Posts Tagged: inspiration

Ready to change? Here’s an easy place to start

By IN Less Frantic Mondays, Personal Style

Winston Churchill: 'There is nothing wrong in change.'

“There is nothing wrong in change, if it is in the right direction. To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to change often.”
– Winston S. Churchill, 23 June 1925, House of Commons

Change is exhilarating. Change is never-ending. Change is scary.

Maybe we want to feel more connected with our lives. Maybe we want to feel more confident. Maybe we want to be happier.

Less Frantic Mondays: Tips and tricks for getting dressed and creating working mom outfits with less hassle and more fun.Big changes, all. Stuff that has to do with who you are on the inside always is.

But sometimes big changes can start with little ones. Inside transformations can come from outer ones.

So start simple. Start easy. Start by changing your clothes.

It doesn’t have to be a full-scale personal style transformation, at least not at first.

Try this instead: Think of 3 or 4 or 5 things you own that bring you joy to wear. Step one: Wear them more often. Step two: Consider what you love about these garments, then see if you can find others that fit the same criteria the next time you go shopping.

Bring a little more wearable joy into your life and you just might be ready for bigger changes, inside and out. What are you waiting for?

  • Fab mamas: What motivates you to make a change, whether it’s inside or out?

P.S. This website is about to make an outer transformation, too. It’s getting a “change of clothes”–a whole new design (and a new name). So be on the lookout for Closet Coach to become Frantic But Fabulous, your new online home for working mom style advice. See you there!

Get fabulous. Be fabulous. Declare your right to discover and manifest your personal style with the Fab Mama Style Manifesto.

What is important in a dress

By IN Advice, Less Frantic Mondays

Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman wearing it. -- Yves Saint Laurent

Source: etsy.com via Heidi on Pinterest

Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman wearing it.
– Yves Saint Laurent

Less Frantic Mondays: Tips and tricks for getting dressed and creating working mom outfits with less hassle and more fun.Don’t choose a dress to change who you are.

Choose a dress because it reveals who you are.

  • Fab mamas: What does your favorite dress say about you?

This is your year to be more fabulous and less frantic! Sign up for the Style List to get more working mom style advice and a special bonus: 7 Days to Better Shopping, a daily series that will teach you how to shop smarter and save money.

What we see when we look in the mirror

By IN Advice, Less Frantic Mondays

Nature gives you the face you have at twenty; it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty -- Coco Chanel

Source: brainyquote.com via Heidi on Pinterest

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

Less Frantic Mondays: Tips and tricks for getting dressed and creating working mom outfits with less hassle and more fun.The woman you’ve become, or the features you wish you could change?

Take a moment to reflect on your reflection. Life has brought you every wrinkle, every freckle, every mark.

What will you do to earn the next ones?

  • Fab mamas: What does your reflection tell you?

This is your year to be more fabulous and less frantic! Sign up for the Style List to get more working mom style advice and a special bonus: 7 Days to Better Shopping, a daily series that will teach you how to shop smarter and save money.

Fab Fridays outfit set: red sequins + black bottoms

By IN More Fabulous Fridays, Personal Style

January Looks - Taylor Swift in Madrid (January 24)

I love image collage site Polyvore as a tool for discovering your personal style–and also finding outfit ideas. Today’s More Fabulous Friday features a look to try from Polyvore.

More Fabulous Fridays: Wrap up your work week with a working mom style treatPop star Taylor Swift may not be the first choice of a style icon for working moms, fab though we may be.

But this look she sported to a Spanish awards ceremony in January makes a cute and not-too-difficult-to-reproduce weekend chic outfit.

Start with a bright colored top–bonus points for sequins or sparklies–and pair it with black bottoms. Short shorts may not be practical for a whole range of reasons, but what about a pencil skirt or even walking shorts?

Finish with black oxford shoes (totally on point with the menswear trend) and simple earrings.

  • Fab mamas: Could you see yourself in this look? Who is your celebrity style icon?

This is your year to be more fabulous and less frantic! Sign up for the Style List to get more working mom style advice and a special bonus: 7 Days to Better Shopping, a daily series that will teach you how to shop smarter and save money.

Outfit post: How to get “Mad Men” style (without going to Banana Republic)

By IN Personal Style

"Mad Men" style outfit: peter pan collar, cardigan, pencil skirt, kitten heels

If you’ve paid any attention to fashion news last month, you heard that Banana Republic introduced a new collection in collaboration with “Mad Men” costume designer Janie Bryant containing pieces inspired by the show and the era in which it’s set.

They even held a contest in conjunction with AMC with the grand prize of a walk-on part for the entrant with the best photo of themselves in full “Mad Men” style.

I’m a huge fan of “Mad Men” so these two things gave me an idea. Could I create a look in full “Mad Men” style using pieces I already have in my closet?

Here’s my attempt at “Mad Men” style–without going to Banana Republic.

Step 1 was a bracelet sleeve length cardigan; there are two in the “Mad Men” collection. I happened to have two, a grey one with a white polka dot pattern and another in a gold-and-brown animal print.

Step 2 was a blouse to wear underneath the cardigan. I don’t have any pussy bow blouses (yet), but I did have this Peter Pan collar shirt I bought on consignment. It seemed appropriate for an outfit evoking the early to mid ‘60s. Because the shirt is white with black piping, that determined which cardigan to wear.

Step 3 was to choose a bottom piece. Although I have several pairs of cropped pants, none of them had quite the right cigarette pant silhouette. I decided to go with a grey pencil skirt, another classic ’60s shape.

Step 4 was shoes. Many of the looks in the “Mad Men” collection featured black pumps, so it was an easy choice to pull out my black kitten heels.

The final step: accessories. Some of the looks were belted and with the cardigan over the waist of the pencil skirt, I felt like this outfit needed one, too. With all that grey, I could’ve gone with black, but I thought the red had a nice pop. And what ’60s outfit is complete without a strand of pearls?

So there you have it: my version of Banana Republic/“Mad Men” style.

  • How do you think I did?
  • What’s your favorite “Mad Men” look?

Shirt: Consignment. (similar, $70 from Topshop)
Cardigan: Old Navy. (similar, on sale for $14 at Lord & Taylor)
Skirt: Elie Tahari. (similar, $59 at J. Jill)
Belt: Target. (similar, $38 at Lord & Taylor)
Shoes: Nine West. (similar, $139 from Endless)
Outfit level: 4.

[Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links.]

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Friend Fridays: Where do your dreams take you?

By IN Fashion Beauty Friend Fridays

Dream OnThis week’s Friend Friday is about aspirations: dreams, goals and wishes. Katy was inspired by two separate blog posts in which the blogger quit her day job and started on the path to self-employment, and her own sister who decided to quit her job and start her own business.

As Katy correctly notes, putting your dreams down on paper is often the first step to realizing them.

1. Fess up – if you could do anything professionally what would it be?

This is an interesting one for me, because I actually have two sets of interests.

The first one is interactive (or online or digital) marketing: strategy, search engine optimization, social media, ad campaigns, analytics, user experience–the works. Lucky for me, this is my day job; I’m the Director of Marketing at an interactive agency. Even so, I am constantly looking for ways to expand my knowledge and evolve my role.

The second one is style and creative–writing, drawing, photography, video. Right now, I nurture this side with this blog. At the same time, I’m actively planning to grow it into a business. Would it be great if it someday grew into a full-time gig? Sure. What blogger doesn’t dream of turning it into her job? But I’m not announcing that I’m quitting tomorrow. Not only am I not ready, but some of my co-workers read this! :)

2. What draws you to this?

The common thread in both areas is helping people find answers, whether it’s helping a client understand their site analytics or creating a marketing strategy that will effectively drive traffic, or helping a reader learn how to dress herself better or find the perfect garment.

Marketing is my analytical brain and style blogging is my creative brain.

I also find much overlap between the two. The energy of one helps feed the energy of the other.

3. When did you first start dreaming about this ideal?

I didn’t so much dream of marketing as I evolved into it from various roles in the online world (producer, project manager) over the past 15 years.

The dream of a style blog–and someday a stylist business–came to me one afternoon in March 2009 while I was gardening. I think it had been gestating for a while, and there it was. I started The Closet Coach the same day.

4. What’s holding you back from going all in?

Maybe I’ll go “all in” to blogging one day. But for me, “all in” to one thing I enjoy means “all out” of another thing I enjoy. That’s not a choice I need or want to make right now.

5. Sometimes the first step is the hardest… what’s one step you can take now on the way to realizing your dream?

It’s strangely karmic that this question (and topic) has come up when it did. This month I started meeting with a business coach with the express goal of planning, shaping and focusing both spheres of my life, both as separate and as complementary efforts.

We’re off to a great start and I can’t wait to see where the path takes me.

For anyone else looking to give some shape and definition to their dreams, I highly recommend this post by Karen Walrond of Chookooloonks on having “ A Definite Chief Aim.”

[Image: This isn't happiness, found via Pinterest]

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What Steve Jobs can teach you about style

By IN Advice

Steve Jobs had to dress like this ... before he could dress like this (Steve Jobs in a suit and tie, and then black turtleneck and jeans)

Steve Jobs had to dress like this ... before he could dress like this.

Update 10.6.11: Steve Jobs, 1955-2011. Rest in peace. You will be missed.

Have you seen “Crazy, Stupid, Love” yet?* (If you’re a member of the Style List, you already heard me rave about it.)

One of the many funny scenes involves a manly makeover administered by Ryan Gosling’s ladykiller character to Steve Carell’s schlumpy married man, in which Gosling takes Carell’s white New Balance sneakers and throws them away, asking “Are you Steve Jobs? Are you the president of Apple Computer?”

The implication, as communications coach Steve Gallo wrote in a post for Forbes, is that Steve Jobs can get away dressed in white running shoes all the time, but you can’t–because he’s Steve Jobs and you’re not.

But it wasn’t always true, not even for Steve Jobs. Early on in his career, he wore suits and ties just like the rest of us.

It wasn’t until he returned to Apple, and returned the company to success, that he could afford to wear his now-standard uniform of black turtlenecks, Levi’s 501’s and white running shoes.

So what can Steve Jobs teach you about style?

  • Dress for what’s next. Until you make your own million (or billion), dress for the job you want, not the one you have.
  • Know what works for you. You don’t have to have a wardrobe as regimented as Jobs does, but when you find a look you like, let it guide you. There’s nothing wrong with creating variations on a theme.
  • Be aware of where you are. It’s not by accident that the “uniform” Jobs settled on is one that works well in an environment of techies and creatives, as many of the Apple faithful are. He didn’t swap three-piece suits for golf clothes. Think about where you are. Are you dressing to fit in or stand out? No matter which it is, be deliberate with your choices.

This doesn’t mean that only successful technology executives can throw away the fashion rule book. They just have a little more freedom than we do!

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(Want to get more shopping tips and fun insider stuff? Join The Style List. It’s like a secret club in your email inbox! And when you join, you’ll get my free email series, 7 Days to Better Shopping. It’s my gift to you!)

*Bonus fun

If you haven’t seen it, here’s a little taste of “Crazy, Stupid, Love”: