It’s easy to open the closet in a rush in the morning and forget those important style details in your hurry to cobble an outfit together. It’s also easy to think that the small details aren’t noticed by other people and that they don’t make a difference, but they do. These important style details can deliver a perception of you as being a bit slap dash and lacking attention to detail. What are the small telltale details you should always check every time you dress?
1 Sleeves: How Length Affects Your Look
When it comes to important style details, the overall look is what pleases the eye, and in a split second your look can go from feeling perfect to looking totally off if your sleeves are the wrong length for your outfit. It may seem like a small detail, but if your sleeves are hanging off your wrists or not quite making it to your wrist at all – you have a fashion fail on your hands. Don’t look like a frump; make sure your sleeve pops just over your wrist when your arms are at your sides.
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2 Sans Belt
One of the most eye-catching style details anybody can overlook is by wearing pants, jeans or a beautiful skirt with belt loops and no belt. You will look and feel entirely incomplete and feel awkward for the whole day. Forgot your belt at home when rushing out of the door? Loop a thin chiffon scarf through the loops or a cleverly placed ribbon – you will be able to save face for the rest of the day by looking funky instead.
3 Beautiful Hands
Everybody looks at your hands. You use them to talk, shake hands, sign papers – everything. And well groomed nails and soft hands are one of the most important style details that are often overlooked when trying to make a good impression. You don’t have to have perfectly manicured nails all the time, but chipped polish, dirty hands and broken fingernails are going to say all the wrong things. Keep your nails short, clean and groomed at all times and keep your hands well moisturized.
4 Good Looking Shoes
Shoes are another of the overlooked important details of style that really do matter. Scuffed heels, dirty soles and/or scratched and grazed toes on shoes immediately look grotty and unkempt. You don’t have to have brand new shoes, but there is no excuse for something ever to be broken or dirty. Take the time to polish your shoes or travel to work in another pair of shoes and pop a clean pair into your purse in a waterproof bag and put them on when you get into the office.
5 Corporate Accessories
Unless you are an artist, hairdresser, fashion designer, stylist or someone in the creative field, then you will need to abide by corporate dressing rules and accessorize accordingly. This means no loud and proud funky necklaces, 4 pairs of earrings per ear, or 2 sleeves worth of bracelets with enough bells and whistles to look like a gypsy princess. The corporate world has a hard time swallowing individuality to the extreme on that level and you will stand out for the wrong reasons. Keep it simple, neutral and classic instead.
6 Toes
Open toes on display at the office, boardroom, beach, café, meeting, breakfast with your friends need to be clean, trimmed and looking good at all times. Pedicures are for winter and for summer so there’s no excuse for not paying attention to one of the important features of looking good. Nobody wants to see a beautiful, well-groomed woman with cracked and revolting heels popping out of sandals. Chipped nail polish is unacceptable at all times, and if you simply don’t have time, then cover them up and head out with closed shoes. Make your next pedicure appointment before you leave the salon – this way you will never forget.
7 Pants – the Right Length
There is nothing that says sloppy quite like the incorrect length of pants and this is one of the most important details of style that must never be overlooked. If you are wearing heels, your pants should fall about half an inch from the ground. This length will ensure that the hem isn’t dragging on the ground and just nip the top of the front of your shoe. If you are wearing flat shoes, the hem of your pants should touch the back of your shoe as much as possible without touching the floor.
8 Hair
Take time to groom your hair properly before you leave the house. Wet hair is a crucial style detail that will destroy the most beautifully planned look no matter who you are. If you don’t have time to style your long hair, dry it upside down and work it into a quick, neat chignon or bun. Shorter hair can be blasted upside down with a dash of root lift using your fingers to create the volume, then styled in a flash with your fingers as you whip on your lip gloss and fly out the door. But don’t ever arrive anywhere with wet hair.
The important style details are obvious when you think about them, but they are so easily overlooked exactly because we don’t think about them. What important little nuances of your look would you never forget to check?
