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.

Smoking is bad for your health. Plus, we are not living in an era where smoking a cigarette is considered chic. If you are a smoker and want to minimize the odor, do not:

• Smoke before a meeting.
• Wear a heavy cologne to mask the cigarette smell.
• Hold your cigarette the whole time you are smoking.
• Smoke in the car while driving.

These are the things you can do as a smoker to minimize the effect of smoke odor on your body:

• Smoke at least two hours before making contact with anyone.
• If you wear a cologne make it a light flower scent.
• Keep your cigarette in an ash tray while smoking (this keeps odor away from you).
• Keep an unscented fabric softener sheet in your pocket. It will absorb the smell.
• Wash your hands with mildly scented soap before going into a meeting.

Smoking has long ceased being elegant but if you do smoke, make sure it does not define you.

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!

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.

A belt is a flexible band, typically made of leather or heavy cloth, and worn around the waist. A belt supports trousers or other articles of clothing, and it serves for style and decoration. Belts have been documented for male clothing since the Bronze Age. Both sexes used them off and on, depending on the current fashion, but it was a rarity in female fashion with the exception of the early Middle Ages, late 17th century Mantua, and skirt/blouse combinations between 1900 and 1910 (from wikipedia.org/wiki).

Today the belt has become a fashion accessory. They come in many shapes, colors and fabrics. For women, wide belts look best on thin bodies if the belt is a different color. If you do not have a thin shape, choose a belt that is the same color as the outfit you are wearing.

For men, it is always about the buckle. Simple is better for professional dress. If you’re seeking fun, go for it with various sizes and color.

Your belt choice should always be a fashion statement not a fashion disaster.

Black is a power color and it’s a wonderful sight against the back drop of white ice. It is amazing when I have watched the many skaters’ costume choices and how those choices have worked for and against them. If you watched the skaters you know the ones I am talking about. Sometimes, you ask yourself – what were they thinking?

Evan Lyacek’s accents of silver visually accented against the black worked very well, though. It broke up the starkness of the color and at the same time worked visually with his moves.

Whether you are performing on ice or speaking in front of a group, synch your color and clothing choices with your body movements. Make them relevant to your performance.

Plus, if you are thinking of wearing black, make sure it works as well for you as it did for Evan Lysacek— the winner of the men’s gold metal figure skating.

We get very comfortable with what works. A great example is hairstyles.

How many folks do we see today that are still wearing the same hairstyle they wore in high school? This goes both for men and women.

Hairstyles constantly change. Women’s styles have gone from very puffy to flat, long to short, short to long. Note the conservative hair for men. It’s still short and getting shorter with the new styles.

When asked why he cut his hair, the Grammy-winning soul singer, Maxwell, recently responded:

“I didn’t want to be a caricature. There’s nothing worse than that guy who’s still rocking with his hair at whatever it was, 20 years after his heyday. The world’s moved on, and you’re stuck.”

So, when people look at your picture from 10 years ago and say you haven’t changed a bit – make sure the comment doesn’t refer to your hair!