Your Style: Part 1

From the start, I’ve been hoping to make this blog more of an interactive, community experience where we can showcase our own styles, share ideas and be expressive. One of the ways I hope to involve my readers is through readers submitting “Your Style” that we can offer supportive but honest feedback and suggestions. Want to perfect an outfit before a big date, night out, special occasion, or even just what you wear everyday? Send it on in and showcase Your Style!

To get things started with a bang, my brave and always energetic friend Ari has volunteered her modeling talents and fabulous new hairstyle (diggin the color!) for all of us to share. Ari and I have been working to develop the more edgy, rock chic look that she is after, so I’m sure we’ll see her again as we play with new ideas in the future.

Here is Ari’s ensemble for a casual night out, meeting up with friends for dancing and drinks:

The outfit itself is pretty simple: a tunic length, print, handkerchief hem top worn over jeans with some colorfully laced sneakers.

Overall, a cute monochromatic look, with the focal point being the black and white, rose print top. Edgy, but with a feminine touch, also it is embellished with silver metallic beads around the bust area which you may be able to make out in the photos for even a bit more texture that offers a nice sparkle perfect for a night out.

I love the top, the pattern is feminine, unique, and has a great texture while being an appropriate size for her body (if the roses were twice as big for example, it’d look weird). The wider straps flatter her shoulders nicely while the hem shape adds a bit of a curved contour. Ari has done a good job accessorizing with her bangle bracelet, multi-strand necklace, aviators, and hand bag. All the accessories stick to the same monochromatic color scheme: the silver chain hardware on the bag matches the jewelry for a coordinated look. As always, she’s rocking her gorgeous signature dark smoky eye look, adding a bit more edge. She could easily add a leather jacket or black sweater over this when it starts to get colder outside.

My few suggestions for this outfit focus mainly on creating more curves that will help create a more feminine shape for Ari’s tall and slender figure (we will also talk about creating curves in much more detail in my next post):

-       I would go with a tighter, skinny fit pair of jeans, instead of a regular fit, or since the top is long enough, perhaps to dress it up, a pair of black leggings (maybe some with mesh cutouts or even faux leather for if she were after an even more edgy look). This would make her wonderfully long legs look more slender and offer a needed contrast to the looser fitting top. This contrast would make her hips appear slightly wider.

-        Under the top, she has chosen not to wear a bra and in doing so is missing out on the opportunity to add more curves to her bust line. Every little bit helps!

-       Lastly, I’m not a big fan of the shoes, but I get the idea. Ari’s exact comment on them was “You’ve gotta have a part of the outfit that other people hate… that’s what makes it edgy!” . I’d flip that around and say you should aim to find the part of an outfit that someone will love. I like the idea of a splash of color in a monochromatic outfit; especially with a shoe… this might be more effective with a hot pink (same as the laces) kitten heel or even pump. Though the sneakers may be comfortable, I feel like there is opportunity to take the outfit a bit further with footwear.

Thank you for sharing Your Style with everyone Ari!

If you’d like to share an outfit and are looking for feedback, please send me an email at astylishtransition@gmail.com with 2 or 3 quality photos (at least one full body shot). In your email, please introduce yourself, write down any details you’d like to share about your style, any goals you may have, or specific questions about particular style choices. I will do my best to reply to everyone and will feature people on the blog when I am able.