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).

Birthday Present - Wardrobe Detox

After 365 days- it came again. My birthday that is. I’ve always had a complicated relationship with that day….but here it is again - another year. And with birthdays come presents. I LOVE presents, especially good ones. This year Mr. T got me an extra good pressie. A wardrobe detox. Ok, so it was after super thick hints on my end and some encouragement. But I have to say – he did all the research on his own. Checked and vetted several options – and finally hit the button – which means, he paid.

For those who don’t know- a wardrobe detox is when a well trained professional stylist sorts through all your clothes and stuff you hide in your closets and cleanses it. I.e throws or makes you put away all the - too small, it-might-fit-me-one-day clothes that in reality you know you’ll  never wear. E-V-E-R. And let’s face if you did fit into these clothes again, when, if, you loose all that weight – well then… two words: SPENDING SPREE!

Ok so I digress. For my wardrobe detox – Mr. T, hired Kristina from stylefig. (www.stylefig.com) Kristina’s Danish – Mr. T’s logic was as follows: the Scandinavian have good tastes, they build strong house and are generally attractive, hence Danish origin must be a plus.

Cutting my work day short, I meet Kristina at my house at 2pm. After some niceties and chitchat – we get working. First Kristina figures out my colors and gives me a chart with my best ones.  She asks to see some of my favorite clothes. I bring tons. We then run through a questionnaire to figure out my style.  I come out at as 80% simple 10% classic and 10% frilly. In simple language this means that I like clean cut, non-flashy clothes with a small shot of pizzazz.

Then the hard stuff begins. For nearly 4 hours, Kristina painstakingly takes out all my clothes – stashed across 3 closets around my house, and nicely creates a big pile of nearly a third of my clothes. These are the clothes that, well, I haven’t worn in years – or at least since I gained the weight that just doesn’t want to come off... This pile is soon to be known as the “to be thrown” aka TBT. I manage to salvage a few things from the TBT pile after Kristina agrees I can try them on first. I try them on. And after both of us agree they look alright, they’re spared. 



Backup Wardrobe in the Guest Room...Decimated 

Overall my wardrobe autopsy conclusion is that I have loads of cardigans, all the same type, different colors and some in the same color… just in case.  I have tons of basic Tees, and I’m ok for office clothes. But I do lack a couple of key pieces to really add that chic glamour spark to an outfit. Kristina also checks out my jewelry. She scribes a few selected items that I really need to pull it all together. She then sternly makes me promise that whenever I go shopping I obey some core rules: shop only for my body shape and colors, buy only things that make me feel fabulous and make sure they go with at least three things already in my wardrobe. 

And lastly we tackle my shoes. I think Kristina is horrified to discover I’m not a high-heel shoe girl and all my shoes need to be comfortable first.  This is a big struggle of mine. I’m pretty tall, so I don’t really need 4 inch heels. My ideal heel height is around 2” – but it’s so hard to find decent shoes of this heel height – that in some cases the shoe appearance does suffer. And most of my decent court shoes are hidden underneath my desk at work. The ones at home are not so awe-inspiring. Kristina jots some notes, and recommends some brands that are supposed to be comfy and trendy.

As a final touch Kristina puts together some super cool outfits from the stuff in my wardrobe – in a way I never would. And I love it. She organizes my wardrobe very neatly and somehow it now looks almost as nice as a store rack. She fixes a simple-glam outfit and I am all set for my casual birthday dinner.

I gladly throw in the recycling all the unloved clothes bar a few…. My wardrobe looks detoxed. My wardrobe looks fresh. My wardrobe looks stylish. I can finally flick through all my clothes. I have focus and discipline – and I know the handful of new stuff I need to get…

At dinner, I thank Mr. T for a lovely gift. Mr. T says he was amazed how we managed to spend so much time on clothes…and is stunned to discover a follow-up session is needed….but really it’s so worth while.  Well he has to agree.

Thank you Kristina – it was ace. And I look forward to our next personal shopping experience. Highly recommended.

Family Half Term Holidays - My Spa Experience

Stylogs,

As previously described, the family went on a half term staycation holiday in Hampshire. Staying at Elmers Court Hotel & Resort, I had to test the local Spa.
In between spending time with the kids and husband, I managed to find a few precious seconds to sample life as it should be.
The centre was clean and inviting, with requisite pillows and relaxed atmosphere. The reception was not that comfy, but the lady at the desk was very nice, smiling and friendly.

Hot Stone Message

The message was very relaxing and pleasant. Personally, I don’t like hard messages, so I asked the masseuse (on a pre-filled form) to apply light pressure. The amount and type of pressure was just right. The hot stones were a soothing addition to the traditional message, making the whole experience deeper yet smoother. This was a highlight of the week. The smile stayed on my face until…well the manicure.

 

 

Manicure

I must say that I wasn’t very happy with the manicure. For starters the manicure lady was very quiet and did not want to engage in any chit chat. She was also very slow. The room was poorly lit which did not help with the experience and the atmosphere.

I had to pick a single layer, as I had to keep it short. I asked the manicure lady which colour works with just a single layer, and although she claimed all colours do, she recommended a particular color, which turned out to be inappropriate, as it left streaks on my nails. To make it worse she didn’t apply a top coat. By that point I really had to go (the family was waiting by the pool….), so I left feeling a little deflated. I have to confess that for the amount of money I paid, I should have received a better manicure.

 

...Oh well you can not win them all.