What Goes On Inside The Fitting Room?

This weekend I went shopping with a very dear friend who I have known for 20 years. She is also a client of mine. During our gloriously precious time together, I was reminded of what happens when women get into fitting rooms inside shops. We become the most critical, intolerant, harsh -sometimes even cruel - observers of ourselves and our perceived physical flaws.

No amount of cheerleading by a loyal friend will do the trick - we're on a "my bum looks the side of a house" kind of a roll and nothing is going to stop us. We lose perspective, patience, enthusiasm and often head home feeling frustrated and fed up...........as well as fat. It seems that as women, we're really good at beating ourselves up and really bad at being objective about our appearance. I've seen it so often with my clients.

It's time to stop this, and here are some practical tips to help you avoid a depressing slump in morale inside the fitting room:

1. Never come out clothes shopping and venture into a store's changing room without doing your hair and putting on some make-up. Why? Because the lights and mirrors are harsh. That's not our fault; that's the store. But don't put yourself through that kind of trauma. It's entirely avoidable.

2. Take whatever shoes with which you want to wear your new clothes. You can't 'imagine' what the outfit will look like on you as easily without your footwear - so think ahead and plan to bring it with you.

3. Always have a compact or small hand mirror in your purse. You want to see what's going on behind you there. The back view is important.

4. Forget the 'communal fitting room' scenario. Past the age of 24 who wants that whole scene? I guarantee that if you do have the guts to undress in public; a very svelte lady will come in who clearly doesn't have any cellulite anywhere and looks fabulous wandering around in her undies. Personally, any shop that still wants to do that to their customers is not a favourite of mine.

5. On the topic of undies - wear nice ones when you go shopping. You'll spend quite alot of time looking at yourself in the mirror wearing just these items, so make sure they're ones that you feel good in - pretty and feminine - rather than big grey knickers that have starting pilling. That's not good for morale. And forget the 'magic-knickers' on shopping days. You'll be in a sweat and and in a state trying to rock and roll in and out of those that's for sure.

6. Keep in mind that your weight isn't important when it comes to looking gorgeous in clothes - but your shape is. The key to successful shopping is all about finding cuts and shapes of clothing that work for your body shape. And staying well away from those garments which are never, ever, ever going to work for you.

Finally - and most importantly - always remember this. When you're inside that fitting room and you look in the mirror and don't like what you see - it's the clothes that are wrong - not the body. Remember that.

Top Ten Tips to Style in 2010

At this time of year, many women face up to the dreaded 'D' word - 'DIET'. A festive season of eating and drinking whatever we want finally catches up with us, and as we breathe in to squeeze into those dresses, jeans, skirts and tops which used fit beautifully, a New Year means a New (Smaller) You and we head for those low fat meals, the gym and a sense of self loathing at some speed.

What's the point? Well, if it makes sense to lose a pound or two, then I'm all for it BUT - many women use this activity as an excuse or a rationale to not look good NOW. This I simply do not subscribe to as a view.

Looking good in your clothes is a matter of creating optical illusions. Women need to understand how to draw the eye to our best features, and away from a wobbly bottom or bloated tummy.

So, here are my top tips:

1. Decide if you want to draw the eye VERTICALLY or HORIZONTALLY with your outfit.

2. If we're trying to appear slimmer, then we want to draw the eye VERTICALLY because this will automatically lengthen and slim our silhouette. Continuity of colour on top and bottom, vertical stripes and darker colours are all slimming and lengthening.

3. Draw the eye horizontally where we have an asset we want to emphasize e.g. a great waist needs a belt; a full tummy can be ignored by an eye-catching necklace or great lipstick to draw the eye upwards.

4. Your size doesn't matter; your shape does. What do I mean? Look at where you carry your weight. Women tend to carry it either IN FRONT (i.e boobs, mid-riff, tummy) of them or BEHIND THEM (bottom, hips and thighs). When you gain weight; it's usually where you least want to; and when you lose weight, it's always where you least want to.

5. If you want to look great in your clothes - they should follow and fit your silhouette. Fit is king. I'm so tired of seeing women in poorly fitting clothes. Get them altered or tweaked to take them from 'blah' to 'wow!'

6. Wearer darker colours where you want to slim and lighter brighter colours where you want to draw the eye.

7. Never underestimate the effect of a great haircut (and keep your colour looking good if you wear any).

8. Always do your make-up and look after your skin and nails.

9. Indulge in the world of accessories - great costume jewellery, bags, scarves, hosiery and shoes litter the high street and shopping mall. Don't shop for new clothes when you're dieting - shop for accessories; which are cheaper and can completely change the look of any outfit.

10. Walk tall - shuffling along and looking miserable is now a good look. Head up; shoulders back; deep breath; smile and off you go.