The following items deserve a mention just because they’re fabulous, quite affordable and tried and tested on my clients. Take a peek.

• Born Gena Metallic Sandals: I swear it’s like walking on little pillows! The reviews aren’t great but I was impressed with how comfortable these sandals were when I tried them on in stores. It just goes to show that you can’t always trust reviews. I sized down half a size.
• Indigo by Clarks Calabria: I have several happy clients in this sandal. Runs true to size with a super cushioning footbed. The tan is very versatile but the orange has my heart. Great for the office too.
• Naturalizer Joslin: Extremely comfortable and super sweet. Read the 40 raving reviews and click through all the colour options.
• Sperry Top-Sider Montauk Leather Boat Shoe: These are adorable with denim short shorts. Preppy edge at it’s best.
• Ann Taylor Twill Cropped Pants: Fashion forward and fabulous! I pulled up the hems so that they were shorter and more pouffy in silhouette when fitting them on my client, who fell in love with the style once she added a buttoned up cropped cardigan and nude peep toe pumps.
• Ann Taylor Shimmery Tunic: It’s not a tunic but gorgeous and perfect for smart casual. Boxy and breezy, yet polished and chic.
• Karen Kane Handkerchief Cowl Top: Soft, breezy and easy to launder. Works well over tapered bottoms and makes and interesting layering piece.
• Drapey Pocket Blouse: This is the softest blouse I’ve felt all year. It’s machine washable and easy to wear both tucked and un-tucked with bottoms. Ventilating yet covered.
• Suzi Chin Maggy Boutique Dolman Sleeve Jersey Dress: Tall gals, this one has a bit of length! The cut is sublime. Just try it on. The ruching does wonders at camouflaging extra bits.
• Eddie Bauer Crinkle Dress: Superbly Summery and perfect for a casual gal on the go on hot, hot day. Click through all the colours and read the 64 glowing reviews.
• Lisa Stewart Modern Myth Circle Pendant Necklace: Simple, versatile and interesting. Wear it with everything.

If you fancy bright colours and soft luscious fabrications, make your way to Zara as soon as possible. They don’t have an online store in the US, but check out their physical store if you have one nearby.

This post contains affiliate links.

I can remember getting my first pair of tiny heels in 1982 at the age of 12. They were bright red patent winklepickers (very pointy pump-like shoes), and the dear little heels were about an inch high. I loved those shoes.

I got my first pair of three inch heels, the highest heels that I own, not that long ago at age 36. They are in fact my red Kate Spade pumps, which I’ve had for four years and reserve for sitting occasions. Clearly, red heels have an impact on my style.

Can you remember when you got your first pair of heels, and when you first started wearing higher heels?

Cropped pants and jeans are especially big this season, probably bigger than I have ever seen before. When these styles are cropped to a shorter length, either on the knee or a couple of inches below, they look most flattering to my eye because your leg length looks normal (not too long or short). That’s why it’s a flop proof length that you can pair with any style of top and footwear. Versatile and easy!

When trousers and jeans are cropped to “a tricky length”, meaning below the calf muscle and above the ankle, things get harder because they can have leg shortening effects. Harder, but not impossible when the silhouette and outfit details are just right. I’ve had a lot of practice getting cropped pants to work on my clients this season so I’m particularly confident about the following guidelines.

• Keep the hems tapered: That way the pants or jeans follow the vertical contour of the leg, making them “one”. When the hems are flared and not flush against the leg, you lose the vertical effect and the eye is drawn horizontally. Jeans and pants needn’t be tight. The silhouettes can be slouchy as long as the hems are tapered.
• Wear heels: Some long-limbed ladies can pull off the tricky length with flats, but most of us need to add a little extra height to balance out the leg shortening effect. A low heel is just fine. Choosing a low vamped shoe will further elongate your leg line.
• Keep contrast low on the legline: Think about the colour contrast of the pants or jeans against your skin tone, of the footwear against your skin tone, and between the cropped pants and your footwear. Keeping some of these contrasts low can have leg lengthening effects. For example, dark cropped pants create a high colour contrast against a pale skin tone. To compensate, pair them with heeled, low contrast footwear. Wearing cropped pants that are low contrast to your skin tone makes your legs look longer still.
• Tuck in your top: By exposing the top part of your pants or jeans, you lengthen the bottom half. This is not essential if you are following one or more of the preceding guidelines.

Sometimes all it takes is tapered hems, but generally speaking, tapered hems and heels are key. Low colour contrasts are the extra cherry on top, and tucking is the final touch.

Of course, there are lasses who defy all of these guidelines and pull it off, and power to them! But these guidelines are a good place to start if you are struggling to make it work.

This was my absolute favourite part of Karen Kane Headquarters! My heart raced as I stepped into the sample production room and saw countless boxes of trims, thread, and rolls of fabric, and long racks of patterns and garment prototypes. It took me straight back to my own fashion design days at age 23, when I worked as a junior designer for a children’s wear company (although that sample room was much, much smaller and less elaborate).

This is NOT the factory floor where items are mass produced, but merely the sample room where design ideas are taken from drawing to tangible garment. Karen Kane is a large operation, manufacturing five labels for many different retailers, so their sample room alone looks like an assembly line. Here, concepts are tested, fits are perfected, and brand new ideas are churned out daily. The room is a melting point of creativity and the skill set represented is mind blowing.

I’m energized just thinking about it! Allow me to walk you through the room.

The sample room is filled with designers, pattern makers, quality controllers, fit specialists, fabric specialists, sample pattern cutters, sample pressers and sample machinists — all experts in in their specific area.

Back in the day, I drafted pattens by hand, an awfully finicky process. These days they are constructed by computer programs and sophisticated pattern making machines and the details are finished off by hand.

Pattern pieces and design prototypes are repeatedly fitted both onto mannequins and fit models (who come in two mornings a week). The company designed their own mannequins, which range from regular to plus sizes.

These gentlemen are sample cutters. Once the patterns are complete, they lay them out onto the desired fabric and cut out the pieces required to complete a style.

The fabric pieces are handed down to the sample machinists who complete all sewing operations across a variety of sewing machines. Just look at the cardboard pattern pieces in the background! There are rails of them, all immaculately documented and administrated, each colour representing a different Karen Kane label.

Factory machinists are very skilled at their particular sewing operation, but sample machinists like this lovely lady, have to be skilled at ALL sewing operations because they sew a garment from start to finish.

There is a surprisingly large amount of pressing involved during both sample and garment production. The more effectively a garment is pressed while it’s being made, the easier it is to sew AND the neater the construction of the finished product.

Here are Karen and I looking at a completed prototype, a polka dot blouse, that caught my eye amidst the endless rolls of sample fabric. How exciting! I could visualize how it was first conceptualized from a sketch, all the way down the sample line and onto this rail.

It is a fulltime, bustling business to keep up with both the creation of prototype and final samples for seasonal collections, hence the impressive sample room. Karen spends a lot of time in the room, overseeing the process and making sure that the right samples are produced every day. The company presents their monthly collections to fashion buyers “at market” with the help of account execs and sales reps all over the US. There are five markets a year, two a retail season plus resort wear. The work that goes into prepping for these markets is quite something, don’t you think?

I asked Karen what part of her job was her favourite, to which she replied: “Seeing something new come down the line each day”. After experiencing the buzz in this sample room, I totally understand why that’s the case.

This is the second in a series of posts sponsored by Karen Kane:

1. Design at Karen Kane
2. Karen Kane’s Sample Room (this post)
3. Clothing Production at Karen Kane
4. Karen Kane’s Trim and Dispatch Departments
5. Karen Kane the Family Business

For more information you can follow @Karen_Kane on Twitter or like their page on Facebook.