HOW TO MAKE YOUR CLOTHES WORK FOR YOU

I’ve been struggling with a couple of cool pieces in my wardrobe but found the way to make them work. So, I wanted to show you the top 3 reasons why great clothes sometimes just don’t work. With a couple of simple style hacks, you can give a new lease of life to clothes that lie unused at the bottom of your closet.

Imagine how happy and confident a new and perfect outfit makes you. I mean, look at me posing around in this dress like a smug Sixties kitten who just got a call from Austin Powers. That happy. And the lesson is, ‘perfect’ clothes you see on others are probably not perfect, even if they look effortlessly amazing. They are usually hacked to near death to look and feel perfect.

The top 3 reasons why clothes don’t work

When something is cool and basically fits to size but somehow doesn’t work, in my experience, the top 3 problems are: 1. the neckline, 2. sleeve width, and 3. hem length. The issues are not the no-brainers you might think they are. Sometimes, you can’t put your finger on the problem until you start working around it. Now, to stop this post from turning into a book, we’ll talk about necklines here.

My outfit, my issues

The first disappointing purchase I’m wearing is a shift dress. It has the wrong neckline, it’s shapeless, big on the upper half but threatening to tighten at the hips at every move. The second is a too-wide sleeveless top with huge armholes. It looks bulky but shows off some comparatively skeletal arms, so, just great. With the two combined though, the look is smart, chic and easy. I also found that the dress hangs better with an extra layer underneath. I really like the knee-high-boot look here. So, to keep the style for spring, I would wear the dress with flat brogues or loafers with black knee socks.

Solutions: neckline hacks

Neckline too high

Currently there’s no such thing as a too high neckline. However, if you want to change a plain high-neck look around, wear a stand-alone collar of leather, suede, faux fur, velvet. You can also think about throwing on something embellished over it, like a statement necklace or choker. If it looks cool but is restraining, professional altering can take care of it.

Neckline too low or the wrong cut

In this case you’ll need to test different colours and styles to go under the dress. It worked miracles on my nightmare-necked vintage suede dress – the outfit came out a dream. To work out what’s best, you’ll need sleeveless high-neck tops. Think sleeveless collared shirts, polo shirts, shell tops, rollnecks. If you need to buy some, get a pair of sleeveless rollnecks in black and white, plus a white collared shell top. Since long-sleeve layering is also in, you can experiment with different underlayers but the results will be less smart.

Up the game with my advanced lucky style hack: find a black shell top with a white collar – mine used to be embellished (and also unworn) until I cut off all the coloured beads. With a piece like that layered under a black dress, you can correct any neckline.

Did you guys have any similar issues you miraculously solved? What was your personal hack?

Love, xx
Gabriella

Better together…
biker zip detail dress: New Look
sleeveless contrast collar shell top: Drôle de Copine
square toe flared heel leather boots: from the Nineties