Apart from being a writer, I am a designer too, which means I am up and about the city looking for fabric and trimmings, so I tend to come across the stylish and well-dressed as well as the ones who are just getting it wrong. Below are a few of the fashion faux pas I have encountered.
MR TOO BRIGHT
Mr Too Bright wore a neon green shirt with neon green socks to match. To think he looked at himself in the mirror and thought, “Yes, today I have outdone myself”. It was a tad bit too bright for me. Men, remember that your socks match either your trousers or your shoes only. Do not match your shirt, tie, jersey or anything else you may think of.
WHERE ARE YOUR BOTTOMS, MISS?
A quick lesson; tights are not leggings. Leggings have no foot hence they go by the term footless tights, while tights have a foot and look like stockings. So if you wear a dress top over leggings for some reason it looks complete. If you wear the same dress top over tights it looks as though you forgot your bottoms at home or you are still in the process of getting dressed. Tights can be worn with something short but just make sure that its length exceeds half your thigh in order to avoid looking half-dressed.
PEEP-TOE, NOT HANG-TOE
They are called peep-toes because your toes are supposed to “peep” out of the shoe but still be in the shoe. So if your toes are overlapping it means your shoe is too small or the back is too wide and your toes are sliding forwards. If they are overlapping because the shoe is too small, the solution is simple, buy the right shoe size. If your foot keeps slipping out of place, you need to invest in some heel grips. They will do just as they say, grip your heel and prevent it from slipping forward. If you cannot afford to find heel grips, make your own using double-sided tape or basic masking tape. Fold it inside out and stick it to the heel of your shoe then wear your shoe. The tape will keep your heel from slipping out of place. It also works for closed shoes where your heel keeps slipping out.
Fashion is a tool that can be used to communicate who you are so one needs to be intentional about what they wear or how they groom themselves so that the correct message is put across.
Purple eyebrows and multi-coloured nails
The other day I went into a department store and at the beauty counter I was served by a lady wearing a purple jacket and she had eyebrows that matched the jacket. She had drawn over her eyebrows with a black and purple liner. Eye shadow to match your jacket? Eyebrows to match your jacket? No. Keep them as close to your natural shade as possible.
The multi-coloured nails
Neons are in. Brightly coloured nail polish is trendy nowadays. However, I must caution you that after a certain age, say 27, having three different nail polish colours on your nails sends out the wrong message. It says your style is juvenile. The high school girls are into it and even my seven-year-old niece thinks it’s stylish. After turning 27, you can still exude fun and life by choosing one bright shade to paint on at a time instead of three. Rihanna would get away with it but someone like J-Lo who is still very stylish would find other ways of adding colour to her outfit, for instance, colour blocking.