Rachel Zoe's Dos and Don'ts!

Rachel Zoe recently weighed in on her fashion Dos and Don'ts with Glamour Magazine. Rachel, to me, is like E.F. Hutton. When R.Z. talks, everyone should listen. Here are a some of my favs.

When it comes to trends, Rachel says tread lightly. Pick a piece of trend and incorporate it into your closet. Don't purchase a trendy item just to feel like you're part of the trend. Her example, "If tweed suits are in but you’re not a suit kind of girl, wear the jacket with jeans and a pair of Converses. The idea is that you wear it the way that becomes the most you." I have fallen privy to trends in the past, as I'm sure all of us have. You truly need to be selective and stay true to you. One of my trend fails below. 

The Kimono

When it comes to pant length, longer is better. I've preached pant length several times on this blog. Never, ever wear your pants short unless they were cut to be crops! I can't stand seeing a woman, or man, wearing pants that come up to their ankles when not intended! I've always hemmed my pants to about a 1/4 inch above my heel. So, if I'm wearing a five inch pump, my pants are hemmed to 4 3/4". According to Rachel, "Here’s the rule: Unless they’re cropped to ankle length on purpose, your pants should always skim the ground, like just a quarter-inch above the bottom of your foot. In the luxurious life, we would have different pairs of the same style hemmed for heels and hemmed for flats, but most of us don’t, so you have to choose. If you’re going to make the commitment to wear heels, your pants have to skim the ground. Please just commit. I can’t bear too-short pants. They make me crazy!"

If you find a style you identify with, copy it! According to Rachel, "Take someone in the public eye whose style you admire or whose body you think yours is most similar to, see what they do, and try to emulate it. It’s not bad to copy a celebrity—God, no! That’s what they’re there for!" I do this all the time! I draw inspiration from certain stylish celebrities and mimic their looks with what I might already own in my wardrobe. Remember my week long post on dressing like a celebrity? It can be done!

 

Another philosophy we have in common is that you don't have to spend a lot to be fashionable! "Listen, some of the people I know with the smallest spending accounts have the biggest style. The key is creativity in mixing and matching what you wear. Even the girls with Balenciaga bags or Lanvin flats pair them with H&M, Anthropologie, and Topshop. At this point fashion is so accessible, it’s easy to be on trend for very little money."

Ann Taylor and Loft mixed with Burberry Prorsum shoes.

This isn't why I started a blog, however I do get a birds eye view of what I thought looked good. When captured on film, I can see that the cut or color or look just didn't work or look right on me. "I’d love to be able to say, “Look in the mirror to see what works best, and you’ll know,” but most people don’t know. Sometimes I don’t! We’re just not the best judges of ourselves, because we’ve been looking at our reflections for our entire lives. I thought blue looked like crap on me, and one day I wore a navy jumpsuit, and everyone was like, “Why don’t you wear more blue?!” The mirror might not always be the most helpful thing, but cameras don’t lie. They allow you to step outside yourself and see an outfit with an objective eye, so take pictures if you’re not positive about a look. And make sure you get lots of different angles."

 You may not take daily photos of yourself, but if you doubt a look, have your spouse or a friend take a pic. Almost everyone has a camera on their phone these days. Kind of like a modern day Polaroid! As they say, a picture can be worth a thousand words.

If you want to check out all Rachel's Dos and Don'ts, check out the article here. 

And I apologize for some formatting issues. Can't seem to have one continuous font for my post today...