A visitors guide for the fashion tourist

I am not a fashionista. To be honest, I don’t care about fashion. I often think of it as a huge waste of money, fabric and energy. My clothing priorities are warm and comfortable. However, due to recent life changes, I’ve been thinking about fashion a lot. With both a new job that requires a different wardrobe than my previous one, and a toddler (which requires simplifying my life) I’ve been reviewing my closet and finding a) I have a lot of clothes, b) many of which I don’t wear, c) many are worn or not appropriate for my current job.

All of these things combined to make me realize that I need a wardrobe update. But as someone who never cared about fashion I had no idea where to start. I wasn’t even really sure what I had, what I needed and what I wanted.

I decided that research was the best way to start. I cruised several sites on fashion, read about “capsule wardrobes”, looked at Pinterest and discovered that everyone has a method and none of them worked for me. What finally did make sense was a combination of fashion theories and methods which I’m gathering here for the next fashion foreigner as a map, with local points of interest and recommendations. I hope it will guide others like me who are searching for a simpler clothing life, a new look, or just trying to find clothes that bring them confidence and joy. So to my fellow fashion foreigners, read on!

I’m not one of those people who will go on vacation with no plans. I don’t schedule every minute of my trip but I like to know the area, have some points I want to see, find a good place to stay. I approached my trip into fashion the same way.

If I were going to France, I would want to learn some phrases and words in French to help me get around. Knowing that le musee is the museum, and la patisserie is where I get the pastries gives me a level of comfort and confidence to make decisions about where to go and what to eat. And at the least, you want to learn how to say, “hello”, “goodbye” and “thank you” in the local language.

I needed the same level of knowledge to begin my tour of fashion. Without knowing that “spring” could be a season and a color scheme, and “pear” and “triangle” were the same, I was looking through a lot of information and not sure if it was what I wanted.

Here are some key vocabulary to get you speaking like the natives:

Capsule wardrobe: a small wardrobe that is highly interchangeable.

Uniform: a combination of clothing that you wear often (ie. jeans and t-shirt)

LBD: Little Black dress. Considered by many a staple of every wardrobe. More on that in my discussion of your personal uniform.

Body shapes: there are several different groups of body shape descriptors. The most popular revolves around fruit (pear, apple, etc) but others use actual shapes (triangle, oval). Know all the names for your shape to help you narrow down results in your search.

Styles: too many to list, but once you’ve found what you like, do research into what it’s called! Is there a certain cut of skirt, sleeve, neckline, shoe that you like? Learn the fashion lingo and you’ll soon be sounding like a pro! Emperor has some great infographics for this. Here are some quick links to help you out!

So now that you understand the basic vocabulary of fashion (or at least have your dictionary handy!) let’s find your shape!

In all of my research into fashion, one of the biggest concepts is body shape. Knowing your body shape will help you to accent and highlight your assets, and down play any trouble areas.

Beauty is totally subjective, but science has found certain ratios are more appealing to be human eye. A lot of this theory is built around the “golden ratio” (also called the Fibonacci sequence). The basic idea is that perfect symmetry is not beautiful. There is a rough 2/3 to 1/3 ratio, found all over nature, that is more appealing to the human eye. The fashion “shapes” help you to balance your own measurements towards this ratio using color and style that will attract the eye and give the illusion of the 1/3 and 2/3 proportions.

So in order to find the right styles that will flatter your body type, you have to know what it is! If you already know, great! Move on to uniform! If you don’t, here is a handy guide. I recommend using a measuring tape (sewing kind, not building kind) if you aren’t sure. And remember, they have free ones in the IKEA furniture section!

Next, find your “uniform”

Related posts:

Ask for what you want. Embrace your wants and go after them. The power is in your hands. It's really that simple.

With every new development and invention, we edge closer to a quantum future. The last time I wrote on the subject was a couple of months ago when an international team of Physicists determined the…