How to Dress Your Best

They say that your clothes are a reflection of your inner self. If you want to rock your style and let your true self shine through, then read on!

Steps

1. Before you buy anything, you need to establish what your own wonderful, unique style is. Try flipping through a few clothing magazines and see what type of clothes stand out to you. Grunge prints? Lacy Victorian pieces? Clean cut solids? You decide. Once you have a general idea of the clothes you like, give it a name. It doesn't have to simply be 'prep' or 'goth'. Those labels are limiting. You could go with 'feminine preppy grunge' or 'chic rocker'. Whatever fits you. You could even go with 'mod hippie gothic glam'. Whatever works!
2. Know what every girl needs in her closet. Regardless of the style of each of these pieces, every girl needs...
   • At least 5 pairs of jeans (one light, two dark, and two ripped.)
   • Three skirts (one long, two short.)
   • One or two good pairs of leggings (can be lacy, striped with skulls, whatever you want! Solid black can help you attain the eye-catching style you're looking for!)
   • Many shirts (some casual t-shirts, two or three long-sleeved shirts, a few camis, and a tunic (cowl neck) or even a tube top - again - for that eye-catching look.)
   • One or two basic belts (either to trim down the appearance of your waist or... to keep your pants up! Sequenced or a piano pattern might look cool. Experiment!)
   • Lots of shoes (1 pair of converse, 1 or 2 pairs of boots (suede, leather, short, long), around 3 pairs of flip flops for the summer, and maybe 2 pairs of flats.)
   • A sweater (in a neutral color like black or gray or a color that goes with most everything in your wardrobe.)
   • A winter coat (a darker color - dark green, brown or black, can be long or short.)
   • A signature hat (optional.)
   • A cute dress to top it all off, for parties and special events!
3. Now that you know your personal style and everything you need, it's shopping time! Forget expensive stores that charge more for the logo than the actual clothes. Ross and even thrift shops like Goodwill have tons of awesome clothes. Without searching for them, you can't find anything! You never know when you may end up with a fantastic deal. Don't forget these simple laws of fashion: You don't want to end up with tons of cute clothes that are completely incompatible with each other! So here they are:
   • Jeans go with everything except other jean pieces. Somehow, mixing jean vests with skinny jeans just doesn't look right.
   • A basic rule is matching a solid with a pattern. Nowadays you <i>can</i> wear two patterns together and pull it off. Just remember to keep the same color scheme going, with the patterns a different scale (small little flowers and small little skulls do not mix.)
   • Use neutral colors to balance out the bolder ones. Neutral colors are: black, white, brown, beige and navy.
   • Do not wear extremely baggy clothing (unless it's being balanced out by a tighter fitting piece), and do not wear so much clothing that you can hardly move! Make it comfy and it will work.
   • Do not wear the same outfit over and over again. That's why you've got the basics that were laid out to you earlier. Mix and match!
   • Accessories should be uniform and contain a piece (color, texture, pattern etc) uniting it all.
4. And there you have it! You now know what your personal style is, you know what you need to get there and you know some fashion do's and don'ts. Soon enough you'll be the best dressed person in the room and everyone will be asking you where you got your stellar fashion sense from!

Tips

• For more fashion tips and advice watch shows like What Not to Wear.
• Try not to wear what everyone else is wearing just because they are. It's okay to try a trend, but only if you like it.
• Take risks! <i>"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."</i> - Robert Kennedy. This doesn't mean you stray from your school's dress code, but do try messy prints and new styles. You could even be a trend starter here!
• Try to go to stores like Forever 21 , Heritage, Wet Seal, and sometimes Hollister (for t-shirts, sweats, and sweat shorts). Search for more stores of these types, where they have cheap clothes that look really great too! If you can afford it, some stores you can try are Guess, Arden B, True Religion (for jeans), Karen Millen, and much more.
• You need a good style to start out with, it all starts from there. If you want to go with an eye-catching style, you can go with a mint green top with black shorts rolled up an inch or two at the bottom with flats or flip flops, or a tube top underneath and leather jacket, (cropped or normal) with the same kind of shorts, and flats or flip flops. Decide whether to wear your hair up or down, depending on which looks better with your look for that day.
• Most importantly, be <i>yourself</i>.

Warnings

• Never <i>ever</i> steal someone's style. You can use classmates and celebrities as inspiration, but copying defeats the whole purpose of having personal style.