The key is to look at the size and design of the face and the width of the watchstrap. The watch face should complement your bone structure; for example, slim and petite for a small bone structure, bigger for a fuller bone structure. Here are some practical guidelines to help you choose the right style.

Wide, Short Hands

The aim is to make your hands look longer and slimmer.

• Avoid big watches with a wide strap.
• Don’t let the watch slip down past the wrist bone as the hand will instantly look shorter. Make sure it gently but firmly sits just above the wrist bone, without stopping your blood circulation!
• Avoid slim, dainty styles as they will look lost on this shape of hand.
• Choose a medium strap or bracelet watch with a round or long face to slim down the shape of your hand.
• Avoid a square face. This will make your hand look wider.

Thin, Narrow Hands

The aim is to make your hands look shorter and wider.

• If you want to make your hands look shorter, choose dainty watches with slimmer, thinner straps.
• A slim bracelet watch or thin watchstrap is a good choice as it will complement the proportions of your hand.
• Avoid heavy, solid styles as they are too big for slim features.
• A square or wide face will make your hand look shorter and wider.
• A medium-sized style is the best option.

Balanced Hand

The choice is yours: square, round, oval or rectangular faces, and any width of watchstrap.

Bracelets

If the clatter and clink of bangles is just your style, then your choices range from the chunky and bold to the delicate and decorative. What you wear can make or break a look. Tip: If you have short fingers and wide hands, you must be careful with your style choice. Slim or medium styles work best. Avoid thick, wide styles as your hands will look shorter. If your hands are long and slim, you can wear just about any style, except very thin bracelets, as they will look lost. Find a middle ground; not too slim and not too wide.

Brooch

Don’t dismiss the brooch as a stuffy old jewellery box filler! The ‘pin’ is perfect for securing that silk scarf, livening up a lapel or creating a focal point on your neckline.

Tip: You can wear any size and shape brooch if you have balanced shoulders. If you have narrow

Shoulders and you want to make them look wider, wear an oblong brooch and adjust it so the widest point of the brooch is in a vertical line (from north to south). If you have wide shoulders and want to make them look narrower, adjust the brooch so the widest part of the brooch is in a horizontal line (from west to east).

Eyewear, whether prescription spectacles or sunglasses, can change the entire personality you project. There was a fashion trend for ‘attitude glasses‘, studious, tortoiseshell framed spectacles with clear glass lenses, that gave their wearers a professional, take-me-seriously look. There’s some merit to the fad, as silly as it may seem.

Have you ever had the disconcerting experience of being told you look `so different’ without your glasses? What does it really mean? Does ‘different’ mean more attractive, thinner, younger or plain odd?

Know all the options, because the bigger the glasses and the thicker the frame, the older you look. Glasses can overpower your face entirely.

Selecting the right frames is too often an impulsive decision, driven by a fashion trend, not a cool, calculated one aimed at enhancing your eyes or complementing your face shape.

With the following easy analysis you can work out the best shape of frame for your face, whether you are investing in sunglasses or reading glasses.

The main rule is very simple. Make sure the top of the frame follows the shape of your eyebrows around your eye to the top of your cheekbone. This will enhance your face shape. If your glasses are wider or larger than this shape, your glasses are too big for you. Glasses smaller than this shape will be too small for you.

The next rule is also simple. Avoid wearing glasses that are the same shape as your face. (This is one of the key reasons why you should establish your face shape in the first place.) If you have a round face, for example, and you wear round glasses, your face will look even rounder.

To shorten your face, look for frames that are slightly on the thick side. These will make your face seem rounder and shorter.

If you have a long nose, avoid glasses that have a high bridge, as this will create the illusion that your nose is even longer.

If your eyes are set very closely together, do not choose a style with a large frame as this will make you look as though you are squinting.

The middle of your eye should be in line with the centre of the lens to create the best proportion.

Your glasses should be comfortable. in other words, if they pinch you they are too tight and if they slide down your nose they are too loose.

The scarf has grown up from the prim handkerchief of yesteryear to a great, sweeping statement in clever styling. Shawls and wraps join the scarf as highly versatile, smart accessories. Far from being just casual, this is the ultimate smart wrap.

A small scarf around your neck, with trailing tails, can seem like an afterthought to the rest of your outfit. Why not make more of a statement, instantly extending the life and look of a suit or simple jersey? Here are some classic — and clever — ways to wear it.

The Triangle

Take a big scarf (1.20 m by 1.20 m) (4ft by 4ft) and fold it to form a triangle.

Drape it around your shoulders, making sure that the right is longer than the left.

Throw the right side over your left shoulder and secure with a brooch.

The Blouse

To make a ‘blouse‘ scarf (similar to how a man might wear a cravat), take a medium-sized scarf (60 cm by 60 cm) (2 if by 2 ft) and fold it lengthways.

Tie it into a knot (almost as you would a tie), with the long side on the top and the short side underneath.

Secure the bottom layer with a brooch to prevent the knot from coming undone.

The Square

Fold a small scarf (30 cm by 30 cm) (1 if by 1 ft) into a triangle. Fold again and gather the bottom of the scarf together, as you would a serviette that you put into a glass. Insert into your top jacket pocket for extra flair and an instant flirty pocket square.

The Pashmina

Vogue magazine may have declared the pashmina (or big shawl) ‘dead’, but no one was listening. The pashmina, originally made from rare spun fur, has become a generic term for the smartest shawls of the decade. They’re readily available in silk, light wool and even wool-acrylic mixes. Choose basic muted tones or brights and cut out the chill while looking irresistibly feminine.

The Cross

For the crossover look, drape a long scarf approximately 30 cm (1 ft) in width and one metre (3 ft 3 in) in length (a bigger and longer one if you have a fuller figure) around your neck and across your shoulders, making sure both sides drape evenly over your bust. Cross ends over each breast — left side over right breast and right side over left — making sure the crossover is deep enough. Tuck the bottom of the scarf into your waistband (as you would a shirt) and, instantly, you have a beautiful blouse that stays in place all day long! Try it! Lift your arms and move them about. If you are slightly nervous about your scarf slipping to reveal your underwear, wear a body stocking, just in case!

The Drape

Take a square scarf (say 90 cm by 90 cm) (3 ft by 3 ft) and fold it into a triangle.

Throw it over the shoulders of your blouse, sweater or jacket, so that the scarf’s point is in the centre of your back.

Then drape, pulling the right side over, and stop when about two-thirds of the scarf is on the right side and one-third on the left side. Take the long side and throw it over your left shoulder. Secure with a brooch.

If the fabric bunches under your chin, first twist and then throw over. The additional fabric has now been removed and lies flat against the body. Avoid this style if you have a full bust.

You don’t have to build a completely new wardrobe at the beginning of each season. Adding a new belt with a fashionable buckle or design detail immediately updates your wardrobe.

Belts tend to be a rather neglected accessory in a wardrobe! They’re tangled in messy heaps or hang slumped over coat hangers, forever slithering to the ground. Coil them in perspex boxes to give them visibility and the neat storage they deserve, or hook them though the buckles on a special belt rack.

Treated well, they take up minimal space but can have a huge impact on your wardrobe.

How to choose the right Belt?

Many women are uncertain about when and how to wear a belt for the maximum effect.

How wide should it be? Does it complete an outfit or detract from it? What will the width and size of a buckle do for an outfit?

To establish which belt width is best for you, take the following measurements.

Stand up straight and measure the distance from underneath your bust to your waist.

Deduct 5 cm (2 in) to ensure that there is enough distance from beneath your bust to the top of your belt.

The balance of the measurement will give you the correct width of the belt you should select.

For example: If your measurement from bust to waist is 10 cm (4 in) and you deduct 5 cm (2 in), you are left with 5 cm. Your best belt width would therefore be 5 cm. If your measurement is 5 cm or less, deducting 5 cm indicates that wearing a belt is not a good idea. This does not necessarily mean you are short-waisted. You may just have a low bust!

Fashion Notebook

The prong of the belt should fit into the middle hole of the belt to allow for weight loss or gain.

Avoid wide belts if you have a full bust, a low bust or a short waist.

A wide belt will only work if you have a long waist with good hips.

As a rule, your shoes and your belt should match to ensure continuity. You can’t wear a white shirt and navy pants with a navy belt and brown shoes. The shoe and the belt are accessories, and therefore should be the same colour.

Be cautious about colourful belts. A red belt, for example, against a contrasting colour could have the effect of cutting you in two, making you look shorter and broader. Basic colours in a style that will last season after season are the best investment. On the plus side, a good belt can turn an ordinary pair of jeans into something classy or make a plain outfit more interesting.

What colour do you choose: brown, black, tan or red? Do you choose a large bag (the worldly goods holder) or a tiny evening bag (the lipstick-and-cellphone-only number)?

And if it’s an evening bag, should it be in black with jet beads or in ruby satin? With feathers or tassels?

You might have gone as far as deciding on the basis of the strap. Long for over-the-shoulder? A curved mock-ivory handle? A thin, elegant cord?

The questions we never seem to ask are whether the bag is in proportion to our bodies — how the bag will make us look. Could a bulky bag broaden the look of my hips? Could a bag with an extra-long strap make me look short? If you haven’t asked these questions, you should!

How to Choose the Right Bag

Your bag should never be wider than the width of your body from the side. Think about it. If you are short and wear a very wide bag, you will look even shorter. If you have a full tummy or bottom, a wide bag will make them look even wider The ideal bag length is the halfway mark from shoulder to floor (with the middle of the bag at the halfway point). Use the adjuster strap to correct the length or have the strap altered.

If you are tall, you can certainly get away with carrying almost any bag, but you still need to be careful. I suggest you select the correct proportions and balance. Personally, I don’t think a woman can ever have enough bags (or shoes for that matter). They add so much personality to the outfit and stretch the versatility of your wardrobe.

But we all need to start somewhere so here are the guidelines:

• Start with a simple classic bag in a basic colour that will work from day to night, smart to casual.
• Build to a basic wardrobe of six bags and add to your collection. Your basics are: four good quality classics in basic colours and two fashionable bags.
• Invest in a selection of different styles for all occasions: elegant and sophisticated, fun and flirty, casual and sporty.
• The bag you choose isn’t always dictated by the outfit you wear. A classic bag works with a suit and could also look great with a T-shirt and jeans.
• Basic colours (black, navy or tan) in shoes, belts and bags work best on the body and the budget.

Yes, this is a quiz! What I’m really asking you to do is to take stock of your footwear! Many women confess that shoes are their ‘vice’, an irresistible item that’s simply addictive. But no one is going to wag a finger at you and accuse you of being an Imelda Marcos. If you have 30 pairs of shoes and you wear them a//, revel in the luxury. If you have 30 pairs and wear just a few of them, you could do with a little guidance.

The Boots

Comfort continues in footwear, with boots that are made for striding, not just strolling, up that corporate ladder! A flat-heeled boot (3 cm) (1.2 in) is the most versatile, classic style. The skirt’s hemline should cover the boot by at least 8 cm (3 in), ensuring continuity. Invest in classic colours and styles that will last you a few seasons.

Never buy shoes in a rush or when your feet are swollen. Try on pairs, not just single shoes. Walk up and down with them and ensure that they are 100% comfortable. This depends on your occupation, though. If you stand on your feet all day, then you should, in fact, try on shoes when your feet are swollen.

The Court shoes

The court shoe is the workhorse of your wardrobe. It’s the reason why you should have more pairs than any other style in your wardrobe. The court works with everything except jeans. It works best with a smart suit or beautiful dress. But it’s not always necessary to wear a plain court. Buy a pair with a subtle trim, a touch of gold or a two-tone - all of these can revamp a very plain looking outfit.

A 4-6 cm (1.5-2.5 in) heel is the best choice as it works with skirts, dresses and pants.

• Avoid a very high heel with pants - this will look completely out of proportion.
• Don’t wear the same shoes day after day, especially leather shoes, as they need to ‘breathe’.
• Don’t buy endless pairs of plastic shoes. Spend a little more on good quality leather shoes.
• Buy spray sealants to waterproof them from the rain and prevent the subsequent damage.
• Push tissue paper into the toe of your shoe to retain their shape.
• Leather lasts if cared for.

Flat Shoes

With constant high-heel wearing, your feet deserve a holiday in a snug, supportive and comfortable cocoon. Even if trainers only ever go to gym, running, or the tennis court, buy the best you can afford.

The good news is that anyone can wear a flat shoe; it just depends on what you wear with it.

Wear a flat shoe with smart pants or a casual pair of jeans, not with a soft suit or a pencil skirt.

A flat shoe with a short skirt works best for women with long legs. If you have shorter legs, choose a slight heel.

A square toe is the ideal style if you have big feet and want to make them look smaller.

A pointed toe is the ideal style if you have small feet and want to make them look longer.

Your shoe should match the colour of your hemline in order to ‘ground’ you. Shoes can be darker, but never lighter than your hemline. If your shoe is lighter than your hemline it looks as though you are floating off the ground.

There’s something seriously sexy about a sandal. It has something to do with the curve of the heel or the sheer wanton look of a half naked foot. If you’re in the dating game, it might be a very good time to pay your feet serious attention as a less obvious charm. Whether you wear the sandal with a simple shift, pencil skirt or pants, be sure that your exposed heel is smooth and silky looking. Quite apart from its seductive powers, the best thing about the sandal is its versatility. Cool by day, coquettish by night, sandals work best with soft feminine skirts, dresses or Capri pants.

A wineglass or tapered heel is the best silhouette as it gives your leg shape.

If you have no calf, a sandal creates an illusion of shape.

If you have slim ankles and calves, it draws attention to your calf. If you have muscular calves, it slims them down. Avoid this style if the overall shape of your legs is full. While sandals are versatile, they don’t travel well in the cold.

Don’t wear them with winter pants as you will then be mixing summer and winter together.

White shoes can work, but only as fine, strappy sandals or two-tone courts. We’ve probably all bought a pair of white court shoes somewhere along the line but, if the truth be told, white shoes generally don’t work for two very good reasons: they get scuffed very easily and can also make your feet look big.

By night

What colour shoes do you wear if you’ve broken away from the safety of your ‘little black number’ outfit and gone for outfits in orange, yellow, peach or red? Should the shoes match? Yes and no. I would avoid peach shoes with a peach dress. There’s just too much peach.

• Be careful of straps if you have full calvesor ankles.
• Shoes with ankle straps will shorten the leg.
• Gold or silver sandals can look great.

For example, if you are extremely casual, it may mean you’re quite at home working out in an old T-shirt, faded shorts and ancient trainers. Or does your age, corporate image or self-esteem suggest, perhaps even demand, something more chic and sophisticated? You might need to extend your work persona to the gym and wear co-ordinated, top brand, high-tech sportswear. It’s your choice. You have to ask some simple questions: What kind of image do I want to project? How do I plan my wardrobe to suit my lifestyle? Am I overdressed or underdressed for the occasion?

Let’s start with the image you want to project. Does `elegant and sophisticated’ spring to mind? What about `casual but well groomed’? Only once you know what kind of image you want to project can you dress for the occasion.

The way the different lifestyles are described can be confusing and sometimes misleading. If, for example, you are wearing a pair of jeans with a stunning top, people you meet tell you, ‘You look smart.’ What they mean is, ‘You look nice.’ ‘Smart‘, strictly speaking, means a tailored suit.

It’s highly likely that you enjoy a combination lifestyle. Your lifestyle will never be 100% smart or 100% casual. Here are some examples:

Bank Manager:

Your dress code during the week is smart. You love going to movies on a Friday night and enjoy a Sunday afternoon lunch with friends. I have just described a combination lifestyle: smart (80%) and casual (20%). Your wardrobe should therefore reflect these percentages. If it consists mostly of T-shirts, shorts and jeans because you are a casual person at heart, this will explain why you feel you have nothing to wear‘: your true lifestyle is not reflected in your wardrobe.

Architect:

With site meetings between clients and builders, your dress code during the week is smart- casual. But you are married to a doctor and entertain informally over the weekend. I have just described a combination lifestyle: smart (50%) and casual (50%). Your wardrobe should reflect these percentages.

Mother at Home with two Young Children:

You spend your life racing around ferrying children between school, ballet lessons, karate and swimming. It never stops. Your husband is a plumber and hates formal occasions: at most you will go out to a smart restaurant once a month, and you may go to church on a Sunday morning. I have just described a combination lifestyle: casual (90%) and smart (10%). If your wardrobe consists of suits and high-heeled shoes and there are no jeans, casual shirts or semi-formal items, it will let you down. Your wardrobe should reflect these percentages.

What you do every day is just one factor. Dress codes also vary from city to city. If you live in a major metropolitan area, ‘smart‘ means ‘very smart‘, but if you live in a small town, you will need to adopt a toned- down version of ‘smart‘.

Times also change, and so should your mind-set and your wardrobe. Fifty years ago it wouldn’t have entered anyone’s head to wear jeans to the cinema. A woman would dress up, as this was an outing, an occasion. Before that women sometimes changed four times a day: a morning outfit, a day outfit, a tea outfit and an evening outfit. Today that would be considered, at best, eccentric and, at worst, obsessive-compulsive behaviour!

But back to the present. You must take into consideration that your lifestyle may have changed over the years. Perhaps you were a working woman and are now a mother at home. If so, you will need to alter your wardrobe accordingly.

Your wardrobe should be as flexible as your lifestyle. For example, the word ‘jeans‘ sends two messages to me. One is jeans with a T-shirt and running shoes, the other jeans with a white shirt, tailored blazer and leather shoes. This is the exciting part of planning your wardrobe and really making it work for you, but first we must understand the different dress codes.

Smart-casual means that the overall look is more smart than casual. You might work for a small business, but not a large corporate, so a smart-casual work dress code would be acceptable or even expected. Other ways to describe smart- casual are semi-formal, relaxed smart or casual chic.

An example: a trouser suit is smart-casual. It is actually smart but not 100% smart. If you wore the same jacket with a pencil skirt, pantyhose and court shoes it would look smarter, so a trouser suit is therefore smart-casual. Another way of putting it is that about 70% of the outfit is smart and 30% is casual.

Career/Lifestyle

This dress style is often the choice of women who have made it into powerful professional positions but don’t want to project too forbidding or formal an image — so it’s an excellent style for architects, doctors, dentists, teachers or psychologists. It can literally be a uniform style for air hostesses, bank yellers or travel agents, but it’s also appropriate for many women dealing with the public who need to inspire confidence in their professional competence: antique or art dealers, auctioneers, bookkeepers, hoteliers, estate agents and computer consultants.

Most clients dealing with professional women want professional competence, but with a feminine touch. Remind them of the eternal female by subtly appealing to the powerful sense of smell.

Casual-smart

Casual-smart means that the overall look is more casual than smart — 70% of the outfit is casual and 30% is smart. Another way to describe casual-smart is relaxed smart. Your lifestyle may be casual, but you still need to look well groomed.

Career /Lifestyle

This is the best style for women who rely primarily on their creativity in dealing with the world. So, for a graphic artist, drama teacher, actor, clothing designer, theatrical agent or advertising creative, it’s a way of showing how La Scheme meets the breadline, but elegantly. This style also appeals to many women in the para-medical professions, where the dress statement is that they need to be relaxed to serve you best — so if you’re a pharmacist, optometrist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, nutritionist or reflexologist, this is your way of getting the patient to relax. And other women in demanding service roles (beauticians, caterers, librarians) may also find this the best overall structure for their wardrobes.

The creative and caring spirits need to keep something sensual and mysterious about them. If you’re in this group, remind yourself, and those around you, of your complexity.

Tailored suits, silk shirts or court shoes do not reflect a casual lifestyle. When we think of casual we think of jeans and comfortable clothing. But beware — a shirt and jeans in a carefully chosen combination can have a very different effect from another shirt and jeans, randomly chosen.

Here again, the same advice as for those whose professional lives demand mainly smart clothes. Though most of your life may make casual the natural choice, you may go out to smart restaurants and attend social functions, so don’t forget that you will require some smart clothing. Your wardrobe should probably be 90% casual and 10% smart.

Some Career / Lifestyle

In many cases, women choose casual for reasons of simple practicality. If you’re a gardener, potter, home executive, farmer, animal breeder, hairdresser, nursery- school teacher, baby-sitter, baker, landscaper or gym instructor, you’ll probably not want to risk anything more formal. But this can also be the (non) uniform of the free spirit: of the dancer, musician or artist, or the student’s signal that she isn’t yet ready to decide which of the other styles will suit her best.

Casual means a wonderful freedom from more formal codes, so choose a scent that embodies this.