Frugal Frump to Fab/Winter Solstice

MrsWoolfe

Good Evening Ladies!

My goodness, so many posts and so many new faces! Fab!

Well I now feel ever so slightly more human....but only just! It was an amazing night and I know we'll be giggling about it for a long time, but wow did I wish I'd booked the Monday off!!!! though I do keep having those random flashbacks of funny things we did making me giggle so maybe worth it in the end:D I can't beleive we used to able to do that regularly...

so not much pampering, mor repair work going on at the moment- cleansed face well and used some rose toner/moisture spray,in warm weather I find that works better for my skin- less of the obvious oil slick going on- I'm told I'll be grateful for the oiliness as I get older...:undecided though have to admit looking at Mum, who turns 60 next year she doesn't have a line on her face yet and can easily pass for 40s...fingers crossed:D

I'll be trying for an early night I think, best pampering for me will be catching up on some decent sleep,

Someone was saying about being down about photos...sorry no time to go back and quote properly- just wanted to say I totally understand that- it's what eventually kicked my (once more generous) butt in to gear- try not to focus on that too much though, just tell yourself that you will soon be looking at photos of a fab, fun and all around awesome you!

LL what a lovely thing for your sister's boss to do- you see it's that karma giving you a little TLC- and talk about great timing- just when you need to recharge and look after you....almost spooky!

Carmen thanks for asking after me- the ankle is slowly healing up and feels a lot better, the main problem is the tendons I damaged, they are taking a while to heal up and I really feel it if I overdo it....you know like being silly and staying out til 9am:o

Right ladies, I need to go and snooze

hope everyone is doing good

MrsWoolfe

lessonlearned

Hi Everyone

Carmen - Glad you're back and back on track, we'll crack it - steady as she goes.

Mrs W - your week end frolics sound great. Yes - there was a time when I could party all weekend and then go to work on Monday fresh as a daisy. Not any more - it's called Anno Domini - it get's us all in the end.;) Glad to hear the ankle is getting there.

PK - I know what you mean about photos - I'm not photogenic at the best of times. It was a photo that eventually shocked me into action. Shudders.

Kerry - a wedding on our thread - how fab. All your new friends on this thread can be your "virtual bridesmaids"

Welcome CA & HF

Let's get inspired ..............

lessonlearned

Finding your own Style

Fashion is fleeting whilst style is enduring. Is style innate - are some lucky people just born with style. I don't think so.

I think that although we often talk about "effortless" style it is not something that is just given to us at birth by the Style Fairy and that if she misses you tough luck. The good news is - it doesn't actually work like that. I think being stylish is a skill which can be learned, practised and refined just like anything other. After all, an artist may have an "eye" but they still have to learn the techniques of painting, sculpture whatever.

I like to think I've reached a point where I have found a style that suits me, that works for me and that fits easily in with my life. There have been a fair few mistakes along the way. The Hooker Look wasn't a good one.:o

BTW - The disastrous mink coat was the first coat I'd ever bought. The second coat was a lovely pink boucle trimmed with a navy collar and navy pockets. Very Jackie Kennedy. Told you I learned fast.:rotfl:

Finding your own style is largely a matter of trial and error but you can take short cuts.

Fashion mags used to be quite helpful. However, I have to say that in recent years the magazine industry has also gone into decline. New publications spring up and then disappear almost as quickly. Even the old "gold standard" magazines such as Vogue and Elle are not what they were.

I look at magazines today and there seems to be so little real content in them, largely adverts (I know they need the revenue) and celebrity gossip etc. Most of the fashion features seem little more than simply regurgitating the same old stuff you see in the high street. Perhaps I'm just too old for fashion mags now but I simply find them boring. They neither inspire me nor inform me.

I think the best way to talk about style is to illustrate it with pictures so I would like to share with you where I get some of my ideas from.

For me the visual mediums of Film and TV have replaced magazines and I would like to share some of my favourites with you to illustrate my ideas ...............

lessonlearned

Films and TV Shows that have inspired me

Starting with TV

Mad Men - American TV series set in an advertising agency in the 1950s/Early 60's. If you are into Fifties style this is the one for you. Mrs W you'll find plenty to interest you I think.

The Good Wife - American Legal Eagles set in the present day. The three leading women are sensational. If you need inspiration for business dress this is the place to look - power dressing at it's most powerful. Take a good look at the "Diane" character, the senior partner. The actress is Christine Baranski is 59, check out those upper arms - no bingo wings here.

Films

The Thomas Crown Affair - a light hearted "heist" movie a romantic sub-plot. This 1960s version stars Steve McQueen/Faye Dunaway - Very sixties styling - great for vintage lovers

The Thomas Crown Affair - 1990's version is updated and our protagonists are now middle aged lovers. Stars Pierce Brosnan/Rene Rousso. Rene is 57 now so would have been somewhere in her early 40's at the time. I seem to recall she was about 44 when the film was made, could be wrong. Rene gives a masterclass in grown up glamour. PS Film was made 1999 so Rene would have been 45.

Over the years there have been some great films which either showcase great designers i.e. Balencia for Audrey Hepburn "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Sabrina, "Roman Holiday", "Two for the Road" or which use clothes to further the plot.

A couple of great examples are "Working Girl"- which features a drone from the typing pool who aspires to become a business executive. She overhauls her image and starts to rise the corporate ladder.

"Pretty Woman" - which is really a modern Cinderella, where Julia Roberts sees the light and uses clothes to transform herself from a cheap call girl to an altogether more class act.

Then again, if you enjoy poking a little gentle fun at fashion there's "The Devil Wears Prada" - a thinly veiled swipe at Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue. Meryl Streep looks absolutely stunning as the glacial editor of "Runway Magazine" and for sheer daft fun there's "Zoolander" a mischievous parody of fashionistas.

Your homework assignment for this week is to try and take a look at some of these. If you haven't got time to watch them you can google them and look at the film stills and trailers.

Tomorrow we'll look at "key items" for your wardrobe.

hamsterfan1

Have been awake since dawn, it was lovely to hear the dawn chorus though. Have a busy day today - have already put a load of washing on.

Today I have to de-fuzz, do eyebrows, do nails,have face pack & wash and style hair.

On the excercise front - pack for holiday (off to Rhodes tomorrow ) walk into town & get rolls for the plane (about 2 miles there & back) I'll wear my tone-ups for this, can still feel them working but I'm no longer stiff afterwards, bought them cheap on amazon. hang washing on line.

Had a hunt & I'm out of perfume so can't wear daily -think OH will think it unacceptable to buy some unless really cheap, any ideas for cheap but nice perfume- I did have Britney Spears fantasy for ages & loved it

can I use kitchen muslin as a muslin cloth - DD is pregnant but has not yet developed a glow, in fact the opposite poor love

lessonlearned

Good morning all

Hope you are all well.

Well it's been a week now - how is it going? Still feeling motivated and ready to push on. It does start to get easier, honest.;) After a week or so you should find that you develop a rhythm and things start to fall into place.

When I first started my Frump to Fab journey I truly looked terrible, getting into any semblance of being, looking and feeling attractive seemed virtually impossible.

Not only did I look frumpy and dowdy I really felt very unwell and spent an awful lot of time in tears. The slightest thing would set me off.

I knew that I had the willpower to make change happen- my biggest enemy was lack of time. I knew that for me the only way would have to be baby steps, just a few tweaks to my daily routine and just a few minutes each to try and do something.

One treatment each day, over a week, can cover a lot of ground. Each treatment can be done in few minutes and many of them can be slotted into your day whilst you do something else.

OK so I didn't make my target of six months, hence the new thread. But, with a bit of perseverance I know I will reach my goals in the end.

So my pearls of wisdom for today. That's easy. Just keep going.

Follow Carmen's mantra (good one, Twinnie)

0nwards and upwards

HF - Have a lovely holiday. Rhodes - how fab.

BTW - hope you are enjoying my musings about style. I hope I don't sound preachy. I hope you find something of interest in my chatter.

Cerisa - Thanks for your tips yesterday, agree that TK Max can be great for handbags. Their leather bags at £20 to £25 are very good value. I have a lovely black Fiorelli, I was very lucky picked mine up from a charity shop for £2:D

Anyway off to get cracking - the house is a tip. Will go and visit OH today, need to go shopping.

Today's treatment - Manicure
Exercise - Bike & yoga

See you later.

MrsWoolfe

Morning Ladies!

phew am so glad that a breeze has come through, shame it wasn't earlier but still a few hours of good kip still does some good!

Hamsterfan Rhodes sounds fun! I was interested to hear you use the tone-ups I've got a pair of the sketchers ones- managed to pick up two pairs of sketchers for £35 in the outlet shop, but I haven't really got into wearing them much yet. Re the perfume, as you are going away why not have a look in duty free/while you are away and see if you can pick up a bargain? my day-to day scent is a body shop one which wasn't too pricey at all, but a really lovely scent may be worth a look?

Film-spiration you guess right LL I've watched Mad Men and adore the clothes- especially as Christina Hendricks is quite well-endowed yet always looks so classy and elegant. I started wearing more dresses to work after watching that, and often feel more put-together and grommed wearing a nice shift dress.

It can be hard if you're a bit heavier up top to find clothes that really flatter, often something that can look ok on the hanger ends up being that little bit too low and looks tacky. Bad enough finding a bra that is comfortable and gives enough support- but then trying to get the same to fit with the neckline:mad: I don't like always wearing tops with too high a neckline as that doesn't look good either- surefire way to frumpdom!

I tend to like things that are a little quirky, I love the 50s look but also really like adding a little twist to it if I can, despite always being told that I shouldn't wear long dresses (I'm 5ft4) I love maxi dresses and always get compliments in them so I wear them

For my favourite look...that's actually quite a hard question! I love the overall look and feel of Moulin Rouge- but of course that's not something you want to be wearing in real-life lol! Hmm think I might have to go away and have a think about that one! perhaps some hoework to be done!

the thing I have noticed happening more as we do this, is my "work" look and what I wear at home/out and about is separating again and becoming more defined. For work, I have to look professional, smart and I find that the shift dresses etc make that work for me,

I need to make the bigwigs trust my advice and believe that I know what I'm talking about- before I often had the reaction that I couldn't possible be old enough to know about finance stuff and planning- now it's nice to be told you look young, sure but I think it had a lot to do with the style of clothing/look I had, drifting out of uni with no real idea of what to wear for work meant I just sort of went with anything that looked smartish, hard to describe but it just wasn't really a "look"

Now I find that as I'm taking more care/paying attention I am developing more of a style for work, also I'm becoming more confident and using lots of colours, and I think it makes a big difference to how I feel.

At home/play totally different story though, I love my quirky/boho/50s/whatever it is that catches my eye and am starting to love putting things together, I love flared jeans and have recently got a couple of "skinny-flare" jeans which are nice and slimming but comfy too, I love wearing them with Kimono-style tops for a night out, for me are flattering and make the most of my shape without being too clingy/obvious.

had a quick root through the wardrobe last night, an realised that while I do have some nice bits and peices I do have far too many "blah" clothes- you know the things that just don't really do anything, don't look awful but don't do anything special either- I don't know if others are the same, but I think I end up buying these things almost on auto-pilot because it's easy/safe rather than because I really like them.

So I'm going to tackle that over the next month or so gettig rid of anything that I don't feel great in- but here I will include comfy "house" clothes cause nothing beats getting in and getting changed into something comfy and loved- that counts as feeling good for me:D

Then anything new I buy- and I do intend dropping at least another dress-size so there will be new things I hope!- have to be not just good but great and make me feel fab!

Right there's my long ramble for the day,I've toddle off and leave you guys in peace for a bit..... hope everyone is doing well!!

MrsWoolfe

lessonlearned

Lovely post Mrs W

Film-spiration Great word, shall def pinch that one:D I love playing about with words and language - it's a bit of a family thing here - making up new words etc. Outsiders probably think we're nuts - that's if they can understand us:rotfl:

I absolutely adore Moulin Rouge. When l am an old lady I am going to allow my eccentricities to run riot. Maybe I will go the whole hog and adopt a Moulin Rouge look:D

Quote from my Grandma who died at 90. "When you are my age you can do exactly what you like". I know an old lady in her eighties who swans around looking like the old movie actress, Bette Davies. And why not, she's not hurting anyone.

Life (and fashion) should be about having some fun now and again.

You are absolutely right with your observations about work. Honing your appearance and getting a killer working wardrobe is a very smart career move.

Thought for the day - Research has shown that women who wear make up at work get more promotions than those who don't bother.

Anyway downstairs now looking a bit more presentable, laundry put away, must crack on.

bratz81

Hello all

Thanks for all the musings on style, I loved it. I have no idea what my style is, but have started looking more at magazines, tv shows etc and making notes of things I like, think would suit me etc and eventually I will have an idea of what my 'style' is and can make a start on the wardrobe.

I did actually do a mini facial last night - first in a while! I have those pore strips for my forehead and nose, so cleansed, used those and then put on a nourishing facemask and moisturised. Felt so much better and the mask has really calmed my rosacea down.

podperson

I find the style posts really interesting - I definately think I need to develop more of a style. When I was younger I was very into the whole rock look but now I'm a bit older I feel a bit self-conscious wearing things like that, but still like the more interesting, quirky look. Need to find a bit of a middle ground perhaps.
Last night went out to the cinema and for a drink with some friends - now normally this would be casual 'chuck on anything' occasion but I actually picked out a nice top, put some make-up and had my hair down (since it was still nice and shiny from the conditioning the other night). Did find myself feeling a bit better about myself - and shock horror actually took my make-up off and cleansed properly when I got home. Felt very proud, lol.
On a slightly more negative note, was trying to work on my posture so was walking along thinking to myself, 'keep your head up, keep your head up' when splat - stood in some doggy do! Think I need to perfect a head up but one eye on the ground style!! Didn't help the elegant look I don't think :rotfl: