Needy or what?

[Helen_Highwater]

As I alluded to in another thread, I've just had the chance to spend some extended time dressed. When I compare the amount of drab clothes I took for the week to Helen's wardrobe the difference is staggering. It's like comparing carry on luggage to having to pay excess weight charges on 3 large suitcases.
And then there's the trauma of deciding what to leave behind.

Having said that, having stuff to choose from does mean you can spend time playing dress up, matching blouses to skirts, skirts to boots (I took 5 pairs of boots; don't ask about shoes!)
It did give me the opportunity to put together stuff that blended and by that I mean blended in with what the GG's are wearing on a day to day basis, flat black boots, denim knee length skirt, long scoop neck pale tee with black waterfall cardi. That sort of thing for the day. Black kitten heeled boots, black crossover dress and cream military jacket and a scarf for the evening.
Feeling you look the part helps relative inexperienced me gain that bit more confidence to be out there.

[Chari]

Your outfits sound very cute and fashionable. Continue to observe what GG's are wearing to get more ideas, but put your own "spin" on what YOU feel comfortable and confident wearing! You could set a trend if other GG's like your attire. It happens often in the fashion world! Enjoy.

[Katey888]

Sounds like a very pleasant immersion, Helen... know the feeling but not recently...

As I recall you do get out but without a lot of interaction..?? I can fully understand the way you're progressing with this - I would hate to make a move without knowing that everything is just right, planned for, contingencies, etc. Sounds like you had a good wardrobe session...

But how do you make the self assessment of what's good and not? I think I have the potential for fashion apocalypse if I'm not helped or keep to very simple combos... :eek:

Good advice and I suspect, a quite British way of approaching things... :D

Katey x

[Helen_Highwater]

Chari,
Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of the mainstream fashion world being lead by what CD's a putting together as ensembles. Some of the size zero models wearing forms, hip and bum padding to make themselves more feminine curves. Now that would be something!

Katey,

"But how do you make the self assessment of what's good and not?" Well I tend to use the mainstream online fashion retailers, Very.co.uk, Next, that sort of thing. From those I can get an idea of what GG's are buying, coupling that to being observant when out in public and seeing what works (or doesn't) for GG's of my age group.

And I also use the measure of "Do I feel comfortable in this?" And by that I mean literally comfortable to wear, something that if I'm to spend 8 hours wearing while I'm out that I'm not constantly having to smooth creases or fiddle with to make it look good. I'm no spring chicken so I steer well away from short skirts or ridiculously high platform stilettos. Rule one for me is blend so having a pair of flat knee length black boots I could be comfortable in for hour after hour makes being dressed so much more enjoyable. After all, sore feet are nobodies idea of fun.

I'm also a great believer in KISS; Keep It Simple Stupid. Don't over guild the Lilly. Not too much jewelry, a girl can't go wrong with pearls, accessorize discretely, matching scarf and a handbag that doesn't yell BLING.

If there is one thing I would love to master then that is daytime makeup. How to balance the need to hide my male features but without looking like I'm going out to a grand ball. Daytime in addition to foundation I tend to use a single colour eye shadow, say a pale pink, just a touch of mascara and a subdued lippy. So I suppose work on the principal less is more but it is a fine line to walk.

I did take some pics but they tuned out pretty poor as the lighting wasn't good (can't tell the green dress from the black one). I hoping to find the opportunity to redo a few and then drum up the nerve to post. That would be another first.

[Beverley Sims]

I go away for three months with three outfits, one for each month.....
When I travel locally for a fortnight I have one outfit for each day. :)

[kimdl93]

you've got it down. All that planning while you packed is paying off now.