Your Mother and Grandmother probably had some really great resin jewelry. Well we are here to tell you, resin jewelry is totally hot. Andrew Hamilton Crawford has made retro modern with some great pieces of jewelry. One of my favorite pieces is the Damask Resin Bangle.  Black resin is overlaid with sterling silver in a damask pattern. It’s 2″ wide and also  available in white.

One of our most popular skirts in Artfulwears history is the Side Drawstring Cargo Skirt by Hanna. The great news is that the skirt has been recreated into a dress. We absolutely love the new Two Pocket Dress. This dress is so versatile. You can throw a sweater over it with some boots in the cool months and wear all by itself with a pair of sandals in the Summer. We love versatility!

Not only does this dress have a great fit, it’s also has a great slimming cut. The slimming cut is created by a vee neck and perfectly placed seaming. It has two great cargo pockets and ties in the back. Available in black or gunmetal (as shown) but additional colors can be special ordered.

Announcing “Everyone’s Hoodie” By XCVI. Get yours now before they are gone. These soft and cozy hoodies are completely fabulous! The background is a neutral Seasame color and it’s finished off with a Rosette Print graphic. You can wear it with just about anything but we happen to love it with the Scrunch Pants and the Cayenne Tee. We know you will love this as much as we do!

In 2007 every girl I know has a collection of bra camis. You are ALL going to want the Lurex Metallic Seamless Cami by Bordeaux. Coming in several great metallic combos including mocha, gold, and silver. These tanks fit a size 2 to 12.

Metallic is ultra-trendy and as we talked about yesterday, metallics act as a neutral so you can wear them with almost anything.  You could pair one of these with jeans, under a suit, or as a layering piece as  they really are quite versatile. They are luxurious, comfortable, and definitely trendy! Check them out….

Many of you buy pieces of clothing in great colors and have no idea what to wear with them. I am always amazed by this because it comes naturally to me. However, when one of my very fashionable customers asked me today “What should I wear with my purple skirt, I haven’t worn it yet?”, I thought I need to take a moment and talk about color matching.

This particular purple skirt did a have a coordinating (but not matching) tee shirt available but that is really not the point. Purple happens to look great with charcoal (the hottest color of the season), chocolate, or black. You could obviously wear it with white but at this time of year I would stick to darker neutrals. Pretty much any neutral works with Purple. You could even go to Olive or Khaki.

This same rule holds true for practically any COLORED piece you are trying to coordinate with other items in your wardrobe. So let’s say you have Orange. Orange works with brown, khaki, aubergine (eggplant), olive, white, and sometimes black. Maybe you have something in hot pink you need to coordinate. Try a silver, gray, white, gold, or black. I think you would be hard pressed to find something that doesn’t work back to a neutral (white, black, gray, khaki, olive, brown) and keep in mind gold & silver are also neutrals.

People often ask me, what do you start with when you get dressed. My answer to that is one piece that I know I want to wear. So if it’s my shoes, I start from the ground up. If it’s my shirt, I coordinate my bottom, accessories, and shoes back to the shirt. Occasionally, I will create outfits around a piece of jewelry. So my advice to all you fashionistas is start with the one piece you definitely want from there and build your outfit around it.

I can’t believe it either but the holiday season is right around the corner. Personally, I LOVE buying gifts for people but I don’t go crazy for the holidays. However, since most of you do, I am going to give you some good ideas on how to make holiday shopping less stressful, less expensive, and less time consuming. Of course Artfulwears will be a part of the plan!

First, make a list of all the people you need to buy gifts for. I am not huge at planning in advance, however the sooner you have a list, the easier it will be. After you make the list, give yourself a budget per person. Again, I am not much of a budgeter but this is the logical way to do things. Don’t exceed the budget. That way when you are done shopping for everyone’s gifts you won’t have any surprises and you won’t have to eat Ramen Noodles for the whole month of January! Take the list everywhere you go that way if you see something while you are out and about, you can pick the items up.

Second, I highly recommend shopping online, and not just for self-promotion. It is actually less expensive to buy online than it is to go out and it takes far less time. You spend money on gas and then if you are out shopping
long enough, you need to eat. Plus, you are almost always going to buy additional things that you don’t need. After all of the running around, you still might not come home with what you need. You can take a few minutes on the computer and locate exactly what you want and hopefully get free shipping. In most cases, you will also not have to pay sales tax. Additionally, you can easily comparison shop once you find what you are looking for. Last but not least, if the person you are buying for doesn’t live nearby, you can have it shipped right to their door.

Now onto the self-promotion. Artfulwears makes holiday shopping REALLY easy, as we offer FREE shipping AND FREE return shipping. How great is that?! If you buy it and it doesn’t work, you can send it back at no cost. We also
offer FREE gift wrapping. That alone saves you 5 minutes a present! Artfulwears has items for women of all ages in a wide array of prices. You might even suggest to your friends/family/husbands/boyfriends that you filled out your Artfulwears wish list. That way they know they are buying you the correct size or color. We are also available to personally assist you in your search. Gift certificates are an option as well. They can be mailed in hard copy or emailed. So if it’s last minute you will be all set.

So take my advice, save your time and go to parties. Save your money and take a little weekend getaway, or better yet, shop for yourself!

For quite some time I made the assumption that women understood how their bras should fit. After spending several years working one on one clothing women of various ages and sizes, I have come to realize I was grossly mistaken.

While the foolproof way to find your best fit is to get a bra fitting, I will provide you with a few basic fit tips:
1. Your bra should fasten on the first hook(s) so that it can accommodate stretching,
2. The band of your bra should go straight around your back, underneath your bust line. If the band is riding up in the back, your band is too big. Conversely, if you have skin hanging over the sides, your band is too small.
3. You should have no ripples on the cups of the bra. If it ripples, it’s
too big. If your breasts are coming out of the cups, they are too small.
4. Last, keep in mind as you gain or lose weight your bra size WILL CHANGE. So get re-fitted anytime you have a fluctuation in your weight.

The vast majority of women are wearing the wrong size bra. Why does this matter you ask? The number one reason is you look THINNER when your bra fits your properly. Second, your clothes look better when your girls are up where
they are supposed to be.

In addition to bra fit, different clothing requires different types of bras.
Just like you couldn’t have one pair or style of shoes, the same is true for
bras,. Thankfully, bra technology has come a long way. So it’s easy to find
anything that you need!

My recent mini-break to visit family in the north (I live in south Florida), reminded me that my loyal fashionistas might need help traveling in style. Now, I am not just talking about showing you all the cute travel accessories available at Artfulwears. I am talking about how to look fresh when you arrive at your destination. Let’s do that from head to toe.

If there is a woman out there who can do her hair before she gets on the plane and have it look great when she arrives, I want to meet her. Something about the recycled air generally takes the life out of your hair. So rather than spend a lot of time drying and styling your hair, try putting it up. Find a cute, easy to create, style that is perfect for travel. Whether you do a cute little ponytail, a braid, or anything else, I assure you will look better when you arrive!

Next is make-up. Who doesn’t arrive looking haggard?  Bring a little translucent powder, blush, and some lip gloss or lipstick to touch-up when you arrive.

Now on to clothes and shoes. You need cute AND comfortable. There is nothing worse than sitting on the plane in uncomfortable clothing. Choose fabrics that have some stretch in them and don’t wrinkle. The stretch will keep you comfy and the non-wrinkle fabrics will keep you looking sharp.

Last but not least, your shoes. Nothing makes me laugh more than a woman trekking it through the airport with her bag in stilettos. If it works for you, great, go for it. If it doesn’t, you have plenty of other choices. The world is now full of ADORABLE sport shoes. If you are going for a little dressier look, try a cute ballet flat. Again, think comfort and style.

Happy travels to all!

P.S. Sorry for the break Artfulwears Style Blog, we had some technical difficulties but we are back!