Every year our readers express their style challenges for Summer. Everything from not wanting to wear sleeveless items and tops that require a camisole, to feeling too hot to wear accessories or structured clothing, and feeling too hot to wear their hair down. 

My personal Summer dressing challenges are two-fold: 

• First, I run very cold, and it’s rarely warm enough in Seattle to wear sleeveless clothing without a top layer when you’re outside. But I love to wear sleeveless tops and dresses. 
• Second, I find cold air-conditioning an absolute nightmare for any type of real Summer dressing. I have lived in the tropics and understand what it takes to stay cool when temperatures are sweltering outside. But you can’t win when the A/C indoors is set to “freezing cold”.

How do you dress for a 30 to 40 degree Fahrenheit difference when you run as cold as I do? I can’t wear sandals or anything uncovered and lightweight in A/C because I freeze and am instantly unhappy. I need closed shoes, covered legs, a camisole, top and jacket for inside air conditioned situations, no matter how hot it is outside. 

As far as solutions go, I’ve learned to not buy any more sleeveless tops and dresses while we live in Seattle. I’ll wear the sleeveless items that I have on the occasional hot day and leave it at that. To constantly be layering over sleeveless clothing defeats the purpose for me. 

To combat cold air-conditioning I am forced to choose my summer outfits carefully. I try to layer in the best possible way so that I can leave off my topper when outside, but I don’t always find the right balance for the extreme temperature shift. At this stage, I would rather feel a little too warm outdoors so that I can feel comfortable indoors than the other way round. I am much more miserable when I feel too cold than when I feel too warm. 

I’d love to hear about your Summer dressing challenges and the solutions you’ve found. If you haven’t found solutions, feel free to post them in the comments section and let’s get you sorted. 

Each fashion season I add a few “new to me” colours to my wardrobe. This is not an essential strategy, but I find that it’s a great way to refresh my style. This Spring and Summer I dabbled with a little neon pink and yellow, and brought back light blue. It’s been many, many years since I’ve worn these colours and I’m enjoying the nostalgic update.

So far, my “new to me” colour for Fall, courtesy of the Nordstrom anniversary sale, is blush pink. I intend mixing the pastel with black, grey and white, and brights. And like last year, I am still on a quest to add more ink blue to my wardrobe. It’s not a replacement for black, but a complement to it. Greg recently bought me a great boxy, mixed media, ink blue pullover for my birthday. I can’t wait to wear it when the weather cools down. 

Dark reds and berries are strong for Fall 2012. That colour spectrum is not on my radar because I prefer sour, bright reds. But I’m not ruling it out just yet because wearing muted shades with brights does tickle my fancy. 

Over to you. Which “new to you” colours have you added to your style for Spring and Summer? Which new to you colours are you thinking of adding for Fall and Winter?

Boyfriend jeans offer a roomy alternative to skinnies and jeggings, and are an extremely comfortable, ultra-relaxed denim option. The tomboy vibe they create is fun, modern and on-trend. There have been many, many questions about the fit and styling options of boyfriend jeans on our forum lately, so I thought I would outline the way I break down the decision of which pair to purchase and how to wear them. 

1. Find your Bagginess

The photos show an assortment of boyfriend jeans with varying degrees of bagginess. Some styles are slim fitting and are virtually cropped skinnies (the first two pairs). Others are roomier on the hips and thighs, but fitted on the waist, bottom and tummy. And some styles are unstructured and roomy enough for the crotch point to drop (the last 3 pairs). In fact, they slide right off, even when the button and zipper is fastened, and wearing a belt is the only way to keep them up. 

If figure flattery is your top priority and you prefer to wear tailored clothing, slim style, structured boyfriend jeans are best. If you really want to embrace the authentic boyfriend jeans trend and are happy to forego a little figure flattery, go super baggy. The good news is that there is also an option in-between that allows you to bat a bit for both teams. In this case the slightly all over baggy fit that is still structured is the way to go.

My own sweet spot is pretty baggy. I sized up on my Sexy Gap boyfriend jeans (which I call my “Husband Jeans”) in order to achieve the same baggy fit that’s on the model. The crotch point is dropped and they fall right off without a belt. They are roomy on the thigh, bottom and tummy area. The fabric bunches on the waistline when I add a hip slung belt. But this is how I want them to fit because it’s the look that I’m going for. A less baggy pair of boyfriend jeans was more figure flattering, but the baggier style stole my heart because they are fun to wear and look more “tomboy”. Remember that you sometimes forego a little conventional figure flattery in order to create an edgier look. 

2. Find your Waistline

Most boyfriend jeans have mid length rises. A fitted pair will keep the same position of the waistband with and without a belt and tucked top. But an extra baggy pair of boyfriend jeans, because you’re swimming in the style, allows you to manipulate the position of the waistline by wearing a belt. Wear the belt tight with a tucked top, and you’ll create a higher rise and more natural waistline. Wear the belt loose so that the crotch point of the jeans drops, and the waistline is low rise. 

Since my boyfriend jeans are baggy and loose, I only wear them with a belt and fully tucked top because it gives the look more structure and polish. This is by no means a rule, but it is the way the silhouette works best for my style. Semi tucking a top works particularly well for boyfriend jeans too. 

3. Find Your Length 

Sort out the length after finding your waistline because the position on your waist will affect the length on your leg. Roll up the hem to the length that you prefer. I like the variations around calf length that are shown below, some a little shorter and some a little longer. To my eye, they flatter the length of the leg line. I do not find the “just above the ankle” lengths flattering unless the hems are very tapered (as they are in the first pair in row 2 below). You might need to taper the hems of the jeans a little more to get the desired effect, and that’s an easy alteration. 

At 5 ft 6, I wear my boyfriend jeans rolled up five inches above my ankle bone, both with flats and low heels. They are too short to wear full length, but they’ll work with mid calf and taller ankle booties. 

4. Find Your Wash 

As with all denim, choose your degree of distress. Boyfriend jeans are typically quite faded and distressed, but darker washed are available too. 

Feel free to ask further questions in the comments section. Do you wear boyfriend jeans? If so, what’s your baggy sweet spot, and how do you like to style them? Or are boyfriend jeans not your thing.

Wong Kar-Wai’s poetic film, In the Mood for Love, set in 1962 Hong Kong tells the story of newspaper editor Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and secretary Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) who move into neighbouring apartments on the same day. Soon they discover their spouses are having an affair. Hurt and angry they find comfort in their growing friendship, but while trying to piece together the circumstances behind the affair, they realize they now need to come to terms with their own mutual attraction.

This movie with its outstanding acting, the poetic and melancholic story, compelling music and deep film noir colours is a must-see in my book. I could watch it over and over again just for actress Maggie Cheung’s movie wardrobe alone. During filming she wore a total of forty-six different cheongsams, the straight, body-hugging silk dress with a high neck and short sleeves worn traditionally by Chinese and Indonesian women. Not all of them made the final cut, but there were more than enough left to leave me breathless. This is my type of alluring! The cheongsams are exquisitely elegant, formfitting but very covered-up, with the slit skirt showing just a hint of leg, and the bare arms contrasting beautifully with the high collar.

I’ve seen this type of dress work outside the movies too. At my sister’s wedding, a friend of hers wore a stunning bright red version with a gold and green pattern. Brigitte is a tall lass with a blond pixie and a long neck, the dress fit her perfectly. She certainly stood out that night, but it didn’t feel contrived or out of place at all. It was without a doubt an unusual choice, and a very individual look that really appealed to me. We all agreed that she was one of the best dressed guests at the wedding.

Do you like cheongsams? And would you ever consider wearing one yourself for a party or a special occasion?