As women, we often go through changes in our lives, from college graduate to working woman, career woman to stay at home mom, a child centered life to an empty nest. We evaluate how these changes affect us emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically, but how many times do we stop to evaluate if our "look" accurately reflects these changes?
We all know that our outer appearance is the first thing that influences people's perception of us, but not many of us can gleefully state that the outside really reflects who we are inside.
Is it time for a makeover?
If you answer yes to more than three of them, then it's time for a change.
Do you stand in front of your wardrobe and wonder "Whose closet is this anyway?"
Do you have a wardrobe full of clothing and nothing to wear?
Do you have a lot of clothing that still has the sale tag on them?
Do you change three times in the morning and still don't feel you're achieving the right look?
Are you spending a lot of money on clothing, but still not creating the desired effect?
Is everything in your wardrobe black?
Do you have over 30 pairs of shoes, but don't have a chance to wear them all?
Do you own "skinny", "fat" and "in-between" wardrobes?
Do you often find yourself thinking; "If only I had her body, I could wear what I want?"
Have you gone through a life or body change and now feel that nothing looks right anymore?
Finding a new fashionable you!
In this column series, I'm going to be dealing with the various steps to creating a new you. For now, here are some tips to get your "new you" under way:
The first step is to give some thought to your existing look:
1. Take a look at the clothes in your closet. I mean really look. How many of these clothes are you really wearing?
2. Take out the items you are wearing and lay them on the bed.
3. Ask yourself, how do I feel when I wear these items? What do these clothes say about me? Are they a good reflection of my personality and lifestyle?
If you don't feel fabulous in these clothes and you are not happy with what they say about you, what do you wish your clothes said about you? What look do you wish you could create?
Most of us don't give much thought to these questions. We tend to spontaneously buy (grab something whilst shopping for groceries) or buy out of necessity (you need an outfit for an occasion).
Give some serious thought to what would make you feel fabulous. Take a look through magazines and identify a look that you respond to. Note that you may not land up recreating this look – because you can never look like the model in the picture, simply because you are a different, unique person.
The idea is to identify the emotions of how that look makes you feel and ultimately recreating the feeling that this look inspired. This may be a difficult exercise, but persevere; you may find a few surprises along the way.
Tracy Gold is Women24's fashion expert.
Click here to ask her a question.