Hello and welcome to first issue of The Wardrobe Shrink Newsletter.

What's New

The big news is we have a new website – www.thewardrobeshrink.com

US Launch – I will be launching in San Francisco very soon, and will be back in London in November/December. To make a booking; e-mail sarah@insideoutprofiling.com, call me on +1 415 409 1691, or click on book a consultation above.
For bookings for London, please book as soon as possible so you'll be on the shortlist for my next trip.

Just Married! I am now married to Brendan – the wedding took place in San Francisco City Hall on October 1st. I will post a picture soon of my wedding dress on the Wedding Article I am writing for The Wardrobe Shrink Forum.

New Article: To diet or not to diet, that should be the question?

Diet information is everywhere. In advertisements, on TV, in magazines; the bookstores are crammed with books on many different diet options - The South Beach Diet, The Atkins Diet, Weight Watchers, The Cabbage Soup Diet. The message is ‘you should think about your weight’. If you aren’t already thinking about, you will be before long.

Most of the clients that come to see me want to lose weight. They have typically tried out a few diet options, but still haven’t achieved what they are looking for.

The big question is what are they looking for?

It all starts off with that glance in the mirror. What we see staring back at us is often an image we don’t like or at least we don’t rave about. The instant reaction too often can be – ‘I need to go on a diet’. You don’t like the package, so you need to alter it in some way. But the truth is that often it is the ‘packaging’ that is distorting the picture – distorting our image of ourselves and not you (the package).

Read the rest of this article for Image advice to consider before embarking on another diet or weight loss program.

Best Buys

Net-a-Porter – a high-end designer website with excellent delivery, next day UK and 2/3 days USA. I ordered a dress for my imminent wedding from them, and got it shipping out here to San Francisco in 3 days. But there's more! When it arrived, it was boxed in this lovely shiny black box with a bow and the dress was in a fabric bag inside lots of paper. It was definitely an experience.

Marc Jacobs Jeans – high waisted, in black or denim blue, stretch and very flattering. If you are fed up of your rear loosing itself out of your jeans, these Marc Jacobs jeans from the new season are must haves. They are generously cut, have a v-slit on the rear waistband and a little buckle underneath. Available from Selfridges in London and Neiman Marcus in San Francisco.

For more best buys and fashion tips read my article Autumn Trends 2004

Emmy Dress Sense – Learning what to do and what not from the Emmy Awards

What really worked

Cynthia Nixon – won Best Supporting Actor in a comedy series ‘Sex in the City’
Cynthia wore a cinnamon brown dress with a fantastic turquoise heavy beaded necklace. Why did this work? Cynthia has the gift of having a long neck and when it comes to accessorising, where you have more you can put more.

So to flatter her neckline and to promote it, wearing a tiered necklace is a good choice. If she had chosen a very dainty small necklace, it would have been lost on her and would have changed her long neck from being an asset to looking out of proportion.

Other ideas for a swan-like neck: scarf, soft floppy shirt collar, detailed slit neckline, clasp necklace, ruffled textured polo neck, a mandarin jacket collar.

What wasn’t flattering

Anne Heche
A tiny creature - feminine, natural, petite and fun. If you are petite, it is important to have a hairstyle that doesn’t overwhelm your face. Anne’s face is quite pointed and more diamond shape. The cheekbones are her widest point and to balance out and introduce a flattering style, one should bring emphasis and volume to the upper crown and chin area, keeping it sleek around the cheekbones.

Here she has opted for a long style with bigger curls landing on her chest. The attention is drawn away from her face and she had body or volume elsewhere. Also, as she is petite, smaller styles suit her. It was the same with Audrey Hepburn. Anne would dress her face better with a shorter style, like she used to have, or a cute chopped and cropped bob with some length around the chin area and neck. Cut off those locks!

Borderline

Sarah Jessica Parker – Best Actress in a comedy series ‘Sex in the City’
Visible panty-line was taken to the edge with SJP’s lace dress with corset panty combo underneath. To get away with visible underwear, you have to able to do Vintage, which is what SJP can do so well. But then you have to consider the appropriateness of the event and how comfortable you will feel. When she went to collect her award, she was checking and double checking everything was in the right place as she walked on stage, because if it wasn’t her dress was not going to be able to cover it up.

Do you really want to put yourself in that position on such an occasion! For events like that where there are lots of hugging, rejoicing and millions of people watching! You don’t want to have to worry whether your underwear is properly in place or whether your dress covers your bra straps.

Best Dressed

Mary Louise Parker – Best Supporting Actress in a mini-series ‘Angels in America’
What a great number. Sexy cleavage making that a feature, but elegant, simple and easy to wear. She looked very natural and comfortable and far more ‘style’ led. Definitely a star going to collect an award, rather than a fashionista.

Worst stylist

Debra Messing – ‘Will and Grace’
Oh… the pink didn’t work at all with her colouring, and to me it was very obvious. Pink against warm skin tone, hair and colouring is not complementary at all. And her very lean, quite angular figure was chopped off by having a bustier dress. It gave her no shape, when she has lots of definition. If you have wider, angular shoulders like Debra, opt for a halterneck instead– like the new Miss America. This will flatter the shoulder line rather than over emphasize them like her dress did. I think she needs to fire her stylist!

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