Styling Tip

I fell in love with this fabulous J.Jill tunic as soon as I saw it!

This top was provided by J.Jill.

I have a weakness for soft, easy pieces that flow across the body and look great with jeans. If the item can be worn for three seasons, even better!

This color is called Gala, which will go with every pair of pants I own. That makes this tunic a very wise purchase.

The ankle jeans and the wide silver cuff are both old from Chico's. The boots are old by Ralph Lauren, and the bag is old by Cole Haan, both from T.J.Maxx. 

Buying classic items with a simple design means that you can wear the pieces for years to come and in many combinations.

I will wear this top with white jeans and nude sandals many times this summer. It looks great with most of my scarves and all of my fun cuffs and bracelets. I can also wear it with the sleeves long and layer a jacket or cardigan over it. 

We moved the furniture around a bit to shoot this short video and take these pictures for you. I hope my tips inspire and help you get dressed with ease.

Hot Weather Dressing

What do you wear when the temps climb into the 90's?

We rarely have hot weather like that here. For those days, I have a couple of short sleeve tops that only get worn when it is too hot for anything else. This blue cross wrapped front top is old from Chico's. The white jeans are by NYDJ last year from Dillard's end of season sale.

 

The shoes from Nordstrom.

Now for the takeaway tips for this outfit. If I show skin on top, such as bare arms or a low neckline, I cover up on the bottom. 

When I wear boot cut jeans, I never wear heels with them. The silhouette just isn't right. I always wear flats or low boots with long jeans ending in a wider leg opening such as these.

I save my trendy heeled sandals to wear with a straight leg and ankle-length pants. 

The cross wrapped style of the blouse and the half-tuck are perfect for those of us who have less than flat, smooth middles.

Here is one of my favorite cross wrapped style tops from Covered Perfectly. I also love those three-quarter length sleeves!

The Magic V

A wise woman knows how to draw attention to what she considers her best feature and away from what she isn't fond of.

Because of my round face, I always enjoy wearing a V-neck top. The straight lines of square sunglasses offset my round face, as do the straight lines of a V-Neck top. This beautiful royal blue V-Neck top is from Covered Perfectly.

You may have noticed that when I wear a scoop neck or round neck top, I almost always offset that with a long necklace that forms a V, or I wear a jacket that forms a vertical neckline. The red simple comfort top above is from Covered Perfectly.

Since it is too hot to wear a jacket here right now, this sheer cascading vest from Covered Perfectly is just the right layering piece for summer weather. It can be worn loose or tied in various creative ways to provide those all-important vertical lines that diminish the shelf effect of a large bust. 

Surprise! All the shoes in today's post are flats. Notice that they have almond-shaped or pointed toes. There is a fool the eye technique in place here as well. A more pointed toe visually elongates my short thick calves.

The picture above shows you the difference a round neck tee makes with a round face. This is the most rounded neckline I own, but it is still not the crew neck that most tees have. I would never wear those. I try to at least always show the collar bones.

Another important thing to note is the beige bra I am wearing above and the black bra I am wearing below. Whenever you wear a dark color top, always wear a black bra to don't get the headlights effect from the camera flash.

There is a magic ratio in the depth of a V-neck. The distance between the red lines below is about the same. That equal distance would be the lowest plunge I could ever wear comfortably.

While we are on the subject of subtle things you can do to draw the eye up to your face, let's talk about lip color. I am often guilty of wearing an almost nude lipstick, which does nothing for me, so I switch to a brighter, more intense lip color so that my face doesn't fade away. As we age, our coloring becomes softer and more muted. I also fill in my brows and wear upper lid eyeliner smudged with a thin dark line of shadow to have a softer smokey effect. Everything should be blended and blotted well so that your features are enhanced softly.

You can find more fabulous tops created for us gals over 50 at Covered Perfectly. Fifty, not Frumpy followers can get a 20% discount on up to two items! Use the discount code FNF20 when you check out at Covered Perfectly. There are several styles to choose from, and the discount will apply on up to two items; after that, you can take advantage of the buy 2 get 1 FREE special!

I hope these tips help you to achieve a look that is flattering for you as well.

Details Make The Difference

Layering can keep you warm and add some pizzazz to your basic pieces, but subtle small details can make the difference between fabulous and frumpy.

When we attended church with my family recently, I wanted to wear a dress, but it was too cold to wear my one winter weight dress with mesh sleeves alone. I added this silver chain link necklace from Stein Mart to tie in with a silver Travelers cardigan from Chico's. The dress is also from Chico's.

The sleeves are the most interesting feature of this dress. The ruching at the waistline makes the hemline a little less than perfectly smooth. When I added the sweater, I covered the sleeves and the ruching. Adding the sweater took the dress down a few notches and made it less stylish. This is not a look I will repeat. A better, more polished look would have been to wear a slim-fitting skirt with a sharper hemline and slim-fitting top in the same color as the silver cardigan. Limited time forced me to just go with this look.

When I added a top coat and bag, the look was saved. Coat from the Loft. Calvin Klein bag from T.J.Maxx.

This is another gray and black layering look that worked much better than the dress example above. The pants are straight and narrow, but they are not leggings. The top is in a similar fabric as the pants but loose-fitting. The cardigan has crystal sleeve details, and it is long enough to cover the bottom. If I were petite (less than 5' 4"), I would opt for a shorter cardigan. The slimmer leg pant keeps the loose-fitting shape of the cardigan from making me look heavier.

Showing my ankles and pushing up the sleeves a bit lifts the eye and makes me look a little taller and a little thinner. When it isn't freezing cold outside, I always do this.

Here is another version of silver and gray layering with black. This cardigan's longer length would not be good for a petite woman since so little of my legs are showing. The goal for a petite woman is to show as much leg length as possible. A jacket or sweater should end just below the waistline so that only half of the bottom shows. Great fitting tailored pants are essential for the petite woman. A wide-leg pant with a boxy jacket can make any of us look heavier and shorter.

Your choice of a base color may be brown or navy, or even burgundy, but you can see from these examples how effective it can be to use the various tones of the same color to layer.

Details extend to how you tie your scarf. If you are petite, a smaller scarf in a solid color or with a smaller print can be wrapped simply around your neck so that it isn't too long. A bulky scarf tied once at the neck with long ends hanging freely adds bulk to give you an overall barrel shape.