Greetings and salutations from a fashion lover

By now, most of you have already broken your “New Year’s Resolutions” that you promised you wouldn’t. For those of you that have not, I applaud your discipline and zeal. Hopefully, you achieve all your goals. Now, it may be completely foreign to you to set up fashion and style resolutions, but I find that they are necessary and usually help out a lot in dictating the general tone of our wardrobes for the year. As usual (I know you’re not tired of me yet! Stop groaning), I have a couple of tips that I humbly suggest you adopt this year. These tips wont only help your day-to-day styling, but will also influence your shopping list. Here we go!

Plan your “shoe buys”: I see shoes as an investment (well, good quality ones anyway) and while I’d like to subscribe to the “ I like my money where I can see it… hanging in my closet” mentality, I also have other monetary obligations. It could help to start building a collection of quality, timeless shoes that could last you for years. Decide on how many of these shoes your budget can take and go from there. You won’t regret it.

Accessorize! Dressed up or down, nothing ties an outfit together better than the right accessories. Ladies, try and get as much quality jewelry as you can and fellas, at least include the basics in your wardrobe, you know, just in case. For the men I suggest a plain black tie and bowtie that you can grab on the go and the perfect transition blazer that could convert your semi-casual outfit to semi-formal.

A well-fitting outfit will never go out of style: There are a million and one alterations services you can subscribe to. Make sure your dress falls nicely on your body and that your suit is well tailored. Don’t make your body fit the clothes; make the clothes fit your body.

Androgynous fashion is the cure: This is quite a tricky one. As we live in a society built solidly on heteronormative patriarchy, it comes as no surprise that most men are not likely to do their own masculine interpretations of a feminine outfit. Women on the other hand, have no issue with doing their own take on a standard male look. While I would love to get into the psychology behind it, ill keep it light. I’m not saying as men we need to go out there wearing dresses! I’m simply saying that it wouldn’t hurt to subscribe to the underlying aesthetic of women’s fashion and style; celebrating the frame of the body. This tip is more experimental so ill leave it to bravery for subscription.

Buy Nigerian!: Support the industry. There are still tons of hurdles and challenges that designers need to overcome, but by and large, they are producing really good pieces! A lot more designers are introducing ready-to-wear lines with less hefty price tags. Also, lets face it, the exchange rate isn’t getting any kinder to us so you might as well go local. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

Give yourself one day of the week to be completely over-the-top: It has been my experience that a really good outfit can do amazing things for esteem and morale. This year, try and take one day out the week where you go all out. I mean the works! Ladies, I’m talking hair and makeup, heels (or whatever makes you feel most confident), guys, I’m talking suits, ties, dress shoes etc. You will get asked what the occasion is, and that’s ok. You can simply say “ I decided to make it worth everyone’s while when I left my house”.

Alright, so while some of the tips may be out there, it’s important that I say, its never too late to start trying new things. You never know, it could lead you somewhere pleasantly unexpected. Ill leave you with that and let me officially wish you a very happy new year!