A top has a round hem when the hem is higher on the sides than on the front and back, and curved downwards. Five things make the curve flattering when the top is worn untucked. 

1. It breaks the strong horizontal line that a straight hem creates across the body.
2. It draws the eye upwards and increases vertical emphasis.
3. It elongates the leg line by exposing more of your leg on either side.
4. It gives an outfit more structure and visual interest. 
5. It visually shortens the length of the top.

That said, round hems don’t look fab when they’re too short, especially when you’re wearing them with trousers or jeans. I have found that my taller clients in particular need to make extra sure that their round hem tops are long enough. This is why the hemline looks particularly good on petites. 

Round hems work both in knits and wovens, and fitted and voluminous silhouettes. The lengths vary from tunic to regular length (a few inches above crotch point) as seen below. Here’s a tip: if your round hem top looks too short, try wearing it with a skirt instead of jeans and trousers. Shorter tops generally work better with skirts. 

Do you wear tops with round hems? Do you find them more flattering than straight hems?

From tiny wallet bags to hard-cased micro bags, The Telegraph reports that mini bags are trending this season. How small will you go?

Fendi is celebrating the 15th anniversary of their famous Baguette bag with pop-up stores in Paris, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo. The fashion house is also bringing out a commemorative scarf with an illustration by Karl Lagerfeld and a 344 page coffee table book.

The bicycle commuters among us might love this stylish black and cream carryall designed by GiveLoveCycle. It comes in two sizes, and can hold your bike helmet and all your purse essentials.

Fab Links from Our Members

CocoLion loves Damsel in Dior’s style, and is smitten with the way the blogger is mixing jeans with this Helmut Lang piece.

After watching “The Iron Lady”, Anne came across this interesting interview with former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on the subject of clothing and the fashion industry.

Janet just discovered CONSTRVCT, a digital bespoke service that allows you to design your own wearables that are then printed and manufactured for you.

Gaylene believes that it is useful to think about the impact that our clothing has on others’ perception, especially in the workplace. That’s why she finds Lisa’s approach to building a career wardrobe much more practical than many other traditional lists.

Angie absolutely adores forum member Sylvia’s relaxed baggy shorts outfit. Volume, softness, dignity and spunk all finished off with the best flat sandals and hat.

These fourteen ways to wear a navy blazer (via forum member Bella’s Pinterest board), have inspired Laurinda to go out and find her own.

Vildy wanted to share this lovely holiday outfit with crisp white shirt and straw sunhat worn by the beautiful Shakira Cain.

Charmian recommends Empty Emperor’s approachable but rigorous discussion of consumerism and the psychology behind it. She found her post on Barriers to Buying Less particularly interesting.

Carole says a drape knot is such an elegant way to dress up any outift and add colour. She refers us to MaiTai’s tutorial on how to tie this knot.

Helen Gurley Brown, longtime editor of Cosmopolitan and author of “Sex and the Single Girl” passed away this week. MaryK will remember her as a woman who saw and helped bring about many changes in women’s lives.

Many of my clients express an interest in orange, but are unsure of how to wear the colour. They are particularly concerned about mixing orange with black, or with black and white, because of the colour’s association with Halloween. This is understandable, especially in the US where Halloween is a huge event. 

The first thing I say to my clients when this question comes up is mix orange with blue. Ink blue, cobalt, denim blue, chambray and light blue work particularly well with burnt orange, Dutch orange, tangerine and peach as shown below. Wear orange either on the top or bottom and slot in your blue. I’ve shown this palette with solids, but it works equally well with patterns. 

Light coloured footwear and handbag are my favourite way to complement this palette. Think shades of white, blush, mushroom tones, metallics and light snakeskin patterns. Earthy tones like cognac and leopard print will also work, as will cooler shades like slate and charcoal grey. 

Is wearing orange with black a big no-no for you because of Halloween? Would replacing the black with blue solve the problem?

I’m enjoying the look of wide trousers so I recently added two pairs to my wardrobe. As a result I had too many pairs of wide hemmed pants. I can’t wear wide legs too often in Seattle because the hems get wet in the rain. Tapered legs are a lot more practical, so I decided to taper the hems of two pairs of old bootcut jeans to restore the balance of hem widths in my wardrobe. 

After pinning both pairs of bootcut jeans to the newly desired tapered silhouette, I took them over to Chung, the lady who does all my alterations and who owns Madison Cleaners down the road from our house in Seattle. I adore feisty and exuberant Chung. She barely speaks English, but we totally understand each other. Her broad smile lights up the room and you can’t help but be completely captivated when she beams those pearly white teeth.

Chung and I almost always have a spirited “discussion” about the measurements of a planned alteration, because we both have strong opinions. In this case, I wanted my hems to taper to a half circumference of six inches, while Chung wanted them to taper to seven inches. We debated this for a while, our voices getting louder and louder, with both of us doing a lot of gesticulation. As always, we reached a compromise. Chung suggested we taper at six and half inches and I agreed. 

The results were great. Chung, who was a seamstress for 25 years in Korea, does a killer job. In six years of alterations there was only one time when I wasn’t completely happy with the results. And I find her prices very reasonable. This time she charged me $24 to taper two pairs of jeans.

Finding someone like Chung makes alterations so much easier. After all, they help you to achieve that all important perfect fit. If you don’t already have a go-to person, then ask around. By now, most of my clients and many of my friends have Chung do their alterations. As Phoebe says: “She’s the best!”