Thursday, April 24, 2014

MIXING AND MATCHING - THE NAME OF THE GAME


It’s amazing how often you’ll hear a woman say, “I’ve got nothing to wear”, and yet her wardrobe is crambed full of clothing that so often is never taken out either to be chosen to wear for a certain occasion or for that matter even bothered about once she has purchased that piece of clothing.  (How often do you find a woman say that the swing ticket is still attached to something she bought a year or more ago!)
On the other hand a wise woman will choose garments that she can wear in a variety of ways, especially if she is able to buy well designed garments in various colours.  Then it is possible to build up a wardrobe of outfits that always look different and can be worn for both dressed-up as well as dressed-down occasions.

As we enter the colder months of the year, it seems the “fashion doldrums” hit most of us and we tend to think to ourselves that there’s nothing really new we can do to make our chocen clothing more interesting.   Yet it doesn’t take much imagination to choose half a dozen basic garments, duplicated in say two different colours, and voila, we can have outfits for at least twenty different occasions.

Take this range from Taking Shape for instance.   We have three quarter leggings in black and chocolate; cardigans in black and camel; tops in red and black and flares (not for everyone but certainly many of us).   Now just take a moment and then choose a different mix-n-match make up of these same garments.   For instance - red top with camel sleeveless cardigan and flares;  black top with black three quarter leggings and camel sleeveless cardigan;  black tp with camel sleeveless cardigan and chocolate leggings;  camel lares with black top and black longline cardigan and so on.  Try and get as many different outfits that you can from the same garments.  Get the picture?   

It really comes down to how far your imagination will allow you to go, and then looking outside that square!   Try it.





Thursday, April 17, 2014

Elegance in Black

When it comes to originality, many of our younger designers are certainly stepping outside of the square and coming up with beautiful, sharp designs.  Here's an elegant suit from Trelize Cooper which can be seen on the website of Wendys of New Zealand.

What a pity (once again!) that these designs only go up to a size 16.   For a simply tailored elegance what will it take for designers to see the potential of designing for the more curvaceous?  We know there'll be a need for more fabric and certainly a more discerning eye for the curves, but we of the "generously endowed" women seek garments such as this, to enhance our figures too!


Monday, April 7, 2014

Does "aging" mean we must become invisible?

I've been reading a lot lately about mature-aged women feeling "invisible" as the grow older.  Now for a plus-size woman to say this causes a great deal of confusion and conversation!  Dare I say it, it also causes some amusement - even amongst plus-sizers!

An older woman is not expected to dress in the young trendy fashions - if she does she is subjected to a certain degree of ridicule; and yet on the other hand there's not much out there in the marketplace that allows for elegance and style for the growing older woman.

Growing older women (and I'm speaking for the 45 onwards woman) want to be smart in their dress, but unfortunately many of the well-known labels seem to have gone the way of the albatross and either converted to "young" fashion or else closed their doors.

Women in their mid 40s and older don't want to necessarily become part of the "beige" population - they want colour and flair.

It's always encouraging to see women such as Helen Mirren and Dame Quentin Bryce who always make headlines with their fashion-sense.  There's a good reason I have no doubt.  That is they have their clothes "made" for them.   I don't think they just happen to duck into the nearest so-called boutique at their local shopping centre to find something that says "style".


Copyright: http://www.mydaily.co.uk

Dressmakers are hard to find - especially those who will take on projects that include the plus-size woman.   If you know of a local dressmaker then write and let us know so that we can share that information with readers.  We will even draw up a Directory, divided into States - cities, suburbs, rural and country areas.