For My Fans

Thanks to my fan (yes, just one - Amber), I'm going to blog about something a little different - fashion.

Many of you may know how much I love clothes - looking at them, buying them, watching them be made. Some of you may even know that I was the President of DECA (Distributive Educational Clubs of America - honestly I still don't know what that means) when I was in high school. To me, it meant that all the Fashion and Marketing classes I took in high school fit into this and in order to do some of the things I wanted to do in school I had to be in this club. And, per usual, I'm not very good at sitting back and watching someone else lead. So I became President and immediately introduced the idea of fashion shows at school. We did several - around different seasons and events. Yes, I even competed in 'buyer' events across the state of Virginia. It was so much fun and what led me to declare my first major at school as Fashion Merchandising with a Marketing minor.

This major lastly exactly one semester. I took economics and realized that I didn't really want to understand all the rationale behind clothes making, I just wanted to own and wear the clothes. So I went into social work. Which, ironically, never really affords me the type of money I want to buy all the clothes I want.

So therein lies my history for loving fashion. I continue to still love clothing, watching Project Runway and What Not To Wear, reading InStyle (the only magazine I subscribe to) and shopping. I'm also very organized, so how my clothes look in my closet and in my drawers is very important to me - some may say it's anal - but I just think they're jealous.

First, you must know I have two very small closets. Both are packed with my clothes. The first thing I did before I moved into my house, was construct the closet organizing. That should tell you something. I didn't have cable, a washer and dryer or an alarm system but I had closets (you may refer back to one of my first blog postings for this).

I organized my clothes by style and color. So within each style, there are multiple colors. For example, the short sleeved shirts are arranged by color as well as the long sleeve shirts. The dresses, however, are mostly just organized by style (would I wear this to work or not?)

I also have been working on transitioning all of my hangers to nice, wooden hangers. It's amazing how much nicer this makes your closet look. Sure, it takes up a bit more room but that allows your clothes to breathe and not get too wrinkled. You can get great wooden hangers from Ikea and make your closet look like your very own boutique.

I know that I'm not always the most avant garde dresser or perfect accessorizer and I know that I still have a lot to learn but I do have some general rules I follow that I'll pass on:

1. Don't match too much. It's okay for things to 'go together' but you don't need to dress like small children do.
2. You can mix and match patters and textures - in fact, I love how this looks.
3. It's ok to wear black with blue or brown or a combo of the above.
4. Know your body type and dress to accentuate that.
5. Limit wearing crew neck shirts. A v-neck or scoop neck shirt is always going to look better.
6. Find what works for you. Yes, being comfortable is important but is that just taking the easy way out? Dressing up doesn't have to be uncomfortable (yes, that's for you Kelsey!)

So those are my words of wisdom. Most of them have been stolen directly from other fashion icons - like Stacey London and Tim Gunn. And, believe me (and Devon who has cleaned my closet with me many times), I make mistakes For awhile I had a problem with owning too many graphic t-shirts. Why a woman in her 30s needs shirts with pandas, owls and birds on it is beyond me but I'm strangely attracted to that.

Now if only I could figure out how to buy more clothes without spending more money. It may be time for another clothing swap - anyone interested?