BASIC WARDROBE

PURPOSES OF CLOTHING

– For protection

– Comfort

– Modesty

– Enhancement

of your beauty

In those first crucial moments, the viewer is forming an impression and making decision concerning the following factors:

• Economic level – Is he rich or poor? Is he working or unemployed? • Educational Level- is he a high school or college graduate? Maybe he

is an attorney or doctor? • Social position- does he live in one of the villages? Does he belong to

the upper socio-economic level or lower level? • Level of sophistication – is he the party-hopping type, the social

register type? Probably he is the “provinciano” type. • Family background – what is his social, educational, and economic

heritage? Assumptions about these are made. • Successfulness – is he successful? Does he have a car, a house and

lot? • Moral Character – does he look honest? Will he cheat me?

ASSEMBLING A BASIC WARDROBE

THE BASICS

• Basics are the mainstays of your wardrobe.

Steps to assemble a basic wardrobe:

• Clean up your closet – go through your closets and cabinets. Start with a file of “if only” items. These are items that you could wear “if only” you were thinner or “if only” it were not out of style. After the “if only” items, get rid of the items you have not worn in a year or so. Then arrange everything that is left.

• Know your figure – you should know your body type before you start shopping.

• Shop wisely…and well – since your clothing needs are determined by your lifestyle, ask yourself where you spend 75% of your time. You should take your budget in consideration.

YOUR CLOSET

• Think of your closet as a resource for your lifestyle. • It should be set up exactly like a fine specialty shop. • It must be scrupulously clean and free of junk. • Blouses, shirts, skits or pants, sweaters, dresses should be grouped together. • Colors should be arranged to spark your imagination. • Shoes should be stored in marked boxes at eye level for quick selection. • Robes and evening clothes should be hung so that they do not touch the

floor. • Your dresser should be cleaned frequently and lined – with scented paper if

you choose – and should be partitioned to store panties, bras, briefs, socks, etc.

• Belts can be hung on a man’s tie rack inside the closet door.

DRESSING FOR THE OCCASION

• Dressing for the occasion not only upgrades manners, it also enhances the poise and personality of the host/hostess and her guests and sparks their spirit. You must develop an eye for fashion, flair, and style just as you develop an ear for opera or taste for caviar.

• In dressing to present yourself properly to others, and to pass the test of the first impression –try to:

• Dress properly to befit the occasion • Interpret the season’s fashion based upon timeless qualities of past

traditions. • Incorporate individual flair and style • Keep a keen sense of appropriateness not only to the occasion but also to

your figure, lifestyle, and age.

SHOPPING RULES

• Go shopping alone or with a single friend whose taste you trust. • Be sure you are groomed, for the kinds of clothes you will be trying

on. • Find a sales person and tell him what you are looking for. • Be sure that you return garments to hangers if you decide against

buying them and let the salesperson know your decision. • Do not choose a costly blouse/skirt that goes with nothing in your

closet, or that complements skirt/pants that may have only a few months of wear left.

• Choose what you feel has he staying power to become a tradition. • Do not overlook underclothing.

SHOPPING STRATEGIES

• Preshopping or window shopping is recommended before actual buying.

• Doing your buying during sales is also not such a good idea, because these buys don’t add up to much in the long run.

SHOPPING TRAPS TO AVOID

• Think twice before shopping with a friend. A friend is a distraction and may keep you from focusing on what you came for.

• A friend’s taste and aims may be different from yours. • A friend may choose clothes which he/she would choose for himself

but not appropriate for you. • Avoid shopping out of loneliness. Shopping for the wrong reasons

brings out wrong results. • Don’t shop for bargains. Don’t judge merchandise by its price tag.

LINES IN CLOTHES

• The vertical line – is the line which runs lengthwise from head to toe. It creates an illusion of height and makes a person look taller. It is ideal for the plump person.

• The horizontal line – is a line cutting across from side to side. It cuts heights and adds width. Contrasting colors in two-piece outfits create horizontal lines and minimize height.

COLOR: THE LINK IN THE TOTAL LOOK

• the 1st principle in decorating yourself is understanding not only

what colors are right for you, but which shades and clarities of those colors you should wear.

• What makes color effective? Simply the way it looks on you, against your skin, your hair, your eyes –in short your overall coloring.

• The primary colors are RED, BLUE and YELLOW. • Secondary and tertiary colors are combinations of these:

– Red & blue = violet – Red & yellow = orange – Blue & yellow = green

Combinations of colors are:

• Monochromatic – this color combination results in the use of the same color, but different shades. An example of this is brown, light brown and beige.

• Complementary – this results in the use of two colors, opposite each other in the color wheel. Examples are red, and green, blue and yellow, etc.

• Analogous – this combination uses two colors beside each other in the color wheel. Examples are blue and green, yellow and orange, red and purple, etc.

• Triadic – this combination is made up of three colors that form an equidistant triangle on the color wheel. These are purple, green and yellow; red, blue and green, etc.

FACTORS AFFECTING CHOICE OF COLORS

– Color of skin, eyes & hair

– Personality

– Occasion

SKIRTS

TYPES & DESCRIPTION

PENCIL SKIRT

• Pencil skirts can be flattering to all figure types. A dark pencil skirt worn with a dark or medium-colored top that rests just above the hips can be visually slimming to a fuller figure.

TULIP SKIRT

• Tulip skirts have more fabric around the hips than pencil skirts, giving them the shape of an inverted tulip. Tulip skirts look good on most figure types, especially slender figures as tulip skirt fabric tends to add a little extra bulk around the hips.

A-LINE SKIRT

• A-line skirts, also called princess skirts, can be especially flattering to plus-size figures, but can be worn well by all figure shapes. An A-line skirt is shaped like a capital letter "A", with a snug waist spreading out into a triangular shape. A-line/princess skirts are considered a wardrobe staple, especially in a neutral color and a season-spanning fabric such as lightweight wool.

MINI SKIRT

• Miniskirts hit the fashion scene in London in 1966 and the ultra-short miniskirt is still worn by those who "dare to bare." The miniskirt is often considered the sexiest skirt shape. Miniskirts can be a very simple shape or can be pleated, but are always very short, and are available in a wide range of materials including denim, cotton, leather, and wool.

FULL SKIRT

• Full skirts have even more fullness in their fabric than tulip skirts and can overwhelm a petite figure or add more fullness to a full figure. Full skirts often balance out a slim-waisted, full-busted figure. Drop-waisted full skirts with fabric that flows from the hips into soft pleats can be very flattering to a plus-sized figure type.

BIAS SKIRT

• Bias cut skirts are cut across the fabric's grain on the diagonal. Cutting on the bias creates a flowing hemline that can seem ultra-feminine and romantic. Bias cut skirts can be long or short and have panels or multi-layers.

culottes - a split or divided

skirt. The term "culottes"

was co-opted from the

original French definition of

the word to describe these

split .

culottes

SUITS

a set of garments with matching pieces,

including at least a coat and trousers

BLAZERS

a type of jacket, worn as smart casual clothing. The term blazer is

also sometimes used as a synonym for boating jacket or sports

jacket, though in fact it is neither. A blazer resembles a suit jacket,

except that it has a more casual cut.

JACKETS

• a type of sleeved hip- or waist-length garment for the upper body. A jacket is generally shorter, ending just below the waist, and often lighter. Some jackets are fashionable, while others serve as protective clothing.

DRESSES

Sheath dress

• a type of dress designed to tightly fit the body. It is often made of a very light and thin material like cotton or silk, and rarely contains any flourishes

chemise

• refer to certain modern types of women's undergarments and dresses.

Jumper dress

a sleeveless, collarless dress intended to be worn over a

blouse, shirt or sweater

Sundress A like a jumper, is sleeveless and

collarless. However it isn't worn over a

blouse or sweater, and is of a distinctly

different cut and fashion.

Little Black Dress

an evening or cocktail dress, cut simply and often with a short skirt. the style of the little black dress ideally should be as simple as possible

Evening Dress

the standard female

attire for black tie

events

Cocktail dress

a woman's dress worn at cocktail

parties, and semi-formal occasions.

CASUAL WEAR

• dress code which emphasizes comfort and personal expression over presentation and uniformity.

SEMI FORMAL

• a grouping of dress codes, indicating the sort of clothes worn to events with a level of formality between informal and formal

FORMAL ATTIRE

• suitable for formal social events, such as a wedding, formal garden party or dinner, debutante cotillion, dance, or race.

BLACK TIE ATTIRE

• a dress code for formal evening events, and is worn to many types of social functions..

• Unlike white tie, which is very strictly regulated, black-tie ensembles can display more variation. In brief, the traditional components are:

– A jacket with silk facings (usually grosgrain or satin), called the dinner jacket

– Trousers with silk braids matching the lapels

– A black cummerbund or low-cut waistcoat

– A white dress shirt with either a Marcella (piqué cotton), stiff, or pleated front

– A black silk bow tie

– Black dress socks, usually silk

– Black shoes in patent or highly polished leather, or patent leather court shoes

“BLACK TIE” ATTIRE FOR WOMEN

“BLACK TIE” ATTIRE FOR MEN

WHITE TIE ATTIRE

• the most formal evening dress code.

• It is worn to events such as balls, the opera, and formal dinners.

• The chief components for men are the dress coat, white bow tie and waistcoat, and starched shirt, while women wear a suitable dress for the occasion, such as a ball gown.

• White tie is worn only to events after six o'clock and before that time the daytime equivalent called morning dress is worn.

“WHITE TIE” ATTIRE FOR MEN

AND WOMEN