Best Way to Avoid Style Faux Pas

Not many people are lucky enough to have that Midas touch with clothes, so here are a few style pointers to help you let rip on your wardrobe and avoid any style faux pas. The ultimate aim is to create your own personal style – a strong look that transcends seasons, trends and occasions; an image that carries your stamp of identity without looking too stereotypical. To set your creative juices working, let me feed you a few key words from the style lexicon: freedom, simplicity, individuality and elegance. On the practical side, it’s words like cut, colour, shape, quality, fit and finish that are synonymous with stylish dressing.

Individuality – Dressing with style means allowing your personality to shine through. If you give the same dress or shirt to two women, each would wear it in a different way, which is basically what individual style is all about. Take a little grey chiffon embroidered dress from a high-street store: one woman might wear it with chunky shoes and a jumper slung over the top, while the other with flamboyant heels and fancy jewellery. If you are clever with your hands, you can add an individual touch to your clothes by replacing buttons, adding a flower or beading, or turning an ugly dress into a great skirt.

Trademark elements – A smart trick that you can learn from models, celebrities and style aficionados is to wear one special item so frequently that it becomes your signature piece. Whether it’s a shawl, an ornate bag, a white shirt, a wacky hat or antique earrings, make this item the main ingredient of your personal style.

Inspiration – To prevent yourself buying another fashion blunder, gather inspiration before you even step your Manolo heel on the shop floor. You’ll find it in all kinds of places – while watching old movies, diving into past fashions through the catalysts of history books and museums, and scouring the fashion pages of such magazines as Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire. The catwalk is also inspirational, but don’t take it too literallly or you’ll be walking down the street in what looks like a perspex shower curtain.

Sources – The stylish sift through second­hand designer stores, thrift shops, markets, high-street chains, classic-knitwear shops and jumble sales. They also check out their grandmother’s dressing-up box and readily accept hand-me-downs from their parents or grandparents. While on their travels, they keep an eye open for kaftans, sarongs, ethnic jewellery and other native pieces. So wherever you are in the world, be it the Himalayas or the Highlands, look out for clothes: who knows, you might come back from your trip to a remote fishing village with a divine, hand-knitted jumper!

Mix – Whether you favour the minimalist end of the fashion spectrum to a more eclectic style, or like to cross-fertilise the two, the key to looking a la mode is clever mixing and juxtaposition: take a cardigan and skirt, for example, these garments may work together or could make you look like you dressed while blindfolded. Aside from the mixing of the actual style of the garments, you may want to stick to the latest fashions or mix part modern with part classic or part vintage.