs. So fab! She truly understands fashion and adapts an “of the moment” trend to her body type very effectively.

I recently asked her where she likes to shop and she told me about a super new on-line site: b & lu. She’s been very impressed by their fit, quality and prices (we’re talking $60 for a jersey dress and $30 if it’s on sale). They offer their items in sizes 14-30 and even ship internationally. Remember ladies… style is beyond size.

I have been preaching my perfect pants length mantra for as long as I can remember because it’s a fashion faux pas that I feel especially strongly about. While the default perfect pants length (when hems skim the surface of the ground) works beautifully for boot-cuts, flares and wide-legged pants and jeans; it won’t work for skinnies, tapered-legs and super straight-leg pants and jeans. Narrow pant-leg openings scrunch at the ankle and over your heels instead of skimming the surface of the ground no matter how long their in-seam. It’s therefore fab to wear these types of long pants ankle length. This is an acceptable and ultra fashion forward look. And thus far the only exception to my very rigid rule.

Skinnies and tapered pants are stylishly acceptable ankle length.

“Vanity sizing” is a term for the industry’s practice of inflating the dimensions associated with a particular size tag over time. What was considered an American size 8 a decade ago will pass for a size 4 today. Size inflation becomes more extreme the further back in time we go. Marilyn Monroe’s voluptuous size 12 body would probably fit into the equivalent of what we know as a size 6 today.

How this phenomenon started is anyone’s guess. It is thought that vanity sizing is “designed to satisfy the buyer’s wish to appear thin“. This boosts self esteem and thereby ensures the sale of a garment. Designers and manufacturers were quick to realize that there was money to be made by satisfying perceived insecurities.

The increasing dimensions of garments have subsequently caused retailers to introduce additional size designations at the low end of their size ranges (0, 00, or subzero sizes). This is hilarious! Next thing you know, a healthy size 8 will be wearing  a size 0 and a tiny size 0 will be in a size marked “negative 8”.  At the end of the day, there is no getting away from the fact that we live in a fashion world in which smaller clothing sizes are an obsession.

If you’d like to learn more about vanity sizing, Wikipedia is a good place to find related articles. What are your thoughts on downsizing size tags as a way of fooling us into a false sense of security?

It’s hard to give strict guidelines for selecting the sunglasses that will work best for you. With variables such as face outline, eyebrows, cheekbones, eye-width, complexion, age and fashion persona to consider, I find it impossible to generalize. But I do feel that there are three key factors to consider when making your decision:

• Proportions are important. Oversized sunglasses remain a huge fashion statement, but they look silly when they are too big for your face. Larger and taller women have the dimensions to pull off the oversized sunglasses look well because a balance is struck. The bigger you are, the bigger you can sport your accessories. So if you’re small boned and petite, watch how oversized you go with your sunglasses.
• Your eyebrows frame your face. In most cases it makes sense for your shades or specs to follow the same line as your eyebrows. I tend to prefer it when eyebrows are covered by sunglasses because this makes a cleaner statement.
• Contrast is striking. Pairing a round face with angular sunglasses (shades that have rims with sharp points) works really well. A similar contrast is created when pointy facial features are paired with rounder sunglasses. Striking differences are appealing and eye-catching and somehow I’m always drawn to them. The same way polka dots are superbly complimented by rectangular handbags.

While there are always exceptions to the rule, these factors may help to narrow down your choices from the extensive selection of available sunglasses.

Both models wear the oversized look well. I’m a sucker for classic retro black shades.