Recently, it seems we have gone from casual clothing that’s too tight to clothing that appears too baggy. Casual clothing tends to be on the relaxed side. However, there is a significant difference between relaxed and baggy.

You know your clothing is too baggy when:

• Your jacket, shirt or sweater is falling off your shoulder by an inch or more
• The seat of your pants has an air pocket coming out of it
• You can grab an inch to an inch and half of material on the sides of your pants

Natural fabrics tend to lose shape, causing them to look baggy, if they’re not occasionally cleaned.

We never ever want to our clothing to look baggy. It is definitely not an in or a smart look.

It is easy for men because their jeans are 99% straight legs. That means they can wear sandals, boots and any type of shoe to dress up or down their look. Either the relaxed or fitted leg style works best for men.

For the gals, it not so easy. Here are some guidelines:

• The straight pant leg can be worn with flats, heels or boots.
• The slightly flared pant leg looks best with boots and a mid or high heel.
• The widely flared pant leg looks best with boots.

Color is what suggests the jean to be casual or dressy. A darker color without stress marks is considered dress. If you are going to wear jeans on a casual day at work, a darker color will always look more polished.

We always want to look smart and in with style even when wearing jeans.

How many times have you seen someone roll their eyes? They could be answering a question to you directly or answering a question in front of the audience. A Google search for “rolling eyes meaning” yielded 457,000 hits

Here are some of the writings from the internet:

• An expression of dismay or exasperation: actually or metaphorically moving one’s eyes to follow along an imaginary line of vision through the extreme range of the eyeball on the periphery of vision above the horizontal, from right to left or left to right.

• Idiom: If you roll your eyes, you show with your eyes that you don’t believe someone or aren’t interested in what they’re saying.

• Rolling your eyes is considered rude because it is a gesture saying you’ve got to be kidding or is she even thinking? It’s kind of like if you were talking and I let out a big sigh.

• It shows that you’re not interested in what they have to say. It’s equal to flipping someone off.

So, what do you do when you need to answer a question that may seem ridiculous or redundant because you just answered it? The best solution to prevent your eyes from rolling is to look the questioner in the eye, repeat the question and answer with a smile. You never want to be accused of rolling eyes.

80% of women do not wear hose with their shoes (pumps and dress flats.) It seemd like they all wore socks with their athletic shoes until recently.

I was at an event and the women who did wear hose wore black opaque stockings. They were cold and also were wearing dresses. Both the dresses were shorter and the heels very high. I was surprised because it seemed most women were not wearing hose especially if they were under 40.

So, the question that always comes up is do you have to wear stockings?

Fashion rules say you never wear hose with toeless sandals. But the reality is dress policies have gotten so relaxed about hose that most women stopped wearing it!

It began as comfort and a mini revolt. The celebrities first started wearing sandals without hose (even though you can buy panty hose without toes to wear with sandals). Then it moved into not wearing hose all together. Of course, then everyone else started to do the same.

The hosiery industry had to become more innovative. Check out http://www.silkies.com/search.asp?SKW=cat1_f@&CAT=SILKIES. This is just one of the many sites that show hosiery companies fighting back by offering different styles and patterns to influence women to wear hose.

My tip for those who have very bare white leg and don’t want to wear hose is to wear slacks. Make wearing hosiery a non issue.

In today’s professional world, it is protocol to remember men and women are created equal. Here are some etiquette tips to clarify any misunderstandings:

• Whoever gets there first, opens the traditional door or goes through the revolving one.
• In speaking with a restaurant hostess the same rules apply. Whoever gets there first when securing a table for lunch or dinner verifies the reservation.
• Men are not required to help a women into her chair(the waiter will do this).
• Whoever is the highest ranking person in the room, he or she is introduced first.
• A man or woman can help each other with their coats. Whoever has a free hand, assists.

However, some common courtesies never go out of style. If a woman drops something it is nice for the man to pick it up.

Remembering these few protocols will remind you, that in the business world, all sexes are equal.

How often should you update your wardrobe? My recommendation is at least once a year– twice a year for your most used pieces.

These five simple strategies will keep your wardrobe update process simple:

1. Your main pieces (jackets, suits etc.) have a life of about three years. This is especially true of ties for men. After three years you may be able to save a jacket or suit by altering it. This may be as simple as changing buttons to give the piece a new look. If the item is in mint condition, you might want to turn into another piece. For example, silk dresses can become blouses.

2. Keep your look simple and smart. I recommend mixing and matching neutral colors (black, brown, navy, and camel).You can accent by adding third color.

3. Only buy an item you if have four pieces in the closet that you can wear with it.

4. If you are going to buy an item but do not have anything in your wardrobe to wear with it, then buy all the companion pieces at the same time.

5. Be ruthless in getting rid of clothing that is frayed, spotted and worn no matter how attached you are to them.

If you follow these five strategies, it will make your wardrobe and your look current and very smart.

There are now four different generations in the work place. Matures are born between 1925 to 1945; Boomers from 1946 to 1965; Gen X from 1966 to 1985, and Gen Y (also called Millennials) from 1986 to the present.

Here are seven tips that will enhance your credibility with generations X and Y:

• Use your phone or blackberry as a watch.
• Send e-mails or text messages instead of a voice mails.
• Have lunch with others at work and not at your desk.
• Talk about current events, not what happened ten years ago.
• Don’t dress in more than three layers of clothing.
• Be on LinkedIn and Facebook.
• Think green.

So, the idea is not necessarily to behave like a Millennial, but to make sure we are not acting like we are from another century!

Shoes

The dictionary definition of shoes is: an external covering for the human foot, usually of leather and consisting of a more or less stiff or heavy sole and a lighter upper part ending a short distance above, at, or below the ankle.

But shoes do more than just cover your feet and protect them from the elements. Shoes add the final touch to an outfit. They can make your inexpensive ensemble look expensive or make an expensive outfit look cheap.

But did you know certain style shoes can make you look thinner and taller? For women and men a tapered shoe will make your feet look longer. This draws the eye outward thus adding height. A darker shoe will make your feet look smaller. A shoe with pattern leather or colors will make your feet look larger having the effect of making you look larger.

So, select your shoe choices wisely. You will add the finishing touch that will make you look very smart. Check out my favorite sites for shoes Zappo.com and Nordstrom.com.

Today’s clothing choices are driven by the fashion industry, media and celebrities. It’s rarer to see folks dress their age. Instead, we see folks who try to look younger when they really can’t mask their age any longer. Of course, you have the opposite situation—people who try to look older. They end up looking like kids playing dress up or looking just plain silly.

We saw one of the young female stars at the Oscar’s last night who tried to dress older. It only made her look younger and a bit foolish. I will say 99% of the stars including men, looked age appropriate. I especially liked that the men wore the correct cut tuxedo (jacket and lapels) for their age and body type. I also liked how we saw every man over 40 wearing a properly tied bow tie – no clip ons.

So, it does not matter what the occasion is. You will always look smarter when dressing age appropriate.

It is amazing how someone’s facial expression can affect us. Also, it can give you some insight about what they are thinking.

Recently in the “Live” section of the Chicago Tribune, Julianna Margulies, who stars in the CBS show, The Good Wife, was measured for facial expressions and eye movements. She engages the audience so thoughtfully that she connects her viewers to her and to the character.

As I mentioned in one my recent blogs, Bill Clinton locks his eyes on whomever he’s speaking with. This, plus his facial expressions and manner, places the conversational partner at center of his universe.

We know for a fact that when a complete stranger smiles at you, it can make your day. At the same time, the person who looks right through you sends the signal you are invisible, which can make you feel worthless.

So, we want our facial expression to be one that suggests to others that you might be a good person to know.