Weekly Roundup: Fitted Knitwear Items

Amidst a sea of fashionably fluid and oversized knitwear — which is going into its fourth season — fitted silhouettes look fresh. Note: stay away from these silhouettes if you don’t like to define the waist because they cling to the midsection. The peplums are more forgiving because they do not cling as much from the waist to the hip. 

Here’s an assortment that’s hot off the press for Fall. Be sure to browse through all the colour options.

Visit the collection page to see the items alongside my descriptions.

How Internal and External Factors Impact Your Style

In the course of helping many clients find their style and create functional wardrobes I’ve found that a moderate amount of analysis and planning is useful. Too much can lead to analysis paralysis, which takes the fun out of dressing and evolving your style. Too little and you’ll shop based purely on emotion and end up with a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. I’m all for emotional shopping but it has to be organized

I’ve also found that it is useful to think about the factors that affect your style in two groups. The internal factors are about you. The external factors are about your context. Here’s the way I like to break it down.

INTERNAL

Style Preferences

Your aesthetic taste in terms of silhouette, colour, fabric, pattern, texture and design detailing is subjective, and can be wildly different from one person to another. Your style preferences attract you to items before you’ve even tried them on. 

Body Type

Although body type dressing guidelines have relaxed over time, we can’t help but be somewhat attracted to clothing, footwear and accessories that create conventionally flattering proportions. That said, creating outfit proportions that are “just flattering enough” is the more modern approach and quite liberating. It’s empowering to know that these days we can be stylish creating all sorts of proportions and irregular outfit juxtapositions by manipulating the guidelines for body type dressing. 

Outfit Variety

Over the years, I’ve found that a person’s need for outfit variety — or lack thereof — has a noticeable impact on their style. Those who enjoy outfit variety have a greater assortment of silhouettes, fabrications, textures, patterns and colours in their wardrobe. They also generally react faster to trends because they want to add “newness” to their look right away. The opposite holds true for “uniform dressers” and those who are disinterested in trends.  

EXTERNAL

Lifestyle

Your lifestyle is the most important factor that affects your style. Someone who works in a business formal or business casual environment has a different set of wardrobe needs to a stay-at-home Mum or somebody who works from home. How and where you socialize will also have an impact on your style, as will the extent to which you travel, attend formal events, and play sports. A common mistake I see is a wardrobe that was created for an imaginary lifestyle

Climate

Your climate is the second most important factor to consider because it’s best to be practical about your wardrobe choices. That way you’re prepared for the elements and comfortable throughout the day. For example, no matter how much you might love to wear floor sweeping flared trousers with pointy toe heels, they’re really unsuited to wet and snowy weather. By the same token, creating an extensive capsule of outerwear for a tropical climate is a waste of time and money. 

Environment

Sometimes the expectations of people around you can have a big effect on your style. I refer to this as your environmental norm. It includes cultural norms, workplace norms and even the expectations of your social circle. Everyone has to decide the extent to which they want to conform to their environmental norm or challenge it. You may choose to sometimes conform and sometimes challenge. There is no right or wrong here, but it is useful to acknowledge your environmental norm and factor it into your style decisions.

Budget

Although style is not a price tag, your budget will impact your style choices. Within your budget you can decide the size of your wardrobe, the rate at which you can refresh your style, and the amount you choose to spend per item. Although your income level can definitely put a cap on your budget, I find that income and budget aren’t always directly related. Each of my clients is pretty unique in the way that they approach setting a budget for wardrobe purchases.

It is never too late to start thinking about how these factors impact your style. My clients differ greatly in their appetite for this sort of analysis. For some of them it’s very informal, and something we touch on briefly while we shop and create outfits. Others love the analysis of thinking about these factors in great detail and then mapping them to their current wardrobe and their shopping strategy. Either way, thinking about how the internal and external factors affect your style is important.

Dramatic Asymmetrical Lines

A new outfit from Kelly Tucker of Alterations Needed, whom we introduced to YLF in July 2013.

Kelly wore this showstopper of a dress to a friend’s wedding. The dramatic asymmetric hem and gathered side make for a unique silhouette. The strict architectural lines create a fab juxtaposition with Kelly’s soft curls. The navy looks beautiful with her brown locks. Our blogger had the sleeves shortened and slimmed, altered the shoulder, bust and waist, and hemmed this Theory shirtdress to fit her 4′ 11″ petite frame to perfection. Major alterations, but so worth it. The black with gold leather belt and pebbled leather envelope clutch add a bit of hard edge. The slinky ankle strap sandals provide a sleek feminine touch. A simple gold necklace, link bracelet and light blue nail polish subtly complement this eye-catching party look.

Kelly Tucker - 1

Kelly Tucker - 2

Roundups

Simpler Items

This week's list of top picks list is about basic pieces.

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Assorted Items

Items for Summer, both in and out of air conditioning.

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Casual Summer Vibes

This week's top picks are good for a casual Summer vibe.

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Summery Earth Tones

These items are for those who like to wear casual earth tones in warm and hot weather.

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Hints of Spring

Some tried-and-tested winning items to refresh your style for Spring.

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Dressier Items

An assortment of dressier top picks might be just what the doctor ordered.

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Three Trendy Pullovers to Wear with Bootcut Trousers

I recently suggested bootcut trousers with trendy blouses for Summer. But now that Fall is on the horizon, I’ve been helping clients jazz up their bootcut trousers with trendy pullovers for the office, events, or out to dinner. 

Remember that bootcuts are fitted on the thigh, which creates plenty of structure to pair them with roomy tops. Feel free to pair these pullovers with bootcut jeans for casual settings too. Dramatic, romantic, fashionable and comfortable. 

1. Ruffled Pullovers

Ruffles look fresh this season, probably because they’ve been scarce for seven years. Think beyond the ruffled blouse and go for a roomy pullover with a ruffled hem. Mixed media options are fun because they are texturally interesting. Fitted ruffles on the waist like peplums are another option, as are ruffles that cascade diagonally down the front and back of the pullovers. Create a low contrast between the trousers and pullover if you’re concerned with the top creating a horizontally cutting line across the body, or looking short in the leg. 

2. High-Low Pullovers

Roomy pullovers with high-low hemlines are excellent to pair with bootcuts because the shorter front provides further structure to the outfit. Styles run the gamut with fronts that are dramatically shorter than the back and others where the difference is more subtle. Fits can be fairly streamlined through the torso, or fashionably oversized.

 

3. Asymmetrical Pullovers 

Pullovers with asymmetrical front hemlines are the most avant-garde pairing of the three, and just as fab. Silhouettes can be long or short, tailored or boxy, and any colour or pattern. Keep the contrast between the top and bottom low if you’re after more vertical integrity in your outfit. 

 

Finishing off the look with a short chunky statement necklace or funky pendant necklace adds polish to high-low and asymmetrical sweaters. Dressy pointy toe heels —  a slam dunk with flared hems — add further polish. 

You’re after a roomy cocoon coat, cape, poncho, swing coat or man coat as the topper if the pullovers are chunky. But my clients seem to be managing just fine layering with trench coats, trapeze jackets, peacoats and leather jackets over fine gauge knitwear. A short jacket looks best over these styles of pullover when it creates a low contrast against the top. If it creates a high contrast, wear it over a column of colour. 

Colours That Make You Happy

The colour of an item is the most important part about it. No matter how suitable a garment is in terms of fit, silhouette, quality, fabrication and price, if the colour isn’t right, you probably won’t purchase it. Colour can make us feel happy, sad, confident, blah, tired, serious, playful, anxious or alluring, because it stirs up a myriad of emotions. Colour is POWERFUL. 

On this Labor Day, we’re going to talk about colours that make us happy. First some general observations about my clients. Cool jewel tones like eggplant, amethyst, teal, magenta, orchid and fuchsia make many of my clients happy. So does an assortment of cool blues, cool greens and rich burgundies. Black, silver grey and charcoal are amongst their happy colours too. 

Greg’s happy colours are black, ink blue, navy and dark grey. To some extent chocolate brown makes him happy, but in much smaller doses. 

Sour brights and white make me happy. When I see items in tomato red, watermelon, citron, apple green, turquoise, shocking pink and all shades of white, my heart goes pitter patter and I’m filled with joy. For a split second I want those items no matter what! Ink blue, light blue, Dutch orange, coral and blush pink make me happy too, but not to quite the same extent as those sour brights.

Over to you. Which colours make you happy? Do you have more in common with my clients, with Greg or with me?

Furla
BAB PN12
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Top Pick
12
COS
Cotton shirt dress
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Top Pick
10
Zara
Piqué Blazer
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19
Ann Taylor
Boatneck Sweater
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25