By Robert Scott


Your style is important. Ask yourself every time you buy anything, every time you make anything, or have anything made: Is it in accord with my style? Does it meet the requirements of correct dress for me?

If you live in a little city or a village and suddenly found yourself on Fifth Avenue in New York City, would you feel conspicuous in your clothes? If friends from the fashion centers of America were coming to visit you, would you feel out of place in your costume? You should not. You have the same opportunity to be correctly dressed as any other woman if you will study and persevere toward perfection in dress.

We must realize that we have a style of our own and that we are of a particular type. This is recognized by every fashion authority in the country, and by every fashion publication, for if all women were to adhere to one fashion, one fashion only would be shown in the fashion books instead of twenty, thirty, or fifty different designs.

Look through any fashion book today and you will find round-and-round and up-and-down lines in the same issue--all with the idea of helping women to clothe themselves correctly and of giving suggestions that will help them individually to find appropriate styles.

Establishing a style for yourself and then perfecting it--be it in hats, gloves, shoes, dresses, or suits--will prove economical, and it will not be long before a degree of perfection will be acquired.

A prominent New York business woman, who is one of the most distinctively dressed women that I know, wears the smartest suits and hats and always severely tailor-made gowns. And her neckwear, usually a jabot or a stock, is so smart that you would never for a minute question whether it is authoritatively fashionable. She always wears high shoes on the street, and usually they have light-colored tops, because she is tall and the light tops of the shoes help to break the appearance of height.

One day, this young woman came to visit me. I could not refrain from remarking about the completeness of her costume. I said, "If I saw your shadow, I should know that it was you by the harmony that your silhouette expresses and the very way you carry yourself."

She said, "Do you know that remarks like yours are what caused me to persevere in acquiring my style of dressing? I used to think I wanted loose, floppy clothes in which I could relax and be just as free and comfortable as if I were in negligee. Once, when in a ferry boat crossing New York harbor, I saw sitting opposite me a line of crumpled-up women apparently enjoying their slovenly posture. Not one of them expressed dignity or pride in her personal appearance. Not one of the women on that boat, I thought, was unusual or had any desire to know better. I then took a little self-inventory. I was ashamed of myself, because I realized I was not very much better dressed than the other women on the boat. I sat up straight and determined right then and there that I would acquire a style becoming and practical for me and would express that style in the most attractive and agreeable way that I could. And that resolution has helped me more than I can say."

She was frank enough to tell me that she attributed a great part of her success to having wakened up, to having made herself trim and having kept herself so. She always plans to have one good suit or one good dress--just as good as she possibly can afford; she procures a garment that she has to respect, and that will make her "dress up to fit."

She said, "If I put on a shabby dress, I will allow my shoes to be shabby and will be careless about my personal grooming; but when I have a dress that I have to be particular about, I always have my hair, my shoes, my gloves, my corset--everything--Just right for it, and I always look very much better."

Living up to your clothes, creating a style, and being equal to an intelligent expression of it are worth many dollars to a woman who wants to be a success in business, in the home, or in social life.

If you have a teenager, as I do, you know that teens have their own clothing styles and that having the latest fashion styles is vitally important to them. Teens tend to have their fingers on the pulse of the latest fashion trends, especially girls. Teenage boys these days also have their own style and way of doing things, such as the baggy pants style that has been popular for sometime now wear they wear their pants low revealing their boxer briefs.

The first thought that comes to mind when your child is wearing inappropriate clothing is to just tell them that they are not permitted to wear those kinds of clothes. There is a disturbing fashion trend for very young girls to wear very low cut tops and short skirts or low rise pants that expose their belly buttons. When you couple this with the tops being so low that they are revealing a great deal of cleavage you have a recipe for disaster.

Even though they may not be intentionally doing so, this type of dress exposes them to older boys and men who may be sexually attracted because of the provocative dress. Buy fashion magazines for them and encourage them to explore some of the trends that are not into revealing so much skin. By taking an interest in their fashion trends you can actually create a closer relationship between you, especially if the child is a daughter.

Another situation you need to be aware of is that if your child is in high school their school may have their own rules that limit the wear of certain clothing, I know at our local high school they do not allow the baggy pants style and girls are required to wear their skirts a certain length and may not expose their tummies.

A. What is Costume Jewellery or Fashion Jewellery exactly?
For many people, obviously this can be a very obvious and tedious question because they know what Costume Jewelleries and Fashion Jewelleries are. They can be interpreted as replacements or imitations for real Gem Jewellery, precious metals like Gold, White gold or Sterling Silver with much cheaper prices and at a fraction of costs compared to real ones and therefore the quality of costume/fashion Jewellery is far less inferior than those of real ones called Fine Jewellery, but not so these days.

Then, we have Roman Days and Italian Eras, French Fashion, England and suffice to say the actual fashion came from mostly from Europe and spread through America. Thence, from the 1940s with American Hollywood influence on Europe served big changes in peoples fashion styles and trends and quickly spread back to Europe.

This is when Costume Jewellery really became popular and loved by people because of their quality and diversity. Jewellers like Swarovski, Bvlgari, Christian Dior, Chanel and Tiffany just to name few, have developed and mixed using both natural and man made materials to create fashionable personal adornments with high quality where people can easily and most importantly, afford to coordinate their clothing and life styles.

Hence, they became known as “Costume or Fashion Jewellery”.
These days, there are so many manufacturers produce vast styles and qualities of Costume Jewelleries to suit individual styles and their budget.

B. Teen Jewelry Fashion Exposed
Teenagers are a fickle bunch. Any parental endorsement of fashion accessories is akin to the kiss of death, and adolescents look to other influences when it comes to teen jewelry fashion.

The celebrities that teenagers see in music videos, television programs or movie screens are largely responsible for dictating trends in teen jewelry fashion. The oversized, ostentatious accoutrements favored by rap musicians have spawned the hip-hop jewelry trend, and teenagers have been patronizing lower-priced but accurate replicas of celebrity bling bling. Instead of the diamonds and other precious gems used in celebrity jewelry, cheaper zirconia and base metals are used for duplicates. Body jewelry (both the pierced and non-pierced types) that is unusually designed and made with inexpensive materials has also seen an increase in teenage patrons.

Beaded jewelry and woven friendship bracelets and rings are some of the other hot trends in teen jewelry fashion. Many teenagers also wear certain types of jewelry to identify them as part of a clique or group. Feminine teen jewelry fashion styles are also influenced largely by young celebrities today. Items worn by teen stars, such as Hilary Duff’s slave bracelets, are copied by her non-celebrity counterparts. Gold- or silver-plated jewelry and jewelry that has gemstones has not lost its following among teenagers.

Some masculine teen jewelry fashion trends, on the other hand, tend to lean more toward beadwork, silverwork, leatherwork, and unusual stones. Teenage guys seem to think that sporty-looking accessories, such as so-called surfer-dude necklaces and arm bands made from bone, wood, or shell beads on a rubber or leather cord are cool. Stainless steel jewelry is popular with them, too.

Teenage jewelry fashion is part of their social arsenal and a tool in the development process.