 The Sartorialist - Via Verri Milano I was awestruck. Just look at them! Click on the photo to make it larger and look at them some more. These women are fabulous incarnate. The antithesis of matronly. The embodiment of sophisticated style and confidence. They're clearly beyond their 40's. I'd guess the one on the left is in her 60's and the one on the right in her 50's. Considering how timeless they look, and judging only by their wonderful faces, they could be respectively in their 70's and 60's for all I know! I want to look like this when I'm their age! I absolutely adore this photo. It's such an inspiration and it makes me smile. I can perfectly picture the withering look these two would give if you tried to convince them to wear a holiday sweater. Or Mom Jeans. Or those high waisted pleated polyester pants that you never see in stores until you're over 70. Part of looking like this obviously means I'll have to visit Italy many more times. Soaking up style works better on-location. That's why I have my sister who speaks fluent Italian. Britt- pack your bags! We're going shopping!
Elaine's comment on my previous post reminded me that I hadn't yet posted a picture of the FANTABULOUS dress I won through a contest she had on her blog. She's an adorable college student whose blog is great for image inspiration! Find her HERE and on our Image Inspiration page. I like how she makes simple pieces not boring.  A few months ago she ran a contest to give away this dress from Shabby Apple. I had never heard of Shabby Apple but I immediately loved the dress and scrambled to complete all the various options she had for entering. And I won! Isn't this dress delicious!? It's so... Mad Men. So... 60's Sexy Secretary. Just the right mix of sweet with a wink, you know? And depending on how edgy or dressy I want to take the dress, I have 3 pair of shoes that will work perfectly. When choosing what size I wanted the dress in, the Shabby Apple website said that the dress was sized "generously", and as I've mentioned before, I'm on a quest to get in shape so I sized down. It's a little small as yet, but rather than exchange it (they have a great exchange policy!) I kept this size. It's my Reward Dress. I love it so much I want to be able to wear it for a long time. And I like having it smiling at me in the front of my closet. Cheering me on. So stay tuned! I will soon post a picture of me wearing it instead of the dress rack! Please visit Shabby Apple. You can find them HERE on The Shopping Section. They have wonderful, modest dresses without the frumpy shapes that so often disguise themselves as modest.
 One of the perils of online shopping is the inability to try things on. You're just not sure whether the item will fit you or not. As I've mentioned before, knowing your measurements will alleviate much of that fear. Never trust sizes - they're never the same between designers and stores. But it's very rare to find a shopping site without a Size Guide. Clicking on this handy little link will give you a chart (like the one pictured here from Banana Republic) outlining the basic measurements associated with that item. There are usually specific size charts for jackets/outerwear, blouses, dresses/skirts, jeans/trousers as well as for regular, tall, petite, and plus.
 Now, it's easy to measure your own bust, waist and hips in front of a mirror. But any kind of length measurement without help is much harder. Bending over to look at the tape measure obviously doesn't work. Pressing the tape along your body almost always results in a wrong number. But here's a little trick to determine if the length of an item will suit you or not.
Grab a flexible tape measure (these are dirt cheap at fabric stores!) and a small metal binder clip.
 Fasten the binder clip onto the tape measure so that the little arms are directly over the desired measurement. Now head to your full-length mirror!
Say you want to know where a skirt that measures "21" from natural waist" will hit you. At the knee? Above the knee? Just hold the 0 end at your natural waist and let the tape measure hang. The binder clip provides just enough weight for the tape to hang straight and the little arms show you right where the 21" will be. And because the tape is hanging, like the skirt will, you get an accurate measurement over your stomach and hips.
This works with dresses and pants as well. Try it and take advantage of that free-shipping a little more confidently!
Fashion Poetry. Enjoy.
Just wishin' and hopin'
that necklines would work
sleeves would appear
hemlines would lengthen
and clothes weren't too sheer
People choose to live a modest lifestyle for many reasons. Religion, upbringing, career dictates, age, personal taste. As with any lifestyle choice, there's the possibility of a love/hate relationship with your decision. We may love the message we're sending but hate that we can't wear certain styles. Love that we rarely have to worry about looking trampy but hate that we're sometimes viewed as "out of touch." But today is a call to arms! Are you going to waste time wishin' and hopin' that the clothes were designed differently - and not dress nicely until they are? Or are you going to embrace the decision you've made and wear it loud and proud? Never give up! Never surrender!
Choosing modest clothes isn't usually an issue for many of us.
Until you see clothes like this...
(swoon!)
... that make you realize you were IN FACT supposed to be born a Russian Tsarina...
(how fabulous is this??)
... and you wonder where the heavenly clerical error happened that gypped you out of your sartorial destiny.
I guess this post mainly goes out to the disgruntled women who say, "Modest clothes suck so it really doesn't matter what I wear." Not so! I put together just a tiny sampling of some dresses from recent seasons. Both the slightly immodest and modest versions of very similar looks. You'll notice the "not quite right" side (L) is still not extremely revealing, but they seem to be the clothes that cause the trouble. Sleeveless "but otherwise ok", too low a neckline, a little too short a hemline - just barely outside our limits, the clothes we bemoan the most. Very revealing clothing rarely makes us hide in frumpville. We wouldn't necessarily have worn them anyway. But the examples below show that perfect looks are right around the corner from the near misses. Just keep looking! (And you might want to click on the image to make it larger.)
I certainly advocate "working your clothes" to make them appropriate; slipping on a camisole, cardigan, or shrug, lengthening the hem a little, etc. But all that layering just to wear certain styles gets old. And hot. Sometimes it's so much simpler to make the modest choice straight of the box. So next time you're shopping, see what options are out there that truly embrace your lifestyle decision and help you showcase your look!
Ah, summertime. Undeniably the most difficult shopping and dressing time for the Modern Mormon Woman. Stores and streets abound with tank tops, mini skirts, short shorts, strappy dresses and bikinis. How do we find our place in this season?
I did a little research recently that may or may not surprise you.
I looked at the easiest option for summer style – the dress! Throw it on with a pair of sandals and you’re good to go errand running; with a pair of heels and you’re set for church; keep the heels, switch up the accessories and you’re ready for date night! One good dress is practically a weeks worth of outfits so I searched all the offerings on several different popular store websites. I counted as appropriate only those dresses needing no more alteration than perhaps a camisole for a too-low neckline. The dreaded “Under-T-under-straps” combo shown below was NOT an option.
What did I find?
Ann Taylor: 8 out of 71 dresses would be appropriate
Ann Taylor Loft: 4 of 50
J. Crew: 3 of 89
(and that was excluding the wedding dress options, which, by the way were 0 of 32)
Banana Republic: 8 of 41
Gap: 0 of 30 (that’s right – zero!)
Anthropologie: 0 of 107
Brooks Brothers: 5 of 15
White House/Black Market: 0 of 50
Nordstrom had far too many dresses to count but a cursory search of the first few pages yielded many excellent options! I even searched Victoria’s Secret. 26 of 255 would be appropriate.
Many of these stores are standard shopping suggestions from Image Interpreters. Goes to show the season’s aren’t all created equal! It certainly won’t be an easy search, but appropriate, summer weight dresses are out there. My personal favorite is the lightweight jersey wrap dress. Seasonless, with the addition of hosiery and boots, and one of the most flattering and smart wardrobe investments any woman can make. But what if you already have strappy or strapless items in your closet that you really want to keep wearing? The key is striking a more deliberate contrast! I’m a big fan of the new fitted undershirts that have hit the market in recent years. They lend a very helpful hand to anyone wanting to maintain modesty and avoid frumpy. But the look can be taken too far. ( Am I bursting bubbles here?) I don’t believe they were ever meant to allow us to wear ANY dress or top out there. (Any undertee maker who says otherwise is just trying to sell more!) Are they perfect under slightly sheer tops and dresses? Absolutely! The best for covering gaping under-arm holes? You bet! Excellent for filling in low necklines and covering "flesh belts"? Sure thing! Good looking under tank or halter style tops? Um... negatory. So how does this translate? - Try a longer sleeve T instead of the cap sleeve option.
- Try more than 2 layers. The other day I saw this combo: cap-sleeve underT, sheer, fitted, short-sleeve shirt (worn quite open to reveal the color contrasting underT), very low scoop neck, floaty, tunic-length ruffle tank (spaghetti straps, not thick) on top. All with jeans and sandals. It was more funky than my personal style but I loved that it was clever and creative!
- Work your button-downs instead! A light weight button-down shirt is much more unexpected under strappy or strapless items. It says, "I meant to put together this brilliant combo." Instead of, "Please look at the halter dress and ignore the flesh-colored undershirt glaring out from under it." Check out some of the outfit options below.
- As for those strappy maxi dresses? Take a cue from decades ago and employ a version of the shirt-as-jacket option. Slip a light button-down shirt OVER your dress, roll up the sleeves if they're long, do up just a few buttons at your breastbone (unless more are needed for cleavage coverage) and then knot the shirt just under your rib cage. Adorable, sexy and innocent all at the same time! It'll create very slimming lines as well, with the knot high at the narrowest part of your torso.
What would you be wearing if you were living your perfect life? Maybe you are living that life, but your clothes don’t fit in with the rest of the picture.
Is there a particular goal you’ve been avoiding? Could better style now help you take the first step toward meeting it?
Fashion and Style are really just your answers to the questions you’re asked every minute of every day. What am I doing this morning? Afternoon? Evening? Who am I doing it with? What is/will be the weather? What is appropriate for the occasion? How much time do I have to change outfits during the day? What do I want to project? What message do I want this outfit to send? What language are my clothes speaking? Let’s not ever kid ourselves, everything we wear says something, from the underpinnings the public doesn’t see to the smallest of accessories. Our clothing speaks volumes. It talks about who we are, how we’re feeling, and what we believe.
Who is the Modern Modest Woman? She’s trying to look appropriate and up-to-date while setting an example of modesty. Not content to wander drably with The Frumpy, she is keenly aware that more and more, the world is looking at her not only as an example but also to answer questions about our unique lifestyle. If what they see looks weird (and weird is the bad side of peculiar) or off-putting, they may consider their questions already answered. And you can bet it won’t be the most flattering answer.
I have always loved fashion but it took an embarrassing first business trip at my first real job, when I tried too hard to look “executive” (and failed miserably!), for me to start learning about real style. Imogen Lamport, a great image consultant from Australia says, “Style is a learning experience, and one that I never stop learning, and my style never stops changing (and that makes it interesting too).” Image Interpreters is about bringing together the best style and fashion tips and tricks and applying them to our unique lifestyle.
Whether we want to or not, everybody makes a fashion statement - this site is mine.
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