Fall outfits 2013: Fifty shades of grey

The very last outfit of the series is rather a professional one. Not everyone is so happy or confident in the fall colors or just colors in general. That`s why I thought I should put a more neutral outfit together.

In order to keep this look simple and professional, I strictly chose only shades of grey for it. As you can see, I paired a gray coat with a bit lighter gray tights and I added a black scarf on top.

Tip: When throwing an outfit of shades of the same color together, make sure to use different shades (makes the outfit more interesting and not quite so plain and boring); unless you`re putting a shirt and a skirt together and you want it to look like a dress. While using different shades, they need to match together. It is easy to do it with grey but if

you were to try it with let`s say red, be sure to have all pieces in the same color family. If you put orangish red and then rather purplish red it is not going to work.

Here I am wearing a pair of neutral black heels with a moderate height. It gives me those few extra inches I can definitely use since I`m only 5 foot 4 (160cm) without hurting my feet.

Tip: Party heels – up to you. Work heels: never higher than 3 inches (7,6 cm), ideally around 2 inches (5cm). Not only does it allow you to be able to walk on them all day without being in pain, it is even required at some places and higher heels are viewed as slutty and inappropriate for a workplace. As much as I love high heels, I strongly recommend obeying this rule and it applies for job interviews also.

I often change the belts on my coats but I decided to leave this one just so the overall look is softer and less defined.

Tip: Whenever you think you need more definition in winter coats and let`s face it – they generally don`t give you much definition at all, change or add a belt. This shows your waist and turns the coat into a more A-shaped one. If you prefer to have a more straight figure in your coat, either use the belt your coat is provided with (usually these are textile and don`t hold much, they`re just there) or don`t use any.

My scarf is layered, black on top of a white base, which makes it look softer which compliments my face. Being so pale, I need to watch what I put right next to my face and black has always been a no, unless there`s a trick to it – like this one.

Hope you find this helpful.

Much love and style!

Kris&Susie

Fall outfits 2013: Transitioning dresses to autumn

This is just a small tip about transitioning summer pieces into autumn and winter pieces. I found out that I can actually do this with good 2/3 of my dresses (so about 40 to 50 dresses or so and no, I do not need to see a doctor). The greatest discovery for me was that it works wonderful even with my favorite lace dresses.

Tip: So what is it that I`m talking about? Dark or simply thicker tights, color doesn`t really matter as long as it`s not nude. Depending on the dress you can add a belt too. This one is obviously too busy to have a belt but I do have a simple white lace dress I love to wear in summer with a skinny white belt and no tights and in winter with a thick statement black belt and black tights. Sometimes it doesn`t seem right until you put it together so don`t overthink it and just try putting it together. It either works or it doesn`t. I will have an article on that topic some time soon for sure.

This dress is a must have, it is a classic black and white combination and it is great for everything, parties, theatre plays, exams… Just go and buy something like that, you can never have too many, I for instance have four. And whenever I am out of outfit ideas (I hate to admit but it happens) I just wear one of them. Simple, dressy, elegant, you really can`t go wrong with these. This one is a bit more romantic thanks to the applications on top but if that is nothing for you, get one that is simple (I have two of each, naturally, I might need to see a doctor eventually…).

Just to give you a little bit of background – this dress is actually famous. My friends and I make black and white Charlie Chaplin-like movies and I wore this in one of them. Since it does have English subtitles you can even watch it. This was last winter and I had owned that dress for a while at that point and despite loving it very much I like it on Susan better now. And I know she loves the dress just as much as I do so it`s in good hands and her boyfriend likes it too!

Sorry, I`ve had trouble putting this video up, not sure what`s wrong with it so here`s the link: Ráďa`s Merry Christmas.

I get a little sentimental talking about the history of my clothes and I am not far from believing they have a soul, lol.

Anyways, hope you found this quick note useful. If at any point you had any suggestions be sure to let me know, I do take requests.

Much love and style!

Kris&Susie

Fall outfits 2013: Oversized sweaters

There is something absolutely adorable about wearing a big sweater. Recently this trend moved from home to the streets. The question is – how to style a big sweater?

You can either go really simple and I have Susan to demonstrate that. She is wearing a really big handmade sweater that is like 20 years old and she just happened to find it in her mom`s closet (don`t you love those things though?). 

She is only paired this with tights (and shorts made out of tights on top of those tights – we don`t want our underwear to show) and brown simple shoes. A nice touch, especially in this case, are those woolen socks that bring the outfit together by having a similar structure as the sweater.

Tip: Structures work the same way as colors. If you want the outfit to look more complete and complex, use the same structure on more than one piece, definitely not next to each other though! (scarf+ tights, sweater + socks, hat + scarf, hat + sweater; never do scarf + sweater or so - it will look like a really weird one piece and it will not compliment each other)

I on the other hand wanted to take the focus off of the sweater since I have more curvy body shape and it would not look quite as flattering as it does on Susan to wear it plain. 

That`s why I`m wearing printed leggings (over grey tights this time) and a big scarf. This brings attention to the pattern on the leggings and the top of the outfit rather than the silhouette, which, with my bigger than I want boobs, would not look quite as good. And as you can see I`m a big fan of the woolen socks as well.

Tip: Whenever you want to take focus off of something make sure to accentuate the parts you like about yourself. Because the sweater doesn`t show that I am actually slim, since it just hangs down off of my chest, I chose put focus on my face with the scarf and on my legs with the floral leggings. That way I can wear and style pieces that would essentially be the very opposite of what I should wear with success. Don`t give up the things that you like just because "it was not meant for your body type" - style them right! If you don`t like your legs, go ahead and wear black tights and put a belt around your waist or a statement jacket or a big broach.