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Tips

in

Minutes

for

Star Style

Copyright 2016

kate@colourmekate.com.au

www.colourmekate.com.au

/colourmekate

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Hello and a heartfelt "thank you" for subscribing to Colour me Kate.

By way of appreciation, it’s my absolute pleasure to be able to offer, exclusively to you, these five tips that will start you on your journey to becoming a more Colour Confident and Style Savvy version of yourself.

You know what they say: Knowledge is Power! And being a stylish woman all comes down to having the knowledge and understanding of how to dress your unique body, knowing the universal principles of style, as well as introducing certain colours to your wardrobe that will make you look so good that you’ll LOVE getting dressed every morning.

Fashion is simply a tool or a source of inspiration to achieving Style. Fashion has its place and should certainly be celebrated and its artistry admired, but Style (how you put YOUR fashion together) is a language. Have you ever thought of fashion and style like that before? Think about it: Everything we wear speaks volumes about us. We take a different message from the woman who’s wearing a black suit, cream shirt and black stiletto shoes, than from the woman who is wearing ripped jeans, Doc Martins and a leather biker jacket, than from the woman who shows up in an oversized t-shirt, tracksuit pants and Ugg boots.

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We would – and do – make immediate judgments on each of these women, from their upbringing, to their income, to their level of education, which suburb they might live in, their likely political or sexual persuasion, right down to whether we think they’ll be nice, friendly approachable people and therefore a potential friend for us. Imagine understanding this in relation to your own personality and the clothes that you wear. Understanding this silent language and aligning it with your unique personality helps us to make better connections with others and we end up attracting similar, like-minded people. And perhaps you chose Colour me Kate above all other Image Consultants because you felt an alignment or a connection with me and/or the look of my branding? OK, so in summary, here’s your first tip …

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Tip #1 Communicate the right message for YOU

Consider your personality and your lifestyle. Not just as you are now, but as the person you would like to be, and the lifestyle you would like to have in, say, three years' time. Now take a look at your wardrobe and assess each garment to see if it communicates that message. How you dress tells others how you feel about yourself and others will take these silent signals from you to gauge how to treat you. So now think about the three style types of women I've depicted and think about how you might respond to each on first meeting them. Powerful isn't it!

Tip #2 Get Colour Confident

I honestly feel that if we're wearing colours that REALLY suit us, we can

just about be forgiven for the style of clothes we're wearing. Colours RULE!

COLOURS RULE!!

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Now, I'll let you into a little secret ... did you know that if you wear a colour

that enhances the colour of your eyes, people will be more drawn to your

face and their eyes will stop there? If people are looking at our face, they're

much more likely to be really focused on us and listening to what we're

saying. So this is the BEST secret when choosing swimwear! If they're

looking at our eyes; they're not looking anywhere else!!

Black may not be the friend you think it is

I've found that a lot of women have predominantly black wardrobes. I find this really fascinating since I barely own any black. In reality, black suits very few of us but we've all been drawn into a false sense of security that black is slimming. Well, this is true ... if you are one of the few whom black suits. If you're not, you could find that it's actually having the reverse effect on you without you even realising.

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Great alternatives to black are navy, olive green, chocolate brown or charcoal.

So having your colours assessed is money well spent if you're looking to

continue on your journey of self-improvement. And really, for around the

cost of one cut and colour at the hair salon, or one good pair of shoes,

having your colours 'done' is a long-term investment which will pay

dividends straight away!

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Tip # 3 Paying attention to your Body Proportions

Understanding your body proportions may well be more valuable to you than understanding your body shape. Getting to know your proportions will help you to know where to end tops and skirt hemlines. For example, if you are long in the waist, you will want to counterbalance this by wearing waist bands that are slightly higher than your natural waistline. As you can see from the picture above, where you end your hemlines can give the illusion of a more balanced, or un-balanced, body. Alternatively, if you are short in the waist you will look better if your top hemlines end slightly below your natural waist. As someone who is long in the waist, you may find that when bending over in trousers, there is an expansive gap between your jeans waistband and the hemline of your top. If this is happening to you, look for medium to high waist trousers - you can always wear your tops un-tucked if you're feeling a little 'Harry Highpants' in your trousers!

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However, if your legs are disproportionately shorter than your body, you will find that wearing nude coloured shoes, shoes with heels, and low-vamp shoes will help to elongate your legs and give your overall body a better sense of proportion. And if this is your body proportion, beware of crop (three quarter length) pants and flat shoes!

Tip #4 Become BFF with a Talented Dressmaker

This has to be one of my most shared nuggets of advice! I can't stress strongly enough how valuable a talented dressmaker can be to you and your wardrobe. We are all different shapes and sizes, not only in our unique body shapes, but our body proportions too. Then, of course, there are our individual assets to consider: big bust, rounded tummy, full hips, skinny arms, short neck, undefined ankles – the list is endless. Clothing manufacturers make clothes based on ‘perfect’ human proportions in just a hand-full of sizes. So with this in mind, we’re setting ourselves an impossible task to think we can go shopping and come home with something that will fit perfectly. How many times have you found the perfect dress but you’ve put it back because it gapes too much in the waist, or it is too broad in the shoulders, or it’s just too long for your legs? STOP! It doesn’t have to be this hard! Let’s accept that we’re all different shapes and sizes, and that clothing manufacturers aren’t going to change their sizing standards. Ask around and find a talented dressmaker in your area. Somebody who takes clothes in for altering is fine, but somebody who understands the structure of clothing can be invaluable to making your clothes fit like a glove.

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Clothes that fit perfectly look more expensive, of better quality, will last

longer, make you look better groomed and will feel so much more

comfortable.

And, of course, the more often you wear the garment, the lower the Cost per Wear Value. (I find this Cost per Wear equation very handy when justifying

spontaneous purchases to my husband - not that I'm advocating marital

deceit, of course!)

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Tip #5: Five Star Style on a Two Star Budget

Looking a million bucks does not have to mean spending that amount to achieve it! I am a bit of an Op Shop addict and Vintage Shop devotee. Sometimes I look down at myself and realise that, apart from my underwear, nothing I’m wearing was bought brand new. I am lucky enough to be told that I’m stylish, which always makes me feel a million dollars, but when I calculate the actual cost of some of my outfits, they might only come to around AUD $35!! So, case in point, five star style CAN be achieved on a two star budget. The appearance of having style is simply a clever illusion! There are three things to consider when creating this illusion for yourself: Fabric, Cut & Colour. Get two out of these three style secrets right and you’ll look good; get three

out of three and you’ll look GREAT!

The outfits above could very easily take you to three different smart-to-

smart/casual occasions. None of these outfits costs more than $320, but

one could be forgiven for thinking their prices would be more than double

that figure.

$313 $205 $218

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Fabric Clothes on the high street have their place and are conveniently accessible to us all, but they are generally mass produced – and I’m talking in the millions, per item, around the world. Logically this suggests that the quality of the workmanship and fabric may not be as high as a garment that has been more exclusively produced. This is why high street fashion is affordable and high end designer clothes are, generally, not! However, Vintage shops are little gems when it comes to good quality clothing. Clothes of yesteryear were often handmade, or mass produced but on a much smaller scale. The fabrics were also generally more structured and of better quality – hence their longevity. So even though vintage clothing is more expensive than Op Shop clothing (a sweeping generalized statement, I know!) you will often get something that looks and feels much more expensive than it was. A good rummage through Op Shop rails can also produce some hidden gems of great quality that will cost you a small fraction of their original value – and which could look like you’ve spent a good week’s wages on.

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Colour

Human beings are very visual in their information intake, and colour is one of the first things we will notice. Colour can change our mood and behaviour and it can influence judgments made on us. We would instinctively respond to someone wearing yellow in a different way from how we would to someone wearing black, for instance. The messages we take from the colour yellow say: happy, light-hearted, youthful, spontaneous, friendly. Black says: serious; responsible; mature; sophisticated; career-minded; solemn; ambitious and perhaps introverted. Understanding the messages each colour communicates enables us to influence our moods, the moods of those around us, and the first impressions others will make of us. And as we've already established, wearing colours that suit us can make us look healthier and younger, or tired and positively unwell. Which colours do you think you could wear to enhance relationships with

those around you?

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Cut The cut of all our clothes is so important and your newfound BFF, the talented dressmaker, can help to make this work for you! A garment of clothing may be perfect in every other way, but if the cut is unflattering for your body shape and proportions, stylish you will not look. If you have a waist, you clothes should be nipped in to show it off; if you have great legs, your skirt hemlines should be short enough to display them; if you have a big bust, you may want to ensure your tops and dresses have darts beneath it so the fabric skims down your body and doesn’t hang from your bust. A beautiful-in-every-other-way garment can be ruined by a poor cut.

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In closing

So there we have it. Five quick and easy tips packaged up in one tidy document, especially for you!

I really hope that you have taken something useful from this information. And I hope you'll find it easy to apply to make positive changes to your physical appearance - and consequently your self confidence and feeling of personal pride. There's no other confidence booster quite a good as feeling you look pretty darn good when you leave the house each day. You may find that people begin to respond to you differently and that friendships begin to make deeper connections. Our personal image is a powerful thing. If we know how to nurture it, evolve it and channel it in the direction that we want to be heading, it can open doors to many unexpected opportunities. If you would like more information on how I can help you refine your personal image, head on over to my website at www.colourmekate.com.au for more tips, tricks and videos. Alternatively, feel free to email me at kate@colourmekate.com.au for more specific information.

With best wishes,

Kate

Kate Bird

Personal Colour & Image

Consultant

Perth, Western Australia.

Tel: 0402 039261.