Are You A Smart Dresser?

Do you look as great as you could? Do you wish you could look like a million dollars without spending a fortune? What image do you want to present when you walk into a room?

Here is your passport to good taste - not for just appropriate looks but for fabulous elegant attire regardless of your job, budget, age, or size. Taken directly from Joanna's book, Dressing Smart for Women, the advice below shows you how you can quickly become your own expert so you can dress smart for both work and play.

If you are uncertain what wardrobe mistakes you make, start by taking this quiz.

• Smart Looking Shoes and Boots
• Bring the bottom "up" - pulling your looks together
• Your Smart Base - the easiest way to build a wardrobe
• Choosing Your Best Clarity of Colors

Smart Looking Shoes and Boots:

• Avoid shoes that look chunky, clunky, or heavy including those with a chunky heel, thick sole, or very wide square toe unless they complete a funky, faddish look you are striving for.
• Lighter weight looking shoes with a low-cut vamp are the most flattering styles and can be most easily paired with differing skirt lengths and trouser shapes.
• Shoes and boots in the color of your hair are a great option to black.
• Sleek-looking boots can be worn with business attire as long as the overall look fits the image you want.
• Very pointed toes are not flattering unless you are a witch - the kind with the pointed hat.

	Which shoe is the most versatile and flattering?
	Which flat is the most lightweight looking and flattering?
	Which sandal is the most lightweight looking as well as the most flattering?
	Which boot appears to be the most sleek and dressy?

Bringing the Bottom Color "up"

One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to own neck accessories in the colors of your "bottoms" - your skirts and trousers. Plan a special shopping expedition where you only look for:

• Necklaces and solid-colored scarves that match all of your favorite bottoms.
• Scarves that have two or more of your "core" colors. A core color is a favorite color (one that looks great on you, of course) that you wear a lot.

Creating A Smart "Base"

Wearing a base (the top and bottom match) is a smart way to extend your wardrobe with a variety of fabulous looks.

You can change the look of your smart base simply by what you choose to wear on top of it:

Different colors and styles of:
• Jackets
• Vests
• Tunics
• Sweaters
• Cardigans
• Another shirt
• Belts
• Scarves
• Different accessories

What is clarity?

	Very bright, clear colors, such as fire engine red, lack brown or gray pigments. If a color is too bright or too bold for your coloring, it can appear garish, and, by comparison, you will look washed out and overly pale.
	Toned down colors are clear colors that have been softened with gray or brown pigment. If a color is too subdued or toned down for your coloring, it can gray, muddy, or even sallow your skin, causing you to look drab.

How smart do you look?
Check your Dressingsmart I.Q. here