There is something powerful about your personal sense of style and dress code. I don’t know what it is exactly but the way you dress has the power to change your mood, your productivity and even the way others perceive you. Think of it as your own personal uniform, comparable to a monarch’s royal regalia or a surgeon’s scrubs (arguably with way smaller stakes and a lot more flexibility!)
Your clothes say a lot about who you are.
Do you sport more of a clean, classic, chic style or are you bold and edgy in your fashion picks, preferring more unpredictable, statement pieces? As shallow as it sounds, your clothes are one of the first things people will notice on you, and what you choose to wear actually reveals a lot about you as a person, so why not make it something noteworthy that showcases the unique and amazing individual that you are. I hope your curiosity is piqued! We’ll start to unpack some of these things now.
Let’s get into it!
So when I referred to seasons in the title, I meant it in something of a multifaceted sense. Whether it’s Springtime, or Autumn, whether you’re in a particular season of your life – maybe you’ve recently gained or lost weight – whatever literal or figurative season you’re in, you can apply certain practices and principles to ensure that you are flattering your figure and looking your absolute best at all times.
First Things First; Figure Out Your Skintone
If you’ve ever tried to find the right shade of makeup before, ESPECIALLY if you attempted to do this during the pandemic with the notable absence of foundation testers and concealer samples, you’ve probably heard the terms “warm-toned” and “cool-toned” before. Well, they are not only for the beauty industry; they have a part to play in your fashion choices as well. Now maybe this isn’t your first rodeo and you’re a seasoned expert when it comes to nailing your skintone but just in case that isn’t your story, here’s how you can figure out whether you have a warm or cool skintone:
Assess your accessories!
Which type of jewellery complements your skin tone best? If you look better in silver jewellery, you are most likely cool-toned and if it has to be gold jewellery that adorns your body, you are probably warm-toned. If you look great in both then you’re just plain greedy (I kid, I kid). On a more serious note, if you genuinely suit either colour, check the veins of your wrist in natural daylight, preferably on a well-lit day. If they are greenish in colour, you have a warm skintone, and if they are blue or closer to blue, you are cool-toned. If you can’t tell, that’s your personal problem.
If you’re warm-toned, you’ll find that you have more of a yellowy, golden quality to your skin and if you’re cool-toned, you’ll have a pink or reddish undertone.
“Erm…okay so what exactly does all this colour coding have to do with my clothing choices please?” I hear you cry…
Oh I’m so happy you asked!
As with many forms of visual artistic expression, colour pairings come into play in the world of fashion too. Both in terms of the colours of the garments and accessories that make up the outfit itself, and also in how the colours of the featured items pair with your overall skin tone as the person wearing said clothes.
For cooler tones, the colours that generally work very well are blues, greys, greens and purples to name but a few. Warmer skin tones look great in yellows, oranges, reds, colours that would typically be described as warmer themselves.
It’s important to note that this is just a general guide to help you if you need some pointers with regards to colour choices for your clothes, or if you generally struggle to find colours that suit your skintone. If you are warm-toned but you love wearing blues and greys, go for it! The above image is a perfect example of how this rule doesn’t have to inform colour choices. The woman above has what would be described as a cool skintone but is wearing yellow, which is a warm colour, and she looks fabulous! It’s the clothes that you love wearing that you’ll be your most confident self in and therefore will know how to make work best for you. In the same vein (see what I did there 😛), if you are cool-toned but your favourite colour to wear is orange, you do you boo and don’t let anybody try to stop you! These are not hard and fast rules but even if they were, as with every rule, there are always exceptions. And you can always throw in some “skintone-specific” accessories such as scarves, hats and jewellery, to warm or cool down your look accordingly if you want to. The most important thing is to have fun with your wardrobe and to wear what makes you feel your best!
Dress for your body shape
It can be quite challenging navigating the fast-paced ever-changing fashion trends of the 21st century, particularly if certain trends don’t seem conducive to your body shape and/or size but here are some great tips that are sure to help you make any trend you want to try work for you.
While I totally reject the notion that every single body type in the whole entire world can be conveniently classed under one of these clear-cut oftentimes fruity descriptors, I do believe that one of the body shape descriptions below will be more relevant to you, so let’s talk about what yours is and what clothing choices looks best for each body type.
Pear:
You have narrower shoulders, thicker bottom half with fuller hips and booty and your bust is smaller than your waist and hips.
For pear shapes, in order to flatter your body type the best, you want to enhance your waistline and arms. One of the ways in which you can do this is to add volume to shoulders for more balanced proportions, and also by factoring in sleeve details like bell sleeves or ruched sleeves.
Necklines that look great on pear shapes include boat necks, cowl necks, ruffle necks, v-necks and u-necks. Bottoms that work well for pear shapes are wide, tapered or straight leg jeans (the hot current trend of mom jeans would work excellently well here too!). Statement necklaces or patterned scarves also work great for bringing attention to the top half of the body and balance out proportions.
Apple:
Your shoulders are broader than your hips. You have a fuller bust and most of your weight is concentrated in your midsection.
For apple shapes, ideally you want to wear pieces that create the illusion of an elongated torso and draw attention to your legs.
The neckline that works particularly well for apple body shapes is a v-neck. A line skirts and dresses work well in balancing body proportions, as do fishtail or mermaid skirts. Trouser bottoms that look great on apple shapes include bootcut legs and straight leg and skinny jeans. For apple shapes, the key to flattering your body shape is in creating the illusion of a waist, which A-line wrap dresses do perfectly.
If you are self-conscious about your midsection, you can jazz up your outfit with statement neck pieces and drop/dangly earrings which will also draw attention away from your belly area.
Hourglass:
You have a clearly defined waist with your bust and hips being of similar measurements (a bit like a coca cola bottle). You may have slightly fuller hips and thighs in comparison to your top half but generally your shoulders and hips are of similar proportions.
For hourglass shapes, learn to play up the balance between your top and bottom halves by wearing pieces that accentuate your smaller waist such as bodycon dresses, fitted pencil skirts worn at the waist, fishtail skirts, skater dresses and wrap dresses. An outfit that looks great on hourglass shapes is a peplum top over super skinny jeans.
Necklines that complement hourglass shapes include: v-necks, sweetheart necklines, scoop necks, boat necks.
Square/rectangle:
Your shoulder and hip measurements are similar. You are not particularly curvy and so your body essentially goes straight up and down with no clear waist definition. Your weight is fairly evenly distributed throughout your body.
For both these body shapes, styling recommendations are similar: you can go for pieces that skim over your body frame including but not limited to sheath dresses, empire cut dresses and shirt dresses with a waist belt to create the illusion of waist definition.
Necklines that complement these kinds of shapes include scoop necks, v-necks and sweetheart necklines. Some kind of collar detail also works great at drawing attention upwards
Inverted triangle:
Your shoulders and bust area broader than your hips and bottom half. You have little-to-no waist definition. Bodies of this type literally do exactly as it says on this tin and resemble the shape of an upside down triangle. This sometimes makes for somewhat athletic figures.
For inverted triangle body shapes, great staple pieces will feature a cinched waist to create the illusion of a defined waist as well as styles that add volume to the hips and legs (think flared trousers, A-line skirts and dresses. You can also wear darker colours on top and lighter colours on the bottom to really take advantage of colour psychology. Darker colours generally have a slimming effect whereas lighter colours highlight and draw attention to a particular region).
Necklines that work well for this body type include crossover, cowl necks, v-necks, square necks and round necks. It’s also recommended to wear tops that end at the waistline that can then be tucked in to provide further waist definition.
Bottoms that work well for inverted triangle body shapes include mermaid, flared, ruffle and tiered skirts to add more shape definition.
Final thoughts
Again, these are just guidelines to give you some pointers and wardrobe hacks. Your own personal style and your wardrobe choices are a big part of who you are and so it’s important that you like what you wear and how it makes you feel so don’t ever let someone make you feel like you’re “too big” to be wearing something or “that colour doesn’t suit you”. Unless it’s a stylist that you’re paying to give you the hard truth or someone else’s opinion that you actually ASKED for, pay them no mind and keep being your beautiful self and rocking your clothes exactly the way you were supposed to.
Disclaimer: I’m not saying you can’t lovingly tell someone if their outfit isn’t doing them any favours, actually I think it’s important to do so when necessary. Like if your best friend shows you the dress she plans to wear for her birthday and it makes her look like a sack of potatoes, you’ve got to have that uncomfortable conversation and let her know in a delicate and kind way! I just know that far too often people give their unsolicited advice when it comes to people’s body sizes and what they are wearing, sometimes even when they don’t know the person from Adam and it needs to stop. As someone from a Nigerian background, I’m all too familiar with being greeted with a status update regarding my weight such as “Tobi, wow you’ve added o!” (i.e. Tobi, you’ve gained weight). And it’s just. not. cool. Let’s leave that kind of thing back in lockdown when outside is open again, please and thank you!
And on a lighter note, that brings us to the end of this post! I hope that this has been useful for you and would love to hear from you in the comments if you’ve tried any of these tips or if you have any dressing or styling tips you would add to these.
Love always,
Tee xx