Fashion Tips

Jodi: Hey y'all, hey, welcome to another fun episode of Top 3 Things with Jodi. So as you guys know, I started this podcast because I have an interest in creative things. And one of those creative things that has always been near and dear to my heart is fashion. And I'm no expert, obviously, but I just love to put together outfits ever since literally I was probably in like the fourth grade every night before I go to bed. Sunday through Friday, I put together my outfit at night and lay it out in the closet before I go to bed, even down to the accessories. Like I know in my head at night before I go to sleep what accessories. and shoes I'm going to wear with this outfit. ⁓ Does anybody else out there do that? I feel like there has to be some other people that do that. And even now, as a grown adult, I still do that. Even if I am not leaving my house during the day, I do it. But for some reason, I don't do it on Friday nights because I think, well, on Saturdays, I'm just going to be casual so I can sleep in and get up and just throw something casual on. And then on Saturday night, if I go out, I kind of like to pick the outfit out on Saturday afternoon. ⁓ And then if I'm going out Friday night, I'll pick out two outfits Thursday night before I go to bed. It's ridiculous. I know. But I have my Instagram account, ShopWithJodie, and I started it because I just love looking at people's clothing and outfits. And I thought, well, it'll be fun. I'll just post what I'm wearing, you know, and maybe it'll inspire somebody else or maybe I'll meet other like-minded people, which I have. I've made good friends through Instagram who've also posted, you know, things about fashion. And it's kind of cool to meet other people who are interested in things that you're interested in. So I thought I would do this episode on top three fashion tips. these are not Rachel Zoe fashion tips. They're not from Vogue. You know, they may actually relate back to InStyle Magazine because that was my fashion Bible. And I subscribe to InStyle. pretty much my whole life until they canceled the magazine. I think now I don't even know if it's online or not now, but it was amazing. And I was so sad when they canceled it. But anyway, and also I'm a huge Rachel's ⁓ fan and I've been inspired lately because I've been watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and she's one of the main characters this season. If you're a Real Housewives fan, if you know, you know, but I just love her. think she's so fun cause She's kind of free spirited and she's just always wearing kind of, you know, just funky stuff and she loves to accessorize. And also she's hilarious. The little things that she says just crack me up because she sort of really has no filter, which I appreciate because I really also don't have a filter. ⁓ I can't remember one episode, but. what episode, but there was some episode where the girls were fighting and Dorit is walking off and Rachel says, she says something like, this is probably a really bad time to say this, but she looks like amazing right now. And it was a very uncomfortable moment. People were fighting, people were crying, people were sad. And that was Rachel's take on it. And you know, she just says a little random things like that all the time and I get a kick out of it. Anyway, let's get back to the top three fashion tips. So these are my top three fashion tips. Take them, leave them, or whatever it's worth. But I think these are three very general and broad fashion tips that anyone can use, any age, any gender, and any profession. Fashion tip number three is, hello. I love to do a hello. You know, if you're going to have like something on that's designer, then I think it's OK to wear something from Target with your designer. And because the designer ⁓ part of your outfit, whether it be like designer jeans, a purse, shoes, some other kind of accessory or jewelry, or even if it's like a designer blouse or a scarf that you're wearing, that's just kind of gonna amp up your whole outfit. And it can make something so basic, look so good. And you can also take something that if you just wore it alone, it may look kind of cheap, but when you pair it with something that's higher quality, then it just kind of brings the whole outfit to another level. And unlike Rachel's though, I do not have the bank account to only have designer items in my closet. And honestly, nor would I want to. you know, I think it's cool to like go to Goodwill, go, go thrifting, ⁓ you know, and just be creative about it. It doesn't have the hollow even doesn't have to be designer. Like you could take something from Walmart and let's say Walmart is the low. And the high could be the J.Crew outlet. So you take like a J.Crew outlet, nice belt and purse and pair it with some Walmart basics. And suddenly the Walmart basics look like they're from J.Crew also, and it all looks preppy and comes together. So that's tip number three and tip number two. And some of y'all out there may not agree with it, but I'm a firm believer, so I have to share it and tell my truth. Focus on solids. Now, before y'all start going crazy, because I know people are like, what about a pattern? I love a pattern. What about cheetah? OK, cheetah print, leper print, that is the exception. Because my fashion rules consider leper print, cheetah print, and anything gold, those are neutrals in my book. So y'all can consider those exceptions. But when I say pattern, I'm talking about like paisleys, I'm talking about plaid. Those are the first two like main types of patterns that come to mind. Stripes, which I hate horizontal stripes. mean, they only look good on, you know, seven feet tall, super thin models. And no offense to anybody out there. mean, I've... Used to wear stripes and that's one of my fashion rules now is that I will not wear stripes. Maybe vertical, but for some reason in tops and blouses, everyone wants to do vertical stripes. And I don't know. just feel like no, no one's trying to look like a quarterback. No one's trying to broaden your shoulders. ⁓ I just don't know. I just don't, I just don't think it's flattering really on anybody horizontal stripes and I mean, if you have something that's horizontal stripes that you love, don't let me influence you. Don't go throw it away. If you love it, you feel confident and it looks good on you, then wear it. But you know, just because I may not be a fan doesn't mean that, you know, somebody else isn't a fan. And really what fashion comes down to is that you just got to wear what you feel good in and what makes you feel confident. and helps you feel like fun and creative. Because how boring would the world be if we all wore black and white all day, every day, the same basic crap. So I like when people show their personality through their clothing. And I'm not against patterns. I'm actually OK with the mix print. But the mix print has to be done correctly. And if it's not done correctly, it can go really wrong really quickly. And I don't even know how to describe to put a mix print together. I guess with the mix print, I will use this as an example. You could do maybe like a sheet of print skirt and that's, you know, brown, black. And then you could do a white t-shirt with skinny stripes. But you could never do plaid and cheetah print together. And I would never do like paisley and cheetah print together, but I would do maybe plaid and stripes together. I will say, I guess the one time that I think stripes are acceptable is when you mix them into another pattern, but that kind of takes the umph out of it. So it's not like you're walking around looking like you're just, you know, focused on the stripes. It's like the whole outfit comes together. ⁓ So I'm okay with the mix print now and then, but that's not something that I would wear every day. And also I think when you buy basics, you can get a cheap basic, you can get an expensive basic. And if it's a basic that you like, you can buy it in different colors so you can wear it throughout different seasons. You can dress up or dress down basics. know, if you have a black basic t-shirt, you can wear that with the pencil skirt. You can wear it with jeans. You can wear it with shorts. There's so many ways you can accessorize it. You can put a vest over it. You can put a blazer over it. I mean, you know, You can wear it with like some kind of funky like coat or jacket. There's just endless possibilities and you can even put a scarf on it to change the whole look totally. ⁓ You can even wear a t-shirt pulled over a dress that's strapless or that has spaghetti straps. So I really like the idea of buying solids. And also if you're going to invest in your wardrobe, solids never really become dated. If you're buying a paisley dress, just know some things that were patterns that look great in the 80s, if you see them today, people are going to be like, no, that's so outdated. But I don't know if y'all are watching Love Story out there, if you have watched Love Story about Carolyn Bassett and JFK. Anything you see the Carolyn Bessette character wearing in that TV show, she legit could be here today wearing those same outfits and still look chic and still look put together. And y'all know she's just wearing solids. You will never really see that woman in a print. I think she had one print, which was Cheetah, that was some kind of like maybe long trench coat. ⁓ All right, I've harped on that enough. And my number one fashion tip is accessorize, accessorize, accessorize. I know there's a quote by Coco Chanel that says something about accessories she would put on like so many before she left the house. And then I can't remember if it was sometimes she would take them off or take one off. She put on too many. accessories every time and then maybe she would like go back and take one off. But I don't really like to have a rule about accessories. I think accessories are more of a feeling, you know, depending on your mood, depending on the outfit, depending on the seasons, the colors of the outfit. And this is where I probably do align with Rachel's though, is that I really don't think you can over assessorize. I've never really seen someone and I thought You know what? That outfit would be great if they just had less accessories. I just think accessories make things interesting. And accessories are art. And it's also kind of conversational, like talking, you know, points. So if you're at a party and you don't know anyone, but, and this has actually happened to me before, and you have on some real funky cool necklace, you would be surprised at the people that will come up to you and start talking to you. And the way they start the conversation is, oh my gosh, I love your necklace. It's so unique. Where did you get it? Or tell me about your necklace. I mean, who knew that you could actually network through accessories? And this is kind of showing my age a little bit, but I love that quote by Clary on Still Magnolias. I think she says, the only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize. Preach Clary, I totally agree. And I just think accessories are timeless. You know, even crazy accessories are gonna come back around and sell. Like I just bought an accessory. I am gonna wear it in Vegas, but I'll probably wear it, you know, here in Memphis too. But it's like a bib and it's a gold bib and it kind of has chains on it. I know it sounds sort of crazy, but I'm gonna pair it. with something basic. So it just kind of adds a little pop to the outfit. And you know, it's something honestly that I would have worn in the nineties, you know, and I would wear it now. And it's just one of those things. I really can't think of any accessories that I've thrown away. Maybe, okay, maybe like jelly shoes or jelly bracelets, but that's really probably it. And I guess like a watch, I don't, But I think watches are still in style. mean, I know they come and go, but watches really are timeless. So just don't get rid of them. I used to wear a watch all the time, but then the iPhones came out and now people have Apple watches and smartphones and we don't really need, you know, like the, funky jewelry watches, but I still have some. And I was looking at them the other day and I thought, you know what? I need to bring this back. Cause I do love some bracelets. Cause sometimes, know, like things around your neck, especially in the summer and the heat, you know, are kind of agitating. And so if something is just too hot around your neck, y'all just pile up on some bracelets. And also a lot of people, I've heard people say before, you only wear bracelets on one arm or the other. No, I mean, I think it's okay if you wanna wear bracelets on both arms at the same time. Now you gotta make sure they go with your outfit. ⁓ And you gotta make sure that they're either matching or they're flowing like we were talking about in the mix pattern. ⁓ And then earrings, I will forever love a big earring. I don't care what people say. I mean, as long as your earlobes hold up. But over the years, that's one thing that I have figured out is that, ⁓ you know, I wear so many heavy earrings. And then I heard these horror stories of people saying that their earlobes were getting big or getting pulled down because they've worn, you know, huge earrings for 20 or 30 years. And one way to solve that is to get multiple piercings. So I thought, okay, well, If I have three small earrings in each ear, then that's the same as one big earring, right? I mean, it's silly, I know, but it's just still something unique and interesting that you can use to accessorize. And people aren't really gonna think about this, but in some ways, I think of hair and makeup as accessories and hats. you know some outfits just look so much better if you have like some kind of short, know, spicy haircut versus some outfits look better with longer hair. So I consider hair an accessory. And last but not least, let's talk about hats. Hats are one of my favorite accessories and some people just are not hat people and I appreciate that. And I think you just got to figure out where you are. You're either a hat person or you're not. Or like you might be a baseball cap person, but you can't wear any other kind of hats. And that's okay too, because you can get a baseball cap and dress it up. You could get a leather baseball cap. It doesn't have to, you know, be like aviator nation or some trucker hat. ⁓ But I do, I do love a good hat and I'll pretty much wear any kind of hat. Anywhere I wish that I lived in a city where hats were more acceptable. ⁓ growing up, I would wear hats and I grew up in a small town and I remember no one wore hats, but I just got to where I didn't care. I would just, I would just bust out some, some hats. And there was even a couple of days where I went to school and broke dress code because I wore a hat and you know what? It was respectable. It was cute. And no one said anything to me. And I did not get sent home from school because of the hat. So, you know, people appreciate fashion. What can I say? Well, that's all I have for you guys today. Would love to hear from you. I actually do have random people message me pretty often, probably like a few times a month, just randomly. someone will message me and ask me like some fashion question or say something or say, do you like these shoes or do you like this color or which ones would you pick? And I'm like, ⁓ my God, I love it. I love when people ask me that because I just love putting outfits together, looking at clothing and making decisions. It just fulfills my soul. So happy to chat if anybody has any fashion questions. or just anything they want to discuss or hey, if you disagree with me on my fashion tips and you have valid reasons, feel free to shoot me your fashion tips because I would love, love to hear those. I think, you know, fashion is just one of those things that beauty's in the eye of the beholder. And, you know, that's the beauty of the world where not all the same, we're different. And so we have to celebrate our differences. But the top three fashion tips are Always do a hollow, focus on your solids, and accessorize, accessorize, accessorize. So can't wait to see you guys and your post on social media and all your cute outfits and all your accessories. Stay tuned for more episodes and thanks for listening. And apparently, I guess I'm supposed to say like, subscribe, and rate. So if you can do that, I appreciate it. If you don't have time, we understand the world is crazy. But I hope you had fun listening to this episode and until next time.