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All season long, we've been talking about the fundamentals of style, and all season long, I've invited you to submit your questions about the things we covered. Today, I'm answering your questions about the fundamentals and a few other things you sent in. Let's get started. Hello, gorgeous. Welcome back to the Everyday Style School, the show that teaches you everything your mom never did about getting dressed. I'm your host, Jennifer Mackie. Mary, after 25 years of dressing women with real bodies, real budgets, and real lives, I know great style isn't about following one size fits all advice. It's about learning what works for you. My friends, we have reached the end of our fall semester. If you've been keeping up, you have learned about fit, color, proportion, body shape, size, style, vocabulary, and the 10 personal style fundamentals you need to know. Hopefully you've kept these principles in mind when you've been getting dressed or when you've been shopping. And maybe you've even done a little bit of intentional practice. I am not naive enough to say that after these seven or eight episodes, you've got all the style knowledge that you need. But now you know what the fundamentals are and where you need to start. I thought it would be fun to wrap up the semester with a Q and A episode. Our Style Circle members have the opportunity to ask me any style question they have twice a month, and I figured that you might like the opportunity to do so as well. It is always fun to see what's on your mind, and it's really helpful for me to know what your challenges are. Helps me to plan future episodes and future content. So. So I love hearing from you. We received lots of questions and lots of comments. Thank you to everyone who just let us know that you love the show. I appreciate it. And for the sake of time, I had to narrow the questions down a bit. If your question isn't answered in this episode, it's most likely because it's a topic that we just don't talk about. I'm looking at you, men's clothes or I needed more information to give an answer of any value to you, or it was very similar to another one that was asked and I will be answering on this episode. So let's just dive in. I've got, I believe, seven of them today. All right, Leanne from Perth, Australia. Our farthest away question asked, how do I tell the difference between warm and cool colors? I'm confused by things like warm pinks and cool pinks. How do I know which it is? Fantastic question. Leanne. And this is something that was actually asked quite a few times. And this really gets down to undertones. And like I said in the Color Theory episode, undertones are the hardest thing to see and get. And honestly, it's really just about practicing and training your eyes to see it. And it takes time to do that. Eventually, it sort of becomes second nature. But it does just take time and effort. But there are a couple of ways to make it easier to identify which it is. First, the easiest thing to do is to compare two colors. It can be really difficult to tell the undertone, the saturation, the value, whatever, of a single color on its own. But once you put it next to a similar one, it's much, much easier to tell the differences. So let's say you're in a store or you're even on a website, and. And you can't tell if that green sweater is warm or cool. Look for another green item and compare them. Sometimes that's all it takes. And you go, oh, I get it. I see it now. And the second question that I like to ask myself if I can't tell is, would this look better with brown or would it look better with black? If you're in a store and they have something brown and something black, which I'm pretty sure they will take the item in question and put it next to those colors, if the color looks crisper and clearer or more vibrant against black, chances are it has a cool undertone. But if it looks richer and more harmonious with brown, it usually has warm undertones. This isn't foolproof, but at least it's going to get you in the ballpark. Now, the other thing you can do is imagine that that color is on the color wheel. You can imagine a color wheel in your mind, right? So let's go back to our green sweater. That green sweater, it's on the little green wedge, the little green pie wedge on the color chart. And that's not what matters, though. What matters, the question you have to ask yourself is, which direction is that color facing? Is it facing toward yellow? Well, then it's a warm green. Or is it faced the other way and it's looking at blue? That is a cool green. The closer you're getting to yellow, the warmer it is. The closer you're getting to blue, the cooler it is. This takes time, and it takes practice, and it isn't easy. But if you ever really can't tell, a really simple way to find out is just to Google warm versus cool. And then whatever color warm versus cool green and then just look at the image results. Now this is not cheating. It's just a helpful tool to help train your brain. Eventually you won't need it and the best way to speed up the learning process is just to do it more often. If this is something that you're working on, look at color everywhere, like if you're standing in line at the store or I don't know, look at the pillows on your couch. Look at what people are wearing when you're out and about and decide if that red or that purple or that green is warm or cool. If you wait until you're in a store or looking at a website, you it will take a lot longer. So play a little game with yourself and start to identify undertones wherever you go. That's how it becomes second nature. Thank you for the question, Leanne, and everyone else who asked it. All right, next up we have Julie from Bethesda, Maryland who said thank you for this series. It's helped me understand where I've been struggling. My question is about body shape and proportions. I discovered I have a short torso, which explains a lot. However, I love high rise pants. Is there a way to wear them without feeling like I'm belting my boobs as you say? Great question, Julie, and I'm so glad that this semester has been helpful for you. And yes, absolutely, you can wear high waisted pants even if you have a short torso. I guess my first questions to you would be what is it that you like about high rise pants? And is belting your boobs, as I put it, on a concern that you had before or did you pick up something to worry about? If you liked high rise pants before and had no issue with them, just continue on. Don't go looking for challenges where there weren't any before. I believe in life we have enough problems, enough challenges. Let's not go fishing for them now. On the other hand, if you did feel like your pants were simply too high for your torso or that the fit was always off, my recommendation is to look for pants with a high er, rise. In the style circle we talk a lot about the er. That gray area doesn't have to be a high rise or a mid rise. It could be a high er, rise. And not all high rises are created equal. I've seen some high rises that are 10 and a half inches and some that are 13 inches. And on a short torso that two and a half inches can make a really big difference. So what I would recommend doing is grab a pair of jeans that you already own and measure the rise so then you know what that number is. Then put them on your body and see if that rise is too high, too low, just right. If it's too high, ask yourself, where would you like that rise to end? You can even like flip the waistband of your jeans over to lower it a little bit and then figure out approximately what that rise would be. What is your ideal rise? Then measure that head online and read product descriptions to find your perfect fit. Look for shorter high rises and higher mid rises. One of them is bound to be your perfect fit. Our next question is from Terry from Manteno, Illinois, who asked, how do I, a plus size woman, shop in an area where the mall doesn't have any major stores and. And the other stores carry very limited inventory like Target, Lane Bryant, Walmart, Old Navy, and Kohl's. I'm a curvy girl that never seems to find the right fit. And I've bought and returned so many items online and so is in all caps. So we know she really means it. Terri, this is a fantastic question, and I think that you have pointed out an issue a lot of women are dealing with, especially women in specialty sizes like plus, petite and tall, but increasingly every woman, as brick and mortar options shrink and the Internet expands. And here's something that I've come across in my years of dressing women that I call the fourth dimension of fashion. And basically what I mean by that is that in their quest to solve a problem, women sometimes look for a solution that simply doesn't exist. Right. I remember the client. I've talked about her before, who I worked with. She wanted me to solve her summer wardrobe challenges, bottoms specifically, but she didn't want pants, shorts, dresses, skirts, jumpsuits, or cropped pants. And I was like, okay, but what else is there? I can't invent another type of garment, Right? It's kind of the same thing. In your case, the options for procuring clothes are in store or online. I mean, I guess you could sew your own, but if you could do that, I'm guessing that you probably wouldn't have submitted the question. But my point is that's all there is. And you're not missing like a secret way to get close, which really means that the real question is what we need to solve is how do you do one of the two realistic options with better results? You've already identified the only two ways to get close, so we have to get good at one of those. So let's talk about them. And we'll talk about in store shopping first. I am a big fan of in store shopping because you get to feel the clothes, you get to try them on, and it keeps you from settling for things that aren't great just to avoid the hassle of returns. I know we've all done it. I've done it, right? You're like, close enough. I don't want to go to the post office, so I'll just keep it. Shopping in store solves that problem. But I'm also a big fan of shopping less frequently and buying more each time, which naturally leads to a more cohesive wardrobe and fewer impulse purchases. Things like those one offs that don't go with anything or clearance deals that aren't really deals. You get the point, right? When you buy more at one time, you automatically start thinking, oh, this goes with this and I could wear that with that, or I need something to wear under that jacket. Shopping in store and shopping less frequently, but buying more at a time gives you a better wardrobe. And I am telling you all of this because maybe a strategy for you could be to make the trip to an area with better shopping options, like four times a year, once a quarter. Now, if you lived eight hours from a mall, 10 hours from a good mall, I would not recommend this as a viable option. But I did a little stocking and the Google machine tells me that your city is about an hour from Woodfield Mall, which is right outside of Chicago, which I know has better options. And I know there's a lot of shopping around it. And you know, it's not like you have to get a hotel room and spend a whole weekend there, right? It's an hour. This approach requires planning and effort and a mindset shift. But in the end, spending a Saturday each quarter updating your wardrobe and then being done for the season will save you a ton of time and money in the long run. And. And you will be able to finish your wardrobe faster. And you're not waiting until you just have that one more piece for an outfit to come together. It's just done. Now, if that's not your cup of tea, that's okay. But you're going to have to get really good at online shopping. Online shopping will always be a bit of a gamble. No matter how good you are, there are variables beyond your control. Like, I don't know, I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about the T shirts at Target this summer. They were so cute, but the neck holes were so cute small, like I couldn't get it over My head kind of small, and I don't have an abnormally large head. You would never know that, right? If you're just looking at something online. So there are some things you can't control, and that is just part of the deal. So if you want to go the online route first, just make peace with that. Make peace that it will always be a little bit more challenging. And make it your goal to lower your return percentage, not eliminate it completely. And, and how do you do that? Well, I'm going to tell you, the first thing is to get to know a few brands really, really well rather than taking your chances with new stores and new brands all the time. Just start with like two to three stores that you like their aesthetic, they have a good size range for you, and get to know their styles, their cuts, their sizing, all that good stuff before branching out. Now, you might feel a little bit limited, a little bit like, oh, this is boring. But. But if you just get to know a couple of brands, you're going to be a lot more successful. Then I want you to read reviews like a detective. I always say read reviews like a detective. The goal of reading reviews isn't to see if everyone liked an item or not. The goal of reading reviews is to see if it's going to work well for you. So read reviews through those lenses. Right. I was online shopping at Anthropologie earlier today, and you can filter reviews by body shape. And one of the choices was hips narrower than shoulders. And I was like, yep, that's me. So instead of knowing if 200 women with hips wider than their shoulders liked the Gemini 2 for dress, I just looked at the women who were shaped like me to see what they thought. That's what mattered to me. Beyond body shape, women look for information like what size people normally wear and what size they bought. I think that is so helpful. And it's way more telling than someone saying it fits true to size. Okay, well, everyone has a messed up idea of what size they really are, right? And even read the bad reviews. Bad reviews tell you so much. It could be that someone with an opposite body shape hated it, but it's perfect for you. Also, look at any pictures posted, like, in detail. I am always. My style circle members will tell you. I'm always, like, blowing up the pictures and zooming in and really trying to to see them in as much detail as I can. Look for fit cues on bodies that are shaped like yours and bodies that are the opposite. If the photos show the pants pulling across everyone with curvy hips and you have curvy hips, that could be a red flag. But if your hips are straight, that probably isn't really much of a concern. Finally, get in the habit of buying a couple of sizes until you know the brand really well. Yep, you still have to do the return, but you cut out the part where you have to reorder it, wait the second time around to get it, blah blah blah. It just speeds up the process and gets you closer to not settling for things that aren't great. Neither approach is better or worse. They both have their pros and cons. What? But the bottom line is whichever strategy you pick, there are ways to make it easier and more successful. So pick the one that works best for you. Happy shopping, Terri. I wish you tons of luck and thank you for the question. All right, next up we have a question from Kim from Albuquerque, New Mexico who asked I'm a teacher and on my feet all day. Can I wear the more dressy sleek sneakers to work with? Loose fit jeans and a button down shirt. Can I wear these in some of the brighter colors even with a white or black pullover sweater or shirt? If so, would nice sneakers work better with ankle length or full length jeans, light or dark wash? So many questions, Kim. Let's get into them. First, can you wear the more dressy sleek sneakers to work with loose fit jeans and a button down shirt? Well, that is a great question, Kim, and honestly, I don't know. Can you? Is that within the school dress code and the culture and the image that you want to project? If so, then yes, absolutely you can. If not, I wouldn't recommend it. Now if you're asking me if you will like the way that looks, that I honestly couldn't tell you. Your next question is can I wear these in some of the brighter colors even with a white or black pullover sweater or shirt? And on this one, I. I can't honestly think of a reason why you couldn't. I feel like maybe you're asking, will they go together? And as much as I would love to definitively answer that question, it is impossible to tell if two things I've never seen will work well together. Right? I just can't. I'm not that good. On the surface, yes, colorful sneakers and a neutral top works. But there's more that goes into it than just colors going together. It's the styles and the materials, the levels of formality, all that good stuff. That is a question that you just have to decide on a case by case basis. Your last Questions are if so, would nice sneakers work better with ankle length or full length jeans and light or dark wash? And again, without seeing anything, nice sneakers go with both lengths and both washes. But some sneakers are going to look better with light wash, while some are going to look better with dark wash. Some toe shapes are going to look strange with full length jeans with while some sneakers are going to look a little bit too chunky to wear with ankle length. This is a really long way of saying without seeing the actual jeans and the actual sneakers and the actual outfit, I am not much help. But here's the help I can give you that I think is an important lesson for everyone to take away, which is why I'm answering this question. Even though I can't really answer the question. My Style Circle members already know what I'm going to say. They have heard this enough. So say it with me, ladies. If you're on a walk or you're driving in your car, you have to what? Put it on your body. Just put it on your body and see. Just ask yourself, do I like this? If yes and the outfit is appropriate for your workplace, then wear it. You're good to go. If you don't like it, don't wear it. But figure out what you don't like about it and change it up and try again. So often we want to know that it's going to be right before we even try. But the problem is until you try, you don't know what looks right. This is also a really good reminder that not all sneakers are created equal. All jeans, even all light wash or dark wash or ankle length or full length. They're not the same. The best. And dare I say the only way to know if something is going to work is to just try. So happy trying. Kim thank you for the question. Next up is Nancy from Annapolis, Maryland, which is one of my favorite places. Her question is I've lost 35 pounds. How do I know if an item of clothing is worth altering? Is there a general rule of thumb? Nancy, I love, love, love love love this question, so thank you for asking it. Is there a general rule of thumb regarding alterations? I don't know if there is. I've never heard it. So I will just share my approach with you. There is a word in your question that is incredibly important. Did you all hear it when I When do you know what it is? If you said worth, you are right. The reason I love this question so much is that I love talking about value and worth and this gives me the opportunity to get on that soapbox once again. I know that we just talked about this a little bit in the last episode, but just to refresh your memory, worth is about value, right? And if you remember, price and value are not the same. Price is objective. It's just how much something costs. Like those pants will be $25 to him. That's just price. Value, on the other hand, is completely subjective. If those are your favorite pants and you would just be devastated to lose them, $25 to hem them sounds like a pretty good deal. Now, if you couldn't care less about those pants and you feel kind of terrible in them, you $25 to hem them is a lot of money. The price for both of those scenarios is the exact same, but the value or the worth of the alterations was completely different. You with me. This is how I decide if something is worth tailoring or not. Not how much will the alterations cost, but what is the value of the item to me? And will it be more valuable if I invest in alterations? That's my general overarching philosophy on tailoring. But let's get practical about it and give you some questions to ask yourself to decide. The first question you should ask yourself is, do I love this? Do I love it? Not like, is it kind of okay, but do I love it? If the answer is yes, it goes, indeed, take it to the Taylor pile. If the answer is no, then you got to make a decision and ask yourself the second question. The second question is, can I easily replace this? I might love my Banana Republic Factory Timeless tees for layering under sweaters. I really do. But if they got too big, I would just order a couple of new ones. They're not really special or rare or hard to find. So if you can replace it easily and it wasn't an investment, or if it's honestly more expensive to alter it than it is to replace it, I probably wouldn't bother tailoring now. If you can't replace it, easy or it was an investment, take it to the tailor. Another thing to ask yourself is about your priorities. Some people are in the just donate it, give it away, sell it, and rebuy it camp. And there's nothing wrong with that. And others are in the reduce, reuse, recycle camp. And if you are committed to not buying more than you absolutely need to and, you know, not putting more clothes into the, I don't know, more unwanted clothing into the world, let's just say that taking it to the tailor is a really great way to live that value. Once you've gone through all your two big clothes and you have a pile of things that you love that are not easy to replace, that were an investment and or you're committed to reusing as long as possible, head to the tailor and ask what can be done and how much it'll cost. There are some things that simply can't be altered easily or well, like anything with structured shoulders probably just isn't going to work very well. And then there are things that simply will cost more than is worth it to you, and that's okay. You might all of a sudden decide, yeah, it's really not that special or rare, or maybe I don't love it as much as I thought I did. The only way you're really going to know that is just take it to the tailor and ask. That is advice I give our members all the time. When they ask this question, I say, just take it in. See what they say. See how much they're going to charge you. It's free to get a consultation. Right. The one thing, though, I want to caution you against is using the price of the item to determine whether or not it's worth tailoring. I see this confusion about price and value and worth a lot of. One of my best alteration investments was on a $7 clearance top from Old Navy. It was perfect in every single way, except the sleeves and body were just a little bit long. So I had it altered. I spent probably five or six times the cost of the top tailoring it, but it was worth every penny. I wore that top to death. I still miss it. And I would never even have gotten my $7 worth from it if I hadn't altered it. My point is, the cost of the alterations is a factor, but the price of the item shouldn't be the most important thing to consider. You should really consider the value of the item and that, my friend, the value of the item is something that only you can answer, and I hope that helps. Happy tailoring. All right, next up is a question from Rachel in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who said, hi, Jen. I wear a lot of workout and athleisure wear. With the styles being shorter on top, it's hard to find styles that look modern and still cover my midsection. I don't want my belly out. What modern tops do you recommend to go with leggings or joggers? To look modern and yet not let your stomach out. Thank you, Rachel. I gotta be honest with this one. I wish you were in the style circle and we could have a back and forth conversation. In a style coaching session because I have questions for you. Namely, where are you looking and what are you looking for? And the reason that I ask these is when I first read your question, I just did a quick search of some activewear stores, and on every single one, I found plenty of plenty of options that cover the midsection. I looked at Kohl's, Athleta, Lululemon, Target, Amazon, Vori, and Fabletics. The only one that I was like, oh my goodness, dang, there really is nothing with tummy coverage was Fabletics. And even that one had a few, but not many. Crop tops are absolutely dominating, but they are not the only thing. So I wondered if your challenge is where you're looking or what you're looking for. Now, when you say cover the midsection, I don't know what that means. Does that mean just like, cover the waistband? So we're not seeing any sliver of tummy. Are we talking coverage all the way down? Or maybe you're looking for like really, really long tunic tops that cover your rear and those are definitely not as prevalent, but you can still find some. So then I started to wonder if the question is really more about being modern and if you've associated crop tops or, you know, like the sports bras, the tummy out with looking modern. And yes, they are, but they are not the only thing that looks modern or current. So if that look doesn't work for you, there are plenty of other ways to look current, modern and polished. And a couple of ways that just come to mind quickly are, first of all, making sure the fit is on point, not going too oversized or sloppy. And like, if you're wearing more voluminous pants like joggers or wide legs or flares, going more fitted in the top so you're not having volume and volume. And the other way that is so modern and on trend right now is color and matching sets. I feel like I have been talking about the combo of black pants and a colorful top a lot lately in all my spaces. And let me just be clear, there is nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't always look intentional on its own. Or read modern without something like a noticeable silhouette, like a crop top. Right. So if you're going to do black bottoms, do all black, do black from head to toe. But also consider doing a monochromatic outfit that's not black. I was on Quint's and they have some really pretty green joggers with a matching full length tee that you can get in short sleeves or long sleeves. Vori had some really, really pretty colorful sets. So there are definitely options. Also, updated shoes go a long way in looking modern. And the last thing I want to point out is that there's a huge difference between what's trending on a website and what women are really wearing in the gym. I know there are plenty of women wearing crop tops or just a sports bra in the gym, but I also know that there are plenty of women who aren't. The most important thing is that you wear clothes that make you feel good about yourself and support your goals. And maybe the length of your top isn't quite as modern as you'd like it to be, but if it helps you feel good about yourself and it helps you continue, you know, going to the gym and doing those things, that's the right decision. I promise you, though, what you're looking for is out there. You might just need to expand your search to other stores or. Or shift your definition of what looking modern means. All right, our last question comes from Ann in Santa Clara, California. Who asked? I'm trying to shake up my very neutral wardrobe and add more color, but I feel like the more I add, the less things go together. How can I have a colorful wardrobe that still mix and match? For example, I'd like a colorful handbag, but I don't want to change my bag all the time. What color would you recommend? This is a great question, and this is something that I have heard a lot over the years, and I understand where you're coming from. You know, it's funny, every time that I decide to paint my nails, like, a really bold color or something that's a little out of my norm, and I look at it, I'm like, oh, I really like that. The very next day, the outfit that I want to wear doesn't go with it at all. And I am not obsessive about my nails matching my outfit. Not at all. But I get where you're coming from. The key here, the solution really, is staying within a color family. One of the biggest benefits to knowing your color season is that, for the most part, all of the colors in your color palette just naturally go together. So you can add pretty much anything, and it'll still work. It's when you're doing things like adding some dark, cool colors like burgundy and some light, warm colors like coral, and some muted colors like a rusty brown and some very bright colors like a hot pink. That's when you start to get a wardrobe that is a mismatch instead of mix and match. And what happens is that you get really locked in to just wearing jeans or black pants with all the colorful tops. There's just no other option, right? But if you stay dark and cool, like burgundy and dark green and navy, or light and warm, like coral and apple green and golden yellow or. Or muted or bright, you get the idea. You find that you have a lot more things that just naturally work together, and even if they don't go perfectly, it all kind of shares the same theme, right? Your wardrobe, when you do that, just naturally becomes more cohesive and more versatile. And you don't have to wear your best colors or even know your color season either. That's just an easy way to know what colors are in the palette. You can create your own palette of colors that you love that have similar qualities and all work together. Try and just find, like, eight to ten colors that are colors, not just neutrals, that would go with each other. And the same advice goes for things like handbags. Find a color in your palette that goes with most of the other colors in your palette. Personally, I don't like to change my bags very often. I am just lazy like that. So. So I am a big fan of a neutral handbag. But to avoid the boring bag trap, I go for neutrals that aren't black, whether that is a really pretty chocolate brown suede or ivory or navy or camel. Honestly, just shaking up your neutrals can have as big an effect as adding more color does. And it's a little bit safer, especially if you want to invest in a bag or you want something that truly goes with everything. But if you want an actual color, choose the least exciting one from your defined color palette. It's probably what will go with the most things. All right, friend, that is all for this episode and this semester of the Everyday Style School. I want to thank everyone who submitted questions. If your question didn't get answered because I needed more information, or we do style coaching twice a month inside the style circle. You can ask anything, and you can submit pictures for outfit or body shape feedback if you need that. If that's something that would help you, come join us. Link is in the show notes. Thank you for spending time with me today. The Everyday Style School is officially on winter break, but we have already started working on the spring semester, and I am super excited to share it with you. Until then, I would love to stay connected. I'm working on a couple of things that you don't want to miss, so if you're not already on our email list, head to the link in the show notes and sign up for the thread. It is our every other week newsletter that shares product picks and style tips, event invitations and more get on the list if you are not already. All right, I will see you soon and until then, stay stylish.