Hats not only shield our beautiful faces from the harsh sun (and reduce the need to be so vigilant about sunscreen) they also cover up a "no go" hair day and add a bit of nouce and polish to your overall look.

If you don't normally wear a hat, it can be a little daunting, so knowing that a particular hat is going to look great on you definitely helps your confidence in donning one.

This wide brimmed hat from www.sequinsandsand.com.au is a real winner as it will suit most face shapes.>

 A long face and a round face will benefit from the width of the brim, while a

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It is that time of year again, and for me I need a new swimsuit as I have been wearing the one that I used during pregnancy - the cups are now woefully empty!

If you are a small busted woman then add some oomph with a swimsuit that has some type of detail at the breast such as stripes, patterns or a tie front. Strapless tubes can just squish anything that is already there, so stay away from those, but keep an eye out for swimsuits with built in padding for that extra bit of a boost.

Built in support is available in many swimsuits, so larger busted women can rejoice.  Avoid anything with unnecessary details such as stripes, or ruffles - but small patterns are good.

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Too much jewellery can ruin an outfit and the lack of it can be just plain boring.  An outfit can go from yeah to OH yeah by adding the perfect necklace or earrings.

But with so much jewellery to choose from how do you start?  Firstly it is important to know what face shape you have and what sort of proportions your body is, because these two factors along with your overall colouring will pretty much help you narrow down your choices based on the shape and the colour of the jewellery along with which part of your body it is going to draw focus to.

Shape

So say you have a round shaped face and quite large bones.  Ideally steer clear of any round shaped necklaces that are delicate, you would be better to choose something a bit chunkier and with some length on it, so it creates a long interesting v shape.  Necklace shown is Storm by Kagi www.kagistyle.com

Colour

If you are of warm colouring you would want to choose something in gold as opposed to silver and the opposite if you are a cool toned person.

Focus

Personally I don't think my hands are a great feature, so I tend to avoid rings and bracelets as these are both going to draw attention to an area that I would prefer to camouflage.  but if you have great hands, or wonderfully slim wrists or arms, then both braclets and rings are great.

Truly is a website that makes choosing fashion a little easier if you aren't body perfect. At www.truly.co.nz we can make sure that all this knowledge is applied to your clothing choices and body shape without you having to think too much about it.

By answering a few simple and fun questions about your general body shape (no tape measures required) Truly will then use the rules of proportion and perspective to select and present to you actual garments that will be flattering to you. Making it easy to head to the fitting room with garments that are Truly you log on now and check it out for yourself www.truly.co.nz

Copyright Its All About Me Ltd Trading as Truly 2009

Height is often linked to status, and many studies have been undertaken that look at the impact of being short or tall and how society reacts. Some of the studies hypotheses include "taller people earn more" or that "short people are more likely to be the victims of bullying" to read more take a look at Wikipedia under "heightism".

So the theory is that we all want to look taller because then our path through life will be made a little bit easier by those around us.

Throughout history various devices have been used to achieve this particularly in the form of hats.  A Top hat, a Bishop's hat or a Princess's cone all extend the wearer's height making the wearer appear really tall and therefore reinforcing their higher ranking in society.  To wear a really tall hat might appear a bit weird in today's society, but there are other simple devices you can employ to make you appear taller.

Top to toe the same colour is one of the simplest ways to achieve height, so weirdly enough a pantsuit should make you look great, but that said it depends on the waistline which is why most people have difficulty pulling a pantsuit off. If you are going to wear a different colour on the top and the bottom, then try to ensure that your shoes match the same colour as your bottom half.

Lines running vertically i.e. up and down your body will also make you appear taller, even if it is a seam or other similar device. This tunic dress from Kooky is the perfect example of how an inset panel of colour unites the silhouette and lengthens.

Obviously high heels will also achieve some height, just be careful that they don't make you walk funny. I watched the first episode of Stylista on TV and was amused to see the stunning blonde editor emerge from her car almost lame as she limped very carefully into the office looking down the whole time as her shoes were so high she was scared of falling over.

Oscar night is a night where the stars are all attempting to outdo each other and thereby increase their status (along with their bank balances) by perfecting their look.  Consequently they all do their best to appear tall, so out comes the full length dress in one colour coupled with the high heels - take note next time and see if you think it makes them look taller.

Truly is a website that makes choosing fashion a little easier if you aren't body perfect. At www.truly.co.nz we can make sure that all this knowledge is applied to your clothing choices and body shape without you having to think too much about it.

By answering a few simple and fun questions about your general body shape (no tape measures required) Truly will then use the rules of proportion and perspective to select and present to you actual garments that will be flattering to you. Making it easy to head to the fitting room with garments that are Truly you log on now and check it out for yourself www.truly.co.nz

Copyright Its All About Me Ltd Trading as Truly 2009

Possibly it is the opportunity to relax that encourages normally presentable people to turn into slobs when theya re on holiday, but a holiday should equal an opportunity to relax and feel good about yourself. So with a little bit of planning it is easy to achieve both.

I am about to go on safari in Africa and right now safari themes are really current, but I am doing my best to avoid packing anything with a leopard print or a zebra stripe as it just seems too literal. But what do I pack when I need to go on the plane, go out for dinner, sit by the pool, go in a jeep and have hot days and cooler nights?

For starters I am not packing anything more than I need. I have pre-planned all my outfits including shoes and accessories so that not only do I know what I am going to wear each day,  but it means more room for shopping.

Comfort does not unfortunately mean the old bum bag + t shirt + sneakers combination. If you don't have great legs or shorts aren't your thing there are other options such as Capri pants, skirts and light pants, plus these more covering garments mean less sunscreen and in many countries would be considered more appropriate.

Think carefully about your shoes as you will need a comfortable pair, but really beautiful sandals with a small heel can be both comfortable and stylish enough to wear to dinner.  A pair of Haviana's take up so little room and are great for wearing too and from the pool so you can avoid verucas and other nasties.

At home a day out and about normally calls for a handbag, so don't let the notion of being on holiday mean that you need a backpack or huge bag to lug all sorts around.  Instead opt for a bag that is big enough to fit a towel, but still suitable to take out to lunch.

Do pack a kaftan, a pair of well soled sandals, a pretty summer dress, a hat, sunnies, cardi for cooler evenings, a pair of light pants and a bathing suit - unless you are going skiing!

Truly is a website that makes choosing fashion a little easier if you aren't body perfect. At www.truly.co.nz we can make sure that all this knowledge is applied to your clothing choices and body shape without you having to think too much about it.

By answering a few simple and fun questions about your general body shape (no tape measures required) Truly will then use the rules of proportion and perspective to select and present to you actual garments that will be flattering to you. Making it easy to head to the fitting room with garments that are Truly you log on now and check it out for yourself www.truly.co.nz

Copyright Its All About Me Ltd Trading as Truly 2009

A narrow chin is the major feature of a heart shaped face, coupled with a large forehead and often strong cheekbones. 

Celebrities with a heart shaped face include Jennifer Anniston, Reese Witherspoon, Marilyn Monroe and Helen Mirren.

To create the illusion of the "perfect" oval face you want to create fullness at the chin and narrow the forehead. With a hairstyle this could mean a sweeping fringe to narrow the forehead and with volume at the chin achieved through layers or a chin length bob.  Avoid lots of height on top of the head.

Hats for a heart shaped face need to be small, like flowerpot hats.  They can be worn high on the head with a short or small brim.  Avoid large heavy shapes which may make your head appear top heavy.

Truly is a website that makes choosing fashion a little easier if you aren't body perfect. At www.truly.co.nz we can make sure that all this knowledge is applied to your clothing choices and body shape without you having to think too much about it.

By answering a few simple and fun questions about your general body shape (no tape measures required) Truly will then use the rules of proportion and perspective to select and present to you actual garments that will be flattering to you. Making it easy to head to the fitting room with garments that are Truly you log on now and check it out for yourself www.truly.co.nz

Copyright Its All About Me Ltd Trading as Truly 2009

Has middle age spread resulted in your innards pushing your waist out into a box? Or maybe you were always just straight up and down? Either way there are a number of little tricks that can fool the eye into believing that it is seeing a sexy waistline.

The first step in the illusion is to let the eye see the outer lying areas such as the shoulders and boobs up top and the hips below. Just to scare you, it means that you want these to look bigger. So broaden your shoulders with boat necks, structured shoulders, v necklines etc. and broaden your hips with a full skirt or wide leg pant.This then allows your waist to appear smaller, because everything on the upside and the downside is larger.

Belts are an obvious device and can be worn higher like an empire line through the smallest part of the rib cage, cunningly re-interpreting it self as the natural waist line, or V belts are great, particularly if you are short waisted. Also wearing a belt off centre can work wonders too.

Some garments have built in shape such as structured jackets that have a nipped in waist, structured shoulders and seams that curve in at all the right spots – making life super easy. Other garments include the illusion in their print or the way the colour blocks are put together.More extreme measures can include wearing a corset, or a milder offering that is particularly useful for special occasion are control undies, essentially squeezing your innards back to where they used to be!

Truly is a website that makes choosing fashion a little easier if you aren't body perfect. At www.truly.co.nz we can make sure that all this knowledge is applied to your clothing choices and body shape without you having to think too much about it.

By answering a few simple and fun questions about your general body shape (no tape measures required) Truly will then use the rules of proportion and perspective to select and present to you actual garments that will be flattering to you. Making it easy to head to the fitting room with garments that are Truly you log on now and check it out for yourself www.truly.co.nz

Copyright Its All About Me Ltd Trading as Truly 2009

Horizontal stripes are in all the shops, but the truth is that they can really only be worn by the super skinny, or over the parts of your body that you want to make look bigger.  So if you are small on top then go for it, but if you have a large tummy or big boobs avoid stripes over these parts of your body at all costs!

Tops with stripes worn under a short top or cardie can be a good look, but not if the stripes emerge from under the top and circle right around the widest part of your hips and butt.  Tiered skirts can do the same thing, the "stripe" is where the fabric is joined together.

Stripes circuling the circumference of bigger arms and legs is probably an even worse crime because it is really easy to just skim and cover these problem areas rather than risk making them into a "feature".  Avoid stockings with horizontal stripes, only the skinnies tof pins or those under twelve years of age can carry that look off.

If you love stripes, go for vertical ones instead.  You have been warned...stripes have the ability to make you look like the Michelin Man if you aren't careful.

Truly is a website that makes choosing fashion a little easier if you aren't body perfect. At www.truly.co.nz we can make sure that all this knowledge is applied to your clothing choices and body shape without you having to think too much about it.

By answering a few simple and fun questions about your general body shape (no tape measures required) Truly will then use the rules of proportion and perspective to select and present to you actual garments that will be flattering to you. Making it easy to head to the fitting room with garments that are Truly you log on now and check it out for yourself www.truly.co.nz

Copyright Its All About Me Ltd Trading as Truly 2009

When temperatures drop it is great to use boots and skivvies to extend the wearability of items from your summer wardrobe.  However there are pitfalls that you should be aware of and one of them that occurs frequently is wearing three quarter pants (capri pants) or skirts with boots that don't quite meet, leaving a gap of skin.

This gap of skin adds an extra layer to your silhouette, which effectively "chops" you up and looses any illusion of height that may have been created, as well as looking cluttered. 

The answer is to either invest in longer boots, or to wear the same coloured stockings to link the two items together, creating a unified silhouette.  The example below features some three quarter pants, but the same rules apply to skirts too.

Truly is a  website that makes choosing fashion a little easier if you aren't body perfect. At www.truly.co.nz we can make sure that all this knowledge is applied to your clothing choices and body shape without you having to think too much about it.

By answering a few simple and fun questions about your general body shape (no tape measures required) Truly will then use the rules of proportion and perspective to select and present to you actual garments that will be flattering to you. Making it easy to head to the fitting room with garments that are Truly you log on now and check it out for yourself www.truly.co.nz

Copyright Its All About Me Ltd Trading as Truly 2009

Dressing well is all about refining the art of distraction and illusion. You get that right, and you have overall image balance. Lets admit it; breasts are a major focal point (men to the point of blindness), so if your lacking a bountiful bosom, read on.

Accept what you have. Chicken fillets, wonder bras and surgery anyone? Well you could make something out of nothing, and receive a few bonus scars for your efforts or embrace the idea of deferring the attention from your chest.

Thank goodness for celebrities. They are as varied as you and I. Clare Danes, Kate Hudson and Keira Knightly are my fellow flat chested companions and prove you can still cut it without much. Take note of what they wear. 

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Learning to accept yourself for what you are is a process, but when you get there it really is a nice place to be…

 I have very straight hair, but as a teenager wanted nothing more than to have loads of super curly hair and would always look at other girls with curly hair enviably, so much so that I tried to emulate them and got myself a spiral perm… What I learnt is that as a teenager it is forgivable (and almost a rite of passage) to try out trends and fads in an attempt to find your own style, but as an adult you hopefully have figured out that some things work for some people and others definitely do not.

 Colour

One of the big ones I think to get right is to figure out which colours work or don’t work for you. Learning about what colours are going to work for you or not, is about figuring out if you are a cool or a warm and then seeing what sort of intensity of colour you can wear next to your face. To read more on colour click here http://www.truly.co.nz/home/info/index.cfm/2008/11/12/Short-Cuts-to-Getting-Dressed-Are-You-A-Warm-or-a-Cool Once you have this sorted, you may see someone who looks fantastic in mustard, but realise that she is a warm red head hence it looks good, but if you are ivory skinned with black hair it probably isn’t going to work for you, so just don’t go there.

Cut and Style

If you have a large chest and broad shoulders and insist on following the latest trend for ruffle fronted shirts and big bows, it just isn’t going to look good. Certain styles and cuts work better with different body shapes, which is why often shopping with a good friend often doesn’t work. If your friend has a different body shape to you, she has trained herself to look for certain styles and will inevitably find it difficult to re-focus her thinking to what would look good on you. Learn what works for you and use a wardrobe consultant to help you work out (or Truly) what your basic rules to follow are.

Balance and Size

A woman I helped style was about a size twenty, with a huge personality and gorgeous salt and pepper hair cut in a short funky crop. She carried off these wonderful huge pieces of costume jewellery, coupled with funky coloured eye glasses with aplomb – why? Two fold, one her frame was large enough that it was all in proportion and secondly her personality revelled in the loudness and attention. The same jewellery and glasses on a petite, delicate woman would just look all wrong, so look to others with similar body shapes and personalities as you for inspiration.

I think that in the future we will see magazines that are more customised to not only showing you clothes that are in your price range, but that also reflect your colouring and body shape…as sometimes when I see a lithe young black woman wearing a $2,000 pair of pants I just can’t relate! This is where we hope to head with www.truly.co.nz in that when you log in, it will be prioritising the styles and garments that are going to look good on YOU, not somebody else.

All the garments shown above are available via Truly. Truly is a  website that makes choosing fashion a little easier if you aren't body perfect. At www.truly.co.nz we can make sure that all this knowledge is applied to your clothing choices and body shape without you having to think too much about it.

By answering a few simple and fun questions about your general body shape (no tape measures required) Truly will then use the rules of proportion and perspective to select and present to you actual garments that will be flattering to you. Making it easy to head to the fitting room with garments that are Truly you log on now and check it out for yourself www.truly.co.nz

Copyright Its All About Me Ltd Trading as Truly 2009