This week I have great pleasure in introducing to you the ever delightful, ever stylish and all round good girl, Imogen Lamport who has loads of advice to help you when clothes shopping – yayy!

1.  Being influenced by the sales assistant who is paid to get you to buy clothes (whether they suit you or not).

Retail sales staff are paid to sell you clothes.  Some are even paid extra commissions based on how much they sell. So it’s in their interest that you buy as much as possible, whether it suits you or not.  I’ve been shopping and told a client that something doesn’t suit them and they should take it off, moments later the sales assistant will pipe up and say it looks fabulous.  Who is telling the truth?

2.  Not bothering to try on the clothes

Many women are short on time and so rather than try on a garment they just pick it out in what they consider to be their ‘size’ and take it home, and justify to themselves that if it doesn’t fit they’ll return it.  But so much doesn’t get returned because they don’t get around to it.  Instead of having saved themselves time (by not trying on in the store) they’ve now wasted the time it took them to get to the store, and wasted money by not returning the unflattering garment.    Always, always, always try on garments in the store.  Yes it may look fine on the hanger, but so often, the cut is a little off, and it doesn’t work on the body.  Don’t fall into this trap.

3. Only taking 1 size into the change-room

It’s true that so many stores only allow you 5 or 6 garments in the change-room at once, so you feel you have to be really selective about what you take in.  Don’t be, take lots of clothes and lots of sizes – the sales assistant will keep all the extra clothes at the change room for you to try on if they have a numbers policy and then you can get them to bring you the other sizes and styles you want to try, rather than have to get dressed and leave the change-rooms.  Try on 20 garments at a time, not 5 and you’ll have better success.  Try on multiple sizes of clothes as even in the same store sizes vary between garments.

4. Buying on the sizing label not what fits you

I’ve seen some catastrophic purchases in people’s wardrobes because they bought a size not for fit.  Look it’s a size 12! They tell me excitedly, even though the pin-stripes on the thighs are bent and bulging.  Nobody cares what the size is, the label is on the inside not on the outside, so no one else ever needs to know what it is. If you don’t like the size, cut the label out once you’ve purchased it. You’ll look so much better when your clothes fit you well, rather than basing your purchasing decisions on a number that is completely arbitrary and varies from store to store.  You are not a number!

5.  Buying because it’s designer or a label, not because it suits you

OK, it’s easy to fall into this trap – we all love a bit of luxury and sometimes we may buy a garment not because it suits us, but because it’s a designer label.  We buy it because we want that little bit of luxury in our lives, but beware, just because it’s a label, doesn’t mean it will work for us, our lifestyle or suit our silhouette or colouring and in the end could just be a costly mistake.  Only buy designer when you understand what really works for you – then the investment can be worthwhile.

6. Buying because it’s on sale, not because you need it

Many of us love a bargain – it’s the hunter in us, out there stalking our prey, looking for the best catch.  But just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s really a bargain.  Purchasing clothes that you never wear, not matter how cheap is a waste of money if they’re just going to take up space in your wardrobe and eventually be thrown out and end up as landfill.  Make sure if you buy something on sale you’re not just purchasing emotionally, ask yourself is it really filling a gap in your wardrobe?

7. Not understanding your silhouette and what suits it

Understanding your colouring, body shape and proportions are key to what clothes you should buy.   Clothes that suit you make you look and feel great.  Clothes that are for a different body shape won’t flatter and you’ll never feel fabulous in them.   Investing in finding out what suits your unique body pays for itself time and time again as you stop wasting money on clothes that don’t suit you, plus has the added benefit of making shopping easier as you know what to try on and what to avoid.

8.  Not creating a list before you go shopping

Wardrobe after wardrobe I see has multiples of the same garments.  Their owners will often exclaim in surprise “oh I forgot I had that” as we find clothes stashed away at the backs of drawers.  So much money is wasted on buying clothes that people don’t need and that don’t add value to their wardrobes, filling the gaps and extending their outfits.  Instead their filled with wardrobe orphans and multiples of the same garments.  Before you shop, you need to do an audit of your wardrobe and work out what you really need so that you’re not going to waste another cent on something you don’t need.

9. Buying ‘different’ for the sake of different

Yes, it’s easy to get stuck in a style rut as we tend to keep buying what we feel works, or sometimes just keeping on buying the same garment in different colours, it become so boring.  So we bust out of our rut and choose something completely different, but when we get it home we never wear it because it’s really not ‘us’.  Clothing personality styles are closely related to our personality traits, if we move too far away from our personality we won’t feel great in the clothes we choose.  Try a little bit different rather than radically different and you’ll have more success.

10.  Going shopping without grooming first

Shopping for clothes means spending some time looking at ourselves in the mirror.  So before you go, make sure you do your hair and put on some light makeup – groom – then you can assess how the clothes really look rather than just thinking that you look terrible (particularly as the lighting in some changerooms is harsh and unflattering anyway – give yourself all the help you can!).

Imogen Lamport AICI CIP is one of Australia’s leading image consultants and is an author of 4 style books, sought-after speaker,  blogger and also trains people to be image consultants and personal stylists.   If you need some help getting your wardrobe under control, finding out what suits you and taking the stress out of figuring out what to wear please contact her www.bespokeimage.com.au   alternatively you can get fresh style tips from her blog www.insideoutstyleblog.com .

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On the 19th August I was lucky enough to be featured in the Melbourne Herald Sun. The article caught the eye of the producers of radio station 3AW and I gave my first interview with Ross and John at 6am that morning. They are both fun loving blokes so I proceeded to laugh my way through that one! Next a call came through asking if I had time to be interviewed by Denis Walter at noon – of course I had time! This interview was a little more informative than the first one (I am certainly not at my best at 6am…)

So please click on the link and enjoy!

Divorce is difficult for everyone; however women often seem to manage better emotionally after divorce than men. Many men return to dating before they have taken the time to heal.

Divorce is the death of a relationship.  Any death brings grief with it and it has to be dealt with before moving on.  The worry is that men try to solve their loneliness before they resolve their grief and that isn’t healthy.

Women approach their post-divorce life differently.  Usually they allow themselves to cry, using their friends and family as supportive crutches for their emotions. They talk about how they are feeling and that’s a good thing. It’s as though once it’s exposed to the light, the load is easier to carry.

Unlike women, men have a tendency to keep their feelings to themselves, rarely confiding in their friends to help them through. They keep their feelings locked inside and the problem with that is that it eats away inside and makes it difficult to move on and form new relationships.

Unresolved emotion is a time bomb so it’s no surprise that the incidence of depression is high in divorced men yet the subject is hardly discussed.  Isn’t that sad?

Women tend to use the time immediately after divorce to positively reconnect with friends and family.  They know that they don’t have to put on a happy front all the time.  Having this social support in place is a big factor in being able to bounce back after such an extremely stressful event.

Men, this is a lesson you need to learn.  It is important for you to meet with others on a social level, even if you don’t particularly feel like it.  Accepting invitations from both family and friend is a great way to begin. Start out where you feel safe and with people who understand what you’ve been through.

Take a leaf from the female’s book and allow yourself to experience and express your emotions in a healthy way.  It’s the only way you’ll be able to move on as a happy and whole person.

Now that you are on your own you’ll find that managing your money might be hard.  You go to work everyday and get paid every week but there might not be anything left over at the end of the week    You need to work out a way to budget so that you can keep your bills paid, cupboards full and still have enough left over to enjoy.

Budgeting is not as hard as it sounds.  It’s just a matter of being a little bit organised when it comes to your money.  You can still have your beer and drink it too –just be sure it’s not the rent money you’re drinking.

The easiest way to create your budget is to just write a list of the things that need to be paid for which will usually be:

• Rent/Mortgage
• Car costs i.e. loan payments, registration, insurance, repairs, fuel
• Services i.e. mobile phone, home phone, internet, electricity/gas
• Food
• Entertainment
• Extras (clothing, medical etc)

If you’ve just moved out and have no idea how much to allow, ask your single mates what they spend each week on food, electricity and other bills. It will give you a place to start.

Work out what you income is per week and deduct the cost of those bills to find out what money you have left over.  That’s the part that most people forget to do.  If you know how much room you have to move, you’ll be part way towards being in control of your budget.

From there get yourself set up on internet banking.  Just go into your local bank and ask them to set your account up with internet banking.    Set up two bank accounts.  Into on account goes money to cover your weekly expenses. Into the other, put money to cover those extra things like yearly payments, repairs and unexpected extras.You can set up weekly payments for things like rent, loans and set weekly costs.  For anything that is paid monthly or yearly set up an automated payment from your second account where the money can remain until needed.

Each pay day take out the amount you need for food, fuel and entertainment and use the cash system.  That way you know exactly what you have left to get you through the week at any given time.  You also reduce bank fees by not using atm’s all the time and you won’t spend money you shouldn’t be touching.

Use these tips as a guideline and you will have soon have your new budget under control.