Fashion has been highlighting the ankle for several seasons. Once considered more risqué than exposed breasts in western society, and still off limits in some cultures, ankles definitely have an allure. In most cases, the ankle is highlighted by exposing it, but sometimes it’s covered in just the right way. Here are some examples. 

• Cropped pants and jeans in multiple silhouettes come to mind right away. Flared or tapered hems are cropped two to four inches above the ankle to make a statement, for example. 
• Ankle strap footwear with straps that are positioned on or above the ankle bone showcase the ankle quite beautifully. Ankle straps that criss-cross along or above the ankle are another way to do just that. Cage heels showcase the ankle too.
• High-vamped footwear like loafers, oxfords, short shaft booties, cut-out booties, sandal booties and sneakers are more subtle ways of showcasing the ankle. Their high vamps highlight the ankle by cutting close to it, or covering it to create emphasis. 
• High-low maxi dresses and skirts lift a little higher in front to showcase the ankle. 
• Tattoos are strategically placed around the ankle to draw attention to it.
• Statement ankle socks, which are particularly popular with the fashionable youth of Japan and Hong Kong, draw immediate attention to the ankle. 

You might not want to showcase your midsection, décolleté, back, upper arms or thighs, but you CAN showcase your ankles, and feel instantly confident and attractive when doing so. You don’t need to have slim, sculptured ankles to make the fashion I described here work well for you. All ankle shapes can look great sporting today’s ankle-accentuating fashions when you find the versions that work best for you. 

I think it’s marvelous that a seemingly nondescript part of the body is having its fashion moment. I hereby declare the ankle the body part of the year.

I’ll preface this post by saying that it isn’t at all essential to de-emphasize a large bust. Following guidelines to create perfectly balanced outfit proportions is only one way to look stylish. This is 2016, and you can look stylish creating all sorts of outfit proportions, as long as you feel fabulous wearing them. 

Some of my clients have a full bust and don’t follow the guidelines below (except for #1, which applies to everyone). Others do want to visually minimize the size of their bust because that’s how they feel fabulous in an outfit. Here are 12 visual techniques that might be useful if you fall into the second category. You can use more than one of them in the same outfit.

1. Get the Foundation Right

If you haven’t been professionally fitted for a bra, get that sorted asap. Too many women are wearing the wrong bra size. It’s a common mistake to go too wide in the band and too small in the cup. Wearing the right size bra in the correct shape for your body type smooths out your silhouette, defines the waist, and makes clothing fit better. 

2. Try a Minimizer Bra

If a supportive and comfortable regular bra does not achieve the bust shape you’re after, you can visually reduce the size of your bust with a minimizing bra. I have never worn one, but clients tell me there are effective and comfortable options available. 

3. Lower Necklines and V-Necks

Showcasing skin above the bust helps to break up the expanse of the chest. Wear V-necks, scoop necklines, key-hole necklines, and open boat necklines. An open shirt or blouse collar will work because it creates a V-shape above the bust. 

4. Tailored Tops & Jackets 

Wearing tops and toppers that follow the contour of the bust and waist visually reduce the size of the bust because you’re showcasing the narrowest part of the torso. Unstructured tops with high necklines in stiff fabrications maximize the size of the bust because they create a cube-shape from the bust down to the hip.

5. Large Necklaces

Large statement necklaces worn on the skin of low necklines do a marvelous job of visually reducing the size of the bust because they create a focal point away from the bust. A delicate pendant necklace tends to get lost. That said, if you prefer daintier jewellery and have a large bust, choose a necklace that has spaces between the beads or pieces so that your skin peeks through. 

6. Knitted Tops

Knitted fabrics stretch over a large bust, which prevents gaping and whiskering. The fabric skims the contour of the body and is more comfortable too. A classic knitted V-neck mock wrap top with side ruching magically minimizes the bust like few others do. They work well on a defined waist, but tend to cling onto the midsection of apple shaped body types.  

7. Shoulder Detailing

Garments with interesting shoulder detailing — like raglan cuts, shoulder embellishments, epaulettes, and in some cases shoulder pads — focus the attention away from the bust.

8. Higher Cut Armholes

Armholes that are cut closer to the body of sleeved garments create a snugger fit, which reduces the size of the bust. Baggy fits around the bust — especially in stiff fabrics — tend to make the bust look larger. 

One exception: Batwing and dolman sleeves can work very well with a large bust when the drape of the fabric is great (that is, the fabric collapses back onto the body nicely), and the neckline is low. The photo below provides a good example. 

9. Diagonal Lines

Diagonal lines are magical. Think asymmetrical hemlines and diagonal stripes because they straighten curves in ways that balance out proportions. 

10. Optimum Sleeve Lengths

This is a subtle strategy, but quite effective. Wear sleeve lengths that do not finish near the same height as your mid bust point. Wear sleeves shorter or longer, so think sleeveless, diagonal sleeves, three quarter sleeves or long sleeves. 

11. A Focal Point Away from the Bust

We’ve covered two ways to do just that by wearing large necklaces and shoulder detailing. But you can also draw attention to other parts of your style by wearing dramatic hair, footwear, trousers and skirts. 

12. A Line Down the Centre Front of the Body

Wearing a tailored topper open over a top creates a vertical line down the front of the body which slims down the size of the bust. Vertical seaming, like darts and princess seams are subtle, but can have the same effect. 

In my experience of dressing women for a living, I’ve found that the first four dressing strategies are the most effective. The right bra is essential. Lower necklines break up the expanse of the chest, and outfit structure is your friend.

Yves Saint Laurent’s new creative director, a history of underwear exhibition, the U.S. uniforms for the Olympic Opening Ceremony, and more fashion news that made the rounds in April.

• Levi’s and Aquafil have partnered up to make jeans from recovered fishing nets and used carpeting.
• Here’s a first look at Grey Jason Wu, the designer’s new sister collection that comes out in June.
• Former Vogue editors Meredith Melling and Valerie Boster have launched La Ligne, a direct-to-consumer brand inspired by French stripes.
• You can now shop the Reed Krakoff for Kohl’s designer collaboration collection.
• Timberland has pledged to transition to 100% organic, U.S.-grown, or Better Cotton Initiative-certified cotton by 2020.
• Elie Saab is branching out into bridal wear with a 25-piece collection.
• This Fall, The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne is staging an exhibition showcasing the creations of Dutch design duo Viktor and Rolf.
• Yves Saint Laurent have hired Anthony Vaccarello as their new creative director.
• The Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear exhibition currently showing at the London Victoria and Albert Museum “highlights the tension in the design of women’s underwear between function and allure.”
• ASOS is organizing a talent competition for emerging British designers.
• Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, plans to sponsor 17 of the WME/IMG fashion events around the world, including fashion weeks in New York, London and Milan.
• Ralph Lauren has just unveiled its U.S.-made Olympic Opening Ceremony uniforms.

Fun Fashion Fact

Did you know that in the 18th century umbrellas were much larger and heavier because of their whalebone and brass construction. They were carried almost exclusively by doormen and coachmen. That’s why British philantrophist Jonas Hanway caused an uproar when he was allegedly the first Londoner to carry his own umbrella — crowds mobbed him because they feared he was putting them out of their jobs.

Thinking of your wardrobe in terms of capsules is an easy, efficient and effective strategy once you get the hang of it. Wardrobe capsules force you to think of your items and outfits in groups, which means analyzing how the items work together. There is little point in having a wardrobe full of fabulous items that cannot be combined to create fabulous outfits.

There are three types of wardrobe capsules: 1) mix-and-match capsules, 2) category capsules, and 3) activity capsules. The category and activity capsules are more straightforward because they’re smaller with fewer moving parts. It’s the mix-and-match capsules that my clients struggle with most because they are hard to create if you aren’t purchasing the entire capsule from scratch (which is seldom the case). In this post I’m going to illustrate the process with two examples from my client Bridget’s Spring and Summer wardrobe refresh. Both capsules combine new and old items.

First, a little about Bridget so that you can understand why the items and pieces work for her. Bridget is tall, blonde, and has bright blue eyes. As a stay-at-home Mum, she wears casual outfits every day. She has a high affinity for colour and pattern mixing, likes casual Sporty Luxe combinations, and has a strong ‘70s streak in her style. Bridget likes her wardrobe to be simple and relatively small. She will not compromise on comfort, especially when it comes to footwear. She loves to wear jeans and casual bottoms all year long. Along with her stunning eyes and gorgeous smile, her sporty white apple watch and retro sunnies are her statement accessories. Occasionally, she’ll wear a necklace. 

The collection below shows eleven of the pieces Bridget bought on a recent shopping trip. She fell in love with Santuary’s cropped camo print utility pants because they were a fab alternative to jeans. The length is fab for warm weather and the pattern is subtle. She also loves citron, so Vince Camuto’s mixed media crewneck tunic was a no-brainer. T-shirts and ‘70s style tops are wardrobe essentials for Bridget, so we refresh those category capsules every season. Trendy cropped jeans were a new item on her shopping list, and a great way to refresh Bridget’s look. We got a pair in white and pink, and two in blue across different silhouettes. Bridget also ordered two pairs of Ecco Soft sneakers — a pair in citron and another in white — as her go-to shoes for the season. She ordered a ‘70s pleather tote in cream to be her bag for the season (Bridget does not swap out her bags regularly). These are the exact items.

We built several mix-and-match capsules when we got back home, making sure that the items that she bought worked with here current wardrobe. We also made sure that they were in line with the internal and external factors that affect her style. No shopping for imaginary lifestyles!

Here I will share two of those capsules: Casual Sporty Luxe and Relaxed ‘70s.

Casual Sporty Luxe Mix & Match Capsule

We started by laying out eight of the eleven new items: camo pants, white flared cropped jeans, blue cuffed cropped jeans, citron tunic, navy tee, citron sneakers, white sneakers, and cream tote. Obviously, there were too few tops to wear with three bottoms in this grouping. Fab pieces but no outfits. We needed to add tops and toppers (for chilly Seattle mornings) to create many mix-and-match outfits within the capsule.

Bridget tried on one outfit from the grouping — camo pants, citron top and citron sneakers —  to get our creative juices flowing. I went into Bridget’s closet and grabbed items that I thought could work with the camo pants so that they would not be orphaned. I found a citron sweatshirt, ink blue and white striped tops, solid white, grey, black, tomato red and fuschia tops, a white denim jacket, and ink moto jacket. All these tops and toppers worked well with the camo pants and either pair of sneakers because Bridget tried on each of the combinations to make sure she liked them. We also tried some other tops and toppers that didn’t work quite as well, and promptly hung them back in her closet to keep things organized. 

Once we knew which tops and toppers worked well with the camo pants, it was easy to slot the blue and white cropped jeans into the capsule because you can wear anything with blue jeans, and almost anything with white jeans. Bridget also tried on those combinations to make sure she liked them. She used her phone to take a photo of each of the outfits for easy reference, and also took a photo of the capsule as a whole. 

I’ve put similar pieces to hers in the Polyvore set below so that you can see how the mix-and-match capsule of new and old items came together. The sneakers and bag are the exact items in Bridget’s wardrobe.

Relaxed ‘70s Mix & Match Capsule 

After putting together Bridget’s casual sporty look, it was time to pander to her ‘70s style and pattern cravings. We put this capsule together in two ticks because it’s very much in Bridget’s comfort zone. We gathered four of the eleven new items: teal V-neck blouse, pink cropped jeans, blue flared cropped jeans, and cream tote.

After laying out the pieces we saw the gaps. Fun pieces but no outfits. We needed tops, toppers and footwear to create mix-and-match outfits within the capsule. I went back to Bridget’s closet and grabbed all her dramatic ‘70s blouses. Over the years, she’s acquired quite the assortment and she loves these tops dearly. They worked flawlessly well with the new flared cropped jeans from Banana Republic, and an old pair of faded blue Resolution skimmers from the Gap. And since Bridget has a high affinity for colour matching, she had no problem matching the blouses with the new pink jeans. Pairing the old blouses with the new cropped jeans made for a nice change. 

The footwear was an easy addition because Bridget likes to wear ultra supportive and sturdy Dansko sandals in warm weather. The two pairs that she has (orange & brown, and tan), along with the tasseled cream tote completed the wearable ‘70s look to perfection. Her floppy straw hat worked well with the outfits too.

In Seattle you normally need a topper at some point during the day, so I grabbed two old cocoon style cardigans from the closet — one cream and one ink blue — because they worked best over the billowing silhouettes of the blouses. Bridget’s denim jackets and ink moto from the Casual Sporty Capsule can work over some of these blouses too. She took pictures with her phone of each of the outfits for easy reference, and also took a photo of the capsule as a whole. 

I’ve put similar pieces in a Polyvore set so that you can see how the mix-and-match capsule of new and old items came together. Each of the tops can be worn with each of the bottoms. The sandals and bag are the exact items in Bridget’s wardrobe.

We built one more mix-and-match capsule around a pair of casual black culottes and wrap jersey skirt, which I will share another time. We also put together a dressier capsule for events with a few stand-alone outfits. Apart from gear for sporting activities and camping, this is most of Bridget’s Spring and Summer wardrobe. She shan’t be purchasing anything else for the season unless she finds a wardrobe hole or laundry bottleneck. 

All you need is a little bit of time in your closet to create effective mix-and-match capsules with new and old wardrobe items. And once you’ve done that, you’ll have outfits ready to go for all aspects of your lifestyle. You’ll also find glaring wardrobe holes, as well as return items that do not relate to the rest of your pieces. It sounds like a very involved process, but it’s fast and efficient once you get the hang of it. And over time it becomes quite intuitive, which is the best part of all.