STYLIST ADVICE

Fashion Stylist Advice: When you need fashion advice, style tips & what to wear & how to wear it, ask our stylist Sharon Haver & her team of contributing fashion, beauty, and style experts!

Dress for Success: What Defines Your Style?

What really defines your style?  You've thought about it, and we've spent over 15 years online helping you explore the true meaning of style. And with summer just around the corner, what better a time for style motivation as the new season approaches?    If you crave some more style motivation, don't forget to check out my Daily StyleWORD here on FocusOnStyle. In this stylist advice post, I want to recap what I said to Tina Ann from San Juan Capistrano, CA during a free FocusOnStyle Insider's Community call the other evening. The best way to always be in the know is to be on The List. So get on it! -S.H. Click To Register: Don't Miss My F.R.E.E. Dress For The Success You

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Business Style Update: Three Ways to Upgrade Your Style Now Even If Fashion Is Not Your Thing

I was at a business retreat this weekend with fellow women entrepreneurs who suddenly found themselves in the spotlight. Sounds great, right? Nope. These otherwise smart, savvy and successful women looked like deer in headlights when it came to how they present themselves.  Simply because they never really thought about it before. It just was not their thing. And now, they felt insecure, irrelevant, inappropriate and out of touch. It doesn't have to be that way. Even if style doesn't come naturally to you, looking pulled together and relevant is mandatory if you want to be perceived as someone who has made it in your profession. Style can be intimidating if  you're afraid to take the chance. It’s so easy to

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Repeat Offender – Wear something you haven’t worn in a month, A NEW WAY

As the balmier days of the season come to a close, it's time to wear something on repeat, but refreshed for one last wear. Those rethink it moments: And why not? With many of your go-to winter closet constants about to make way for the spring season ahead, consider the possibilities of one last wear, rethought for a sartorial boost. And whether you've been paying attention to our classic foundation mantra or not, you'll have no problem translating a key piece with ease with these simple cues. >>DISCOVER: A world of Expert Stylist Advice Before you bid adieu to your winter finery, go through your wardrobe and pick a favorite item from each category and pull them out front and

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11 Fashion Fixes To Dress To Look Slimmer Now… Without Going To The Gym

Dress To Look Slimmer
Go on a fashion diet to dress to look slimmer now. Did you wake up feeling a little puffy today? No worries. Blame it on the time of year, time of month, or timing of that matcha tiramisu that moved the needle up on the scale. Fake a hot body with these quick stylist tips to look slimmer. All you need to do is adjust the way you get dressed. It's the easiest diet in town! In fact, it's so simple that you may just want to incorporate these style tricks into your everyday dressing. 11 Quick Ways to Dress to Look Slimmer Now... Look Slimmer Tip 1: Suck It In- You may not want to go full-on Spanx everyday but tights

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Stylist Advice: What to wear in New York + not look like a tourist

 Dear Sharon:  I'll be visiting New York next month and staying in Greenwich Village. I'm there for a wedding but concerned about  dresses and street clothes for walking around NYC and what to wear to visit friends. I'm 46 years old, 5'6",  size 4 and have a ruler shape. I'm very thin now after an illness and learning to dress my new body. Any advice I appreciate greatly! (A. via Fashion Advice) >> MORE: What to Wear posts Welcome to my city and around my neighborhood! Hope you're feeling well. Simple, sophisticated, clean, and modern always looks chic in a cosmopolitan city. What to wear in New York is really about understanding the classic lines that flatter you and tweaking it with your

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Closet Overhaul 101: What about the clothes you don’t wear

1-2-3, PURGE! I was talking to some of my mom friends the other day about making the best use of what we already own.  A few of us got together and the conversation about spring cleaning turned towards rethinking ways to coordinate or style up the clothes, shoes, accessories, and bags that sit in our closet and never really get worn, or even lost in the mix. So, the big question became a riff about the clothes you don't wear rather than the ones do wear, and why not. The Big Ouch: One of the stacks from my recent purge of shoes that don't feel quite right after wearing them for an hour or so. Yes, there are absolutely a

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How to Wear It Week! How to style a white T-shirt

This week’s summer spotlight is How to Wear It Week. Let's look at different ways to wear everybody's wardrobe stable. 3 ways to dress up or dress down your favorite piece of clothing I don't know about you but I spend a good amount of time wearing classic T-shirts. They are easy, timeless, and I love the utilitarian edge that holds everything else together. If there's one workhorse item in your closet, it should be a white T-shirt. Be it designer or the kind that comes out of a pack. One of the ladies in a marketing group that I'm in asked me how to style T-shirts. Nicely, maybe for work and casual. So here goes it, in this installment of how to wear it,

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What Color Shoe to Wear With What: The (Non) Definitive Guide to mixing and matching shoes to your outfit

If I could only count how many times I have been asked, "what color shoe to wear with...?" I'd probably run out of digits. Here's the thing, there really is no, that's right zippo, answer on what shoe color you should wear with what color outfit. In style, there's no blanket cookie-cutter answer, but a combination of elements that work in harmony to look great or not so great together. Think about shades, textures, hues, pattern, cut, balance, shoe style, design, mood, and how it all comes to together on you as a whole to determine what the "right" color should be. There are more or less guides that you can observe, but there is no right answer until you

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How to get an effortless sense of style

 Dear Sharon:  I really want to know how to have an effortless sense of style. What are the tips to achieve a look that is elegant, sophisticated, but understated and doesn't look like I tried too hard, in other words, effortless style. I'm always afraid of looking high-maintenance and a little too preoccupied with my appearance rather than looking at ease in my appearance. I guess what I want is the opposite of the overstyled looked you see on reality TV. I'm in my mid 40's and would have thought that I could have nailed down my look by now but that's far from the case.  (G.S. via Fashion Advice)   >>RELATED READING: Abundant Style Mantras- 10 Ways to Make the MOST of What You’ve

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Mommy Chic: Easy style stay at home mom clothes- YES, you can wear yoga pants!

Stay at home mom
Ok, not too old  for one of our 15th anniversary online posts, but rather important in honor of Mother's  Day. Yes, ladies you can look pulled together when you have a super casual lifestyle. have read with this week's Mommy Chic post. -S.H. What to wear when all the moms are fashion plates. Let's discover stay at home mom clothes for a mom who is is changing schools and feels the need to compete with the new moms in town. I hope you don't judge me on this but I feel like I'm being judged and need wardrobe help on my stay at home mom clothes. I'm a stay at home mom and really love that. We've relocated and my daughter

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Stylist Advice- Sheer or Opaque, what type of pantyhose to wear with what?

SPANX Tights - Uptown Tight-End-Tights Blackout at Bloomingdales
There are so many different types of pantyhose- sheer, demi sheer, nude, opaque, tights, lace, and the list goes on and on. Let's help this reader, and you, figure out what type of pantyhose to wear with what.  I have a draw full of black pantyhose- sheer, opaque, very opaque, and a few textured (hate them as I think they make my legs look fat). The thing, is that I never know what kind of pantyhose to wear with what kind of outfit.Is there any guide as to understand when it is better to wear sheer opaque over heavy tights? (via Fashion Advice)>> MORE: Pantyhose tipsThere's no doubt that all black hosiery is created equal. There are ton's of weights and textures to

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Stylist Advice on how French women look chic in flats & you can too!

One of the many Bonus Expert Interviews in my C'est Chic Crash Course is on the topic of how to master Parisian Chic Anywhere! A key element to French chic style is giving up the heels here & there and wearing flats. But "their" flats never look frumpy or dumpy. So I pulled up this post on how French women look chic in flats and thought it was the perfect time to revisit the style advice. Whether you're a Francophile or not, we bet you've wondered how French women look chic in flats, and so has our latest reader's inquiry...  Dear Sharon:  I've been wearing flats again since they've come in and out of fashion over the past few years but I've yet

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Stylist Advice: Your Classic Uniform, My Way!

Classic chic uniform
Wardrobe Reprise- I don't know about you but this sudden cold snap has me relying more and more on my favorite classic pieces before I even think about turning my closet over (yes, I'm layering).  Take take a look back at some of my favorite tips to make getting dressed easier. And chic. --S.H. No-brainer fall into winter dressing starts with a great coat...  Dear Sharon: I get confused at what to wear when I have appointments all over town and getting ready for work gets complicated. I wish for the days of a classic uniform, like school but a stylish one of course! Do you have any ideas on how streamline my wardrobe to a few good, solid pieces to

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