25 style tips that every woman should know

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 / edebock / 2 Comments

Have you ever noticed that some women always look polished and put-together? What is it that makes them look that way? Who doesn’t want to look fabulous every time she steps out of the house? Today I’m sharing 25 style tips that every woman should know. Tips that work regardless of size, age, budget, or taste.

1. Use a lint roller to remove lint, hair, and other small fibres from your clothes. This is especially important if you have pets!

2. Similarly, make sure you have a fabric shaver to remove fuzz and pills from sweaters.

3. Invest in a good quality iron with a range of settings; one that can get out the toughest wrinkles but is also gentle enough to use on delicate fabrics.

4. Even if you’re not a seamstress, have a basic sewing kit on hand and know how to use it to sew on a button, tack up a hem, or do a minor repair.

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5. Make sure that your shoes and boots are clean and/or polished.

6. Use empty wine bottles or rolled up newspapers to keep tall boots standing upright when you’re not wearing them.

7. Declutter and organize your closet. Hang what needs to be hung in neat categories and fold the rest. You won’t wear what you can’t see.

8. Read labels when you shop. Pay particular attention to washing or cleaning instructions. If an item requires hand-washing or dry-cleaning, don’t buy it unless you know that you’ll give it the care it needs.

9. Be a strategic shopper. Keep a wish list of specific gaps in your wardrobe to prevent impulse buys that you’ll regret later.

10. Remember that a bargain is only a bargain if you’re actually going to wear it. Don’t buy it unless you love it.

11. Dress up a little when you go shopping. This tends to result in better customer service.

12. Put the majority of your fashion dollars into good quality basics. Have fun with trends, but don’t fill your closet with them as most won’t last long.

13. Check the rear view. Use a 3 way mirror when you’re shopping for clothes and check your back before you leave home. Every angle matters!

14. Wearing white? Check it in the light. White clothes tend to look more see-through in daylight, so check in bright light to make sure you’re not revealing something that you’d rather keep hidden.

15. Make sure your clothes fit properly.

16. Don’t prioritize fashion over comfort. If you feel uncomfortable, you’ll probably look uncomfortable.

17. Don’t be afraid to mix patterns. For tips on how to do that successfully, check out this post.

18. Think about balance. Your top and bottom should complement one another. Pair a loose skirt or wide-legged pants with a fitted or cropped top. Wear skinny jeans or leggings with a looser, longer top.

19. Remember, leggings are not pants! Unless you’re wearing them strictly as exercise wear, pair them with longer tops, tunics and oversized cardigans that cover your butt.

20. Accessorize! Accessories are the finishing touches that can take an outfit from drab to dramatic.

21. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and try something new.

22. Know which colours suit your skin tone. Wear those colours close to your face.

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23. Know your personal style. This post explains how to use Pinterest to help you identify yours.

24. Think about what you want your outfit to say about you. For help in choosing and using your own style adjectives, read this post.

25. Remember, age is just a number! Regardless of how young or old you are, embrace the styles that make you feel good.

If you have questions about any of these tips or would like to add some of your own, please use the comment section below.

From dressy to casual

February 4, 2022February 3, 2022 / edebock / 6 Comments

About this time of year, I begin to get very tired of my winter wardrobe. When you aren’t going shopping and haven’t bought anything new for quite awhile, the only solution to this wardrobe weariness is to try to create some new combinations using items that you already have. That’s what I did this week.

Ever since wide-legged pants came back into vogue, I’ve been thinking about pulling out a pair that have been in storage for several years. I remember exactly when and where I bought them. It was a rainy day in March of 2008. Hubby and I had been in Japan for about three weeks. We were over the jet lag and had settled into our teaching jobs and our tiny apartment. It was a national holiday and because of the inclement weather, we decided to spend the afternoon exploring a mall that we’d often passed on the train on our way to work. This was years before Uniqlo came to Canada, but we’d been introduce to the brand on a previous trip to Japan and were delighted to find a Uniqlo store in the mall that day. Before leaving Canada, I had looked everywhere for a pair of navy blue dress pants to add to my teaching wardrobe, but hadn’t been able to find what I was looking for. Amazingly, there they were waiting for me in Japan and I hadn’t even had to fit them into my suitcase!

The pants, which have a subtle pinstripe that doesn’t show in the photos unless you zoom in closer, served me well that year in Japan and again a few years later when we spent some time teaching in China. Once we were home to stay, however, I didn’t need a working wardrobe. I wore them to church occasionally, but eventually they were put away in storage. I didn’t get rid of them because I really liked them, they fit well, and they reminded me of our wonderful experiences teaching in Asia.

When I decided to bring them out this week I wanted to see if I could style this old pair of dress pants in a more casual, sporty way. Inspired by this post published by Greetje who writes the blog, No Fear of Fashion, and others I’ve seen wearing dressier pants with sneakers, I started pulling pieces from my closet. In no time, I had come up with four very similar but different looks.

I started with a basic Breton stripe tee. I don’t think you can ever go wrong with Breton stripes! I very seldom tuck a t-shirt in, but in this case I wanted to highlight the pants, so I tucked it all around and added a black belt. Without a topper of some kind, this would have emphasized the thickness at my waist, so I added my Uniqlo ultra light down vest. I finished the outfit with white sneakers and a pair of silver earrings. Suddenly, the pants that were previously part of a career wardrobe fit my more casual retirement lifestyle. A quick switch from vest to lightweight hoodie resulted in another outfit that I would definitely wear today.

Next, I put away the Breton stripes and brought out a more colourful t-shirt. I also exchanged the white sneakers for navy blue ones.

Finally, I switched back to the vest for one last look.

Now that I’ve seen how easily I can work these pants back into my present wardrobe, my mind goes to another pair from the same era that are still in storage. That pair is black and even wider in the leg. Perhaps I’ll pull them out too and see what I can do with them.

Brooches are back!

January 28, 2022January 27, 2022 / edebock / 4 Comments

Brooches, once considered stodgy and old-fashioned, have made a fashionable comeback and are now a stylish and versatile accessory that can add a spark of glamour and attitude to almost any outfit. Unlike our grandmothers, who tended to wear a bit of elegance pinned to their lapels or upper bodices, today’s brooches are often styled in unexpected ways.

If you’re lucky, you might have inherited some vintage ones from your granny, but if not, second-hand stores are a good source. I found these two in one of our local thrift shops for 25 cents apiece!

The newest trend where brooches are concerned is wearing a cluster. Why wear just one when you can wear two or three? Some are even sold in sets like these ones found on Amazon. Though insects wouldn’t be my personal choice (except maybe the dragonfly and the butterfly), having a theme can sometimes help pull a look together.

At the moment, since I only have the two to work with, I’ve been wearing them together.

As a gal who loves casual glamour, I like the juxtaposition of a little sparkle on a basic denim shirt. I’d also wear them on a plain t-shirt, a sweater, a cardigan, or a jean jacket.

Brooches didn’t actually begin as jewelry. Historically, they were functional items used to hold pieces of cloth together. The pin on a Scotsman’s kilt comes to mind as a good example. Today, however, there are numerous ways to make a statement with a brooch. Here are just a few ideas:

use one or more to dress up a purse or a bag
add one to a hat
use one as a hair accessory
position one at the point of a V neck
add one to the waistline of a skirt or dress instead of wearing a belt
attach one to a belt
pin one to the wrist of a shirt or jacket

I even read about one woman who liked to pin a sparkly dragonfly to the back of her shoulder!

If you’re wearing a brooch, or especially a cluster of them, be careful that they aren’t too heavy for the fabric. To prevent them from pulling it down, try pinning a piece of felt or sturdier fabric behind your garment to provide support. A cotton makeup pad will also work well.

A post about brooches would be incomplete without mentioning Queen Elizabeth II. Apparently she owns 98 of them and is seldom, if ever, seen without one. Many of them have historic and personal significance and some are meant to convey a message. I’m not a monarchist, but I can’t help chuckling over the fact that on July 12, 2018, the day that Donald Trump arrived in the UK for a three day royal visit, she wore one that had been given to her by the Obamas!

That skirt again

January 14, 2022January 9, 2022 / edebock / 4 Comments

Three weeks ago, I shared this skirt with you. It was one of my most recent thrift store finds. One of my personal fashion rules is that everything in my closet should be able to be worn at least three ways, so I’ve been playing around with the skirt and looking for other things to wear it with. Today, we’re going to look at two combinations that I tried and discuss why I think one works better than the other.

First, I tried the skirt with this turtleneck sweater that’s been in my wardrobe for many years. The colour worked, but I felt frumpy. That definitely wasn’t a look I was going for! But what was the problem? The sweater is a bit bulky and very straight. I don’t have a girlish figure and the shapeless sweater emphasized that. It made me look thick in the middle! I tried adding a long necklace and belting it at my natural waist, but I still felt frumpy, so this look was a no go for me.

I think this look is much better. The V neck, the shape of the sweater and its shirttail hem give me a more streamlined look. The necklace and the glimpse of navy at the neck draw the eye away from my midsection and toward my face.

What do you think? Do you agree with my assessment?

I meant to have hubby take a close-up shot to show you the jewelry I was wearing, but I forgot, so here they are.

I’ve had the necklace for about 20 years. it was a gift from a very dear friend who lost her battle with breast cancer 15 years ago, so it’s very special to me. The cameo earrings are my latest purchase from cabi. Aren’t they exquisite? I felt a bit like I should be walking around a heritage house or maybe a stone castle instead of my 1980s bungalow!

Must haves for 2022

January 7, 2022January 6, 2022 / edebock / 4 Comments

The internet is filled with lists of fashion items that every well dressed woman “must have” in her closet. Though I have neither, most agree that we should have at least one white button up shirt and a little black dress. Today, however, for my first fashion post of the new year, I want us to look at a completely different list found in Colossians 3:12-14.

“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience… and over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Whether you work from home in your pjs, wear a uniform each day, dress to impress in a corporate boardroom, or don PPE to care for the sick and dying, you won’t go wrong if you clothe yourselves in these six items.

When the young mother in front of you holds up the line in the grocery store while she fumbles in her purse for her wallet and tries to hush her crying toddler, practice patience. Have compassion for the cashier and offer her a word of kindness when it’s finally your turn at the till. When a friend, overwhelmed by the world that we live in today, posts another negative and poorly informed tirade on Facebook, be gentle with your response. When someone at work offers constructive criticism, accept it with humility and consider whether or not they might be right. Show love by listening to another’s story and acknowledging their struggles or by doing something unexpected for someone else without expecting anything in return.

Even if your smile is hidden behind a mask, your beauty will shine through for all to see when you clothe yourself in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love.

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All dressed up and nowhere to go

December 24, 2021December 19, 2021 / edebock / 8 Comments

Prior to the pandemic, this was the time of year when I shared the outfits that I wore to various Christmas events. Now, for the second year in a row, there have been no such events to attend. No parties, no dances, no reasons to dress up!

As I mentioned last week, I’m not a girly girl, but I do like to dress up once in awhile. On a recent visit to our local thrift store, I even bought a skirt. It seemed a bit daft considering the fact that I’ve nowhere to wear it these days, but I loved the richly patterned fabric and at $2.50, what did I have to lose?

We haven’t attended church in months, opting to participate online instead because there have been numerous cases of Covid amongst the congregants and we’re aware of several who are not vaccinated. In spite of the fact that we were only going as far as the living room couch to worship, I decided to wear my new skirt last Sunday.

No, I don’t usually wear boots in the house, but for the photos, I tried the skirt with a couple of different pairs. I think I prefer it with the tall pair, but both would work. The skirt has a wide elastic waistband which makes it super comfortable and I wore it over leggings for warmth on a cold winter day. I also wore a shirt and sweater that pick up colours from the skirt. Both are from previous seasons of cabi and have been shown on the blog before.

I have no idea how old the skirt is, but I suspect that it might be a vintage piece. I have three reasons for thinking so.

The only evidence of the brand that I can find online is other vintage pieces being offered for sale.
It was made in the USA. While a limited amount of clothing is still made in North America, the garment industry began moving production to Asia in the 1960s and most of what has been bought more recently was made there.
While the paisley pattern made a brief comeback in the early 2000s, it had it’s heyday in the mid to late 1960s.

And now, a very Merry Christmas to all my readers! I’ll be back next week with my annual fashion shopping review.

One more day and what have I learned?

December 3, 2021December 1, 2021 / edebock / 3 Comments

Tomorrow is the final day of my “six items or less” fashion fast! It went by faster than I thought it would and now it’s time to share what I learned. Again, let’s take a quick look at the two pairs of pants, three tops, and one cardigan that I’ve been wearing for the past month.

The first thing I learned was that we don’t need as much as we think we do. Dressing in just six items for an entire month was much easier than I thought it would be. In fact, not having a lot of clothes to choose from every morning was quite liberating. It took the work out of having to decide what to wear each day.

Apparently Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein understood this concept. Jobs wore the same black turtleneck, blue jeans, and New Balance sneakers every day. I hope he had duplicates of the turtleneck and the jeans or they would have become awfully smelly! Einstein was known for owning several variations on the same grey suit so that he wouldn’t have to waste time deciding which outfit to wear each morning. Both men understood that they had a finite amount of brainpower for making well thought out decisions and intentionally determined not to waste it on deciding what to wear!

Secondly, I learned to be more creative. Even though I wasn’t going out a lot and being seen by other people, wearing the same six items day in, day out did get boring. As the month wore on, I started to look for ways to use accessories to make little changes to my outfits. Instead of wearing the same few pairs of earrings over and over again as I usually tend to do, I brought out some that hadn’t been worn for years. Some days I wore funky patterned socks instead of plain ones and at least half a dozen scarves came out to play. Here’s one of my most creative looks.

No, I didn’t cheat! That’s not a blouse that I’m wearing under the cardigan. It’s a large, square scarf! I held it in front of myself, tied the two top corners behind my neck and the two bottom corners behind my waist, and voila! It looks like a blouse, but it isn’t.

This trick could revolutionize packing when we finally feel comfortable flying again. After managing three and a half weeks in Europe pre-pandemic with carry-on luggage only, we’re committed to traveling that way in the future. A scarf takes up hardly any space in a suitcase, but what a great addition to a limited wardrobe!

I learned that I missed colour. My wardrobe tends to be made up mostly of neutrals and I intentionally chose a limited colour palette for this exercise so that the six items could be mixed and matched to create many different outfits, but as time went by it definitely began to feel bland.

I also learned that I need to take a closer look at what’s in my closet and let a few things go. When I started this exercise, I thought about moving the six items to a different, empty closet so that I didn’t have to look at the clothes I wasn’t going to wear, but I’m glad I didn’t do that. As I looked into my closet each morning, I found myself yearning to wear some of what I saw, but other pieces didn’t call out to me at all. If, after a month, I didn’t miss them, do I really need them? I’m going to do another closet purge this coming week. If I didn’t miss it, I probably don’t love it, and if I don’t love it, maybe it’s time to donate it. I’ll be asking myself questions like: Do I love it? Do I wear it? Does it still fit properly? Does it go with other things I own?

Today though, I’m just dreaming of what I’m going to wear on Sunday and Monday and…

I’ll definitely be keeping the six items in rotation, but I probably won’t be wearing them for a little while. Except for the blue jeans, that is. Over the past month, I wore those at least twice as often as the grey skinnies. I’ve always been a blue jeans kind of girl and I don’t think that’s about to change!

It’s a start

November 19, 2021November 18, 2021 / edebock / 5 Comments

I was thinking about a topic for this week’s fashion post when I came across a news article that fit very well with what I said last week about boycotting products that are made in China.

The Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) recently intercepted a shipment of women’s and children’s clothing that originated in China on the grounds that the garments were made by forced labour. This was the first interception of its kind since new federal laws came into place in July 2020 officially banning the import of goods made partially or wholly by forced labour. Just as there is no way for us as consumers to know what conditions our purchases were made under, there is no visual indicator to show a border services officer the labour standards by which a particular good was produced. This makes this a very difficult situation to deal with, but the CBSA says that it will continue to investigate complaints and allegations pertaining to imports made using forced labour. Hopefully this will lead to further interceptions of this kind and will ultimately result in retailers ensuring that they don’t order goods that have been produced unethically. At least it’s a start.

So what exactly is forced labour? According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), forced or compulsory labour is “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.” It refers to a form of modern slavery in which people are coerced to work through the use of violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means such as manipulated debt, retention of identity papers, or threats of being handed over to immigration authorities. In China, Uyghurs and other Turkic minority ethnic groups are being subjected to forced labour in Xinjiang province. As well, a recent CBC Marketplace investigation found that several Canadian retailers, including one of my favourites, had brought hundreds of shipments of clothing into Canada from a Chinese factory suspected of secretly using North Korean forced labour. The factory is located in the city of Dandong, just across the Yalu River from North Korea.

The more I learn about unethical clothing production in China, the more convinced I am not to support it with my fashion dollars! I know I’m only one and I’m not even a big spender when it comes to clothing, but if I can convince even one of you to consider not purchasing clothes that are made in China, it’s a start.

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And now, are you wondering how the six items or less challenge is going? At the end of the second week, I must admit that wearing the same things over and over again is a bit boring, but there are also advantages. Getting dressed in the morning is easy and so was packing for a weekend away to meet our brand new baby granddaughter! I simply wore two items and packed the other four along with some socks, underwear, and pjs. Easy peasy! No thought involved.

More about the six

November 12, 2021November 10, 2021 / edebock / 4 Comments

Facebook comments in response to last week’s post about my self-imposed “six items or less” challenge ranged from “I could absolutely NOT do this!” to “I’ve been living in the same set of clothing since I retired.”

Today, after one full week, I thought I’d share a bit more about each of the six pieces that I’m wearing for the duration of the one month challenge. None are new and they’ve all appeared on the blog at one time or another in the past. First, let’s take another look at the photo…

From left to right:

Grey skinny jeans – cabi – purchased new in fall 2018 – made in China
Dark wash jeans – Old Navy – gifted in early 2018 – made in China
Patterned blouse – cabi – thrifted in fall 2020 – made in China
Navy striped pullover – cabi – purchased new in fall 2017 – made in China
Denim shirt – Uniqlo – purchased new in early 2021 – made in Bangladesh
Cardigan – cabi – purchased new in late 2016 – made in China

It wasn’t until I’d carefully chosen all six pieces that I realized that four of them were cabi! In addition to the fact that I simply have a lot of cabi, I think that there are a couple of other good reasons for that. First of all, cabi intentionally produces clothing that coordinates well with previous and future seasons. This makes building a cohesive wardrobe very easy. Second, cabi clothing is good quality. It lasts! I suspect that many fast fashion pieces that are sold today wouldn’t hold up to a month of steady wear and washing. Instead, they fall apart after a few wearings and end up in the landfill.

As someone who is attempting to be an ethical shopper, I was also surprised and somewhat alarmed to see that five of the six items were made in China! While shopping in Superstore last week, I passed up a super cute pair of leopard print sneakers. The deciding factor, in addition to not really needing them, was the fact that they were made in China. Having lived in that country for several months, I’m conflicted about buying anything that is produced there. I know that the majority of the population is extremely poor and that garment factories provide much needed employment, but I also know that the conditions in many of them are abhorrent. Men and women work in unsafe surroundings 10 to 12 hours a day, 360+ days a year for a mere pittance. In addition, there are political reasons for boycotting Chinese products. I see China as a threat to Canadian security and although the two Michaels were released in September, it’s clear that they were held for almost three years on trumped up charges in retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Chinese high-tech executive Meng Wanzhou. That’s simply not a country I want to support with my fashion dollars!

My justification for having five made in China items on the list of six is threefold. First, two of them were thrifted or gifted. My intention is to try to avoid purchasing new items that are made in China. Second, the new items were purchased prior to 2019 when I made a commitment to begin shopping more ethically. And third, four of the five items are cabi. I’ve been assured by two independent cabi stylists that their products are made in socially and environmentally responsible factories. In spite of that, I was happy to see that my most recent cabi purchase, which you’ll see on the blog later this winter, was made in Vietnam. I suspect that this means that cabi, like many other companies, is moving their factories out of China, not for political reasons, but because the cost of production there has risen significantly and other locations in Asia are more cost efficient. In any case, I’ll feel better about buying cabi in the future if it’s made elsewhere.

And now, before I close, here are a couple of the outfits that I wore this week. On Tuesday, when I went to my weekly Bible study and ran some errands, I layered the denim shirt over the patterned blouse and paired them with the grey skinny jeans. I dressed the outfit up with my newest boots and a necklace, both thrifted.

Though I’ve never worn the cardigan this way before, I knew when I decided to include it as one of the six that I would probably try buttoning it up and wearing it with a scarf. When you only have six items to work with, you have to be creative!

I wore it this way on Wednesday. We bowled in the morning, so I needed something that was comfortable and easy to move in. This Wednesday was also NET Cancer Day and since the zebra is our symbol, I wanted to wear a touch of zebra stripes that day. Interestingly, I purchased the scarf in a shop on Russian Street in Dalian, China when we lived there, but it was actually made in Taiwan! According to the somewhat sketchy instructions that came with it, it can be worn ten different ways, but I’ve yet to figure out most of them.

I don’t know if you can tell, but I was freezing during the taking of these pictures! The temperature was barely above 0ºC (32ºF), but as you can see, we don’t have any snow yet, so we decided to take advantage of that and squeeze in a couple more outdoor shoots.

A cozy shrug for winter

October 29, 2021 / edebock / 4 Comments

With winter just around the corner, it will soon be time to snuggle up in cozy, warm sweaters again and I have a brand new one that is very special!

My daughter is very creative. She didn’t learn to knit and crochet from me, but she can make almost anything from yarn. Last spring she posted photos of herself wearing a shrug/sweater that she’d just finished making for herself.

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When I commented on how much I liked it, she asked me what colour I wanted mine to be! I suggested a dark blue and she chose a colour called Sapphire. I absolutely love it!

Though Melaina often knits and crochets items of her own creation, she used a pattern for this one. You can find it here. The ribbed cuffs are knitted and the remainder of the sweater is crocheted. It feels like I’m wearing a hug and I know that this is one item that will get lots of use as the days get shorter and colder!