If you find yourself constantly being late for work or social outings with your crew because you’re always fighting with the contents of your closet—this post’s for you! It is absolutely possible to go to your closet, pull something fashionable out to wear, and be done in less than 15 minutes, but it takes some pre-work. Check it out:

1. First things first, clean out your closet. If you haven’t seen the floor of your wardrobe since the Clinton Administration, you’ve got some work to do. Go here for info on how to sort things out. Remember that fashion is not about how many pieces of clothing you own–it’s about putting together great outfits. And the less you have in your closet, the easier it will be to plan out your outfits.

2. Limit the amount of clothing you buy that has to be ironed to look good. This means button-down shirts, anything made of linen and certain items made out of cotton (unless you pull them out of the dryer and immediately hang them). I am a lazy girl through and through and do not own a single item that needs to be ironed—why? Because I hate to iron…lol. Call it a side effect of wearing a uniform from kindergarten through my senior year in high school and having to iron my uniform daily, but I will not miss ironing my clothes. For my day job I wear a lot of suits. The jackets get dry cleaned while the dress pants are washed in cold water and hung to dry and never need ironing. For the weekends I wear a lot of denim and sweaters in the winter—both of which can be pulled on quickly without ironing.

3. Adopt a uniform. Don’t get scared–after 13 years of wearing a uniform to school do you think I’d actually suggest you wear one? By uniform I mean put together a collection of no-fail outfits. If you’ve been reading this site and following the tips for your body type as well as my advice to buy things you really love and that you can wear a million times, chances are you have several items in your closet that can be worn a zillion different ways. Having a closet that has essential wardrobe basics helps.

4. Let your accessories tell a story. Say all you can muster out of your wardrobe is a pair of well-fitting jeans and a fitted tee. Let your accessories take you from Gap ad to wherever you want. Go punk rock with a spiked bracelet and killer platform boots. Or go boho with a scarf and cute flats. Your options are limitless.

5. Visualize how you want to look first and then go in for the outfit. This is best done either while you’re hitting the snooze button for the umpteenth time in the morning or the night before.

If you’ve got those 5 tips down, you’ll shave time off of getting dressed everyday.

Go too far for fashion and you can look like you’re wearing a costume, a sad condition I call the ‘costume effect’. Sure, fashion is cyclical, but the idea is to take inspiration from an era not take so much from it that you look like you fell out of a time capsule. Here’s some simple tips on how to avoid the costume effect:

1. Assess your accessories. Coco Chanel once said “before you leave, take one thing off”, but sometimes you have to take more than one thing off. Balance is important in an outfit; you want the eye to take in your entire outfit, not roll back and forth between your wayfarers, dookie chain, door knockers, and Beyonce weave.

To keep your look balanced…
*If you’re wearing an embellished neckline (ruffles, beading, ruching, double breasted, etc.) skip the necklace
*If you’re wearing a funky necklace, avoid dangly earrings (and while we’re on the subject, avoid wearing necklace and earring sets together especially bulky ones)
*If you’re sporting a hairstyle with mega volume wear either shades or earrings, but not both
*Don’t match your accessories to your outfit. If your outfit is black & white, avoid wearing black & white accessories go for gold or silver jewelry and add a punch of color with an accent like red, pink, green, etc.

2. Don’t do trend from head-to-toe. You know the whole 80s revival trend that comes back every 2 years? The idea is take to inspiration from the decade, not look EXACTLY like Madonna from the ‘Like a Virgin’ video. A cute way to do a modern take on the 80s would be to wear a nice pair of skinny jeans with platform boots, a funky t-shirt and leather half-gloves. Start with a simple, basic outfit and then add little touches of trend.

3. Tone down the makeup. Speaking of the 80s—remember the super-contoured cheeks dashed with hot pink rouge (you have to call it ‘rouge’ if it came from the 80s…lol)? Not so hot in ‘09. You can take from the idea of a bright blush, but modern makeup techniques would apply the blush in a much softer application.

Remember that opposites attract. If you have a very avant garde or flashy outfit, keep the makeup simple; if your outfit is somewhat on the basic side, you can get a bit crazier with the makeup. Also don’t go with obvious “time period” makeup. If you want to channel your inner 40s vixen by wearing a fitted blouse and pencil skirt, instead of going with an obvious red lip with a matte face and winged liner, go for dewy, bronzed skin and a berry lip.

4. Pay attention to texture and fabric. Try and rock a silk or satin head-to-toe outfit and run the inevitable risk of looking like you’re ready for bed. If you choose to wear a shiny or bulky fabric, balance it out with something more basic. Don’t overdo a fabric or texture in one outfit and again remember that opposites attract–pair soft silk with tough leather and balance it out with neutral denim.

If you have a style or beauty question, contact me! Your question could appear on this site.

Ever wonder how some of your favorite fashionistas put colors together to create eye-catching and fabulously colorful outfits? Well so does Fashion Bombshell Kendra who wrote in asking, “As a recessionista engineer, I cannot afford to buy a new wardrobe for the spring/summer. I have great pieces in my wardrobe already so I want to know how to make the most of my wardrobe by playing around with different color combinations. My mom gave me a color wheel as a gift. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to get it right…”

“…Can you please provide tips on how to combine colors for clothes? I saw the awesome post about color combos for makeup featuring Nicki Minaj. I would love to do the same with clothes. For instance, in a recent post Elise Neal wore a fuchsia dress and carried a blue clutch. The fuchsia and blue colors look great together! I would never know to do that. Also, are there certain rules for accessories?”

Hey Kendra!

The color wheel is an excellent wardrobe tool! In fact it was one of the first things I learned about back when I studied Image Consulting at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Figuring it out isn’t too complicated. Here’s a quick breakdown:

You can make the following combos using the color wheel as your guide:

1. Colors directly next to each other (i.e. yellow and yellow-orange; yellow and yellow-green; violet and blue-violet, etc.)
2. Colors that form right (90 degree) angles with each other (i.e. yellow and red-orange; blue and violet-red; green and orange, etc.)
3. Colors directly across from each other (i.e. yellow and violet; blue and orange; red and green, etc.)
4. Colors that form a T (i.e. blue, orange, and violet-red; yellow, violet, and red-orange; yellow, blue-green, and red-orange, etc.)
5. Colors that form an X (i.e. blue, orange, violet-red, and yellow, violet, blue-green, and red-orange, etc.)

Since brown is a neutral, it will go with virtually any color on the color wheel. I love to pair a chocolate brown with cobalt blue or fuchsia or bright red—such a fun and bold combo. Of course white, black, and the hues of blue found in denim are also neutrals that go with just about anything.

Colors that are a part of a “color family” also apply. So for instance, you can substitute pink with red and still be able to pull off the combos based on the color wheel (i.e. we see that blue and red form a right angle with each other–then in Elise Neal’s outfit she wore fuchsia and cobalt blue). Get it? Good.

As for accessories, I’m definitely not a fan of colored jewelry or belts, but go crazy with colored hats, bags, shoes, or scarves. When choosing jewelry, pair gold (or gold-toned) jewelry with your warm colored outfits. Warm colors have a yellow, gold, or orange undertone to them. Wear silver (or silver-toned) jewelry with your cool colored outfits. Cool colors have a blue, pink, or red undertone to them. Since colors are broken down by hue, temperature, intensity, and tone any single hue can be either warm or cool. Just look at the undertones.

You can also use the color wheel when coming up with color combinations for your makeup. It can help you decide which makeup color to wear so that you don’t match your eyeshadow with your outfit. Check out how Rihanna paired gorgeous purple eyeshadow with her red frock:

And there you go—a breakdown of how to use color combinations to spruce up your wardrobe. You’ll be looking more fab in no time.

If you find yourself constantly being late for work or social outings with your crew because you’re always fighting with the contents of your closet—this post’s for you! It is absolutely possible to go to your closet, pull something fashionable out to wear, and be done in less than 15 minutes, but it takes some pre-work. Check it out:

1. First things first, clean out your closet. If you haven’t seen the floor of your wardrobe since the Clinton Administration, you’ve got some work to do. Go here for info on how to sort things out. Remember that fashion is not about how many pieces of clothing you own–it’s about putting together great outfits. And the less you have in your closet, the easier it will be to plan out your outfits.

2. Limit the amount of clothing you buy that has to be ironed to look good. This means button-down shirts, anything made of linen and certain items made out of cotton (unless you pull them out of the dryer and immediately hang them). I am a lazy girl through and through and do not own a single item that needs to be ironed—why? Because I hate to iron…lol. Call it a side effect of wearing a uniform from kindergarten through my senior year in high school and having to iron my uniform daily, but I will not miss ironing my clothes. For my day job I wear a lot of suits. The jackets get dry cleaned while the dress pants are washed in cold water and hung to dry and never need ironing. For the weekends I wear a lot of denim and sweaters in the winter—both of which can be pulled on quickly without ironing.

3. Adopt a uniform. Don’t get scared–after 13 years of wearing a uniform to school do you think I’d actually suggest you wear one? By uniform I mean put together a collection of no-fail outfits. If you’ve been reading this site and following the tips for your body type as well as my advice to buy things you really love and that you can wear a million times, chances are you have several items in your closet that can be worn a zillion different ways. Having a closet that has essential wardrobe basics helps.

4. Let your accessories tell a story. Say all you can muster out of your wardrobe is a pair of well-fitting jeans and a fitted tee. Let your accessories take you from Gap ad to wherever you want. Go punk rock with a spiked bracelet and killer platform boots. Or go boho with a scarf and cute flats. Your options are limitless.

5. Visualize how you want to look first and then go in for the outfit. This is best done either while you’re hitting the snooze button for the umpteenth time in the morning or the night before.

If you’ve got those 5 tips down, you’ll shave time off of getting dressed everyday.

Go too far for fashion and you can look like you’re wearing a costume, a sad condition I call the ‘costume effect’. Sure, fashion is cyclical, but the idea is to take inspiration from an era not take so much from it that you look like you fell out of a time capsule. Here’s some simple tips on how to avoid the costume effect:

1. Assess your accessories. Coco Chanel once said “before you leave, take one thing off”, but sometimes you have to take more than one thing off. Balance is important in an outfit; you want the eye to take in your entire outfit, not roll back and forth between your wayfarers, dookie chain, door knockers, and Beyonce weave.

To keep your look balanced…
*If you’re wearing an embellished neckline (ruffles, beading, ruching, double breasted, etc.) skip the necklace
*If you’re wearing a funky necklace, avoid dangly earrings (and while we’re on the subject, avoid wearing necklace and earring sets together especially bulky ones)
*If you’re sporting a hairstyle with mega volume wear either shades or earrings, but not both
*Don’t match your accessories to your outfit. If your outfit is black & white, avoid wearing black & white accessories go for gold or silver jewelry and add a punch of color with an accent like red, pink, green, etc.

2. Don’t do trend from head-to-toe. You know the whole 80s revival trend that comes back every 2 years? The idea is take to inspiration from the decade, not look EXACTLY like Madonna from the ‘Like a Virgin’ video. A cute way to do a modern take on the 80s would be to wear a nice pair of skinny jeans with platform boots, a funky t-shirt and leather half-gloves. Start with a simple, basic outfit and then add little touches of trend.

3. Tone down the makeup. Speaking of the 80s—remember the super-contoured cheeks dashed with hot pink rouge (you have to call it ‘rouge’ if it came from the 80s…lol)? Not so hot in ’09. You can take from the idea of a bright blush, but modern makeup techniques would apply the blush in a much softer application.

Remember that opposites attract. If you have a very avant garde or flashy outfit, keep the makeup simple; if your outfit is somewhat on the basic side, you can get a bit crazier with the makeup. Also don’t go with obvious “time period” makeup. If you want to channel your inner 40s vixen by wearing a fitted blouse and pencil skirt, instead of going with an obvious red lip with a matte face and winged liner, go for dewy, bronzed skin and a berry lip.

4. Pay attention to texture and fabric. Try and rock a silk or satin head-to-toe outfit and run the inevitable risk of looking like you’re ready for bed. If you choose to wear a shiny or bulky fabric, balance it out with something more basic. Don’t overdo a fabric or texture in one outfit and again remember that opposites attract–pair soft silk with tough leather and balance it out with neutral denim.

If you have a style or beauty question, contact me! Your question could appear on this site.