EP 134: How To Fit & Flatter Your Body With Wardrobe Styling Expert Alison Lumbatis

Get ready to elevate your style and radiate confidence with the exceptional Alison Lumbatis of Outfit Formulas. As a best-selling author and style savant, Allison graces our show with her wisdom on curating a wardrobe that celebrates every body type. Struggling to find that elusive perfect pair of jeans or wondering how to build a timeless capsule wardrobe? Worry no more, as this episode serves as your definitive guide, teeming with practical tips for dressing with intention and poise, regardless of age or budget.

Take the quiz and discover your perfect outfit formula. http://outfitformulas.com/quiz

JUMP RIGHT TO IT:

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0:00  Introductions

8:54 Body Shapes and Styling Tips

27:12 Spring Fashion Trends and Sizing Tips

36:16 The 101 on Jean Styles

48:22 Inspiration for Your Personal Style

CONNECT WITH ALISON:

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Website: Outfitformulas.com

Instagram: @alisonlumbatis & @outfitformulasofficial

Grab Alison’s Book: https://amzn.to/3uvU9e3

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:23

Introduce the amazing Allison Lombardis. Allison is the founder of Outfit Formulas, an online styling program that's helped over 150,000 women get dressed every day by empowering them to build stylish wardrobes that make them feel more confident, no matter their budget, size or age. Allison is the bestselling author of the Ultimate Book of Outfit Formulas and has been featured in Forbes, business Insider, yahoo Finance, red Book and Life and Style magazine. Welcome styling expert and wardrobe wonder woman, allison Lombardis.

Speaker 2: 1:01

I am so excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 1:04

I am so excited you are here. I was thinking about this the other day, was talking to somebody and we were talking about the difference between saying that you empower women and actually empowering other women, and I know that we were gonna have this interview and you came to mind because I thought of you, and the reason is I first met you because you agreed to come onto my podcast and record an interview before a single episode had even aired. You were like one of the first group of people who were like, yeah, I'll come and do an interview with her. And I did 12 like batched before a single episode even went live.

Speaker 1: 1:46

And it was just this amazing cohort of men and women that had built these incredibly successful businesses and had such amazing stories, who were so generous with their time, and you were one of them. So, ladies, I'm telling you from the back end she truly is a woman who lives generously and I have benefited not just my wardrobe has benefited from the input, but just knowing you. It's really been an honor. You're an inspiration, so I am thrilled to have you here.

Speaker 2: 2:16

Likewise, it's totally my pleasure to do everything that you're involved in. I love everything that you're doing for women, too, and you definitely talk the talk and walk the walk, so thank you.

Speaker 1: 2:28

Oh, thank you. Well, so let's get into the fun stuff. So a couple of things that I want to run through, and I'm gonna throw things that Alison Shearity knows the way that I roll. We've already done this before on the podcast, so one of the things that I wanna start with is, when we talk about clothing style, I learned this from you, actually, that there are some general styling truths that are applicable, sort of in general, just to women when it comes to fitting and flattering our body, and I'm gonna run through a couple that I learned from you, but I would love for you to think through, like some of the ones that come to your mind to give to us, and I'm making your job even harder because I'm gonna share some of the ones that you've already taught me, but she's incredible, she'll come up with more, I'm sure.

Speaker 1: 3:19

One of the things that I learned from you is skimming. So I have a rectangular body shape and that's something that I learned from this book. She actually is a formula that you can determine your exact body style or body shape, and the skimming was something that seems so simple, but I realized, thanks to being in the 90s era, I was wearing clothing too tight, like just from head to toe. I was either too tight or too loose, because it was like the super low cut pants and then the super tight top. And the skimming concept made so much sense to me, especially with dresses, because then they weren't like hugging every single curve, no matter how lean I was. It just wasn't as flattering, so skimming. The other thing that made such a big difference for me that I learned from you is just the opposite of tight top. Lower body then should be slightly looser, or vice versa. If you're gonna wear a slightly looser top, that is skimming, then you wanna wear tighter pants, simple as that sounds. So just made it so much easier to pair stuff together. And then for my rectangular body, I learned from you the idea of the pants should come to the smallest part of your waist, which I was doing wrong, because again, 90s era, everything was like the low cut hipster jeans that in no way, no matter how lean I was, flattered my boxy body.

Speaker 1: 4:42

Leopard is a neutral and women should be wearing it. I literally bought leopard shoes because I was like it's right, leopard is a neutral and I'm gonna buy myself leopard shoes. And then the fifth thing I'm making her job. Really difficult is that pants should come just above your half boots. I was like, oh my gosh, I already look so much better by putting my pants, like rolling it, like why didn't I know this? Those are five things that, across the board I can see, elevates a woman's style just in helping to fit and flatter. I have certainly seen it in mine. What are other things that come to mind, just generally speaking?

Speaker 2: 5:28

You make my job so easy. Seriously, Now, I love that you started with talking about fit and flatter, because I feel like this is the area where and especially in the alpha form, this community I see a lot of women struggling with this, with proportions, and you know really once that kind of clicks for them that you know whether it's like clinging all over or it's baggy all over, and, honestly, I see a lot of women, especially as we get older, we try to hide our bodies, so we tend to do things that you know we wear looser clothing, and really just focusing on your favorite part of your body, the part that you want to enhance, is key, whether you have great arms or you know, my mom always wore like v-neck tops because she always wanted to draw attention up and she felt like she had a really pretty neck and I thought that was just like the coolest thing. Just thinking about the one feature on your body that you can highlight, because I think all of us can agree, even if we have those body image issues that have plagued us, that there is at least one area that we say, hey, I like that and that is really the key. You know, highlight that part of your body, but, yes, you know, just really focusing on their proportions. That's going to be the key to making any outfit look more put together is if it fits your body really, really well. So you've hit on some really key things that I love to tell women and also to give yourself permission to dress the body you have now.

Speaker 2: 6:56

I speak to so many women who are in transition phases whether you know they're postpartum or you know they're transitioning from an office to working from home or whatever the case may be, and they just don't want to give themselves that permission to invest in clothing to dress the body they have now. And it's hard, I get it. I'd went up a pants size this past year and, as much as I fought it tooth and nail, I finally bought jeans that actually fit the size that I am now, and it was like I feel so much better, I feel so much better, and the first day I wore those jeans, my husband complimented.

Speaker 2: 7:29

He's like wow, those, I really love those jeans. They look great on you. And I think we just get kind of stuck in that headspace of I'm not going to dress the body I have now. I'm going to. You know, I'm going to wait and I would just encourage you to stop waiting and give yourself permission, because you are totally worth it.

Speaker 1: 7:45

Amen and what I mean, what you just said.

Speaker 1: 7:47

Ladies, we've literally talked about this recently in our fitness week training, where we talked about like, why do we exercise?

Speaker 1: 7:55

And talking about this rut of we keep exercising for a healthier tomorrow and, although that's not incorrect, it's highly incomplete and it keeps us in this hustling cycle as opposed to no, I'm actually exercising so I can live well today because I know today it's going to boost my confidence, my serotonin level is going to go up, I'm going to feel stronger, happier, and I think what you have said so many times and you say it in your book multiple times is dress for today, the body you have right now, instead of waiting for the like quote unquote skinny closet tomorrow.

Speaker 1: 8:30

Embrace the beauty that you've been given today and dress for success, regardless of body composition and where you're at, for my community. So I will absolutely love that You've mentioned body types and shapes and dressing for those shapes, regardless of the areas that you don't like, focusing on what you do like I would love to hear you know. Go through the four shapes and then anything that comes to mind, and most of you ladies probably know your shape. These are not new concepts. But then styling tips, even if it's just one per shape that you're like this is gold for this body shape.

Speaker 2: 9:43

Sure, and I think sometimes we get hung up in these spaces of body shape and it can be almost an obstacle to shopping for us in some ways. And I would just encourage you that this information is just information, like it's information that we're gathering about ourselves that informs our decisions. It's the same thing with color theory. I think a lot of women get stuck in that, like these aren't my colors or I don't know my colors, so I'm just not going to get anything right. So just keep that in mind when you're shopping, that if you put something on and it makes you feel confident, honestly that's like the litmus test for it. If you try it on in the fitting room and you get that gut instinct that tells you this is my heck yes item, then that is an item that you absolutely need in your closet.

Speaker 2: 10:25

But yes, you touched on the basic body shapes. You probably have either heard these referred to as vegetables, like you know, the carrot, or the apple, the pear, right or you've heard the triangle, the rectangle. I'm trying to think of them. I get confused whenever I have to go back and forth between the food and the shapes, yes, exactly.

Speaker 2: 10:49

Guys type in the chat.

Speaker 1: 10:50

What is your food or your shape?

Speaker 2: 10:53

Yes, you know your shape. I would type in your food or your shape. I'm a pear.

Speaker 1: 10:59

Yeah, what's the rectangle? Is there a food for me?

Speaker 2: 11:04

The rectangle? No, what is that? Oh my gosh, I'm trying, I'm totally drawing a blank on it, but it does have. It does have something associated with it. Does anybody know what the rectangle?

Speaker 1: 11:18

I'm a.

Speaker 2: 11:19

I'm a. Christine says she's a slice of bread.

Speaker 2: 11:21

Yeah, so if you're a pear shape, then you tend to be curvier on your bottom half. Uh, if you're and that's would also be the triangle shape, so you would be bigger on the bottom. If you're a reverse triangle, then that is also known as the apple body type Then you tend to carry your weight in your, in your upper body. Um, if you are the rectangle, then you tend to have pretty equal proportions throughout, not super curvy, and then we also do have like curvy hourglass shape, right, um, which is sort of like the even proportions on the top and the bottom. So in each of these, in each of these categories, there's going to be something about your body. Again, we're going to focus on that highlighting, accentuating the positive right. So, with your pear shape, since you're larger on bottom, you're going to really want to accentuate your waist, and you usually have a cute little tiny waist and these high waisted jeans that are out right now, they are your jam. If you're like me and you struggled your whole life with that gap in the back of your pants, then you've got to be loving the new denim silhouettes that are out there, because the new high waisted jeans, for the first time since I can remember are pants that fit my body, and I love that, and they hit right at that exact space on my body that I want to draw the eye to and draw the attention to. On my upper body, though, I'm going to want to do things that are going to make me look wider and larger, so that it's so I'm more proportionate. So I'm going to wear things like jackets with a little bit of a shoulder pad in them, or I'm going to wear those horizontal stripes, or I'm going to wear a boat neck collar that is going to open up this space and create that illusion of elongating and making me look like I'm wider on top, to balance the proportions out. And again we go back to proportions and balance, and it's all about the eye and the way that we want to draw the eye and trick people into seeing things that may be quite, quite.

Speaker 2: 13:09

Yeah, it's art. It's an art for us. It's an art. It truly is, and for petite too, I mean, this goes across the board, whatever body shape you are. If you're petite and you want to look longer, I highly recommend doing something monochromatic on the lower part of your body, and if you're petite, a lot of times you're drawn to wearing crop pants or shorter pants, but what's going to happen with that is actually going to cut off your lower body. So a more flattering style for petite is like a longer, flowy, flowier pant length or longer, flowier skirts. Those are actually going to elongate your lower body instead of the things that are going to cut you off at the bottom. For rectangle shapes, you already hit the nail on the head on it. You shared some of your tips with us.

Speaker 1: 13:52

I listened girl, I listened. I read this book multiple times. I love it.

Speaker 2: 13:55

I love it, but you are going to want to create the illusion of a waist and the illusion of curbs and, like you said, you were wearing the lower pants slung lower on your hips, which was totally the thing.

Speaker 2: 14:07

You know, like early 2000s that was. Everybody was doing that, right, it did not matter what your body shape was. And now you're starting to come around on. Oh well, I'm going to look for pants that are hitting on, that are going to accentuate the smallest part of my waist and are going to create that illusion for you of curves. But you also have the advantage of having proportionate you know, a proportionate body shape, whereas your top and lower half are going to be fairly proportionate, so you can accentuate things like your shoulders and really just kind of show off those parts of your body. We're with an apple shape, which is the inverted triangle. It's kind of the opposite, right, because the upper body portion is wider. You're going to be looking for ways to kind of make that look a little bit smaller, and then you're going to want to again accentuate the waist every single time and we kind of keep going back to that, finding the smallest part of your own waist.

Speaker 1: 15:00

And that's where you're going to be.

Speaker 2: 15:00

It's a proportion like you're saying, it's the middle, it truly is. Yeah, so that's where you're going to place your belts. You know, maybe you put a skinny belt around a cardigan at this part of your waist instead of low slung and wearing things lower on your body. And also with the apple shapes too, it's really important to you know, wear those v-necks that are going to draw the eye up to your face and they kind of just create that little triangle that kind of highlights your face. I love v-necks. I think they look great on all of the body shapes and they're very flattering and they kind of open things up, as I'm as I'm wearing a crew neck today, but I digress Would- you look fantastic, thank you.

Speaker 2: 15:37

I try to wear what I love. I just want you guys to know apple doesn't mean round.

Speaker 1: 15:41

I've had this in conversation sometimes and I learned this from your book. It's actually that like your well, correct me if I'm wrong here like your shoulder width is wider than your hip width, right, and I think that's the yes Cause I think people have misunderstood that apple, like there's legit dimensions that you measure. It's not just that you're round.

Speaker 2: 16:00

Yes, and apple shapes also tend to have thinner legs. So show your legs off, ladies. If you're an apple shape, like absolutely you, wear those shorts and skirts and show your beautiful legs off all day long.

Speaker 1: 16:12

And then we have our curves and pairs are smaller on top, as in, like breast size might be smaller, for example, like you're just generally smaller on top.

Speaker 2: 16:19

Is that? Yes, shoulders tend to be narrower.

Speaker 1: 16:22

Yeah, Gotcha, and then our glasses, where you're just in general bigger on top and you have hips.

Speaker 2: 16:28

Yes, there's. That is the curvy Marilyn Monroe body shape that we've, yes, idealized. And for curvy, yes, they can wear anything, they can, they truly can, because it all just lathers their bodies.

Speaker 1: 16:42

Nope, just a piece of bread over here.

Speaker 2: 16:45

So for the curvy's again, like you really just want to choose, since you do have, you know, do usually have a lupus, bosom and you've, you know, baby, got back to you pick what you really want to accentuate and that's what you focus on.

Speaker 1: 16:58

You're like the 360 degree curve. Yes, I love it. I love it. That's what's. It's so interesting and I think we forget this sometimes, ladies is just that it is an art form, like makeup, hair, clothing, and it's an education. It's like so easy to forget that there's a lot of work that goes into just understanding how to fit and flatter your body, and so I'm so grateful when people can break it down to practical ways to do that, and I just you've done such a great job of that. You. I think you hit all of the body types right. Did anyone? Their food or their shape was missed.

Speaker 2: 17:44

And you know what, sometimes and I need to caveat this there are certain women who don't fit squarely into one of these particular body shapes and I know that that's been a source of frustration. You know, I've heard from readers of my book like I've gone through this, I did all the measurements and I just don't know where I land. And in that case, you know this is where you have to give yourself some grace, be willing to experiment and again, try on the things that light you up, and if it makes you feel good and makes you feel confident when you put it on, then that's a winner for sure.

Speaker 1: 18:13

Yeah, I think I even asked you this last time what are your thoughts on the skinny belts versus the wider belts? When do you wear which one?

Speaker 2: 18:25

So with a wider belt. You're going to want to do this around your natural waist, which our natural waist is the smallest part of our waist, so this is something that you'll probably want to wear around a dress, or if you're layering like a cardigan over top of something else, then you're going to want to put the wider belt around that. The skinny belts look great on, you know, like dress, pants, jeans. I'm starting to see skinny belts come back with jeans for spring this year, which is great, because I feel like the past few years, we really just have not seen belts used a lot, and they're one of my favorite accessories. Again, I love how they accentuate the waist.

Speaker 2: 19:00

I feel like they're an easy way to add details and interest to your outfits, whether it's just like a neutral patent belt or you could do something with a little bit of a pattern to it, but they're just, they're such a fun accessory and I feel like, again, they're like accessible to everyone. They're not expensive and they're an easy way just to add that little bit of interest and details to your outfit. So, yeah, you can wear them with those high waist jeans. You can wear them, you know, with the trouser jean. You can wear them with your dress, pants, with all of those. I think the skinny belt tends to look a little bit better, but those thicker, wide statement belts look great over layering pieces like dresses and sweaters and things like that.

Speaker 1: 19:38

In general, if you are wearing belt, should you just be tucking in your shirt?

Speaker 2: 19:44

Yes, if you are worrying about yes, you should, unless you want to do like a half tuck or a French tuck, which the French tuck is basically like half of a button down shirt that you're putting in the front of your pants. The half tuck, of course, is just tucking the front into your pants and then leaving the back out, which I have a half tuck today.

Speaker 1: 20:02

Because I always feel like when I wear a belt I have to just tuck in the shirt the whole year round, Because otherwise I think it's because I'm like petite anamboxy, so it's like trying to. If I don't just tuck it in the whole year round, then it feels like bulky. Yes, I think is what it feels like.

Speaker 2: 20:19

It creates a smoother silhouette, especially if you're petite.

Speaker 1: 20:22

Yeah, and petite define petite for us. What exactly is petite? It varies.

Speaker 2: 20:28

Honestly, it varies from retailer to retailer, which most people don't know.

Speaker 1: 20:31

Interesting yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:33

It is interesting because you could. I feel like men can buy a size 36, right, and it's the same across every single retailer on planet Earth. But women we have just the vanity sizing that varies drastically from retailer to retailer Typically petite are I would say the cutoff is 5'3", but 5'2" is more recognized. I'm 5'4" and I'm always right there on the cusp.

Speaker 1: 20:58

I can't wear regulars and I can't wear petite, so it's like yes, that's exactly where I am.

Speaker 2: 21:02

Yes, and even that rare pair of jeans or pants that fits you right off the rack. It's kind of like a unicorn, and I'll buy multiple pairs of those in different colors and washes, because it's just so difficult to find a pair that fits or hits at the right length.

Speaker 1: 21:19

Yeah, what is the right length? Let's follow that up. Yeah, what is the right length?

Speaker 2: 21:26

Honestly, when I'm talking about length in your pants and jeans, it has so much to do with the footwear that you're pairing it with. If you're wearing primarily flats, ballet flats, sneakers, loafers, then you're going to want the great thing about an ankle jean is that it works with everything. So I try to find jeans that fit that hit right at the ankle bone.

Speaker 1: 21:50

Not crack jeans ankle jeans.

Speaker 2: 21:52

Ankle jeans, exactly, and you can wear those with all of your flats, with your sneakers and with your ankle, your heel to ankle boots, as long as it's not like a super high heel where it's going to make the higher the heel, the higher your pants are going to look. So keep that in mind With a longer pant, like a trouser pant or jean, or even the longer wide leg jeans. Those are always going to look more flattering with a heel of some kind.

Speaker 1: 22:19

The wider leg jeans, flattering with a heel.

Speaker 2: 22:22

Yes, very, very much so, and that makes it trickier for shorter people like us. I don't wear heels every day or ever, not very often, no, but I love the look of those longer jeans, so I do try to pair those up with my ankle boots once in a while just to kind of mix things up. But yes, that's kind of the general rule of thumb, and I just posted something on my Instagram this past week that shows different ways to pair up the length of your jeans with different footwear. But again, it's really it has 100% to do with what shoes you wear most often and for the most part, I buy jeans that I can wear with my flats, and then I have a few pairs that I just can wear with heels exclusively. But I try not to invest a lot of money in those because I know I'm not going to wear them very often. So really consider your lifestyle when you're thinking about shopping for your pants and jeans.

Speaker 1: 23:16

What about skinny jeans? I think skinny jeans are one of the hardest, because they can either be too tight, and then you're wearing them like jeans but they're really leggings and not as flattering, or they're like skinny jeans that aren't actually skinny, they're more just tapered. I feel like they're a really hard one to pick. And then how do you pick the right pair? And then how do you style skinny jeans? Also, you guys, if you have questions at any time, be typing them in the chat, because we will get to them, and if you're like me, you got to write it down right when you think of it, so type it in and don't worry.

Speaker 1: 23:49

Yes.

Speaker 2: 23:50

Mom will get to it. Yeah, that's exactly right.

Speaker 1: 23:53

So feel free to just throw questions in the chat. We'll definitely get to them. But yeah, I would love to hear your thoughts on how do we shop for skinny jeans and then how do we wear them?

Speaker 2: 24:02

Yeah, so the thing about skinny jeans is you can wear them just like you would leggings, but you don't feel as exposed, right? So you don't have to have the longer tops with them. You can wear longer tops with them if you want to, but generally they have pockets and more structure and they're a little bit of a thicker fabric and they're holding things in and all the good things about skinny jeans. So really, look for a pair that has enough stretch but isn't going to stretch out, and this is where online reviews come in super handy, because you don't want them to. You know, halfway through your day, you're like your jeans are bagging at the knees or that's just not a good look, right, is that?

Speaker 1: 24:32

the Lycra? Yeah, is that the Lycra in it?

Speaker 2: 24:35

A little bit of spandex, I think, is what they put in the material?

Speaker 2: 24:39

I'm not sure, but there is like a little bit of stretch in there. So when you pick them up and you pull on them, you should be able to feel that little bit of tension and stretch in the jean. And if you're shopping in a store, go online, look up the jeans online and see what people are saying in the reviews. I get so much gold from online reviews every time I'm shopping for denim. I want to know are these going to hold up well? Are these going to fade? Do they stretch out? Like? You're going to get all of that information before you even make the purchase, which is super important.

Speaker 2: 25:09

We didn't have that advantage years ago and I would buy jeans and then, like be super disappointed with them A few wears in. So that's really important. But yeah, I think those are the key things to look for, and the thing about skinny jeans is that they are super wearable with everything. I feel like of all of the jean types out there, they have the most versatility and I know that there's this big debate going on right now of like are skinny jeans still in style? Like they're not. I don't see them as much anymore. I don't see people wearing them as much anymore. I don't think they're out of style. Honestly, I don't think they're ever going to be out of style. I feel like they have crossed over into this new classic territory because, I mean, they've been the primary style.

Speaker 1: 25:46

They're comfortable for one thing.

Speaker 2: 25:48

They are and again, they're versatile and even you can look back as far as, like this, fifties and sixties and like the pencil cut pants and jeans and even like Audrey Hepburn was wearing a style of jeans back then that could have been considered like almost a skinny jean. Like this is a classic silhouette. It's not something that is going to just be super outdated, you know, if you're still wearing skinny jeans now or three years from now, and if you look at retailers, they are still stocking skinny jeans everywhere, so they're not going away.

Speaker 2: 26:18

Don't panic if you have a whole closet full of them. I've had so many women come to me and say I'm seeing all these new silhouettes of jeans. It's like straight legs and wide legs and all of this other stuff there's so many. Yes, there are so many right now and they're like, I'm just a great yeah.

Speaker 1: 26:32

Ben Tay says I will always own skinny jeans. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:35

And then I just I'm so with you on that I feel like you can wear them with tall boots, you can wear them with heels, you can wear them ankle boots, you can wear them with sandals, you can wear them with flats, like they work with literally everything.

Speaker 1: 26:45

So yeah, well, and it's like finally, the woman's permission to wear dressed up leggings. I mean, I think that's really what they are and, like you said, they hold stuff in, especially once you've had several kids and you're like I just want something that smooths me out a little bit more. But it's like a permission to actually wear leggings to work, because you can dress them up.

Speaker 1: 27:05

And you mentioned something interesting about stretch and I heard this once. And tell me how you approach this, because I have seen this where I often buy jeans initially that I think fit me well, but then it does not take long for them to be too loose. It's like I have to wash them in high heat to shrink them back down to fit me well. And somebody had told me that you actually need to buy them hider than what you think because. But how do what does that mean? Because then you're like in the story, like I can't get these on. How do you know the appropriate amount of stretch, like is there a finger length? Or when you're actually trying them on, how much should they be stretching the?

Speaker 2: 27:46

more tension on them in the store, the less likely they are to stretch out.

Speaker 2: 27:52

So I would say, size down if you feel like there's a little more, give in the fabric and stay with your normal size if you feel like there's not.

Speaker 2: 28:06

For instance, I bought a pair of jeans at loft this past fall and they're more of like the mom Jean style that's really popular right now, which means they're more of the traditional denim that we wore back in the nineties, early 2000s and they don't have that same amount of stretch in them. And quickly I realized that I needed to size down in those jeans because they stretched out and the first pair of jeans like that I bought in a really long time I was like I remember this problem now. So really pay attention to the fabric and really just kind of pulling on that and seeing how much tension is in it and how much stretches in it and that's going to determine if you should size down or not, because those jeans will stretch out on you, I promise you, even when you dry them high heat, it's still going to happen. So pay attention to that. But any of your skinny jeans, you can usually get away with getting your normal size in those and they're not going to do that.

Speaker 1: 28:59

So do the stretch test. Christine says do you have a go-to reference to check out the latest styles? That's a great question. Yeah, allison Lombardis on Instagram.

Speaker 2: 29:11

I go shopping, she actually has to follow on Instagram.

Speaker 1: 29:13

She does a lot of education, which I so appreciate. Like it's not just buy this, no, it's like don't buy this. She says don't buy this more than she says buy this actually.

Speaker 2: 29:23

Yes, I'm a big fan of telling women to stop shopping, because I feel like we all think that the solution to a functional wardrobe is to go out and buy more stuff, and it's not.

Speaker 2: 29:32

It's actually to pause shopping temporarily. Take an inventory of what you already have, because most of us have a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear, right? And once you take that inventory and you clean out your closet and you take out all of the things you're not wearing, because we only wear about 20% of what's in there at any given time Once you get that 80% out that's just creating decision fatigue. Then you can focus on creating a list of the items that you actually need.

Speaker 2: 29:57

I keep a list on my phone all the time, whether it's oh, I need to replace my basic white t-shirts, or I need a new pair of jeans that feels more stylish, or whatever the case may be, or I need a new pair of jeans in my new size.

Speaker 2: 30:10

Then I just put it on my phone and then I curate my closet over time so that when I'm out at the store, I'm able to shop at the purpose and know exactly what I'm looking for and it doesn't feel as overwhelming. So, as far as trends are concerned, I just do a lot of trend spotting. I follow different accounts online, but for the most part, the way that I do this is just really walking into stores and seeing what's on trend, like what colors are trending this season and we're going into spring right now. What I'm seeing right now are a lot of bright colors are back, which is crazy, right. We haven't seen bright colors in a while. I'm seeing open knits, so really just like very loose open knits where you kind of have to wear something under it Like a cami underneath.

Speaker 2: 30:52

Yeah, yes, exactly. I'm seeing all kinds of jeans silhouettes, from straight to boot, cut to trouser, to everything is represented right now in the jean area. Shirt dresses are on trend for spring, which are super easy to wear, true, and women are. A lot of women are like I wouldn't wear a shirt dress because I you know that's like a dressier item. But you can totally dress those down, pair them up with cute sandals or sneakers or whatever, and the beauty in a dress is it's a one and done piece you throw the dress on, put on some earrings, pair shoes, you're done for the day. It's like it's so easy.

Speaker 1: 31:23

Women don't wear dresses anymore. Has anyone noticed this? Like in church? I am one of the few women that wear heels. Like who do? I think I am, I don't know. I literally had somebody say I've never met someone who wears high heels as much as you and I was like, huh, interesting. Just make you feel good, I know, just call me Kate Middleton.

Speaker 2: 31:43

I love it, you know my husband asked me a few years ago he's like, what makes you feel most confident? And it was like such a random, out of the blue question that I didn't even think about it at all. It was like this gut instinct reaction and I said, oh, wearing high heels. And he said, really, that's interesting because you never wear them. I was like you know what, you're right, so I get it. I get it. I don't wear them very frequently, but when I do put them on, they're like my power shoes, whatever.

Speaker 2: 32:08

Whenever I want to show them the world in a different way. They just make me.

Speaker 1: 32:12

But it's on her palms. They're that thing. I know I do. I love slidow heels. I always have. I'm such a sucker. But what you said about dresses, so let's make sure we have Christine's question. What would you say? Just generally, you're looking at the store. There's not a website that particularly monitors trends.

Speaker 2: 32:30

No, I wouldn't say there is, and the funny thing about it is, if you were to do a Google search right now on spring 2024 trends, you would see Ho-Kurt, ho-kurt, ho-kurt, tour I can't say the word tour, runway styles that do not translate into anything that we would wear in real life. Right Like that. Stuff takes a while to trickle down into mainstream trends and when it does, it looks totally different from what you're seeing on the runways. So that's never been a reliable source for me. It is honestly just getting out into the stores, the McFens, the practical.

Speaker 1: 33:00

I stock their websites.

Speaker 2: 33:02

I know when this is crazy. I know when a retailer is going to do like a mid-season drop which is like their preview of the. It's like a between season drop, it's a mini one which most of them have them out right now. If you go like Old Navy or Nordstrom or J Crew, every retailer has like this mid-season drop that goes on in February and that's sort of a little bit of a preview of what we're actually going to see in March. And March is when they do the big drop for the actual season. And so you start to kind of pick up on the clues.

Speaker 2: 33:33

And when I start seeing commonalities like I'll start at Target because I get my groceries there and I just was like, oh, I'm just going to breeze through and see what's Target got coming up, yeah, yeah and I see like the open knits and the brink of the pandemic, like the open knits and the bright colors and the denim on denim and all of the different denim silhouettes and the shirt dresses and raffia sandals and crossbody bags, and I'm like, okay, check, check, check, making notes of all of this. Then I go to the mall and I walk into H&M and I'm like, oh, okay, well, they have a lot of crossover with Target Plus. They have the lady jackets. Do you know what I'm talking about? They're those like Chanel jacket with the little gold buttons I've seen those everywhere oh the lady jacket yes, the lady jacket.

Speaker 2: 34:10

And those are cool because you can pair them with jeans and stuff and like dress them up or dress them down, and buttons on everything and stripes and more, like nautical vibes for spring, and you know. So I'm starting to see like, okay, I see crossover between these retailers and then I just pop around to different stores and just kind of see what is the overlap here, what are the color trends, what are these retailers all kind of having common, what are the outlier trends, what are the things that are just a little bit outside of the box on some level. But yeah, it's really just a lot of observation. And then I'd like to just sit and watch people too.

Speaker 2: 34:47

I'm my daughter's in college, so I'll go and look at what are the girls on college campuses wearing. Not that that's like a really good indicator of what women our age are wearing, but you know anyone right, but the trend 30s to 60s are wearing. But it does kind of give you a peek into those trends, like, are they still wearing skinny jeans? Because I do find that sometimes things happen in Gen Z and then they start to trickle into oh okay, now we've seen millennials do this and now okay, well, now.

Speaker 2: 35:18

Gen X is starting to adopt to this, whether it's. I think white sneakers were the first thing. Here's another thing, that's super helpful.

Speaker 1: 35:24

White sneakers wild Like. I'm seeing tuxedos with white sneakers Like it's. So isn't it crazy?

Speaker 2: 35:29

So I have to tell you something else that's super helpful and I know not everybody has the luxury of doing this, but I try to go to Europe once a year and specifically, okay guys you heard it from Alice in Lombardis right here it's all work related. It's just saying, yeah, and now let's take us as part of her business expense? No, I'm dead serious because we see things over there way before we start seeing them here. I remember I took my daughter to.

Speaker 2: 35:59

Paris for her birthday one year, and that's that was the orbs. Like, oh my gosh, everyone in Europe is wearing these ugly white sneakers Like what in the world is going on? And then, a couple of years later, everyone in the US is wearing them. And now, like, I have them on today because I love them. And it's just funny how we start to see things happening a couple of years before we, like, fully embrace the trends here. So I love to pay attention to European fashion and I watch all the little tick talks of what are people wearing in Paris today and I'm like oh, that's interesting.

Speaker 1: 36:34

See this. Perfect. So Alice can just watch all of the European trends and I'll watch Alison.

Speaker 2: 36:39

I like your styles very much. I do, I do, I watch you, I'm like I love that. Oh, I like that idea.

Speaker 1: 36:46

Kate says what about straight jeans or boot cut? Are they still a classic style? Jeans are so hard. If I could literally just pay somebody to buy me jeans or pants that fit and flatter my body like jeans, like pants are hard.

Speaker 2: 37:02

Oh, they are.

Speaker 1: 37:02

They're so hard.

Speaker 2: 37:03

So hard and when you find the magical unicorn pair of jeans that fits you again like, buy it in every wash and color, because I promise you, if you try to come back three weeks later, all your sizing is going to be sold out. So that's my tip for you.

Speaker 1: 37:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:16

Yeah, straight, straight, leg boot cut. It's a weird season for jeans, but it's also a really cool one, because anything goes. There's nothing off limits. Like everything is in style. Even the lower waist jeans are coming back. I was shopping with my daughter over Christmas and saw the lower waist jeans are starting to come back in style. The high waist jeans are in style. The mid-rise jeans are in style. So the cool thing about this is that you can find something that works for your body type. You're not pigeonholed into. You just have to wear high waist jeans, or you only can wear skinny jeans or whatever Like. If you haven't bought New Denim in a while, now is a great time. Go experimenting, take multiple pairs into the fitting room and find out what works for you.

Speaker 1: 38:00

Are there certain jeans silhouettes, along with the straight jeans, the boot cut that certain body shapes should maybe stay away from, like if straight, or boot or flare.

Speaker 2: 38:13

Yeah, I'd have to say Apple shapes don't do as well with high waist jeans, especially if you tend to carry your weight in your tummy. Then you're going to want to do more of like a mid-rise jean. Boot cut jeans are generally pretty universally flattering, but pairs in particular, because again we're creating kind of like that silhouette where we're having the thinner waist and then it's sort of like tapering down, which is another reason why A line skirts work really well for pair shapes too, because it's that skimming over the hips sort of thing, right, creating those illusions. Straight jeans work well for most body types. I would say curvy or body types tend to not fare as well with straight jeans. But if you are a curvy, go with a higher waist straight jean, because that's going to hit at your small part on your waist and then it's going to kind of like skim over your curves. But curvy can wear skinny jeans really really well too. So there's definitely a jean type out there, for everybody's sake for sure.

Speaker 1: 39:16

That's helpful. Do you typically recommend lighter denim for spring or summer?

Speaker 2: 39:22

I do. Yes, I think I even personally gravitate toward lighter denim for spring and summer. I wear lots of gray and black jeans in the fall and winter and then I like to just transition into those lighter. I do lighter gray, I do light blue wash. I know a lot of people aren't super big fans of white jeans for various reasons. But I love white jeans, I think. But they're just like that crisp, clean silhouette and everybody can wear white jeans. I love challenging women outside of their comfort zones in this area. I've had women come into my program before and like, nope, I'm going to do everything but the white jeans Not going to do it Really.

Speaker 1: 39:57

Wait why I'm so curious. What's the reason?

Speaker 2: 40:01

I think it's a misconception that white jeans make us look bigger, which is not true.

Speaker 2: 40:04

They can be as slimming as black jeans and also that they show every bump and bulge, which can be true because a lot of the white denim is super thin and you have to be careful and that's where you read the reviews and try on different pairs until you find one with the right thickness. That is going to not do that, Because they get dirty. I think that a lot of women are hesitant to wear them because they just show dirt very easily. It's one of those things that once they do convert into wearing white jeans, they're like how did I not do this?

Speaker 1: 40:39

I love that. Yeah, they are very versatile and they do have a summer feel. I think that's why I like them. They're airy, airy feeling. Vente says I wear white sneakers with every kind of outfit, even dresses. Honestly, you're on trend. You're on trend 1,000%. Who was it that? I saw Some really high fashion event and I wasn't even Googling and it just popped up on Instagram and it was somebody in yeah, like a black tie affair with white sneakers.

Speaker 2: 41:08

It's funny because it is on trend. I love it and, honestly, I was like I need to buy some new shoes for spring. What's on trend? And again, I'm like going out observing what are people wearing and as I'm out at the mall in Dallas, a couple of weeks ago there was, I would say, 90%, 95% of the shoppers had on white sneakers women. And it's not wild, it's crazy.

Speaker 1: 41:33

Someone started that Someone somewhere started that trend and it's such a crazy thing how it just becomes. So I mean, that's the concept of trends. I guess you touched on something that I want to highlight really quick for everyone. I did this actually not that long ago was cleaning out my wardrobe, and you talk about capsule wardrobe idea and I used your book sort of as a landing page. And then I, because I'm like type A, I created this spreadsheet for myself in Canva and had all of the outfits that I put together and I took a picture of each one and then I like put it in this spreadsheet in Canva because I don't remember, like anyone else, I put together an outfit and I have the thought this is a really great outfit idea. And then the next time I try to remember what was that good outfit idea I put together. I can't remember it. I don't remember what I wore close. So I actually snapped pictures of all these outfit ideas and a lot of it was based from the ones that you recommend in your outfit formulas book.

Speaker 1: 42:35

But for those of you listening and watching, and those of you kind of watching this down the road, one of the most valuable things that I think I took from Allison's book and just something that you say all of the time and you touched on this is actually having a wardrobe that you wear and I held on. It's amazing how many clothes we hold on to, and I kept spending money on cheap clothes. This was always my justification. I was a huge like garage sailor or thrift store shopper, including clothes, but then I had closet of clothes with nothing to wear instead of just getting rid of the stuff that I didn't love and buying an essential staple that was a little bit more money, that had a nicer fabric, that fit me better, that I actually wore, and so that, I think, has been one of the most drastic transitions in my wardrobe approach. And it's super messy. I literally emptied my entire closet. My husband is still next. I told him we're going to do it to his and he's like, uh, but it really did make such a difference.

Speaker 1: 43:40

And then I donated bags of clothing and my approach was do I actually wear this? And did it fit the criteria? Like the pants, does it actually come to the right part of my waist? And then the shirts were they too tight or they too loose? Was I ever going to wear them? So I do highly encourage people to do that. Book is really helpful with that. But I appreciate you. You stress that all the time and I save money. I actually buy less clothes now, even though I buy more expensive ones. I am hands down spending less money on clothes even though I'm buying nicer clothes.

Speaker 2: 44:16

That's funny how that happens, isn't it? When you buy the heck yes items, the quality pieces, the ones that you actually want to wear season after season, year after year, you do spend less clothes, or spend less money over time, and you buy less clothing over time because you find closet contentment. Right, that's the goal.

Speaker 1: 44:35

Yeah, and then the other thing you said that I also started doing a couple of years ago is I would too often go into target Dangerous one. And you see the shirt that you're like that's so cute or it's so soft, or it looks so cozy, and then you buy it and then you're like wait, what does this go with? You're like, oh shoot, I actually have nothing to really pair this with, and so you mentioned that too is now, instead of the impulse shopping, it's intentionally shopping. So writing down, oh, I have this pair of pants I love, what are two or three tops? And going through the closet okay, this is the one that I'm missing. And then, yeah, it's just more intentional, instead of impulse shopping, it is.

Speaker 2: 45:19

And I love using Pinterest for this too. So let's just say you have a pair of gray jeans that you love and you are stumped on ideas for pairing those up. So you can search gray jeans outfits for women on Pinterest. You can get as specific as you want it could be casual gray jeans outfits or date night gray jeans outfits, whatever and then look through the outfits that come up in your search. If you like something, try to recreate it from your closet first. If you don't have the pieces, you can substitute items to kind of get a similar look. But if you see something specific that you don't have, this is a great way to get more life and wear out of those. Gray jeans is adding in a few new pieces that you know you're going to be able to pair up with them. I love the capsule wardrobe concept because it allows you to mix and match pieces in your closet. It allows you to know that when you buy something, you're going to be able to wear it in multiple ways and just get more bang for your buck out of it, and not just from a budgetary standpoint, but from the standpoint of again, like decision fatigue and not knowing what to wear.

Speaker 2: 46:21

I love that you keep track of your outfits. I take pictures of outfit pairings. Like sometimes I'll carve out 30 minutes before a season starts and think I'm kind of stumped. I don't know what to wear this season. So I'll pull out my favorite pair of jeans or shorts or dress or whatever, and then I start just laying it out on my bed and pairing it up in different ways. So then I'll go get a top out of my closet that goes with it, then I'll get a jacket that matches that, and then I'll grab a pair of shoes that matches it. And then I take a picture with my phone and then I'll just keep that same pair of jeans on my bed and then swap everything out to create a different and new pairing.

Speaker 2: 46:55

And you can even keep the same pairing but, like, maybe dress it up and put a pair of dressier shoes with it or a dressier jacket. And what happens over time is that you accumulate this album of outfit ideas and then, as you wear those outfit ideas, you can snap a selfie in your mirror and if it's a winner and something that you really love again, like this really just cuts down on deciding what to wear to your next event. You're going out to lunch with your girlfriends, you're like, oh, I got to get dressed really quick. I don't know what to wear. And then you just refer back to these pictures that you already have on your phone or the things that you found on Pinterest. It's really about just doing that prep work. A little bit of prep work is going to go a long way toward helping you get dressed every day.

Speaker 1: 47:35

And I think the beauty of it and the piece that is trying to find that balance is, if we don't spend a little bit of time initially doing the work to think about our style, how do we fit and flatter our body? Our go-to I'll speak for myself ends up being comfortable, baggy thing that just hides what's underneath, and it's because I just don't feel like putting in the work to think about it, and so we ended up reverting to that, like you said, almost hiding, because we haven't put a little bit of time in initially to dress for our body today, and so I think that's kind of the. You know, for some of us it's uncomfortable because we haven't thought of ourselves that way. We just like to stick to what's really safe and plain and just a size or two too big, as opposed to embracing our body types and understanding the education how to artfully dress it without breaking our budget and maybe even using the clothes that are already in our closet. You also taught me this. We have not touched on this at all and I'm going to wrap up here so you guys can ask any other questions and we'll do this giveaway.

Speaker 1: 48:41

But in order to find your style, if you're wondering, like I don't even know what my style is or how to even search for it. Allison taught me this a couple of years ago to go. When you go on Pinterest and you find outfits that you like, if you click on it you're usually going to go to a fashion blogger of some sort or someone who has a website somewhere and you can kind of like do the backwards work and find out what they're calling that style. So for me, when I did that, I came down to I'm like the French English, like classic style. So I've learned to just start typing French women's wardrobe ideas and that kind of gets me a good start on. But I had to do it backwards, like Kate Middleton. I love Kate Middleton style. What is her style, or if you see someone that you like. So that's one way to do it backwards and then get those outfit ideas to put together.

Speaker 2: 49:37

Yeah, yeah, I love that. And you can also just go to Pinterest and start randomly pinning outfits that you love and putting them into an album, and then have somebody sit down with you and say what commonalities are you seeing here? Are you drawn to bright colors? Do you like more minimalist styles? Is it more neutrals? Do you like minimal accessories? How are these outfits speaking to you? And that's going to give you clues to your personal style preferences and will help you when you go shopping and decide what you want to buy.

Speaker 1: 50:10

I love that. Do you guys have any other questions? Type them in the chat if you have any other questions. Allison has so generously offered a giveaway of her book. I cannot recommend it enough. You are all being entered and I'm going to press spin the wheel. Here I have a wheel generator. Allison's website is outfitformulascom for her styling program. Do you want to touch base a little bit on what outfit formulas is?

Speaker 2: 50:40

Yes, outfit formulas is essentially meal planning for your closet. I give you a shopping list of exactly what you need, your closet staples, which are the pieces that you're going to wear season after season, year after year, and then every season, I add in a couple of the latest new, fresh trends, just to keep everything feeling fresh and new and modern, and then I give you a daily outfit idea. So we just moved into an app based solution for this.

Speaker 2: 51:06

Our beta testing our app right now, but you get a daily outfit notification on your phone. Click on that and you're going to see the outfit of the day that you're going to be styling from the pieces that you'll have in your closet. So it's really a way to build a functional capsule wardrobe that is going to work for you year round and also be able to take advantage of the latest trends. And we have this vibrant, amazing community of women that is just really supporting each other on the fashion journey, and the beauty in that is that every single body shape is represented in that community and they are just so good at uplifting each other and really just helping with that personalized advice and support that we all can use on the style journey.

Speaker 1: 51:44

Yeah, I also appreciate I think you've made it very affordable. Considering the fashion industry, I think you have really done a good job serving women, a large majority of women with your pricing as well. So I'll throw that out there for you guys. We'll make sure all these links are included in. Allison has so generously, her company is giving early morning habits some outfit formulas as well that will incorporate into the program. So do you want to speak to that at all?

Speaker 2: 52:11

Yes. So we're going to help you get your closet staples sorted out, so we'll get you started with that and some some outfit ideas to go along with it, so that you'll have a place to start, because it can be overwhelming, especially if you're just reinventing your wardrobe or you're coming through a transition period and you don't know where to start Allison.

Speaker 1: 52:28

where can people find you? Where can people follow you and just keep an eye on all the amazing things you're doing?

Speaker 2: 52:35

Yeah, you can find me everywhere at Allison Lombadas, I have a lot of fun on Instagram if you want to join me there. And outfit formulas official is the handle for all things related to outfit formulas.

Speaker 1: 52:47

I want to end with something that Allison wrote in her book and why I'm so grateful for her in this program, because her heartbeat is one with ours. She says if you walk away with just one thing from this book, I want it to be this confidence and a sense that you deserve to do what it takes to live your most beautiful life. You are worthy. You are wonderfully made by your creator. Never, ever, forget this. I praise you, for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. Psalm 139, 14. Allison, I cannot thank you enough. You are a blessing to me. You are such a blessing to many women and I pray over your heart, your home, your business. I'm so grateful for you.

Speaker 2: 53:34

Likewise, Anna. I'm super grateful for you. Thank you.