Elevating Jeans and a Tee

Pretty boring, right?

I love a pencil skirt as much as the next personal stylist, but I’ll be honest: I field so many more questions about how to wear t-shirts and jeans. They’re casual, comfy, and with a little bit of tweaking, they can look every bit as stylish as that pencil skirt.

Your perfect jeans, perfect tee, and perfect accessories will all be informed by your personal image archetype, so there’s no one-size-fits-all, but I do have some tips for you:

As far as I’m concerned, any relatively basic top can qualify as the “tee” in this equation. For one woman this might be a solid-colored silk tank. For another it might be a graphic tee with the neckline cut out. It might be a striped knit boatneck with 3/4-length sleeves.

If you want to wear a t-shirt specifically, ask yourself if the basic boxy cotton version is your best. If not, how can it be improved for your body shape? Do you need more curve to the waist? More flow? Should the hemline be curved, straight, or asymmetrical? How long should your t-shirt be?

Your neckline can easily turn a forgettable top into a statement piece. Is a closed-in neckline best for you, or an open one? A rounded neckline, or an angular one? Are there any eye-catching design details along the neckline such as lace, mesh, crochet, cutouts, embroidery, or grommets? I’m a big fan of neckline detailing, because it frames the face and provides an opportunity for pleasing harmony with your facial features.

Do you know if skinny jeans are the best choice for you? What about flared, cropped, or trouser styles?

Jewelry and accessories are paramount for adding visual interest. A pair of earrings the color of your eyes, a funky purse, a sparkly statement necklace, a scarf in your hair, or a unique pair of shoes take two seconds to put on, and the impact lasts all day.

If you want to add an additional layer, a colorful jacket, cardigan, or scarf on top of a more basic tee can add dimension.

This outfit has the same base formula, but jazzing up the colors and accessories quickly takes it from boring to eye-catching

You don’t need to wear a full face of makeup everyday (no matter what you’re wearing), but taking five minutes to do your brows, swipe on some mascara, and put on a great lipstick makes a big difference. This is where knowing your season really comes in handy, because the right lipstick will light up your whole face, even if it’s a My Lips But Better. Your skin will look better in the right colors, too!

Spend some time perfecting simple hairstyles beyond the ponytail, and work with your natural hair texture, not against it. If your hair is straight, let it be straight! If your hair is curly, let it be curly! Get a cut that suits your hair’s behavior and your face shape, and your morning routine will be so much easier.

Lastly, learning to coordinate - rather than match - the different colors, textures, and shapes of your outfit will go a long way, keeping your look safely removed from “it’s laundry day” territory.

If you don’t know where to start, I want to help you! Click here for more information about a personal color analysis, personal image analysis, or coaching packages.

The Secret Classroom

When I talk to women about beauty and style, one motif surfaces again and again: “I feel like I missed a class all the other girls attended."

The first time a woman said this to me, I didn’t know how to respond. I was that girl too, and I thought I’d struggled uniquely.

I remember sitting behind a classmate in middle school, looking at her perfectly messy bun and wondering who taught her how to do that. My messy buns looked like I was renting to birds.

Who taught the other girls how to apply their mascara and lipgloss just so? How to shape their brows? To take care of their skin?

Who taught them to pair accessories with their outfits? How to put together an actual outfit in the first place? Or what constituted a good fit?

My mother was faultlessly groomed, but she taught me little about beauty or style. Maybe I didn’t ask, maybe she thought I wasn’t interested. But in my heart of hearts I was always looking for answers. I fumbled along, a bookish, imaginative child who became a teenager and desperately wanted to know how to define myself as a woman.

I didn’t know how to style my hair, how to dress my body, or how to choose and apply makeup. I looked to what other girls were doing for answers, but their hair wasn’t my hair, their bodies weren’t my body, their coloring wasn’t my coloring. This would be so much easier, I thought, if I just looked like someone else.

That belief led me, and so many women, down another twisted path, where you are afraid to even attempt to dress more stylishly, or try a new lipstick color, or style your hair differently, because if you don’t try, you can’t fail…or so the thinking goes.

And that’s how, all these years later, you’re a generally confident woman. You have a career, you have kids, you’re intelligent, and you feel worthy, and you’ve read those quotes about how comparison is the thief of joy, and how flowers in a garden don’t compete, they just bloom, and yet here you are, still afraid to wear red lipstick to the grocery store, because what if someone looks at you and thinks,

“Who does she think she is?”

I don’t want that fear for you. I didn’t want it for myself, and I don’t want it for my daughter either.

I want you to have the tools and the confidence to put on that lipstick, to rock that skirt, to flaunt that hairstyle, and know that all of them are absolutely perfect for you.

Dressing my changing size and shape

After gaining a significant amount of weight in the past 8 months - easily the most dramatic weight shift I’ve undergone aside from pregnancy - I was forced back to the drawing board with my closet.

Practically speaking, I outgrew a tremendous number of things at once, including all of my pants, all of my bras and underwear, and the majority of my skirts and dresses. I lost plenty of basics, and sadly can no longer fit into some of my very favorite statement pieces...including a cocktail dress I was saving for a “special occasion” and never wore. Learn from my mistake: wear your special stuff!

Constructing outfits with such a limited wardrobe was tricky. I wasn’t comfortable replacing everything right away lest I continued to gain weight (which I did, and am still doing), so I wore the same couple dresses all summer long. I was desperately bored. When autumn arrived and my weight gain slowed, I relied on my thrifting skills for some much-needed closet infusions.

My physical archetype and corresponding dressing strategies haven’t changed, but my shape has become an exaggerated version of itself. I’m now much more pear-shaped, which I adore, but I was surprised to find that many of my old outfit formulas no longer resonate with me. For example:

• Belts used to be the perfect finishing touch for blouse and skirt combos, but now that my waist is wider and my hip shelf is even higher, I hardly wear them.

• Give me all the bodycon silhouettes! I have so much hip and thigh volume that I don’t necessarily need to add more with a flared skirt, even though I still like them. Clingier shapes play up my curves more than they did XX lbs ago, so I’m having a lot of fun with them.

• I’ve found myself drifting toward a more simple sensuality in detailing, rather than the more calculated aesthetic I once strove for. Light draping, relaxed florals, and simple jewelry are the sweet spot for me right now.

My style is still my style, and recognizable as such, but there’s been a very real shift in how I dress and what appeals to me.

I love my body’s new fullness and curves, and most importantly I cherish the happiness that spurred my weight gain in the first place. If embracing that happiness means making changes to the way I dress, that’s okay with me. And while living with a leaner wardrobe as I seek out quality replacements for outgrown pieces is sometimes dull, I’m ultimately fine with it, because at the end of the day, I know that personal style is an ongoing project. What worked for you five years or fifty pounds ago might not work for you now, and that’s okay.

Weight loss or gain is one of the primary reasons women seek my help with their wardrobes. If you’re not sure how to dress your new shape or you just want some help fine-tuning your look, I hope you’ll send me a message.

An unexpected testimonial

Scrolling through my newsfeed the other day, I was so touched to see this testimonial from my incredible client Katherine. I'm sharing it with all of you because she touches on one of the most important facets of my work: teaching you to be your own stylist.

"This is the greatest holiday dress in the history of dresses and Cate Linden is the greatest stylist in the history of stylists.

Yes, I have a stylist. Leading up to my 40th birthday, I decided to systematically annihilate all of my insecurities. For four decades, I perceived myself to be bad at getting dressed. I want to spend the next forty years feeling confident in my clothes.

Cate didn’t pick this out. She taught me how to pick this out for myself. She works patiently, with logic *and* poetry. Hiring her was one of the kindest and wisest things I’ve ever done for myself.

Now someone throw a party so I can show up wearing the Milky Way, OK?”

Katherine is curating a wardrobe that's polished, celestial, and exciting - a wardrobe that brings her joy. It's my privilege to guide her through the process.