Before you buy, ask yourself: Why?...

Tie one on

November isn’t even in the rear-view mirror yet, and already the pre-holiday sales are underway, with more to come.

And you’re looking forward to hunting down gifts for the people on your gift lists — plus some serious bargains for yourself, right?

Not so fast.

Before you plunk down the plastic on clothes for yourself, take an minute to answer some important  questions. This precious “pause before purchase” could save you (more…)

Transitioning your style into Fall...

I have been obsessed in the past few weeks with the transition to Fall … maybe because of delayed gratification. You know, you want to break out your  [fill in the blank with your latest cool purchase for Fall 2010] but it’s still so darn hot, you really just can‘t.

What I want: Faux fur vest (Scully, Zappos.com)

Fortunately, sometimes just reading about getting ready for a new season can provide that little bit of immediate gratification. This blog post fit the bill for me: “20 Ways To Transition Your Style into Autumn,” from the blog You Look Fab.

What do you do to get a little more mileage from your warm weather favorites while awaiting a drop in temperature? Or do you just pack ‘em all away and get a jump on your Fall favorites? Personally, I really can’t wait to wear my new faux fur vest. Leave a comment and how you’ll be transitioning to Fall.

(Ketura Persellin is an image consultant and personal shopper in Washington, DC, and surrounding suburbs. She’ll help you get rid of those 15-year-old jeans and find you an alternative to your college sweatshirt. Find out more here.)

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.)

Finding a “uniform” that wor...

I love the idea of a uniform.

Not the nurse’s whites or fireman’s coveralls, but rather a go-to type of ensemble that makes you shine without giving you a lot of tsuris. That’s always been the appeal to me of Eileen Fisher, frankly, even before its aged-down rebranding attempt. There’s nothing wrong at all with reinventing your look every day — although ideally you dress with the same style vocabulary most of the time so that you are expressing your inside on the outside. But that approach can require a lot of planning and thinking, not to mention lots of closet space.

Which brings us to the idea of a uniform. It’s taken me a long time to hone mine, especially since I had basically no pressure to look any way at all during years of working from home. But these days, when I’m not meeting a client, my uniform is bootleg jeans (skinny only works if you’re, well, more skinny than not); some foundational layer — a cotton or silk camisole or a ribbed tank or, in cold weather, a long-sleeve T-shirt; fashion sneakers or ballet flats; and a long cardigan-type jacket or sweater.

One great piece can make an outfit

I usually add a fabulous bag and some great, signature pieces of jewelry (lately that’s included a giant ring with druzy agate that garners at least a couple compliments a day) and I’m done.

Meetings with clients aren’t that different, but I may swap out the jeans for a skirt and boots or some trousers instead. In fact, recently I’ve felt so good about the basic formula that even for going out I wear the same basic thing, but everything is just a little more silky or sparkly — the bag, jewelry, shoes, etc.

And that’s what drew me to this article about a woman’s first-date uniform, which she wore for a long time, so that even her friends joked about it. (She eventually went on second dates, presumably in different clothes, and then found true love.)

I love this idea that she found what worked for her and stuck with it. So the question is: What works for you? How did you identify the formula? How rigorously do you stick to it? Have you ever had one that worked only to decide, as time went on, that you’d outgrown that particular look? I’d love to hear about it. (Subscribe to the blog for ideas and tips designed to help you keep your uniform in line with your life.)