A Passion for Fashion

When people think of fashion, they think of special occasions to get dressed up for, but fashion can actually be a part of your daily routine. When you choose an outfit for an occasion, do you think about how well it fits, how fresh the style is and how complimentary the colors are? Or do you prefer to always wear the same worn out wardrobe items that you always wear? The fact of the matter is, no one needs a special occasion in order to be fashionable. Fashion is a daily way of life, not a rarity, and you will be a happier person for giving fashion its due attention every day.

The outfit you leave the house in every day should be eye catching, first and foremost. Plain blacks and grays are always easy to wear, but they are also monotonous. You do not want to project an image of being boring or of not caring about how you look. Take the time to think about how your wardrobe and appearance are striking people and spice it up if you do not see any creative flare in your clothes.

Secondly, your daily wardrobe choices should be comfortable. No one expects you to look like you are going to a ball everyday. Comfortable clothes are a must for any busy person, but there is no reason you cannot be stylish as well as comfortable. Good fashion sense exists at every level of casual or dressy. Whether you are going to the beach or going to an appointment, you can dress for the occasion and turn heads while still being functional and relaxed.

Convenience is also essential to your day to day clothing choices. The average person is far too busy to go to the dry cleaner regularly to pick up items or iron every piece of clothing they have. Clothing yourself should be painless and convenient. Be sure to shop for clothes that are easy to get in and out of, that will be durable in the wash and not require dry cleaning. Delicate clothes are fine for special occasions, but to make life simple, the average outfit you reach for should be low maintenance.

For those who are ambitious enough to create their own clothes from scratch, clothing design can be a rewarding hobby or vocation that lasts a lifetime. It is one that requires dedication, however, as it takes far more practice than common sense can provide. Clothing design is often something that is passed down through generations, or is something that people go to school for. In order to properly design clothes, one will need to master the following…

• Sketching your clothing designs. All creative endeavors start with a vision, and clothing design is no different. Getting your ideas onto paper is the initial step in the process of creating clothes. This means you will need to be proficient at clothing sketches and have a good visual understanding of lines, shapes, patterns and colors. You will want to sketch in as much detail as possible to have a clear guide to work from.
• Gathering your materials. Once you have a blueprint to follow in your sketches, it is time to select the material you want to work with. You should always choose material that you are familiar with so that you are not surprised by how it moves when it is assembled into an outfit. It is good to experiment with many fabrics prior to creating a specific outfit so that you know how each one behaves.
• Sewing your materials together. The real artistry takes place when you are sewing and hemming your outfit. This requires good hand eye coordination and a knowledge of how to use sewing materials properly. These skills and materials come from investments into your sewing abilities. You will need space set aside to work, proper equipment and time.
• Making alterations. Even as your outfit is coming together, you will discover the need to undo certain things you have done and redo them. This will be based on what it looks like and how it fits. If part of your clothing vision does not look as good as it did in your imagination, you may want to get rid of it or alter it. If any part of the outfit is ill fitting, you will want to undo it and hem it back together again.

Creating the perfect outfit is an art form. It takes talent, knowledge, time and energy. Any important occasion on your horizon calls for a new outfit, but assembling it should be a careful process that you put thought into. Do not wait until the last minute or choose an outfit hurriedly, and do not waste time obsessing over clothes. Instead, follow these steps carefully to assemble the outfit of your dreams and amaze the people attending the event.

First, put some thought into the occasion you are attending. Assess what kind of dress code will be expected of the people in attendance. If you do not know, call to find out and save yourself from a world of regret. Every occasion has a range of clothing styles that qualify as appropriate in how casual or how dressy they are. Determine where on the appropriate spectrum you are most comfortable falling before you start to assemble your outfit

Now that you have an idea of how you want to look, it is time to start putting your outfit together. Start by choosing your main clothing items, such as tops and bottoms, and work your way toward the smaller details. You can either shop for or create clothes to fit an exact vision you have for your outfit, or you can go shopping in order to get ideas and see what strikes you. The most important things to remember are color coordination, pattern coordination, sizing, the cut and the quality of the clothes and finally how to decorate it with accessories and accouterments.

Once you have your outfit assembled, do not forget to try it all on once before the event. Practice walking around and moving in it to make sure it flows comfortably while you are wearing it. You do not want to be surprised by binding, static or heels that you cannot walk in on the night of the event. You want to appear like your outfit was made custom for you. Most people cannot afford a private tailor, but you can fool people into thinking you have one if you put enough love into your wardrobe selection.

And lastly, remember that fashion is of high importance, but do not lose sight of the other things in life that matter to you. It is possible to become such a slave to fashion that your family will want to commit you to an addiction treatment center. Focusing on fashion is stylish; obsessing over it is not!

Some people go through life hardly thinking about fashion. Their priorities are elsewhere, and they consider fashion to be a trivial matter. Then there are those for whom fashion is everything. From the moment they rise to the moment they sleep, their clothes are matched, coordinated, pressed, clean and stylish. The reasons that fashion is everything to certain people are as follows:

• Its your first introduction. Whether you realize it or not, your appearance is your first introduction to new people. Because so much of your appearance is based on your clothes, your personal fashion sense will be the first thing that people notice about you. The way you present your wardrobe choices – how well your clothes fit, how well taken care of your clothes are, how well coordinated your clothes are, etc. – is the first thing people notice about you when they meet you, so be sure to start things off right!
• It tells people a lot about you. Certain things that people want to know about you, such as how shy or bold you are, how strong your attention to detail is and what kind of flare you have, can be revealed in your fashion sense. Anyone who is tasked with evaluating you will take your wardrobe into account.
• Its visually appealing. A person with a good fashion sense is always more pleasant to look at than a person with no fashion sense. Those who coordinate and iron their clothes, as well as wear clothes that are suitably fitting, will always have a more appealing look than those who do not.
• It leaves a lasting impression. For an occasion such as a job interview, if you and another candidate gave equally strong interviews, but your wardrobe choices were better than theirs, chances are you will get the job. This kind of lasting impression left by your personal fashion sense is universal.
• It makes you feel good about yourself. Being fashionable raises your confidence, your ability to express yourself and your personal opinion of yourself. Why not be fashionable all the time?