Accessorize!

"Accessorizing is the best, cheapest, easiest, fastest, and most fun way to amp up your look."

I read the quote above in a fashion magazine (of course). Hats, boots, jewelry, scarves, gloves...accessories run the gamut and I guess they’re pretty much anything we wear in addition to whatever clothes we’re wearing.

But, I am not great when it comes to accessories. In fact, I have more options than I actually take advantage of. Generally I wear the same watch and my heart shaped Tiffany necklace. And that’s about as much accessorizing as I do sometimes.

Awhile back, Nordstrom touted a book alongside their scarves with instructions of 52 different ways to tie a scarf. The number boggled my mind! I can barely come up with a handful of ways when it turns out there are as many options as weeks in the year. Who knew?

Since wardrobe accessories take up space and I like clean spaces, I don’t have much of a shoe, coat, purse, or jewelry collection. Or scarves. But I should probably invest in a few more scarves. Scarves seem to be kind of a therapist staple. Many female therapists almost consider scarves as part of the uniform. In fact, if Nordstrom still has that booklet around, it could be helpful to come up with creative ways to tie and wear scarves. In the meantime, I guess my daughters can show me a few of the tricks.

"You Look Gorgeous!"

A beware to my daughters: I may have found a new fashion consultant. However, there are some pros and cons I still need to weigh.

In the past I’ve let my girls (and certainly Webb too if he has an opinion) do the job of apparel approval. If we are shopping, I’ll try on clothes and wait for their reaction. If I don’t get a hearty endorsement, I rarely make the purchase. Just rolling their eyes can speak volumes. They can be ruthlessly honest, but I’m a little inept at calling it when it comes to style, so it’s probably for the best.

But, yesterday, I was watching Natalie Barth and since I needed to pick up a baby gift I stopped at Nordstrom. En route to the infant department I found a sweater I liked for myself so Natalie accompanied me to the dressing room to try it on.

The instant the sweater was on, Natalie gushed “You look gorgeous!” quickly followed by “You look absolutely beautiful!” Her praise was so loud anyone remotely nearby could hear and so effusive I nearly fell for it too. I have to admit, it was flattering. No one, especially not my inner voice, has spoken such praise from the dressing room walls.

Except, right as I was taking in the glory, I looked in the mirror and realized that Natalie was just emoting. She’s a smart girl but a novice on appearance. Because I did not look gorgeous, in fact, the sweater looked terrible. So, I saved my money, put the sweater back on the rack and proceeded to find the baby gift (which Natalie also heartily endorsed this so I think she was bullish on anything really).

So, the plus to taking Natalie as my shopping companion is hearing I’m gorgeous. However, I’ll probably save more money by keeping my girls enlisted to help me weed out unflattering clothes. They may not boost my ego but they’ve saved me from buyer’s remorse dozens of times. Maybe the best plan of all is to take my girls and Natalie too! Now there’s a win-win shopping plan!