Shoes & more Shoes..

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Shoes are an essential element of any wardrobe and can make or break an outfit.   A few tips to keep in mind when buying, storing or maintaining your shoe collection:

Maintain: Taking good care of your shoes involves effort, but it keeps your shoes looking crisp, minimizes damage and helps hold their shape.  Cedar shoe trees are great for keeping the shape of you boot or shoe and they also absorb moisture.

Polish: Nothing is worse than having on a great outfit, along with the perfect shoes and they look dull, dusty, have black marks, the sole and/or heel is worn down to nothing.  Keep polish and a shoe mitt on hand for quick polishes.  Make sure to give your shoes a good look before going out.

Scuffmarks: If youre in a jam, try using a small amount of non-gel toothpaste onto the scuffmarks, wipe with a damp cloth, then polish.

Shoe Repair:  If they need to be fixed, get it done.  Make a habit out of getting your shoes repaired prior to the upcoming season.  That way, when a warm day surprises you, you wont have to be concerned about how your shoes look.

Buying New Shoes: New shoes will fit differently when you try them on, depending whether it is morning or evening because as the day goes on, your feet increase in size  make sure to keep this in mind when buying a new pair.

Take a Picture:  When you get your new shoes home, take a quick picture of them and tape it to the box.  This way you can easily store off-season shoes on higher racks in your closet and will be able to easily find them.

Quality Matters:   If you can, invest in a quality shoe  not only will they last longer, theyll be more comfortable, maintain their shape and will add richness to any outfit.

Shoe Storage: There are several, effective ways to store your shoes.  The most important thing is that they are visible/easy to see while youre getting dressed.  It all depends on the layout of your closet and how to best store and see the current season shoe.  Whenever possible, store your shoes side by side with the toe facing out on one and heel facing out on the other.  That way you can easily select high, short heel, or flats and pointed, round or open toes.

Must have shoe accessories:
• Plastic Boxes
• Shoe Rack  either free-standing or over-the-door
• Original Box with a picture taped to the front
• Mesh Hanging Bags
• Shoe Bags for off season

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Color for Women:

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Color has the power to enhance or detract from your personal appearance, can lift or depress the spirit and carry messages to others.  Color can also create visual illusions of body size, shape and proportions.  Dark, neutral colors make the figure appear smaller, while light and bright colors will make it appear larger.  Colors also enhance you both physically and emotionally.  Dark, subdued colors may be appropriate for your figure, but you may need the lift of bright and light accent colors, depending on the occasion.

 

Neutral colors are a great base for creating an outfit, even an entire wardrobe.  Using neutrals as your core color creates many possibilities and ways to introduce other colors into your wardrobe, while having a balanced closet full of clothes that intermix.  For example, try mixing a tan pair of pants with a blouse in a hue of green.  Put on a great pair of shoes in white with a green or tan accent and a white, tan or green bag and youll look dynamite.

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Here are some tips for colors and accent colors:

Black  white, tan, brown, pink, purple, burgundy, blue, gray
Brown  white, tan, yellow, green, orange, pink, burgundy, blue, red, crème, black
White  tan, yellow, brown, orange, green, pink, purple, red, blue/navy, burgundy, gray, black
Tan  white, crème, yellow, brown, orange, green, purple, pink, burgundy, red, blue/navy, black
Gray  white, yellow, green, pink, purple, burgundy, blue/navy, black

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1.Always roll:  rolling your clothes not only gains space, but it keep the wrinkles at bay.  Roll all your clothes when packing and youll be amazed at the amount of space youll save versus traditional folding of clothes.

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2.Plan carefully:  when packing, have an exact count of the number of days, types of events and decide what pieces you can mix and match to create new looks with a limited amount of pieces.  Dont forget to count the clothes you are wearing in route!

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3.Accessorize:  changing up your accessories can make an outfit look totally different.  And because accessories take up less room than clothes, make sure to use the accessory strategy when planning your outfits.

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4.Make lists:  it never hurts to make lists of where youll be going and what outfits youll need to have.  Make sure to include all your needs: clothing, accessories, beauty care items, shoes, make-up, passport, books, tickets, travelers checks, etc.

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5. We've all done it  spilled red wine on our new white blouse, cut our finger and bled onto our favorite tee, or not knowing our own strength, squeezed the mustard bottle so hard that it exploded all over the place, including on our brand new outfit.  Here a few tips for tackling common stains (we recommend however, that you consult your professional dry cleaner for all your non-washables  Dry Clean Only  items):