Your Outfit

Which styles of outfits and hats work together?

There are (rightfully) an infinite number of options here. What you wear and how you wear it forms a unique part of who you are. Whether you intend to or not, the choices that you make in how you present yourself influences how people perceive you.

Of course, the outfit that you choose to wear depends on the occasion, your sense of style, your budget, your favourite colours to wear, and the fabrics and fit that you feel most comfortable in. An elaboration of this comes to the type of hat, shoes, bag or other accessories that create a stylish ensemble. An ensemble is when all of these elements combine to create a look that appears “as one”, that is, not just matching, but to look as if they belong together. The most stylish of women can create this effect.

In the amount of space I have here, I can’t explore this is in detail, but here are a few suggestions to get you started in the right direction:

• Your Look - Determine the kind of look you are going for eg. Elegant, chic, modern, fun, mysterious, romantic. Ensure your dress or suit fits into this theme.

• Adapt your hat to enhance your chosen outfit.

• Use the Fabric - If possible, introduce the fabric of your outfit into your hats trimmings. This can be achieved in a number of ways, eg. the fabric can be draped around the crown of the hat, sewn as a binding for the brim edge, or beautifully transformed into flowers and leaves. Introducing fabric, whether identical or complementary to your outfit, is especially effective for balancing texture and colour.

• Choose a colour scheme - Making a hat work with your outfit doesn’t necessarily mean having to use the same colour. In fact, it’s best if it doesn’t! Complementary colour schemes are often the most striking as the opposing colours highlight the intensity of one another. This is however, the most difficult to balance. Harmonious colour schemes of similar colours are easier to work with, and these create a comfortable, relaxed and moody impression. Another option is a monochromatic colour scheme where light and dark shades of one single colour are used. Choose what you want to highlight, perhaps your eye colour or a particular part of your outfit, and then work from there.

• Pattern and Trim - If your outfit is patterned, avoid a hat with lots of trimmings. The size of the pattern in your outfit and the trimmings of your hat need to work together, eg. small patterns with small trimmings, whereas a large pattern will allow for larger trimmings. If your outfit is a plain colour, you can choose whichever size of trimmings you would like. However if you choose large trimmings, try to balance this using a belt, shoes or purse of the same colour so that your entire outfit works together as one piece.

Let’s read on to the next section,
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 - Hairstyle, Part 7