Alexandra Fullerton - How to Dress: Secret styling tips from a fashion insider

This book is dedicated to Jerry Ophelia Fullerton, who already has a very definite idea of how to dress at the age of three. I dont know where she gets it from.

Alexandra Fullerton

HOW TO DRESS

SECRET STYLING TIPS FROM A FASHION INSIDER

illustration by
Bijou Karman

I thought long and hard about the title of this book. Who am I to tell you how to get dressed? I am certainly not a paid-up member of the fashion police, nor a boob-grabbing Hooray Henrietta who wants to coerce you into curve-enhancing prints that flaunt your bangers.

I am a fashion editor with seventeen years of experience on magazines, and I have worked on an array of British publications including Stylist, Glamour, Grazia and Stella, along with contributions to the international editions of Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. My day job as a stylist sees me searching through the high street and designer catwalks to edit the trends that will work in reality and discovering the gems of the season that are really worth buying. On photo shoots, I have dressed all sorts of bodies from Olympic champions to the perfectly plus-sized, from tinily petite pop singers through to Amazonian models encompassing every figure, shape and size in between. My job is to always make everyone look great. And thats empowering for me and for them.

Ive appeared on radio and live panel talks to discuss and dissect everything, from the craze for clogs to seasonal trends and the state of the British high street. I am properly obsessed with clothes, shoes, bags, belts, sunglasses and jewellery, and when Im not at work I spend my time trying on my wardrobe, working out combinations of clothes for different occasions and playing with new outfits or shopping, whether thats for me, a client or the window variety.

I promise you, I know my stuff when it comes to getting dressed. The definition of how is in what manner, by what means, and my aim with this book is to show you the ways and means with which you can dress well. I want you to use this book as a guide. Its a set of ideas, a collection of formulas, a gathering of stylish tips and fashionable principles that will give you the guidance to build outfits that work, that wont look off, out of proportion or weird. By the end you should feel excited about getting dressed, you shouldnt ever wail, I have nothing to wear! and you will know how to make the most of the clothes you already own with the secret styling tips Ive shared. Best of all, knowing how to dress means that people will focus on you and not your clothes. For want of a better analogy, this is a recipe book that encourages you to use your own ingredients and follow the recipes within to mix up the perfect outfit.

When people find out what I do, they always ask what they should be wearing this season, what the colour of the moment is, what new things they should buy. But getting dressed well is so much more than buying something in, say, pillar-box red just because its in. I want this book to celebrate your personal style and not be a bible for following fashion. The processes I go through at the start of each season echo the way you would approach getting dressed and going shopping, and thats how Ive decided to set out the chapters in this book. You will start by thinking about what youd like to wear, how that fits with your lifestyle, what you might need to buy and how to deal with actually making a purchase. Then well move on to how you should store your clothes when you get them home and all the little ways to make an outfit come alive.

I start by explaining style and fashion. The two concepts are very different and although they are often lumped together, acknowledging that they are not the same is absolutely crucial and the first thing to learn in your dressing journey. You can skip Working out your own signature style comes next, and I share the ways in which you can explore your sense of self through your clothes. This is how to edit yourself. Once youve discovered your own personal style whatever it may be youll still need some fail-safe items you can turn to in a crisis.

could be a standalone read. Essentially, this is a shopping list of all the pieces you need to own to build looks that work consistently well. Like houses, outfits need solid foundations. That doesnt necessarily mean sturdy bras and knickers, but key pieces you can build the rest of a look on.

Once youve acknowledged what your own style is and realized what you need in your wardrobe, its time to go shopping. Its not enough to pick something up from a rail and hand over your credit card at the checkout. is a coaching exercise in building a proper shopping strategy, whether you are shopping online, actually on the high street or in the mall. The goal is to ensure that you arent lured by the sales or spangly items that youll never wear. If you are searching for more practical advice, the middle chapters, How to Shop and Your Wardrobe, are the pragmatic ones. When you get your new buys home, you need to present them properly to get the most out of them, and I have some tips on dealing with wardrobe detoxes, too!

Finally comes all the expert, insider knowledge Ive gathered during my career. These are the secrets to styling yourself like a fashion pro. Skip straight to if you want to know the way to roll your sleeves and be let in on the formula for the magical Third Piece.

This book isnt a hard-and-fast set of rules; after all, as advises, fashion should be fun. I want you to fall in love with getting dressed as much as I do and, armed with a few new ways in which to do it, go and get dressed in whatever you want.

N o one has said it better than Yves Saint Laurent: Fashions fade, style is eternal.

But if it really was that simple to navigate dressing well I wouldnt be writing this book, and the biannual merry-go-round of catwalk shows would be obsolete. In essence, fashion is fast and fashion is fun. At its most powerful, fashion can be an important reflection of our time and society. Whoever thinks clothes are irrelevant beyond covering our modesty and keeping us warm has no grasp on the power of fashion to express your politics, desires and tastes. Fashion can be cruel its whimsical and fickle but if you learn how to play it to your advantage you will feel on top of the world. Style, meanwhile, doesnt care about whats in or out. Style does its own thing. Style knows what suits it and isnt averse to breaking the rules. Style is the person you want to hang out with. Everyone has a girl crush on style.

Truly stylish outfits will stand the test of time and look as chic, elegant and engaging in decades to come as they do right now. Looking at photos of outfits that are fashionable means you will be able to date them exactly, down to the season or month as well as the year. Fashions are ever-evolving and incredibly fashionable pieces that you wore to death for one month will look tired and dull the next. Items that are stylish will last until you wear holes in them. Although fashion and style may sometimes be interchangeable, fashion passes, style remains. I think of this Coco Chanel quote often, not least when I break down each seasons new trends. At the moment, the fashion industry is caught on a treadmill of presenting new styles ever more speedily to tempt shoppers with ever shorter attention spans to hand over the money they might otherwise spend on cinema trips, holidays and special meals. The fashion system, and how we shop, is changing, which is why its now particularly pertinent to explore the differences between fashion and style.