The relentless holiday hype at year end can lead to some fashion fatigue in the new year. Heavily discounted retail stores are clearing end of season stock to make room for Spring collections, so merchandise is for the most part uninspiring. After a frenzy of holiday spending, budgets are tight. And to top it all off, the weather is likely to be cold, wet, grey, and quite depressing if you live in the Northern hemisphere. 

I certainly feel the January Blues, and so do many of my friends and clients. But I don’t let it get the better of me. In fact, over the years I’ve come to welcome January as a time to reflect and recharge. Here are some strategies that have helped me to beat my own January fashion fatigue. 

1. Wear Your Style

The best part of fashion and style is creating outfits and wearing your wardrobe items, not shopping for them. So enjoy your current wardrobe. Wear the heck out of your fabulous stuff and don’t go shopping unless something really tickles your fancy. 

2. Look Forward to New Collections

Patience is a virtue. If you’re trying to shop but can’t find anything you like — WAIT. Spring collections will be in full swing by the end of February, and chances are high you’ll be more inspired then. Runway shows for Fall 2015 also begin in February, and are another source of inspiration. 

3. Focus on Basics

Basics like underwear, sleepwear, socks, hosiery, loungewear and workout wear might not be all that exciting to shop for, but they deserve your attention at least once a year. Use the January lull to replenish this part of your wardrobe instead of shopping for the more fashionable and visual parts of your style. 

4. Refresh Your Grooming Regimen

January brings a feeling of renewal and can be a good time to assess and refresh your skincare, haircare, nailcare and make-up regimes. Change your hairstyle or hair colour. Change up the colour of your nail polish or lipstick. Create a more dramatic brow line by dying light-coloured brows, or fill them in with eyebrow pencil.

5. Have a Mega Outfit Creation Session 

Turn up the music and spend a morning or afternoon creating all sorts of outfits by shopping your closet. Invite a friend and have a ball doing it together, and then reciprocate the favour by doing the same in her closet another time. Record the outfits you create so that you don’t forget them.

6. Analyse Your Style

Analysis can be lots of fun. For some, even more fun than shopping or wearing their wardrobe items. Do some introspection about your style needs, set flexible style goals for the year, set a monthly budget, and think up systems to track the items and combinations you wear.

7. Set Style Challenges

This is a fun way to get those creative juices flowing. For example, try going a whole week without wearing dark neutral clothing. Try wearing non-neutrals for two days in a row. Try to wear the same item three days in a row in different outfits. Wear a skirt or dress twice a week. Wear wardrobe orphans for seven consecutive days. Choose a painting and create outfits inspired by the painting. Whatever floats your boat. 

8. Find Another Creative Outlet

And if anything to do with fashion and style is just too much for you at the moment, take a complete break by finding another creative outlet. Return to fashion and style when it once again inspires you.

Some of my friends have had style swap parties at this time of year, while others prefer to abandon fashion for a while and hit the slopes for ski holidays instead. Either way, remember that fashion and style should never boss you around. It’s there for you to enjoy if and when that’s what you want to do.

The most googled fashion designer of 2014, Lane Bryant’s new capsule collection, an exhibition that aims to challenge common interpretations of luxury, and other style news to start off the new year.

• eBay has unveiled its most shopped for items in 2014: With over 1 million sold pairs, sneakers saw a 12 percent increase from 2013.
• Meanwhile, Bethany Mota topped the list of most googled fashion designers in 2014, coming in first before big names like Kate Spade and Oscar de la Renta.
• Fashion designer and mod style icon Mary Quant was made a Dame in Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year’s Honours list. 
• “What Is Luxury?“, a new exhibition to be staged at London’s V&A Museum this Spring, “will challenge common interpretations of luxury, invite close examination of luxury production and extend ideas of what luxury can be.”
• Lela Rose has designed a capsule collection for Lane Bryant that will be availabe in stores this Summer.

Fun Fashion Fact

Did you know that the Dick Avery character in Funny Face, a role played by Fred Astaire, was loosely based on the early career of iconic fashion and portrait photographer Richard Avedon, who also consulted on the film.

This ensemble was inspired by our forum members who are having lots of fun wearing Eileen Fisher’s black skirted leggings. They are super comfy, arty, practical and a little different from other casual bottoms. They also remind me of skousers and skants from the ‘90s. 

The ensemble falls flat if you don’t have a pair of skirted leggings, which are most versatile in black or dark grey. But do be creative by combining a thick pair of black leggings with a black pencil skirt. You’ll find that longer skirts worn over leggings look more flattering when the side seams are tapered at the hem. Shorter length skirts look fine less tapered. 

There are many ways to create outfits with skirted leggings. I’ve started the ball rolling with three casual renditions in an assortment of neutrals. In each case I’ve kept the footwear black to match the leggings to increase the vertical integrity of the outfit. 

Skirted Leggings, Plaid Shirt & Moto

The combination is that simple. Layer an untucked plaid shirt over skirted leggings and finish off the look with a black moto jacket and black footwear like loafers, oxfords, sneakers or boots. Choose a bright or tonal plaid, and a bag of your choice. You might like to add a scarf and headgear. 

Skirted Leggings & a Column of Colour

Create a column of colour by combining a black pullover or tee with black skirted leggings. Layer a chunky drapey cardigan, sweater jacket, or maxi cardigan over the top, keeping the front open so that the layers are visible. I’ve chosen a light neutral to prevent the outfit from looking too dark, but feel free to use a colour. Finish off the outfit with black footwear, like loafers, oxfords, sneakers or boots, and a bag of your choice. 

Skirted Leggings & a Denim Jacket

Combine skirted black or grey leggings with a neutral tee or pullover and top off with a denim jacket. I’ve chosen a grey pullover, but a white, grey or navy tee works equally well. Finish off the outfit with casual black footwear and a bag of your choice. You’ll be able to layer a coat over the entire lot for extra warmth if the jackets and cardigans aren’t too bulky. Add jewellery, headgear, watch and eyewear as desired. 

Skirted leggings are one way to break out from a daily jeans uniform. They are a super option for a stay-at-home or work-from-home setting. They also provide excellent coverage if you’re self-conscious about exposing the top part of your legs.

Happy New Year! I’m kicking off 2015 with a look that has a high happiness factor because white-out is one of my favourite trends of all time. Some feel powerful wearing black from head to toe, but I feel powerful wearing white from head to toe. Something about soft, pretty and crisp shades of white makes me feel invincible, modern and bold, despite it being an impractical combination and a low contrast against my hair colour and complexion. I think it’s important to assess how we feel in an outfit, instead of only taking fit, proportion and conventional colour theory into account. 

I wore this outfit to a 40th birthday party at a restaurant near the end of 2014. In that case I wore it with a gold clutch, but here you see it with a brand new ink blue graphic wardrobe pet that was a Christmas gift from a dear friend.

Outfits that are made up of both new and old items put an extra spring in my step, and this one is no exception. The cream trousers were a birthday gift from Greg. The chunky Zara pullover is a few seasons old. The coat is five years old, and the booties are from Spring 2014.

Of all the white-out combinations that I’ve shown on YLF, this is the most trendy because it pairs a cropped pullover with high-waisted trousers, which is something I haven’t done since the ‘80s. Unless you want to intentionally expose the midriff, creating more coverage with the bottom is the way to go when wearing a cropped top. I’m also wearing a self-colour camisole under the pullover for warmth and coverage. 

Creating the right fit with a cropped top and pair of high-waisted trousers is key to making me feel confident instead of exposed and uncomfortable. I sized up in the Club Monaco trousers to create a loose tailored fit. This caused them to be too loose on the waist, so I had the waistband altered. I can now wear them without a belt and they stay put.

The cropped pullover is fluid and heavily welted with a structured wide welt, which creates a blouson effect. The boxy blouson, slightly roomy fit and extra length of the trousers are a big part of what makes me comfortable in this combination. If either item were tighter or shorter, I’d feel too self-conscious. 

Texture is one way to add depth to an outfit that is a single colour from head to toe. In this case the coat, trousers, shoes and pullover are all different textures, which makes the white less flat. The column of colour creates a long vertical line from head to toe, which makes a difference if you feel that wearing white makes you appear larger than you are. Although the heels on the booties are square, the pointy toe box further elongates the leg line. 

A small number of black and ink blue accents break up the white-out in an effective way. The black leather piping around the pockets of the trousers picks up the black trim on the cream booties, which in turn picks up the black buttons on the coat, and the dark pattern on the clutch. These accents are especially noticeable from the side and when the outfit is in motion. My green specs and lipstick provide the smallest touch of colour, which helps liven up the expanse of white when my coat is off and I’ve put down my bag. Watch and wedding ring are all I need in the jewellery department.

We at YLF wish you a happy and healthy New Year.