Maximizing the pieces in your wardrobe means wearing everything with everything else. But eventually, you will come to a point where you can’t possibly pair two things — a print blouse, say, and a different print skirt. Or CAN you?

Blouse available at Talbots

I love the idea of mixing prints; it gives depth and visual interest to an outfit. But you can’t mix things willy-nilly; you need to have a strategy, otherwise you will look like your kindergartener. Or MY kindergartener (he’s not the snappiest dresser).

When you think about mixing prints, think about three things: color, scale and style.
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Stara has a question about suiting:

As you may have noticed (not at all due to my incessant mentioning of this fact), I am an attorney. And I have been informed by an inside contact that I will likely soon be contacted by an ultra conservative employer regarding an interview. For which I honestly need a new suit. The last “interview” suit I bought was nearly 6 years ago, and it is showing it’s age.

My query is this- I am 27. How do I buy an interview suit that is both job appropriate and does not betray my age? I don’t particularly want to plop down $400 on a suit I will never want to wear again. I’m willing to spend a fair amount of cash so long as it is on something I actually like, and not something I feel forced into buying.

I think Stara has exactly the right attitude here: she wants a suit that will make her look professional and competent, but she doesn’t want to go into the interview pretending to be someone she’s not. And she absolutely wants to come out of this with a new job AND a suit that she can actually WEAR to the new job, something that will work with her current closet.

That sounds like a big request, but it’s actually fairly simple, as long as she keeps a few things in mind as she shops.
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I wear glasses — more specifically, I wear a pair of glasses that I bought in 1997, and occasionally another pair from 1999. Mostly, though, I wear contacts, because I really desperately need new glasses but I can’t bring myself to spend the money on the frames. And because my kids both wear glasses and good lord are little kid glasses EXPENSIVE.

Recently, though, the very pretty Mir introduced me to Zenni optical, where I have frittered away a substantial portion of the past couple of days looking at frames FOR UNDER $20.00! I don’t even know how that is possible, but there it is. You can read Mir’s full review of her new Zenni glasses at WantNot, and then you can fritter away YOUR day looking at totally cool frames for UNDER TWENTY DOLLARS.

Dude.
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I am so glad you posted about finding the right bag for your shape. I had just been thinking of bags but I had a different question about them. I am trying to find the universal bag. The bag that goes with absolutely everything, that is nice enough for work but casual enough for the weekend. The biggest dilemma I have is what color to get. I have a ton of black bags and a few brown ones and then some random colors (mostly orange). But I always find myself changing bags whenever I change jackets or my clothes have a specific color scheme.

Can you please tell me what color bag to get? Would it be ok to get a nice bag in a color like orange or green or should it be a basic like black or tan?

Or are we all just relegated to having to constantly switch bags?

Nadia

Oooooh, good question. I’ll bet Nadia isn’t the only one wondering about this. How many of you are carrying a basic brown or black bag all the time because you’re not sure how to make a colored bag work?

I thought so.
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We’ve talked before about building a basics wardrobe, and about how important it is to have go-to outfits; now it’s time to think about ways to keep that closet of essential, workable pieces interesting and fresh.

The answer, of course, is accessories.

Kashmere scarf, Bluefly, $65.00

The idea of accessorizing scares a lot of women, though — they don’t know what to choose or how to wear it. Here is a short list of five accessories you really need in your closet; over the next month, we will talk about how to make them work, for every day and and for special occasions.
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