Two muses + Two divergent styles = One modern Flashionista

Almost ALL fashion lovers can list with admiration the muses who inspired their personal style. My own first influencers were my mother and Sister Bernadine (my first grade teacher).

Mother favored chic suits worn simultaneously with big brooches and multi strand necklaces. She had a fabulous hat for every bad-hair day between her weekly hair appointments. In her glamorous shoe closet were some silk striped pumps with a matching clutch, which she owned in a blue combo and a fuchsia combo. When she found shoes she liked, she bought them in every color.

She also had a little pair of sparkly silver fold-up slippers that she tucked into her bag for the times her high heels got too painful (just like the Kardashian ladies do today…)

Sister Bernadine wore the same long pleated black dress and white wimple (headgear) every day. Her severe clothing formed the perfect back drop for her two standout accessories.

She wore a BIG cross around her neck that was a statement making pendant for sure. Then there was the HUGE rosary that was attached to her belt and hung past her kness. It swung and jingled wildly when she moved. When she walked quickly, she tucked it into the bodice of her dress to keep it from hitting against her knees and getting tangled in her legs.

What the two had in common was a personal style that let you know exactly who they were the minute you saw them AND the bold accessories that defined their style.

There’s nothing wrong with small and subtle jewelry but my accessory philosophy was formed at an early age and it is decidely NOT delicate! For me it’s big bold jewelry and lots of it!

Don’t have a muse or a style statement? Find one at the Flashionista.com store and get 20% off until May 31, 2012. Use code flashmay2012

1)      Know what you need to succeed. For my jewelry business it’s a beautiful product line, sales outlets, and marketing plans to boost my visibility.

2)      Of those things, identify what you will be the best at providing. For me it’s the product and the sales.

3)      Decide how much you want to invest in the things you don’t feel as confident about. Yes, be willing to enter new territory, but don’t end up with too many learning curves all at once. It’ll drive you crazy. (Take if from one who’s been there.)

4)      Of the things on your list that you feel less confident about, decide which ones you want to tackle and which ones are best left to experts.

5)      I want to be engaged in my marketing, but I realize it’s  a HUGE concept! It involves social media, learning how to pitch myself and my product to media and customers, and networking with people who can help me. I may find that I want to add professional help but for now I’m jumping in.

6)      If you can’t do it and it needs to be done, figure out how to get it done. See point 7.

7)      Network. Network. Network. You gotta give to get. . I’ve been very generous with my time and in return have developed a super network of people who help and mentor me in the jewelry business.

8)      Beware of the time-sucking collaterals. In my case, it was learning photography so I could take photos of my products for my web site. Some of these can’t be avoided so it’s important to identify which are critical to the success of the project and plan how to get them done.  My blog post for next week (April 25 will cover this topic)

No one can do it all. There’s no more powerful recipe for succeeding than focusing on the important stuff.

READ MORE:

Learning What I’m Capable of and What I’m Not…

My 4 Favorite Tools for Motivation & Inspiration

This past weekend, I spent time reading fiction, something I used to do before I started my job-juggling-self-propelled-re-invention. I read The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Integrated into the story were a few lines about the philosophy of the Swiss sculptor and painter, Alberto Giacometti. I found it to be some of the best advice yet for anyone undertaking a project.

“…sometimes just to paint a head you have to give up the whole figure. To paint a leaf you have to sacrifice the whole landscape. It might seem like you’re limiting yourself at first, but after a while you realize that having a quarter–of-an-inch of something you have a better chance of holding on to a certain feeling of the universe than if you pretended to be doing the whole sky.”

There’s a clue here that says you’ll make more progress if you don’t allow the essence of the project to get compromised by collateral stuff. For me this resonated like a bass drum. I made a list for myself on how to use this information, which I’ll share with you tomorrow. I call it my 8 Things to Remember BEFORE Biting Off More Than I Will be Able to Chew.

I photographed preening creatures of all ages. The sweet, sexy, and silly mixed with the good, the gorgeous, and the bold. For them life is just too short to just blend into the scenery.

Easter Parade New York, 2012

I’ve never been one for fluffy greeting card sentiment. Sometimes all of that motivational inspirational stuff out there seems like the equivalent of eating too much cotton candy.

I’m looking for the REAL action plan. I’ve always been a voracious reader of self-help books. What have I learned from all of them?

What most of the authors have in common is that they did something well and are now telling us how to do it: their way. We all have our own ways of getting there. So use whatever tools, books, or workshops you need to find your way, then take action. Taking action toward any goal is the surest way to achieve it. Do. Do. Do.

My current Inspiration List:

It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be, by Paul Arden. To give you an idea about the nature of the book, I bought my first copy at the Museum of Art and Design. Every time someone sees it laying around my house they WANT it. I’ve order it again and again. Open to any page and BE INSPIRED. Today’s page is 82: “If you get stuck, draw with a different pen.” Then read the short paragraph about how changing your tools can change your thinking.

The Style Checklist, by Lloyd Boston. In my library of style books, this one is at the top of my stack now. Boston is my style alter ego. He’s all about building around key items most of which (he says) are probably already in there! I decided to see for myself, I emptied a closet and designated it my style lab. Into it I will put all the gems (per Boston) I find I already own. Most of us have so much “stuff” in our closets we lose sight of the real winners. I’ll let you know what I find and I won’t add anything until I finish.

My current favorite Seth Godin book is The Dip. It’s good if you’re reinventing your career or your business. In anything worth doing there’s going to be a dip. He uses tennis as an example. The difference between a mediocre club player and a club champion isn’t just inborn talent-it’s the ability to push through moments where it’s just easier to quit.

As a creative person, I seem to have an unusual obsession with books I call DLIMs, dynamic leadership instruction manuals. My brain just NEEDS to keep seeing hearing and reading some things in order for me to focus, organize, and DO. There are lots of good ones and I probably own more than most. The one I tend to circle back to repeatedly is, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey. It’s like a coaching manual for defining goals and clarifying how to reach them. Of course, once I KNOW what needs to be done I have to DO it.

For obvious reasons, a girl needs to be in charge of her own destiny. But if moving the needle on a career reinvention is what you’re looking for, it’s probably time for a game change. It’s old but gold wisdom that if you do what you’ve always done, you get what you always got.

You know what I’ve learned from years of spending time networking with women in transition? I’ve noticed that if someone is stuck there is ALMOST ALWAYS something within them that is the sticking point. There is something that is compromising their credibility or getting in the way of reaching their goals. It’s not uncommon to be able to see someone else’s “issues” but be completely (or conveniently) blind to our own. It’s self-protection or self-deception, I guess.

I decided to ask the people I trust most (my husband and sister) what they saw as the biggest roadblock to my success. I got the same answer from both. Essentially they said, “You’re so good at talking to people in a social situation, but you seem to have a hard time selling yourself.” Bingo!

Knowing that did NOT immediately change things, but it did immediately change my thinking and ultimately that’s what will make all the difference for me.

Selling Myself: Who’s Buying?

I have 2 trunk shows coming up. I hope I can report back to you that I’ve been able to parlay each one into another! Let’s see.

Meanwhile I’m talking to at least 1 new person every day for 30 days about my jewelry. For 30 days, I can NOT go out of the house without wearing a jewelry statement.* This means even walking the dog draped in jewels. Jewelry starts conversations, and there is almost nothing I’d rather talk about than designing, wearing and selling Flashionista Karma Gems.

*Jewelry statement: Big attention getting jewelry (it’s the ONLY kind, isn’t it????

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This time around, make sure you LOVE it! If you’re gonna do it, you gotta LOVE it!

READ ABOUT FASHION:

Spring 2012: How To Wear Pastels

Spring 2012: The Shirt of the Season & How to Wear It.

Pastels are THE newest color story of the season. This is a bit surprising because designers are usually allergic to them. Most seasons ‘sophisticated pastels’ is an oxymoron. But when it comes to fashion, no rule is EVER written in ink. There are actually some pastels palettes out there that look pretty grown up this season. Here’s how to wear them and still maintain a level of sophistication.

Go easy: Sample the candy but don’t overdo it. A little bit of sugar goes a long way. Pastels look best when they’re anchored with neutrals like white, black, khaki, chino, sand, etc. It ‘toughens’ them up a little. Generally pastels head to toe is not recommended.

Go dusky: Dusky pastels are ones that have been neutralized by adding some level of grey to the color. Most everyone is familiar with greyish blues. The same greying dye techniques can also be applied to other pastel colors. Eileen Fischer often does this with her washed linens.

Go darker: Technically darker pastels are referred to as mid-tones. But all “mid-tone” means is that the color is darker and more saturated. Mid-tones look best when they’re not too clean and sweet.

Go with what works: If you’re been watching any of the awards shows right now, you’ve seen how breathtaking evening gowns can be in pastels and saturated mid-tones. The caveat here is while a 20 something starlet looks ravishing in a rich lilac gown, a 50 something star may end up look like the mother of the bride (we call them MOB colors in the industry…).

Go Whiter: Pastels can be lightened to look almost white. White paint colors are a great

1.  DVF Flyaway Daria Top $265.

2.  FKG  Aqua Prosperity Bracelet.

3.  FKG Yellow Jade Longevity Earrings.

4.  Talbots Flyaway Ruched Top $60.

5.  FKG Turq & Green Mermaid Necklae $79.

6.  Talbots Seasonless Wool Cement Sheath $159.

I can become obsessive with details. This can be a curse as well as a blessing, but I’ve always needed to clear the decks before I get the ship sailing.

Getting lost in details can sink a project. Once the ship sails I cannot afford to fool around re-thinking every earring. When I was inching toward the holidays, still laboring over details prior to getting my new web site launched, I needed to do something FAST. I didn’t want to miss the pre-holiday bonanza I was expecting once I launched my ecommerce site.

My solution was to commit to a launch date, plan an exhibition and invite friends to come. This gave me a firm deadline to get the jewelry line and the new web site ready. I wanted the site to be live on a big screen at the launch AND have the jewels on hand to exhibit.

Two things occurred. I did launch the site prior to the exhibition party and the holidays and not much happened!!! No orders started rolling in! I learned marketing lesson 1.0: if no one knows where you are you can’t expect them to find you!

The second thing was the launch party was a successful social opportunity AND also a super successful selling opportunity that I had NOT really anticipated. I learned marketing lesson 2.0: opportunities can pop up unexpectedly.

Making my web site a success was a longer term project and I needed to commit time to marketing it. In the meantime, I could build a business and generate cash flow immediately by doing trunk shows and private parties.

My 2-Part Marketing Plan

• Generate buzz by seeking out some media attention for my business
• Find willing hostesses

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Can you help me create some buzz please? Maybe you’d like to host a Bubbles & Baubles Party. I’ll come right to you with my big jewelry box (on wheels!) and my sunny personality. I’ll also help you plan the party and offer you some generous hostess incentives. Email me! (link)

Not up for hosting a party? No problem, just tell your friends about Flashionista Karma Jewels. I’ll still give you a special 20% discount. Use the code Flash20. It’s good through April 15^Th, 2012.

The shelf life of a white shirt is different than that of almost any other color. If you’re a stickler for crisp whiteness, you already know that you cannot keep a white shirt looking good long enough to wear it out. Regular replacements are necessary.

For spring 2012, designers delivered some of the cleanest most clever updates ever on the white shirt. Here are some favorites. I also put together my BEST tips for keeping a white shirt  looking crisp and white for as long as possible. You can read it HERE.

1.  Neiman Marcus, St. John Collection $395.

2.  Talbots Tunic $49.

3.  Thomas Pink, Beth Shirt $185.

4.  FKG Black Lava Wrap Bracelet $48.

5.  YSL Poplin Peasant Blouse $895.

6.  FKG Gautama Pearl Bracelet $54.

7.  Neiman Marcus, Kate Spade $248.

READ MORE:

Keeping it WHITE: My BEST Tips for Taking Care of Your White Shirt

MORE tis for Wearing White: No one needs to see your underwear! Even under white.

Fancy Pants for Spring 2012

NOTE: I just tried the above technique on a favorite Anne Fontaine shirt that was looking yellow. I soaked it (in a TEENY bit of bleach) then machine washed, air dried and pressed while damp. TOTALLY revived the shirt!