Great necklace for Fall from Anthropolog...

Lightweight, chic & the price is right

My new Anthropologie necklace arrived in the mail today. I threw it on with what I was wearing. What do you think?

(Photo by S.W., with assistance from E.W.)

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.)

New hair style with ‘turban’...

I love the idea of trying new things with my look, especially when it doesn’t involve making appointments and spending time and money. (Although, hey, I like that fine, too!)

Last night, after a great mastermind call in which we all talked about trying new things and taking time to style ourselves, I was inspired to try putting a faux head turban on myself. More of a headband than a turban, but with a knot on the top, like a turban, and for me it was kind of a new look. You might try it, too — it’s just the thing to make your regular-old-standard outfit pop! The one piece of advice is to choose a color that’s really fantastic on you, because the turban will truly frame your face, either for good or not.

And, okay, if I’m not being entirely convincing, please just take a look and see what I’m talking about anyway! (Click through to see the turban pictures and then again further to see the turban tutorial.)

And by the way, the blog where I found this is one I check everyday. Although the blogger is younger than I am and her overall sensibilities are different.

What can YOU do differently — you know, to bust out just a little? Maybe it’s a bag in a color, a larger earring, a different kind of shoe, or a shorter skirt. Go ahead — knock yourself out. (And let me know how it goes.)

(Ketura Persellin is a DC-based image consultant and stylist. She can help you identify and get out of your ruts — contact her for a free get-acquainted session.)

Great statement necklaces for Fall...

One of the things I’ve noticed with a lot of my clients is that they tend not to have enough accessories, particularly jewelry. They may have no problem spending hundreds of dollars on a jacket but balk at doing the same with a necklace. And I wish it weren’t so, because you can definitely — okay, usually — get a lot more mileage from the right piece of jewelry than from a single garment.

Recently I realized I hadn’t been to my absolute favorite jewelry and accessories store — Tabandeh – lately, so I stopped by to take a look.

I came across two great necklaces. Both would really give a boost to a whole variety of outfits and can be worn now and in the Fall and — this is the best part — neither will break the bank! These are just two of a large, eclectic and carefully edit collection, so if neither of these is right with you, there are many others to choose from!

(In both pictures, the model has two other necklaces flipped around to the back so they look like chokers — they aren’t part of the two necklaces  described. Top necklace is pearls and Swarovski crystals, $335; multistrand necklace on bottom is Swarovski crystals and vermeil chains and links, $185.)

If you live in DC, stop in and take a look!

(Ketura Persellin is an image consultant and personal stylist in Washington, DC, and surrounding suburbs. Need to find the right accessories to move your personal style forward? I can help — just send me an email.)