Fashion Do’s and Don’ts for Elegant, Timeless Style

What do you get when you cross a woman with style with a pair of jeggings, an oversized sweater, this season’s latest Tory Burch riding boots, knitted boot socks, a cross body bag, a statement necklace, a beanie, a leopard print coat, a chevron scarf, statement earrings, blue eye makeup, bright red lips and Tom Ford’s latest aviators (aside from an obvious mess)? A fall fashion disaster; that’s what you get.

Sure, maybe Cosmo and Glamour and Anna Wintour and her unsmiling, yet perfect, pout are shoving these fall fashion trends down your throat like a new mom feeding her infant solids for the first time, but that doesn’t mean you have to wear them all. At once. Or ever, really. Fall fashion trends are a suggestion, not a rule. If you want to follow the dos and don’ts of fall fashion, more power to you; you’ll look great until November. However, if you want to follow the dos and don’ts of style, you’ll look amazing forever.

Do…

Dress comfortably. The number one rule of fashion (I’m sure some fabulous designer said this and I didn’t make it up. But then again, I have pregnancy brain so I probably read it on the back of a cereal box.) is to be comfortable in what you wear. This is not a shout out to the pajama clad, barefoot, unbrushed hair women who think this is appropriate grocery shopping attire. If you’re not comfortable, you don’t look good. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a $3,000 Chanel suit or a $20 H&M sweater. If you don’t’ feel comfortable, the rest of the world will notice.

Find a great tailor. If your clothes don’t fit properly, they don’t look good. See above for Chanel/H&M reference; that expensive suit is going to go from glam to gross in 2.5 seconds if it’s ill-fitting. Get a tailor. Tailor everything from your jeans to your hemlines to your blazers. Trust me; you’ll thank me for this.

Invest in timeless classics that will last forever and don’t spend too much on trends. For example, $400 might seem like a lot to spend on one DvF wrap dress, but trust me when I say you’ll still be wearing that dress regularly in 10 years and receiving just as many compliments on it then as you do now. Those trendy jeggings however, won’t be around in a season or two, so spending that much on those is a waste, waste, waste.

Don’t…

Follow the trends too closely. Just because leopard print and red lips look amazing, gorgeous and fabulous on J.Lo doesn’t mean you need to put that on for your next PTA meeting. If you can rock it, then you go for it, but not everyone has the level of confidence needed to follow the trends with too much obsession. Additionally, not everyone can pull off all the trends. While an off-the-shoulder top and leggings might look great on an 18-year-old, it’s probably not going to look so great on a 45-year-old. Just sayin’.

Forget to step outside the box. If you live in a small town in which everyone lives in tank tops and flip flops, don’t be afraid to step outside the box with fashion. So what if you’re the only woman at dinner in skinny jeans, a blazer and six-inch heels. As long as you have the confidence to rock it, rock it! As the fabulous Harry Winston once said, “People will stare. Make it worth their while.”