Closet refreshing, so you have the appropriate clothing for the activities you choose to have in your life, is an ongoing process and one that needs to be put on the schedule several times a year. You can find some great tips at http://www.workingwardrobesystem.com to help you with ideas for changing your closet as well as organizing it and all of the things that you might need to have like hangers, shelves, organizing baskets and items to change your closet into one you could only dream about in the past but now is within reach.

Be informed before the trends hit the marketplace so you can experience  fashion breakthroughs and get a shortcuts to style information.

1. Enhance your assets: Find out what styles you should avoid and which styles accentuate.
2. Purchase carefully: Knowing items that will complement and co-ordinate with what you already have will stop impulse buying.
3. Shop with a Plan: Before you buy, consider if the item will go with three other items you own now, how long it will remain in style.
4. Systematic shopping: Instead of buying all of your clothes at once it’s better to have a shopping schedule. Add one or two items a month.
5. Remove and replace: Once you have built a workable wardrobe it is a good idea to continually remove and replace items you no longer wear.
Shopping will be a breeze when you book your Online Colour and Style consultation today! Email us or Ph 1300 655 755 to start the adventure today.
For additional shopping tips read our ‘ Classics at Bargain Prices’ or our ‘I hate Shopping’ article.
Copyright 2008 Jump the Q. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be copied or reproduced without the prior written permission of Jump the Q.

Dressing to Look Slimmer
Written on the 26th of October 2009 by Rachel Quilty, Professional Image and Personal Brand Strategist @ Jump the Q
People everywhere are concerned about their weight and their appearances. However, dieting can be disastrous for your health if you do it wrong, and struggling with your weight for the sake of looks isn’t usually the best idea. While everyone should be healthy, there are quite a few things you can do with the way you dress to look slimmer without fighting the pounds. Even people at theoretically healthy weights don’t always look their best, because many of them don’t know how to dress. Here’s a look at a few strategies to help you look slimmer.
First, be realistic. There’s no dress trick that’s going to make a naturally round person look like a lanky teenage model. Having a good understanding of your body type and your best and worst features can go a long way toward helping you dress well. Don’t hold yourself to a physically impossible standard.
Next, start taking a look at what you like, as well as the features you’d like to emphasize and the ones you’d rather didn’t get noticed. Have your friends weigh in, too – many people have a distorted image of themselves, and the parts they don’t like look fine to other people.
Think about where you carry your weight. Does it end up mostly on your hips and thighs, on your belly, or in other areas? The strategies that help an apple shaped person, without much of a waistline, aren’t going to be as useful for a person with most of their weight on their legs.
Now, look at fit. Most people wear extremely poorly fitted clothing – too tight in one spot and too loose in another. It’s binding, uncomfortable, and unflattering, especially if you’re not rail thin. If you’ve been buying clothes that are extremely tight, to try to hold on to a clothing size you once wore, or because you believe tightness makes you look thinner, or if you tend to wear sacks to de-emphasize your body, stop. Both strategies will make you look a lot bigger. Tight clothes give the overall impression of a sausage about to burst its skin, while loose ones make you take up more space.
Go for a close, but not extremely tight fit. You might need to do a little alteration or enlist the help of a tailor to get this done. Have hems taken up if they’re too long. Have pants let out if they bite in at the waist. Choose tops that comfortably fit over your widest part without straining and without turning the rest of the garment into a tent. Have loose areas taken in for a better fit if you need to. Tailored clothes are often more flattering than stretch knits, but some bias cuts do look pretty good. Experiment and look at yourself critically in the mirror to decide if something really fits well.
You’ve probably heard rules about wearing black, avoiding horizontal stripes, or breaking up your shape. While horizontal lines do tend to be widening, and dark colors do tend to be slimming, these rules aren’t ironclad. If you hate black and navy blue, don’t wear them. You’ll seem slimmer if you’re happy, after all. If you find a horizontal stripe pattern that doesn’t look bad, don’t pass it by.
Dressing to look slimmer isn’t actually all that hard, if you’re willing to take a hard look at yourself and what you want. A good fit can do more for you than anything else. Make sure you’re willing to dress like you love yourself, and you’ll look and feel a whole lot better.
Learn how to look slimmer in minutes. Dress slimmer today!

? Rachel Quilty, Professional Image and Personal Brand Strategist as well as an internationally certified Professional Image Consultant, speaker and author of professional development must- have book ?Brand Yourself? . Rachel believes, ?Building your profile is as simple as developing a strong personal brand and a striking personal image.? Rachel encourages Jump the Q clients to think strategically when developing a professional image to get that job offer, gain that promotion or win that client. Take control of the decisions others are making of you. Start with these simple strategies, in our free ebook ?Make Your Mark? available at www.jumptheq.com.au.

? Rachel Quilty, Professional Image and Personal Brand Strategist as well as an internationally certified Professional Image Consultant, speaker and author of professional development must- have book ?Brand Yourself? . Rachel believes, ?Building your profile is as simple as developing a strong personal brand and a striking personal image.? Rachel encourages Jump the Q clients to think strategically when developing a professional image to get that job offer, gain that promotion or win that client. Take control of the decisions others are making of you. Start with these simple strategies, in our free ebook ?Make Your Mark? available at www.jumptheq.com.au.

Think about the activities that you will need clothing for in the next 3 months.  Check your closet for what you currently have that fits and is in good repair. Then apply your Body:Gram Fashion Tool information to those items you want to keep in your wardrobe to be sure all of the details are in the right place to show off your proportion to the best advantage.

Most people only wear only 20-30% of their clothing so, in my experience, the other 70-80% is putting the clothing detail length or emphasis on their body in the wrong place or does not fit.

How cool would it be if you were able to shop in your closet and come up with a majority of that 70-80% working for you. Working wardrobes are always better than hanging wardrobes and what you then add will give your closet extra combinations so you will feel like you have a whole new wardrobe.