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.)

Learning from Stacy London...

I was extremely privileged to take part in a fantastic training this weekend with Stacy London of TLC’s What Not To Wear fame. (It was connected to an exciting new venture called Style for Hire — oh, and it took place at the truly gorgeous House of Sweden.) It was a fast-paced two days, and I came away with a ton of new ideas and information. I’m going to share a few of them but first I wanted to answer the questions I know you’ll have.

Yes, Stacy London really is gorgeous in person. She’s also very smart, she’s dynamic, and she’s extremely funny. She’s nice and compassionate and real, and she believes (as I do) that every woman deserves the chance to look her best. She has incredible taste. I came away from the weekend training a huge fan (and may now have to break down and get cable, darn it, instead of getting WNTW from Netflix).

I was so fortunate to get styling tips from the other image consultants and stylists in the room, including one from Stacy herself.  (I look best in something structured up top, like a jacket, she told me.)

There was way too much content to put it all into a blog post, of course, but I want to share a few things I was reminded of. One was the importance of a bra that fits well (i.e., that lifts and separates “the girls.”). Here are three others:

Lengthen your body. Focus on creating height. Every decision you make about shoes, jewelry, hemlines and so on should be made with the goal of drawing the eye up and down the body (rather than stopping it short with an ankle strap or choker necklace or any other vertical line which prevents that visual sweep). An important exception is a belt that draws attention to the waist. (This rule can be relaxed for a woman who is quite tall.)

Dress appropriately. What’s that mean? Understand your body type, lifestyle, and age, and then dress in a way that suits them best. To do that, get yourself in front of a mirror — naked. (No, this doesn’t sound like fun to me, either!) See yourself how you really are — the parts of your body you like and don’t like as much. When you get dressed, use colors and textures to flatter the great parts and distract from, camouflage, or balance the less-great parts. (As for age and lifestyle: be realistic about who you are right now and dress to showcase it.)

Avoid “matchy-matchy.” For all those clients who want to pair a black bag with black shoes, Stacy says: “Just don’t.” It’s not the way to look modern and relevant, to use two of her favorite words. Instead, try a shoe or a bag in a beautiful rich color that complements your outfit. (And Stacy is not a huge fan of black, and I couldn’t agree more. Black doesn’t flatter very many skin tones, and as she pointed out, black and white are harsh for many women, especially as we get older.)

With these three principles in mind, you’ll look leaner and more stylish right away!

(Ketura Persellin is an image consultant in Washington, DC, and surrounding suburbs. She helps bring real style to real women. For more info or to schedule a free get-acquainted session, send her an email.)

Fourth of July style: What will you wear...

My family is traveling to San Antonio on Friday for our annual so-hot-we-might-melt long weekend in honor of my dad’s birthday. In his tony, tiny suburb, there’s a really cute small-town parade. It’s homey and adorable — everyone walks, there’s a pick-up band that plays “When the Saints” and if you don’t wear red, white, and blue, you’ll be kicked to the curb.

Last time I was caught by surprise and wore, at the last minute, my red-striped thermal pajama bottoms and a white gauze tunic.

This year I was going to try to do something a little better.

Alas, I don’t have much red in my closet. Not a lot of white, either.

But I just came across this pithy but inspiring post from the blogger behind What I Wore. With Jessica’s advice in mind — not to mimic the flag slavishly — I am going to wear that same white tunic, a denim pencil skirt, turquoise ballet flats (or black patent Gizeh Birkenstocks or old, old pewter sandals), and sparkly silver headbands from Anthropologie. (To me, the Fourth begs for silver rather than gold.)

Another option is to choose one of our flag’s colors and stick to that, and I like this option, too. Here’s Michelle Obama from last year, looking festive and appropriate, but not over-the-top. (This dress is described as black and white but I’d like to think it was really dark navy.)

And it’s not necessary to pick bright white, navy, and true red — as Jessica points out, variations of those colors look patriotic without looking goofy. This dress is one example, and you could pair it with an orange silk scarf, like this one by Eileen Fisher, for a festive, cool look.

What will you wear? Leave a comment and let us know!

(Ketura Persellin is an image consultant and fashion writer in Washington, DC. Sign up for her free email newsletter here and find out what satisfied clients say here.)

Size matters: Finding the right bra...

I’ve had a busy couple weeks seeing clients, and three of them were wearing the wrong size bra. When I pointed it out to her, one  of the clients made an appointment with me immediately to go to a specialty store to track down the right size. The result: In her new bras, she was thrilled to see that she looks much slimmer and more defined through the torso. Who doesn’t want that?

The other two clients are in the process of losing weight and don’t want to get new bras. I always encourage clients to get new bras along the way. You don’t need many (maybe just one or two) and they don’t need to be expensive. But a bra that really, really fits is key to looking great.

Wondering just how to get that bra? Well, your best bet is to go to a store that specializes in fitting bras, like Sylene, in Washington, DC. But it’s also a good idea to be armed with some basic information. And here’s what inspired this post today: a fantastic overview of bras and bra fit, a guest post at the wonderful Already Pretty by K-Line. Don’t miss it!

Oh, and take a minute to leave comment — I’d love to know your favorite places (online and off) to buy bras and other lingerie.

(Ketura Persellin is an image and wardrobe consultant in Washington, DC. She helps real women look as great on the outside as they are on the inside. To receive a free tipsheet, “101 Ways To Look Your Best,” sign up here for her free email newsletter.)

Elana Kagan confirmation hearings: What ...

It’s possible that no one else will comment on what Supreme Court nominee Elana Kagan wears to these big eventful days in her life.

But you can count on me, friends.

I am eminently NOT qualified to speak to her judicial qualifications for a seat on the bench. I just assume that she is in the ballpark or she wouldn’t have gotten this far. I assume she is extremely smart and capable.

But what she’s telegraphing through her clothing during these judicial confirmation hearings is another thing altogether.

No, I am not diminishing her accomplishments. No, I am not someone who thinks women’s value is in their appearance only, rather than on their brains and achievements. But I do think women do themselves a disservice when their brilliant minds aren’t reflected in the way that they present themselves to the world.

Such is the case with Elana Kagan — possibly a brilliant legal scholar and so on, but at least on one level, not really tuned into what a successful professional woman looks like, circa 2010.

The boxy jacket is an attempt to brighten her look, but it’s not the best shade for her (a warmer color would have been better). It’s boxy in a way intended to make her look slimmer, I imagine, but has the opposite effect. And even before I saw this photo, I was able to guess what she was wearing with the jacket (yawn): a black skirt of some sort, a black short-sleeve or sleeveless shell, sheer black stockings and sensible black shoes.

I want someone this smart to look smart, too, darn it!

Friends, we can learn from this.

For starters, color-blocking is pretty boring unless it is done in a style-conscious, fashion-forward way. Contrary to many women’s assumptions, black doesn‘t match every other color — an outfit based on a black bottom and some-top-or-other isn’t really a put-together outfit. Sure, it may be what everyone else at your DC law firm is wearing, but it isn’t fashion. It isn’t even close. You can do better, and I suspect that deep down you already know it.

Instead, how about a dress? How about a cardigan over it or a cute jacket? Hell, how about a suit with something underneath in a different color or texture or pattern. Mix it up — act as if your clothing is saying something about yourself, because — guess what? — it is! And I know people get bored of hearing it, but what about Michelle Obama’s more professional clothing? (Not all of her clothing, because a lot of it is too cheerful and decorative to be suitable to the halls of power in Washington, DC.)

What do you think about her outfit? If you were nominated to the Supreme Court, what would you wear to the first day of your confirmation hearings?

Update: After listening to Kagan’s testimony, I’m more convinced than ever that she needs a style update — she’s funny and smart, but her image doesn’t telegraph it.

(Ketura Persellin is an image consultant and personal stylist based in Washington, DC. She blogs about personal style and particularly loves writing about the personal style of our most prominent political figures.)