Didn't catch it the first time around? Browse through our Newsletter Archives for further learning! 

• August 2010 - Developing Personal Style
• September 2010 - Clustering Your Clothes
• October 2010 - Evaluate Your Wardrobe
• November 2010 - Clothing Wear and Care
• December 2010 - Fashion in the Fast Lane
• January 2011 - The Power of Personal Apperance
• February 2011 - Art in Everyday Dress
• March 2011 - Line in Design
• April 2011 - Shape in Design
• May 2011 - Color in Design
• June 2011 - Fabric and Texture in Design
• July 2011 - Pattern in Design
• August 2011 - Developing Your Personal Style
• September 2011 - Which Fashion Trends Work into Clusters for You?
• October 2011 - Timely Tips for a Successful Wardrobe Evaluation
• November 2011 - 7 Ways to Find What You Need In Your Closet
• December 2011 - Love Plus Logic is the Key to Great Shopping
• January 2012 - Where Have All the Nice-Looking People Gone?
• February 2012 - Judith Rasband's Fashion Rule of ONETM
• March 2012 - Discover Which Fashion Lines Work for You
• April 2012 - How to Keep Your Shape in Shape
• May 2012 - Color: Don't Believe Everything You Read
• June 2012 - The Denim Dissent
• July 2012 - What Matters With Pattern

Fall 2012 is next on the calendar and with it comes a surge in fashion trend reports, each trend touted as the latest "must have" for every body.  Now, I'm all for being informed, but some fashion trends turn us into fashion victims.  How you deal with these tricky trends depends largely on your awareness of your own personal style.  Don't know your personal style?  You're not alone.  Neither do most of my clients when they come to me for help.  Many people are just too busy buying into the latest trends to become aware of which design details or clothing style types are in harmony with their values, personality traits, body type, coloring, and lifestyle, let alone what gives them joy in the wearing. 

"I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of a girl," declared a Dancing with the Stars hopeful during interviews.  Now, what does that mean, "kind of girl?"  Do jeans and tees worn 24/7 really reflect who she is and what she is all about?  Or are they simply all she knows how to wear, her only experience with clothes, or what her peers approve of?  At any age, we all need to get beyond media and peer pressure and think clearly about which fashion trends might have merit for us.  Trends offer us new choices, even new solutions to clothing and image needs.  Trends allow us to explore new looks, experience a new aspect of ourselves, feel more modern or relevant, even young at heart.  But choose carefully before you put your dollar down.  Acting as trend editor, here are a few of my favorites, as well as how to pull off some of the tricky trends for fall 2012. 

Stripes are vertical, diagonal, and horizontal, sometimes all in one garment.  Generally, choose ½ inch stripes (flattering on most bodies), V-shaped chevron stripes, and colorful stripes with enough ease in the fit.  A relaxed stripe top is pretty easy to pull off, but if you're considering a striped dress, look at yourself in the mirror from every possible angle.  Don't let stripes get hung up on the body.  Stripes communicate energy, vitality, action and range from sporty to dramatic. 

Photo: White House Black Market

Red, always around but often maligned, is on the fashion forefront this fall.  Wear red for fun, to lift your spirits, or to signal "Look out world, here I come!"  Don't let anyone tell you that you can't wear red if you want to or would like to try.  A high energy wardrobe neutral, it provides analogous contrast to blonde, brown, or black hair, and needed hue contrast to gray or white hair.  Red can be designed or coordinated to work with every other clothing color.  Redheads wear red-orange easily and burgundy beautifully. 

Leather tops, skirts, pants, and leggings in many colors are showing up for all ages.  A leather vest or jacket can breathe new life into your favorite jeans, pants, and skirts.  Lower in price at chain stores, leather should last.  But be careful because leather can also crinkle and crease in places you don't want to crinkle and crease.  Leather can feel too hot in hot weather, too cold in cold weather, and be too hard to clean.  Leather leggings focus all attention on the legs -- too much information for some people and places.  Be realistic, leather leggings are not cute or sexy on larger legs or even on skinny legs with big upper bodies.  Leather leggings are for the fit and firm.  Fun and youthful looking, leather leggings communicate action.  Wear them with contemporary and dramatic tops. (Photo: Fashion1Star) 

Jackets, largely ignored for years, are getting good press this fall.  With rising global temperatures, jackets take the place of coats in many regions.  But even better, jackets camouflage a multitude of figure variations.  Best part of this trend, jackets are out there this season in every personal style type -- untailored cute, pretty, sporty, or romantic, and tailored classic, sportive, or dramatic.  Choose from heavyweight, all season, and lightweight jackets depending on where you live and work.

Ballet flats are trendy adorable slip-on and off shoes, but adorable can be a problem for working women of a certain age.  In fabric or leather, they can be terrific at home or in town when you want to look cute or walk 10 or 20 blocks.  But when you need to look like you're in charge, raise the barre and go for a comfortable, sharply tailored looking heel.

Smoking slippers, a somewhat funny name for flat classic slip-on shoes, are getting renewed attention.  They come in a wide range of materials, making them appropriate or not, for many occasions.  Choose plain smoking slippers for relaxed business offices, patterned for social occasions, and velvet or jeweled for evening. 

Ankle strap shoes are still strong and add a nice touch of femininity to tailored clothes.  But let's face it, they are flattering on average to slim legs only, making thick ankles or flat calves appear awkward.  Skinny straps on plus-size legs are out of proportion.  Most wide ankle straps on any size leg look make the leg look thick and less shapely.  Select ankle strap shoes in moderation and delicately drape the strap, don't choke the ankle.  For ease, look for easy-to-fasten Velcro fasteners.

Choose wisely when considering the following up-and-coming fashion trends:

• We've jumped from low-waisted to high-waisted, and skinny jeans to wide-leg jeans.  Choose carefully when contemplating wide-leg jeans, crystal pleats, and potentially ditsy dots -- you don't want them too wide, or too big, or too busy. 
• Think twice about mustard yellow, so bold it can wear you, taking all attention to itself. 
• Busy patterns are getting headlines, one article stating "More is more when it comes to mixing patterns."  Don't you believe it.  More is less when the mixed patterns fight with one another -- only one dominant pattern at a time, remember? (Photo: Savanella) 
• Brooches are said to be in, but they're so big, and so bold, and some are just silly.  If a touch of whimsy is part of your personal style, or you can function with all attention going to the brooch, pick one you love and have fun with it.  If not, leave the brooches in the store.  

If you'd really like to discover and develop your own personal style, check out upcoming dates for Conselle's image enhancement retreat "Style For Life!"  I'll educate, entertain, and empower you with high energy seminars, personalized application clinics, and shopping that adds up to a whole lot of serious fun!  For details, read our website discussion.  Register before August 31, 2012 and take advantage of the Early Bird $50 discount.

To read related information about personal style selection, and coordination in dress and image, with instructions and examples regarding people just like you, order Conselle's wardrobe strategy Book #8, Personal Style Selection and Coordination for the special Newsletter price of $19.97, regularly $27.97.  You'll find charts that will summarize the information and simplify your learning and application.  To claim your discounted price, call 801-224-1207 and order directly through Kathy.  Order Pattern In Clothing Selection & Coordination.

Don't buy into the idea that suit-dressing is out.  Only people who don't want to think about what they wear are spreading the idea so they don't look so shabby next to someone else looking sharp in a suit.  It's much like crabs in a bucket, pulling the one crab about to escape back down into the bucket.  Keep your client's options open.  

There are matched suits and unmatched suits of clothes, sweater suits, dress suits, pant suits, and more.  Jones of New York has a good-looking online spread this month that positions "The Modern Suit" as the "new way to dress for the office that easily transitions into your after-work life as well.  They call it from "Desk to Dinner."  It's actually an expanded cluster, projecting 24 different looks with scores more possible.  Check it out.  It's exactly what we do.  

Create personalized color schemes for your clients, put together clusters this sharp, and you'll have happy clients coming back for more. 

Photo: Jones New York

Judith Rasband

Conselle Institute of Image Management

Check out our blog at http://conselleimageconsultant.wordpress.com!