Style Harmony

 Style is INSTANT LANGUAGE. Whether we like it or not, studies have shown that 93% of what we communicate is non-verbal, which includes body language, tonality and our appearance.  We can see this broken down even further in the chart below. Only 7% of the words actually coming out of our mouth are "speaking" about what we are saying.  The other 93% is your external body language and the tonality of your voice.  Your body language includes things like your facial expressions, your posture, your level of grooming, your eye contact and the clothes you are wearing on your body. These are the things that another person subconsciously uses to decide if you are credible and trustworthy, particularly if your words and your body language are not in congruence. When you break the 55% body language piece down even further, this is where we learn that clothing and grooming account for 95% of that body language piece of the pie.  With snap decisions about someone's characte...

 So you may be wondering...what is the "high-low method"?  When you dress high-low, you are doing one of  two things: You are wearing a Designer item paired back with less expensive items, or You are wearing a dressier piece as a statement and dressing it down with more casual, or basic items. I personally tend to take advantage of #2.  I am not one who shops Designer brands for myself much, but I love an "elevated casual" look.  So, what does that look like?  My "uniform" many times in dressing in this way is to wear a dressed up blazer and to pair it with a t-shirt or blouse and a pair of slouchy boyfriend jeans. What are the benefits of high-low dressing? I love that when you dress with this method, you are actually using the dressier items in your closet.  Maybe you have a fantastic sequin blazer that you typically only wear during the holidays.  Grabbing this piece and pairing it with denim or joggers or even leggings is a great way to make u...

 Have you ever walked into a store in the cold month of February and seen swimsuits and thought, "Um, isn't it a little early for this?" or alternatively, during the month of August seen a swarm of sweaters as you are wiping the sweat beading up on your forehead from walking between your car to the store's entry door? Yep, I think we have all been there.  Today, I'm going to give you a brief outline of the Fashion calendar so you know what to expect.  Why does this matter?  Because if you want to be at the forefront of fashion, it's important to get in early before all the "good stuff" has been shopped! There is a LOT that goes into the mass market fashion timeline and if it isn't all strategic, THAT would be a fashion disaster!  To keep things simple here, I am going to talk about MASS MARKET Fashion because the rest is not what most of us shop! Step 1:  Trend Forecasting Believe it or not, trends are forecasted anywhere from 18 months to 24 mon...

You can never get yesterday back.  Do you ever find yourself wishing you had done something differently and getting stuck in that hamster-wheel of regretful thoughts? Or even worse, how often have you had a friend share a huge win that they had with you and externally, you told them how proud you were of them and how amazing it was for them to have had this success only to leave the conversation feeling LACK? We all get one life, just one.  We can't go back in time and take something we said back.  We can't go back and change how we did something yesterday, BUT we can use what we learned from it to step into TODAY with a better intention and by growing and learning from our past actions and feelings. Friend!  We have ONE LIFE .  Don't you want to live it in joy, with people you love, doing the things you love, and aspiring to be the best you that you can be?  How amazing to know that as you set your head down on your pillow at the end of the day, you did yo...

Think about your life 10 years ago.  Where were you?  Were you married already?  Did you have children?  What was your job?  Who were the friends you spent the most time with?  What hobbies did you take part in?  What kind of exercise did you do?  What type of car did you drive? I could ask questions on and on about the past from 10 years ago or any number of years and, chances are that to some degree, the answers to some of the questions would be different than they are today. I've said it before, and I am going to say it again:  Time seems to fly by faster and faster with each passing year.  As I write this blog, I am in complete wonderment over how the first month of the new year is already gone. We JUST celebrated the New Year!!  But that is the way that life goes - it will keep changing no matter how much we may want to resist it. So, when I talk about Style Evolution, what do I mean?  I want to begin with the definition o...

Social Media can be so fun. As a creative person, I love seeing what looks and outfits other people put together.  I know that my friends who may be less-creative agree as well.  The difference is that many times a creative person will use what they see online as inspiration whereas someone who has less creative abilities may use the outfit and literally copy it.  Easy-peasy, cut-and paste.   There are so many influencers out there who are paid by brands to sell items.  Influencers are creatives who are monetizing their creativity.  It's super smart!  They have the chops to know how to put looks together, they take the time to style and take the perfect picture and write the perfect post that makes you want what they are representing.  Influencers are good at what they do:  influencing!   Think of it like this.  Let's say you work for a company and your company sells a financial product.  You are responsible for the m...

 When you head to your closet each morning, what do you do to pull your outfit together?  Which of these sounds like your routine: Grab a top, a bottom, and a pair of shoes and you're done, or Grab a top, a bottom, a pair of shoes, some jewelry or accessories, and head to the mirror to make some outfit "tweaks" If #1 is your go-to, you are getting dressed.  If you answered #2, you are styled. Styling makes ALL the difference when it comes to stepping into your closet each day.  It is what adds personality to your looks and gives them that little something extra that makes your outfit get noticed (and makes you feel better, too 😉). Before I get into some tips for being styled, let's talk about WHY it matters. Our relationship with our clothes is a complex one.  There is an entire field of study all about the Psychology of Fashion and I NERD OUT on this stuff as a Certified Style Coach™!  Firstly is Enclothed Cognition.  This was a study performed in 20...

Happy New Year!  It's always so hard to fathom that another year has come and gone as we look forward to a brand new year.  What is so refreshing about the New Year is that it feels like a clean slate.  We can begin anew with new intentions and goals.   In the previous post, we explored the importance of reflecting on your 2023 and setting intentions for 2024. If you missed that post, you can re-visit it here. As I promised in my last post, we are going to take our reflections from the past year and dive deeper into two powerful tools for personal growth: choosing a "word of the year" and keeping commitments to yourself. Choosing a word of the year is going to change how you look at your intentions.  Remember, we are not making resolutions, we are setting intentions because they are more flexible when life throws curveballs at us.  Living your life by focusing on one particular word that you want to live by is extremely transformative.  Your ...

The end of the year is always such a busy time. There are so many things to do and I am going to suggest that you add just one more to your list.  I believe it's important to take time for reflection. Let's face it, the years seem to go faster and faster with each passing one and it's easy to forget or "misplace" all that you have accomplished in the past year. Many times when people talk about reflecting back on the past year, they think of it from a place of negativity.  They think that reflection is about what DIDN'T get done, but I encourage you to reflect from a place of positivity. By reflecting on both the things that you did AND did not get done, it will allow you to evaluate what that means.  Is it really something that is important to you?  Do you need to remove that thing from your list or make a new commitment because upon reflection you realize just how important it is? By reflecting on the past year, it allows you to tap into personal growth. Thi...