Women's Guide to Holiday Dressing
The true irony of the holidays is that amidst the chaos of cleaning, shopping, and decorating, we're all supposed to be feeling jubilant and relaxed--women especially. You're exhausted from shopping all day and wrapping gifts 
all night and the bags under your eyes are bigger than Santa's pack, but you still need to come beaming into the living room in a cocktail dress and oven mitts. The good news is that dressing the part of a radiant, effortless hostess can help you get in that holiday state of mind, provided you keep things simple.
The Basics
As with most things holiday related, a little planning with your look will go a long way. Every woman should have in her wardrobe a flexible favourite: a little black dress, a great pair of tailored slacks, a shimmery skirt or a beautiful shell that makes her look and feel great. If you haven't found (or haven't had time to look for) the perfect holiday outfit, rework what you already have with a few special additions. For example, those old standby black dress trousers can look effortlessly pulled together and festive with a new top in a striking seasonal fabric, such as satin or even brocade. A simple sheath can sparkle with expressive jewellery or delicate layering, such as a pretty red cardigan worn over the dress, or even a fancy tee or blouse underneath. Since special finishing pieces are more fun to shop for than tailored basics, you'll get the fastest, most fun shopping experience if you know your closet and what you can work with. If you have time or money for a brand new outfit (or simply no other viable options), read on.
Starting Fresh
Though it is very attractive and enticing to buy something over the top for the holidays, consider your finances in the New Year and try to keep the four F's in mind: Fit, Focus, Flexibility and Fabulosity.
- Fit: The best way to look fantastic in any outfit at any time is to be body conscious while shopping for it, so be sure you're not puckering, sagging, or busting out anywhere.
- Focus: Once you're sure a dress fits, consider whether it's focusing on your best attributes. Eat a few too many Christmas biscuits? Look for a dress that showcases your gorgeous legs or décolletage. Small in the chest? Try something backless or sleeveless to highlight your arms.
- Flexibility: You may find the perfect outfit for one particular event this year, but will you ever be able to wear it somewhere else? Again, do a mental run-through of what you have in your closet at home and question whether any of your jumpers, tights, blazers, or accessories can affect the mutability of the garment in question.
- Fabulosity: Finally, how fabulous do you look? More importantly, how fabulous do you feel?
Holiday Staples
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Dress We're not saying your dress has to be black, but make sure it's something that you feel good in. Since it needs to accommodate cold weather, be sure that you feel warm enough in it or you can layer on top of it with a cardigan. Some nice wintery or neutral colours to consider are burgundy, brown, green, purple or grey. |
Fashion Boots These are a great staple to have for the winter season as they can help to keep your legs warm and look good with a skirt or a dress. Brown, black or grey boots will go with just about anything, and you can choose the length, which ranges from ankle to knee high. Just be sure that you can walk in them--slipping on ice in the winter is not fun! |
Outerwear For posh wintertime outings, you will want a smart coat that complements your ensemble. Pea coats offer a nice fit and cut for women, as well as long belted or hooded winter coats. As for colour, pick one that offsets your skin tone, and do the same when choosing scarves, hats and gloves. Remember, all of your colours don't have to match exactly as long as they look good together. |
Jewellery Wintertime jewellery can be creative and festive without featuring Santa Claus or his reindeer. Dangling silver earrings, layered gold necklaces, or beaded bracelets in colours like red, dark blue and green will all go great with your holiday favourites. Don't forget about black, either, since the colour is appropriate for any season and with any ensemble. |
Jumpers Have some colourful jumpers on hand in a range of different styles to match with a skirt or fashionable pants. This way, you can mix and match outfits to wear to any wintertime event and don't have to worry about throwing an outfit together. Turtlenecks, v-necks and crew necks can all be very flattering sweater styles. |
Finishing Touches
So you're dressed. Congratulations, the hard part is over. But unfortunately, you've still got those puffy eyes and frizzy hair to deal with.
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Hair Best plan of action in a pinch? Go with the flow. If your hair is curly, let it curl--just counteract frizz with a serum and have a sparkly headband on hand for emergencies. Strands a little flat? Again, a little serum and whip them back into a smooth ponytail or bun. You'll look polished, not lazy! Looking to avoid wintertime static? Using a dryer sheet and patting it all over your head may help to counteract it. |
Face As for makeup, do some damage control on those under eye circles (try cold spoons and a little creamy concealer with a yellow base) and use your regular foundation to cover up any blemishes, just like you would in your daily routine. When using blusher, sometimes it's helpful to layer up since winter can leave you looking incredibly pale. Don't put too much on, though, or you might end up looking really rosy. |
Eyes Why not give your eyes a little bit of sparkle this season? Use a nice silver or white eyeliner to brighten up even the most tired eyes, and make sure to pick out colours that complement your eye shade and will make it pop. As for eye shadow, pick something that has a little bit of sparkle in it and be sure not to make it too dark, unless your skin tone is olive or darker. Don't forget the mascara! The bigger, the better, but use an anti-clumping brush when finished. |
Lips First things first: start with a little bit of lip balm, which will help to keep your lips from peeling and chapping halfway into the night. Then pick out a nice rose or deep red lip colour for your ensemble--whatever shade you can pull off well that's not overly dramatic or too summery. Whether it's lip gloss or lipstick, you can achieve a great result as long as you apply correctly and match the tone of your outfit. |
Perfume Now you are all set, so spritz on the finishing touch! Use your signature scent or a nice wintry scent with a crisp finish. Think woodsy notes such as musk, amber and sandalwood as well as some lighter notes to balance it out, including orchids, rose, violet, magnolia and pomegranate. Spritz on wrists and on neck. For an extra treat, dab some on behind your ears. |
Transporting Your Gifts
Now that you're a woman of style, how will you carry all of your gifts from house to house? In a stylish bag, of course! A large shopping bag with handles or a recycled bag is usually heavy duty enough to hold whatever you throw inside of it. Worried about crushing the bows and pretty gift wrap? During travel, this can be especially difficult, so you can either transport the gifts and wrap them at your destination, or you can order them online and have them delivered and gift wrapped to your recipient. Holidays made simple!
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