In your opinion, what makes someone look 'together?'

[TwllBach]

Thanks to the thread at the beginning of the year about being vain, I am beginning to look more groomed. I keep my nails tidy and painted, my eyebrows plucked and my hair shiny. I even wear make up most of the time, but now I need to look 'together' and I dont understand How.

I am overweight, which to me makes me less keen to buy clothes because I feel I never look nice, but I'm a grown up now and I need to start looking less scruffy. Please help me!

I think good use of accessories can really pull an oufit together - whether that's a scarf, a lovely necklace etc. They don't have to be expensive either so you can buy loads
I am also overweight and didn't buy any clothes for ages and carried on squeezing myself into things that didn't really fit. But then I realised that it was just making me feel worse about how I looked. So now I make sure I buy things that fit well that I really love - if it's just ok, I don't buy it.

Ah being overweight makes no difference.
Use of colour and of accessories.

Worryingly for me, it was ironing that seemed to work. Just getting rid of crumples seemed to make things much better.

Sadly, I can't do the same to my face!

I go through phases of really enjoying ironing, I think because it givesme an excuse to watch shit tv and not feel guilty! I even regularly iron my bedding

I had a feeling the consensus might be accessories. I have one good bag and have my eye on a red patent croc bag in the sale, down from £56 to £39. Is that too ott do you think? My mum, who always looks fab, keeps pushing me to get it but I'm so rubbish at stuff like this. I think I like it, but I don't want to look stupid.

As always, money is a bit tight, so I was thinking of trawling the h and m sale section for things like scarves - is that acceptable?

good bag, decent shoes that aren't mumsy, make up, an outfit that isn't too matchy, and standing up straight

I would say also and brush your hair.

My hair is allergic to brushing

I'm rubbish at choosing shoes. I can't get out of the "pay less than a tenner" mind set that I had as a student, ern though I have a wage coming in now and I could afford one or two decent pairs with a bit of planning.

My hair is always brushed because I know the hot builder at work loves my hair

Not sure that I am always pulled together. But I do find planning my outfit down to tights,jewlery and scaf the night before realy helps.

Freshly pressed clothes.
Good fabrics and materials (viscose is very tricky to maintain).
Clothes that really fit - then you won't need to think about them while you wear them. Have them altered if necessary.
Much easier to look polished in monochrome items than patterns.
Knowing what shapes and colors suit you.
Respecting your age (saw a 45+ lady in tatty trendy high street gear yesterday - scary look).
Not going over the top with accessories. Less is more. I love clean lines.

Weight has nothing to do with real style if all the boxes above are ticked.

Observe stylish people on the street. Make mental notes. You'll see what I mean.

Too pulled together matchy ironed etc is ageing. I also rarely touch hair certainly never brush it

Possibly one shape which you feel confident in to have as your base. Ensure always ironed and neat, shoes clean, white white not yellow, black black not grey.

But instead of loads of different accessories I would go for fewer more expensive pieces, be it jewellery or bag. Mainly because I am lazy and can't stand faffing around with lots of little bits which get in my way.

But my tip to pull it all off would be then to have something to identify solely as yourself. You mention your hair so make a big feature of it. Something else could be bright red lipstick which shows confidence and looks great on an otherwise plain outfit. Out there shoes another thing you could go for.

A look I always like is that 50s cool cat look of pure black with beautiful swingy hair and ballet pumps. Seen it on loads of different shapes, sizes and ages and thinkn it all alwasy looks great.

Ooh I like the idea of something being identifiable as 'me' I will have a think about what it could be.

About half a stone/a stone a go, when I wasn't quite this fat, I know people would have said that I have a 'style' in that I wore a lot of dresses that were 'pretty' more than plain IYSWIM? Tights/leggings and either ballet flats or boots and a longish cardigan. That was my 'look' but I've edged over that border of fatness and they're all a bit too tight, so have been slobbing about in the one pair of jeans that fit.

I do realise that I should just lose the weight and things would be easier, and I am going for it, but in the mean time I would like to look less crap. Plus if I focus on accessories I can use them if when I lose the weight too!

Half a stone will drop off in no time over the summer! I think it is that sort of almost minimal weight gain which makes a huge difference to your/oneself. You don't want to go out and buy a load of stuff to sort of admit defeat but you look shite in your old stuff.

However, when you lose it (and you will!) all your old friends in your wardrobe will be waiting for you to rediscover!

I think a lot of it is in how you hold yourself and how you move, not actually what you are wearing.

It helps if what you are wearing fits you well.

Standing up straight - no stooping or slouching.
Ironed clothes - lots of people look like slobs with their creases.
Polished and unscuffed shoes.
Clean hair and nails.

I now know where I'm going wrong

Well fitting jackets, good shoes, bags, jewellery, scarves, a good haircut and a little bit of make up....pull your look together - the basics underneath are barely noticeable and you don't need many of them.

I think one thing is clothes, accessories and shoes being in the same style - by which I mean casual or formal and not mixed. that doesn't guarantee stylishness but consistency helps I think.

I think you've either got it or you haven't. Some people just manage to look effortlessly together whilst the rest of us don't not matter how hard we try

Handbags and shoes help. I agree about having something that is yours.
I favour plain clothes with a scarf or big necklace but I am drawn to patterned tops like a moth to a flame!

I think make-up key as you get older. It improves most if us. I honestly think if your face and hair look good, the clothes don't matter so much.

This thread is really helpful. I am about 3 stone overweight and can't quite believe, when I look in the mirror that this is me. Started the diet today. Yesterday, I met a lovely girl who is about to start her PGCE and she was nicely dressed, wearing make up and I thought 'that used to be me'. I don't know what happened.

Like you, I've avoided buying new clothes because then I will have to admit that I am fat, but old clothes look bad.

Today, I have made an appointment to get contact lenses, because I always used to and they look better than glasses on me and have also chosen a new hair style and will get my hair cut, once I've bought my lenses.

Am fed up of feeling so scruffy.

Am recoiling in horror though, at the thought that I might have to do some ironing

fascinating thread!
I hate ironing, and don't even know where the iron is, as i only used to use to to iron on the name tags, now I just write the dc name in so don't even need it for that
clean hair, groomed brows, correctly fitting bra, clothes the right size, or at least not too tight, upright posture, well tied scarf is what I aim for...