What’s YOUR fashion direction?...

New fashions come from many different sources of inspiration. That inspiration could come from a piece of fabric, a movie, a muse, or some other source. Let’s take a look at some of the directions designers took this year. One (or more!) may speak to you!

Minimalist meditation
Fashion as serene as a Zen garden, this is pared-down design with little or no embellishment for quiet understatement. Try:

• straight-line dresses
• jackets with shape but no details (like showy buttons, zippers, or other hardware), and
• a neutral color palette including winter white, rose beige, dove gray, and black.

Future focus: Bundle up, urban warrior

Futurama

Sparkle lights up military drab

Inventive individualist

Jessica Schroeder of WhatIWore.com, working her oxfords

Menswear mashup

Fall 2010 trends: Love it or leave it?...

Some trends are more flattering than others — and have greater longevity and versatility. Here’s an easy guide that highlights 10 top trends of the coming season. Let me help you make some  decisions about what to bring into your closet this season and what to keep far, far away.

LOVE!

Leather
The leather this season is very inventive: soft leather jackets and pants, plus leather pleated full skirts that have real movement. You’ll see cutout details, fur trim, and leather added to denim. Lightweight leather is great for transitioning from warm weather into the cold.

Mixed prints
Mixing prints works, though it’s not always easy to get this right! Mix checks with plaids when one of the patterns is bolder, the other more subdued. Mix floral prints together if they share the same general color scheme. Steer clear of polka dots with leopard and painterly prints with modern space-age-looking prints. And different animal prints together? Leave that at the zoo.

Cozy wrap by KnottyGirlDesigns/Etsy

Capelet by Crafty Butterfly/Etsy

Capes and ponchos

Yes, try one or both! Capes and ponchos and other similar wraps are both great complements to some of the season’s biggest trends and are the perfect outerwear piece for the chunky knits you may be wearing. Try one in tweed   menswear styles. (And no worries, you’ll still get plenty of wear from your body-skimming winter coat.)

Camel
Wear camel, but only if it flatters you. Honey-blondes, redheads and brunettes may leap for this color trend but if camel makes your skin look sallow, hold back. Try a classic camel coat, a camel pantsuit, a trench coat, or a to-the-knee straight skirt in camel. In accessories, incorporate camel in a framed handbag or an over-the-elbow pair of gloves.

Pick a glove, any glove

Gloves
Here in DC, we wear them for months out of the year. How about ditching those stained or torn (or puffy quilted) ones and putting your style in your hands? Above-the-elbow leather gloves are great with capes, dresses or short-sleeve blouses. Wrist or elbow length in contrasting or complementary colors, they’re an elegant addition that elongates the arm and adds warmth for cold weather. Lace gloves to the wrist are dainty and quirky. Knit gloves with fingerless thumbs and index fingers won’t get in the way of your texting.

LEAVE!

Lingerie as outerwear
This trend might work for a couple of movie stars but no one else.

Feathers
They may look great — but does your dry-cleaner know how to handle them?

Knee-high socks
Proceed with caution. A better choice for most women is opaque tights or knee-high (or over-the-knee) boots.

Just say no.

Sweatpants
It’s pretty darn hard to get this trend to look right. If you’re in doubt, wear them to the gym and leave it at that.

(Ketura Persellin is an image consultant serving Washington, DC, and surrounding suburbs. Contact her for help putting your best look together this Fall.)

Michelle Obama...

It happens to the best of us.

Don’t feel bad. You know how sometimes you leave your house looking and feeling like a million bucks, and then other times, not so much? Well, that’s how Michelle Obama felt yesterday, the “not so much.” She often looks fantastic, and usually looks pretty darn good, but yesterday was just a big ole miss. Floppy, too-long legs on her pantsuit, suit-jacket sleeves too long or too big or too floppy, and a belt added as if it could fix these problems. (Though the belt is similar in color so maybe it’s not a complete afterthought — hard to tell.)

Here’s an example of how she gets it right: Michelle Obama on vacation. Every vacationing American should take a page from her playbook!

(Ketura Persellin is a DC-based image consultant and personal stylist. Need to look great on your vacation? Contact me — I can help you pack and relax in style.)

Photo: Getty Images, www.daylife.com

Shopping your closet...

Does this sound familiar? You’ve got a closet stuffed to overflowing … but nothing to wear?

A jacket can really pull together an outfit

It’s pretty common. Some experts say women wear as little as 10% of what’s in their closets. That’s a whopping 90% that isn’t getting used! That’s a big waste of money, and even worse is how frustrating it is to get dressed every morning, riffling through shirt after shirt and jacket after jacket to find the one you like and that fits and looks current.

Bracelets pop with a T-shirt and jeans

This problem can be fixed but it will take a little bit of time and effort. Your best bet is to pick one or two pieces you love and that look great on you. Pull them out and then go through your wardrobe, piece by piece, to find the items that work with it. So, say you’ve got a blouse you love but you never wear because you don’t know what goes with it. Take a half-hour to build three new outfits around that blouse by finding a skirt or pair of trousers or jeans. And don’t forget the accessories — what jewelry, belt, bag, jacket, and shoes will you wear with this outfit? Experiment until you get an outfit that makes you look your best.

Botkier "Maddie": Don't forget the accessories

Once you’ve nailed that outfit, make sure to take a picture or make notes — you think you’ll remember it, but you won’t. Then move on to the next item in your closet that you love but don’t wear a lot. Repeat the process.

Sometimes you’ll see that the addition of one great, new piece will “connect” a lot of the pieces you already have: a leather jacket, a bag in a rich color, a textured shoe, a top in a pattern with certain colors. Start a list and resolve to look for those pieces.

And don’t expect yourself to blast through this exercise and create 20 outfits in 20 minutes! It takes longer than that. And a secret of many well-dressed, stylish women is that they put in a little time to get it right, so when they’re in a hurry, they can grab a great outfit and get out the door!

What’s holding you back from doing this? How much of your wardrobe do you think never gets worn? Leave a comment and let me know!

(Ketura Persellin is an image consultant and personal stylist in Washington, DC, and surrounding suburbs. Need help with your wardrobe? I can help you get it in shape, so it works as hard as you do. Contact me to arrange for a complimentary get-acquainted session.)

Wardrobe planning...

One of the services I get asked about most is making outfits — styling the clothes a client already has in her closet.

It’s a great thing, because it doesn’t involved shopping (which many women loathe, even when I am with them to make it less mysterious, confusing, and frustrating).

We simply take the pieces she already owns and find new ways to wear them. This can lead to a LOT of new outfits and to delighted surprise when a client finds she can get new life out of a piece she’d nearly gotten rid of because she had no way to wear it!

You can do this, too. You could find a little time on a weekend to plan what you’ll wear for the week (just make sure to keep notes, because you’ll forget, even though you think you won’t). You can try pairing new colors together or experiment with silhouettes. Just approach your closet as you would a rack of clothes in the store — that is, without preconception. What works together?

Caveat: You’ll need a mirror for trying the new combinations. And yes, you WILL want to try on the outfits!

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.