About Ashleigh McKenna
After first subscribing to sweetspot.ca to get to know her new city, Ashleigh McKenna now gets to help find the sweet stuff worth sharing as Editor and General Manager. Go behind the scenes from favourite manicure spots to product sneak peeks and more.
Style Savvy
girl about t.o. canada
(Aug.18.10)
My mom is about to celebrate a milestone birthday (which if you met her, you'd never guess).
(And though she's not like my Nana who wouldn't even tell her doctor her real age, I don't think the specific milestone actually matters.)
Looking back through old family albums and at pictures of other milestones around my childhood home (of course I came back to share in the occasion), I realized my mom has absolutely been my biggest style influencer. She makes outfits look effortless, knows what works for her and when to splurge vs. save. Here are the highlights:
Talk to a tailor. Stacy London or Susan McKenna? When my first semi-formal dress needed shorter straps (we're both short-waisted so she'd been there before), my mom sent me to a seamstress. Sometimes a nip here or dart there can make something inexpensive look like it was custom-made and often doesn't cost a lot.
Don't save your Sunday best. Just like beautiful dishes deserve to be seen beyond a few annual holiday dinners, so do the clothes and accessories we love. Sure that special occasion sequined dress might not work for Saturday brunch, but the family bracelet that makes you smile shouldn't be so tucked away.
Mix and match. Mom was doing high-low before I even knew what that meant. Invest in something you love and save on easily interchangeable items.
Sleep on it. Attention impulse shoppers everywhere: Put down the pack of gum and step away from the gossip mags at the cash register. Same thing with the great pair of shoes you just saw but aren't sure about. So while you don't have to fully spend a night dreaming about it (it's not a house after all), take some time, grab a coffee and if the item's still on your mind, it was likely meant to be.
Feel good, look good. That's right, feel good first. If it's tight and fidgety at first try, it's going to be tight and fidgety every time you go to put it on. Make life easier and love the way you feel in what you wear. It'll show.
All that though and we still have one fundamental fashion difference. When I buy something new I take it home to "acclimatize" a bit with my closet and make it feel like mine before I break it out in regular rotation. My mom on the other hand? She'll wear it right out of the store.
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