Power dressing

One of the fondest memories I have is of watching my oldest sister getting ready for college/work. In to the room goes an unremarkable ordinary woman and out of the room comes out the most gorgeous woman you have ever seen. I have never seen anyone who dress up as good as my oldest sister.

Me on the other hand was clueless. I didn’t know what colour suited me or what type of dresses I should wear that will make me look good. I used to read all the fashion magazines for hints and still was hopelessly clueless.

It took a long time for me to figure out what really works for me.

The first thing I did was to stick to a colour theme. I am neither fair complexioned nor dark complexioned. I am somewhere in the middle. ( I am sure Indian matrimonial columns would have the right description for my skin tone, but I haven’t seen the ads for a long time, so I can’t remember what I should call it)

I decided to stick with navy blue, black and red colours.  I love red because you can stand out really well in a group of guys in their black suits, so any meetings that involves a lot of male colleagues, I wear red. ( One of my friends tells me that he takes it more like a warning.. red..danger)

Having only three colours to work with, it makes it really easier to sort out the accessories and shoes. I don’t have to worry about what earrings to wear each morning.. I sorted them out to three categories.. wear with black, red or blue. All my jewellery are from the thrift shop, so I don’t cry each time my children borrow a pair of earrings and return only one  often with missing backing. Yaya is the biggest culprit.

I don’t like to wear pants. I am still a girly girl. However I am blessed with the ugliest chopstick legs ( really skinny malnourished legs) you can ever find. So I have to wear skirts that are above my knee level. ( if I wear lskirts that reach below my knee then my lovely chopstick legs will make it  look as if I am walking on stills 🙂  )

I own 15 black jackets. So when I send one set for dry cleaning, I won’t run out of jackets. I have lots of tops ( cami, sleeveless or standard blouse) that I wear with my suits. I only wear cami if I know for sure that it is not going to be a long day and I don’t have to take my jacket off. ( I really don’t want to screw up my professional appearance)

I also own a lot of shift dress in black and blue and I wear jackets with them.  My eternal wish for washboard abs are yet to materialize and until such day, I have to hide my sexy flabby tummy under a jacket.

I wear high heels. I am 5’4 and compared to my sisters, I am a midget. Between the choice of wearing ugly flats that make me look frumpy or killer heels that makes me look tall and sexy, I chose killer heels. ( And I know I will regret this particular choice eventually when my back is wrecked) I also have a mini tool kit with assorted heel tips replacements and regularly replace the heel tips, more now because I don’t drive to Uni.

The one thing I am yet to learn is to wear matching scarves with my outfits. There are too much of choices when it comes to fabric colour, material, lengths etc and anything with too much choices scares me. I am sure a beautiful scarf  worn with a jacket would make me look really good.. But that is something I am yet to learn.

Every night before going to bed, I make it a point to choose my outfit for the next day. It saves me so much of time in the morning.

I guess that is that about power dressing.

 

 

18 thoughts on “Power dressing

  1. Referring to your previous post, that’s such a nice complement to receive. Even I don’t like to spend a lot on clothes and rely on coupons and sales to get deals. I also have the typical Malayalee ‘iru niram’. Reds and maroons are my favorite shades, but I like to experiment with different colors. I love scarves, and am planning to check some stores since they should be on discount as winter is over. If a color on the scarf even vaguely matches with my outfit, I wear it. Sometimes I wear contrasting colors too. Like a printed blue scarf with white top. I try to dress well, but haven’t really got the hang of it. Still learning! Thanks for the tips!

    • A: most people think it is silly to get dressed for Uni classes, but I believe first impression is the best impression and once I am out of the Uni, I will still be interacting with the professors on a professional level..
      I keep seeing videos on Youtube on how to tie scarf in various ways and think I could do that. The moment I turn of the video, I had forgotten how to do it. Every time I go to the thrift shop, I find beautiful scarves, but I still don’t know how to wear them..

      • I also used to watch YouTube vids on how to tie a scarf, but now I just drape them any way I like without bothering with complicated knots. You are right about clothes creating an impression. In college and Uni I survived on 2-3 pairs of jeans, an assortment of ordinary tops, and floaters for footwear. My friend on the other hand got a good haircut, wore trendy clothes and accessories, and took care to always look presentable even inside the hostel. People, especially juniors seemed to gravitate towards her. An instagram post I saw helped to change my attitude towards dressing. It said ‘Life is too short to wear boring clothes’. Today at the store I was about to pick up a white top, but changed my mind at the last minute as I felt navy blue would suit me better, thanks to this post.

    • Bipin: You really need help.. I wasn’t trying to take you to any heights.. A reader asked me about power dressing and I wrote what I do.

  2. Awesome. I love scarves and accessories too. But I am not sure if I could call myself a power dresser. I agree that well dressed v/s ill dressed does make a difference

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *