steps to a

stress-free

wardrobe

does choosing

what to wear

stress you out?

Are you in the majority of women who wear 20%

of their clothes 80% of the time?

How often have you stood in front of your bulging wardrobe and wailed “I haven’t

got a thing to wear” before you start pulling clothes out, trying them on, and

discarding them on the bed because you’re not happy with how they look or feel

on you? You’re not happy with your body and you don’t know what suits you

when you go shopping?

Those feelings mean that, when you finally decide what you’re going to wear,

you’re frequently not at all happy with the finished look, and sometimes you can

be more focused on the way that you appear than on what you’re supposed to be

doing – and that unhappiness will impact how others perceive you too!

How would it feel:

• To open your wardrobe doors and be able to put together an outfit with ease?

• To look great without having to spend ages thinking about it?

• To know how to draw attention to your good points, and how to detract

attention from the not so good features?

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If you want to stop the stress,

there are four key principles to

remember…

The clothes you choose should work with:

1. Your Hair Colour, Eye Colour and Skin Tone

Choosing colours with the right mix of depth,

undertone and clarity will make you look vibrant

and healthy. Choose the wrong colours and you’ll

look washed out or overwhelmed by what you’re

wearing.

2. Your Style Personality

Choose clothes from designers and shops that

create an overall look that matches your

personality.

3. Your Lifestyle

Choose based on what you are going to do in your

clothes: either day to day, or for a specific event

you’re going to.

key principles

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4. Your Body Shape, Scale and Proportions

Choosing clothes that enhance the body you have

(rather than the body you would like to have) will

make you like what you see in the mirror more.

That, in itself, will give you more confidence and

reduce the stress you feel. So, think about

whether your body outline is curved or straight;

have you a large or small frame, and do you have

a proportional imbalance that could benefit from

employing some visual illusions?

You might be put off by these key principles:

And, of course, you can, but sometimes you might see photos of the results and not

like what you’re seeing. How do you feel at the moment following that approach? I

assume you’re stressed since you’re reading this guide.

Following the key principles will help to give some structure to your wardrobe so you

always feel you have something to wear and know what suits you, whilst remaining

authentic to your personality.

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key principles

body shape

A lot of women aren’t sure what

their body shape is…

….probably because so many different body shapes

have been described in the media, however, there are

essentially three types of silhouette and for simplicity

I’ll focus on these in this guide:

Ask yourself, is your body outline from your shoulders

to your waist to your hips curved or straight?

Body Outline You have: Look a bit like:

Curved Inward A clearly defined waist ) (

Curved Outward A waist which is larger than your hips ( )

Straight Little waist definition (waist and hips

are a similar size) and can be very

athletic| |

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Different body shapes suit

different clothes shapes…

No kidding! But sometimes you wouldn’t think that

when women of all shapes and sizes wear the latest

fashion because “that’s all there is to buy in the

shops”.

Whilst it might seem that way, if you know what works

for your body shape, you will start to see that there

are things that will work for you. Employing the key

principles will save you time and money as you will

be able to quickly discount many clothes. You will

learn to scan a shop floor for colours, then shapes,

that would enhance you - and ignore everything else!

As a result, you will create a wardrobe that works for

you. A wardrobe that you can stand in front of and

choose what to wear without stress.

clothes shapes

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Here are some key clothes

shapes that work for an Inward

Curve outline:

3clothes shapes

the inward

curve

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Here are some key clothes

shapes that work for an Outward

Curve outline:

3clothes shapes

the outward

curve

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Here are some key clothes

shapes that work for a Straight

outline

3clothes shapes

the straight

outline

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fabrics

Certain fabric patterns and

weights work better with

different body shapes:

• Heavier fabrics will make you look bulkier

• Curved body shapes work best with fabrics that

drape and stretch

• Stiffer fabrics will mask a lack of curves

• Curved patterns work best on curved bodies

• Stripes, checks and geometric patterns work best

on straight bodies

You can learn to use patterns at strategic points to

draw the eye towards, or away from, a particular point

on your body.

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combinations

Make clothes work for their keep!

The key to a wardrobe that works to make you look

and feel fabulous all the time, and reduces the stress

for you of deciding what to wear every morning, is

only to buy items which you can combine with at least

three other pieces in your wardrobe in order to create

different looks.

Doing this will allow you most flexibility to pull

together outfits that work for most occasions.

However, that doesn’t mean that you should go out

and buy yet another pair of black trousers/white

shirt/blue t-shirt, or whatever your particular buying

habit is unless you’ve decided that you are going to

adopt a specific “uniform” to wear all the time (like

Steve Jobs). It means different colours, necklines,

fabrics, shapes or patterns - and maybe stepping out

of your comfort zone!

•

•

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But you don’t need a lot of

clothes!

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with having a lot of

clothes, but if you’re not wearing them because they

don’t suit you or don’t fit, they are just adding to your

stress.

5combinations

You could create 24 different outfits just with these 9 items in a capsule wardrobe:

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cost

Is how much a new outfit costs

usually the deciding factor for

whether you buy it?

How often have you shied away from an item that

really catches your eye because it’s too expensive,

and instead have ended up running out at the last

minute to pick up a £15 top from the supermarket that

you wear once but that’s OK “because it’s cheap”?

Or you buy something in the sales because it was “a

bargain” then never wear it at all?

When you buy something new, think about how often you are likely to wear it. A new

winter coat could be worn 100 times in a year and you might keep it for a couple of

years. If you spent £100 on that coat, and wear it 200 times, the cost per wear is 50p.

Compare that to the £15 per wear of the supermarket top. Which is cheaper now?

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Do a quick calculation…

If you know you are going to wear something a lot

then spending a bit more will allow you to buy an

outfit that’s a better quality. If you’re not driven by

fashion trends but instead buy clothes which suit your

bodyshape, that better quality item could stay in your

wardrobe longer – so even if you spent more money,

you could still achieve the same cost per wear overall.

Obviously, there are going to be times when you will

want to spend more on a special outfit you wear once

or you may not have much money to spend on any

outfit. That’s where you can put the key principles

into play in the sales, on eBay, or in charity shops to

buy some real bargains that you will wear time and

again. Over time, you will create a co-ordinating

capsule wardrobe that will serve all of your needs.

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cost

take action

Now you’ve got a bit of work to

do…

• Carry out a wardrobe audit and remove what isn’t

right for you according to the key principles

• If it doesn’t fit, don’t wear it, you won’t flatter

yourself!

• Look at which outfit combinations you can create

• Identify the gaps you need to fill

• Know which shops sell clothes for your colouring,

body shape and style personality and start looking

there - you can also quickly scan the websites of

big department stores to see what they offer

• Buy items that work for you when you see them in

the shops – you can guarantee you won’t find them

when you’ve got an event looming!

• Don’t duplicate what you have in your wardrobe

already (OK, maybe you can have two identical

staples but only so you can have one on, and one

in the wash )

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Remember the key principles

from now on…

Buying a whole new wardrobe in one go is beyond

the reach of most women, but using the steps in this

guide means that you will eventually have a wardrobe

full of clothes that work for you. You will be able to

choose an outfit with ease - although bear in mind we

have only scratched the very tip of the surface, and

haven’t looked at your specific body shape and

proportions.

It may be that having an individual Image Makeover is

something you have previously thought of as a luxury,

but if you think about how much money you have

wasted on clothes over the years, you will find it is a

cheap investment in comparison to the expensive

mistakes you have made buying clothes that hang

unworn in your wardrobe.

7take action

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I believe when a woman changes her perception

about herself, starting by changing what she sees

in the mirror, it has a knock on effect that filters

through her whole life, and the possibilities for what

she can do then are endless.

It may seem really superficial to put so much

emphasis on appearance, but low self-esteem can

be crippling.

Feeling good about what you’re wearing helps to

improve your overall confidence. You start to

change your own internal dialogue through hearing

some positive messages, and overcome some of

the self-limiting beliefs that hold you back.

my belief…

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