How to Create the Day to Night Classy Look

Stylogs,

You try to balance a busy life. Your work, you need to look after the house, the kids, the after school activities, the bills, the supermarket shopping and that’s before you even take account of the man, who needs another whole article on its own. You need to find a way to dress quickly and efficiently in a way that would help you transition seamlessly from morning routine, to formal work dress code to evening going out look.

Can it be done?

The key is finding your inner style and body rhythm. Depending on your body shape and size you can always find a set of clothes that will flatter you. Taking account of your skin tone, your face shape and colour of your eyes, a simple make up work can really magically transform your presence from a tired rat-race zombie to a confident leader.

Start your day right. Go with solid colours shift dress. This will serve you well throughout the day. In the summer (thanks God it's back) choose classy sandals, or low heel ballerina pumps with colour matching gloss or matt finish. If the summer is a British one, a pull over or jumper may be required.

Keep jewellery to the absolute minimum, their time will come later in the day. A white gold necklace, with matching earrings and maybe one or two bracelets, but keep it light and understated.

Remember, you will raise your decibels later in the evening.

Along with the understated look, keep your make up colours in the beige, nude space (you can go with some rosy tones to lighten it up). Avoid stark colour, avoid smoky eyes and keep the lipstick to natural colours.

For mid-afternoon, you can spike things up a notch. Pair your dress with boots, such as heel boots, cowboy (cowgirl?) boots to add some flair. If the temperature is on the wrong side of warm, go with a casual blazer. Make sure the blazer’s colour comes from the same family as the boot

Your mid-afternoon jewellery can also grow in stature and drama. Silver, gold can definitely add in a level of prominence, but still I would steer clear of pure and cheap bling.



Night out? As night approaches, and the atmosphere becomes less desk and more club, you can surely turn up the heat. Pair your dress with killer high heel pumps, put the foot down and go all out with some strong make up look (dark colours, bright lipstick, smoky eyes).


Don’t forget your clutch. If a jacket is required (and it probably is), go for bright colours to ensure you get the attention you deserve.

What to wear with shorts

Stylogs,


Classy look for short with a pale blue top

I remember times, years ago where all I was wearing was shorts, sandals, light and bright tops and spent my summer days climbing trees and eating ice cream.

If it’s not a dream, it must be that my memory is playing games on me. Summer used to be about freedom and independence.

With a welcome emergence of summer in England, I suddenly faced an unfamiliar dilemma. Summer is here, the mercury is rising, and I don’t know what to wear. You can’t just pull whatever your touch from your wardrobe and nothing really fits properly, and nothing matches the other bits. Crumbs, it is quite tricky to get the right ‘summer’ look.

So here’s my take on what to wear with shorts. As always, there is no single answer. It depends on your body shape, skin complexion, face, hair, you name it. But in principle, unless you are a size zero super model (or near enough), steer clear from anything too tight. The shorts can hug your waist but the rest of your outfit should be looser and certainly not tight.

Casual yet super sleek combination of
short denims with long sleeved top

You may want to keep some parts of your body covered to offset the acreage of skin that your exposed legs now show to the world. So go with long sleeves which not only counter the exposed skins on the legs but also make this differentiation look quiet cute. V neck tops can work well for women with smaller breast when combined with light shorts, as they take the focus away from the cleavage and spread it around the body. If you have broad shoulders, you should vouch for boat neck, as they will balance out the top half of the body with the shorts and legs.

When going for a summery look with shorts, I’d highly recommend keeping the jewellery on show to a minimum. This keeps the balance between being ‘free’ and chic just about right.

You can definitely go for sandals if the temperature is right (or if you have a nice tattoo that you need to the share with the world, anyone?).  

 

Never ever wear socks with sandals. That’s not allowed under any political system (dictatorial, autocratic and even democratic). Also, if you go for exposed feet in sandals, please please make sure you treat your cracked heels, and your toe nails are well trimmed and manicured (you can go for a summery colour polish, or just with something quiet, depending on your mood).

A Little Visit to Zurich

Stylogs,

I always find this an eye opening experience. Travelling to another country is testing your acceptance and perceptions of other cultures. I didn’t go far, both geographically and culturally, and yet the differences are obvious.

Zurich in the summer - Cafe on Limmatquai by the
Limmat River

I visited Zurich for work. Although the flight left Heathrow at an unsocial hour (6am, just think about what time the taxi picked me up…painful), I arrived early enough into town.

The first impression was how clean and quiet the train from the airport was. I never thought a train could be, well, quiet. When you travel on the London underground (or overground) you can’t hear anything. You can’t have a conversation (unless you shout your lungs out), you can’t listen to music (unless you stuff those little plugs down the ear canals where they almost press your brain in), and you can’t really relax. In Zurich you hear other people have a chat three rows away. And they chat in whispers. It’s serene.

The dress code is classy continental. Women make an effort with their dresses in quiet matt colours and the men don’t try to outdo each other with their Jermyn Street shirts. The weather was very hot so the cut was lower and deeper than typical London standard this time of year (mind this is London summer).  An informative stroll down Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich’s main shopping street is interesting, if not life changing. Some of the familiar brands where there (C and A) as well as some local favourites.

On the way back I indulged. Sprungly is famous for chocolates and multi-flavoured macaroons. There must be 20-30 varieties in pink, brown, purple and a gold-pinkish hue with an exquisite chocolate passion-fruit flavour. The filling is airy and the macaroon is not too sweet. Just perfect for a little treat or a different kind of present from the land of the watches.

I couldn’t resist a visit to the chocolate aisle at the local supermarket. There must have been about 50 SKUs there. I quickly hoarded half a dozen and ran for my train back to the airport. On a carefuly (if not yet complete) test, the cranberry dark chocolate is the winner, though the competition is still neck and neck.



Chocolate aisle in a Zurich supermarket, a place to avoid if
you're looking after your waiste line

I know you’re not going to believe it, but my train was 2 minutes late. Travesty. I know.