Accessorize it right
Well, get ready to boost your accessorizing confidence!
It’s easy to make an ordinary outfit look great with the right accessories. However, on the flip side, it’s easy to ruin an otherwise great outfit by choosing the wrong accessories.
If you don’t know what to do when it comes to accessorizing the good news is it’s easy to learn a few guidelines to accessorize your outfit and look and make it more stylish.
The main accessories to play with:
- Shoes
- Handbags
- Eyeglasses and sunglasses
- Jewelry and watches
- Scarves and ties
- Hats
- Belts
- Hair adornments
Don’t miss,
“Read this before buying your next bag!”
“Sunglasses! Color and Shape guide unfolded!”
This will be of good help,
“Match your neck piece with your neckline!”
“Steal the show in a statement necklace!”
Use Accessories To:
- Bring attention to your best points and minimize your worst. If you want to highlight your toned arm, a cute bracelet can do the magic. It instantly diverts the attention to your best feature.
- Bring an older outfit up-to-date. Yes, the same blue top you are wearing for long will look refreshing with a floral scarf or a stripe shrug.
- Look and feel younger — regularly updating your accessories is a great way to stay contemporary without having to spend a fortune.
- Get the “look” you want — such as chic, sophisticated, business, casual, fun, artistic and so on.
- Change the look of an outfit — from casual to formal and vice versa, by changing the accessories you wear. For example, change your shoes, handbag and jewelry (and maybe a jacket) to go from business meeting to an evening event.
- Add an element of surprise! Often an unexpected twist can be added by choosing accessory wisely. A neon belt might completely change the look of a black top or a huge sparking ring, with other Jewelry in moderation will bring a touch of specialty.
There are so many inspiring and beautiful pieces of jewelry available in the marketplace providing you with countless styling options. The trick is to discover which pieces add the best finishing touches to your outfit.
- Each piece of Jewelry must add value to your (entire) outfit and look. Over-accessorizing and under-accessorizing are common jewelry errors. Just because you are in love with the piece does not mean you should wear it with every outfit and just because you are in a serious professional arena does not mean you can’t be experimental with your jewelry. Coco Chanel infamously recommended, “Before leaving the house, a lady should stop, look in the mirror, and remove one piece of jewelry.” Trust me, it’s great advice and still holds true. Always look for the net effect.
2. Each piece must be proportional to your body frame and facial features. The trick to the success with every outfit is to control where the ‘eye’ goes. When done well, the focus remains on ‘you’ and your outfit complements this goal. Jewelry can support or divert this objective and the size of each individual piece or the overall jewelry layout plays a key role. For example, a statement necklace can divinely style an outfit as long as the net effect does not overpower you.
When you’re talking with a client whose eyes are fixated on your large sparkly earrings and away from your eyes, the odds of her or him paying attention to what you are saying decrease. A bold cuff bracelet may just be the perfect accessory to your shift dress, simply make sure the cuff width does not visually shorten the length of your arm.
- Each piece must complement your skin tone and not only your outfit. There is a wide colour spectrum of various hues in gold, silver, rose gold, turquoise, amethyst and lot more. It’s so important to select jewelry that not only looks great with your outfit, but enhances you too. Opt for jewelry metals and gemstones that illuminate your natural skin tone. Perhaps you look better in green turquoise rather than blue turquoise or shiny yellow gold verses glimmering silver. The pretty pink tote that suits a girl with cool complexion might not look good on a warm olive-skinned beauty, who will look much better in a marsala or dark brown bag.
4. Each piece must be occasion and outfit appropriate. Today’s style rules are much more lenient than times past, even at work. It’s acceptable to wear baubles during the day if it suits your profession. For instance, a chic, sophisticated crystal necklace may be the ideal accessory for a day full of meetings, but wearing it to give your closing trial argument is probably not a good idea – the shimmer will distract rather than attract your audience. It’s also important to note the tone/vibe of your outfit, jewelry and other accessories. It is okay to mix but within a certain scope. The trick is to make sure the contrast is complementary. Daytime sleek minimalistic jewelry paired with a black silk jumpsuit will likely not work in an evening party, but an ornate vintage bracelet styled with a conservative blazer may just be the perfect contrast. Experiment and use your best judgment.
5. Don’t do over matchy-matchy. The whole point of accessories is to add additional significance to an outfit. An accessory is good when it’s not only a beautiful piece, but it complements your outfit and look. One of the major mistakes of accessorizing is wearing too many “matchy-matchy” pieces. Ninety-nine percent of the time a matching necklace paired with matching earrings or a matching bracelet adds no additional value to an outfit – it’s not only outdated, but more importantly, it’s a visual distraction whereby people pay attention solely to the crowd of jewelry and not you as a person. The whole purpose of accessorizing fails instantly!
Additionally, a matching set may not versatile. Even if you break up the jewelry set and wear it separately, it’s not adding anything new, fresh or exciting to outfit.
- Harmonize Accessories with Each Other. It’s a good idea to harmonize accessories with each other in the same outfit. For example, similar silver buckles on shoes and handbag. However, take care to have some contrast in your look. Complete sameness can be boring and to some extent aging.
7. Coordinate but don’t blend with outfit. Make sure your accessories match, but don’t blend into your clothes. For example, a red top worn with a silver necklace with a red stone is not going to make a statement. A better choice would be a black stone so it doesn’t clash, but compliments the color well. This way if you’re wearing black shoes, the whole outfit and accessories coordinate well. Colors to avoid wearing together are red and green, red and pink, green and blue, orange and pink and yellow and pink. But again, there are too many shades of a color and so, check and go by your instinct.
8. Less Is More. The last rule of accessorizing is to remember that less is more. Never feel obliged to wear something if you don’t feel like it’s going to work with the rest of your look. No matter how much you want to wear something, or no matter how much it is in fashion, if it’s not enhancing your look, no need to add it. It’s a great way to avoid accessorizing mistake. An awesome hat, a cool scarf, a sparkly bib necklace, the neon bag, a big statement ring, all put together is nothing short of an accessorizing disaster but individually or with one or two they are magical!
Some fun read:
“20 fabulous ways to accessorize maxi dresses”
“How to Accessorize a Shift Dress”
Don’t forget to leave your precious remark if this post was a nice read!
lifestylishly 