My friends and I finally sat down to dinner. The topic of fashion and style came up. We were all wearing black, but in a completely different way. We all have our own style. It’s funny how we could all be friends but not share any of the same style interests.

What is even more interesting is that we’re all different ages 40, 32, and 26. The youngest, a designer, said that making things simple was key. She buys only A-line dresses and once in a while may throw a belt into the mix. It’s a rarity that she will put on heels unless going to a wedding. I’m always wearing a suit of some sort and stiletto heels. Our friend that is 40, owns her own business and once she finds something she buys several of the same item. Amazingly, she’s the one that wears jeans and the short skirts! She’s got legs that go a mile high. Tonight she’s in this Vince Dindl skirt (she’s had it hemmed up) with a white button up. Watch out 20-somethings!

The young designer friend came in a French Connection Mandy Minim dress and I was in a JCrew suit. No matter what age, no matter what event, know your own style and personality. If you’re not comfortable, it will show. You’ll end up becoming our entertainment for the night like the promotional models did.

Afterward I drove back into the city to enjoy the rest of my night in a lounge. I look at how the young twenty-something woman dress and one in particular caught my attention. This woman’s attire was painful. It’s like it was the ’80s all over again. She was wearing an awful flowered dress with a leather jacket that had zippers all over it, pink leggings, gladiator shoes, rocker hair, and a green clutch. Holy moly was all I can say to myself.

Strong and bold is the new statement in style for autumn. So I guess some women are putting this into their wardrobe early. That’s fine as long as its done right. For young women I recommend a black jacket like this Miss Sixty bomber, camisole, boyfriend jeans and gladiator shoes. Be bold, be strong and make the statement. Use common sense so you don’t look like a storm breaking up a rainbow.

I’ve got a few examples of fun dresses. But I’m also going to talk about fabric. Two of the dresses I want to profile are made of fibers that are very unique. I hope this helps you understand what you’re paying for in a brand name. The first dress is a casual Jo Jersey gray dress by French Connection. I would wear this dress to do my errands, my shopping, and even play with my kids. All this with a pair of flats of course. The fabric it’s made of is strong. It’s 100% tencel, a fiber made of natural wood pulp cellulose. Tencel feels like silk and drapes beautifully. It wrinkles less than cotton and it’s breathable. Oh, it also shrinks less than cotton. Tencel is a little expensive but can be woven into other fibers so I expect to see it used by more designers into their clothing line.             

The second dress is the Sequined Keyhole Dress by BCBG. I love how this dress drapes. It’s sexy and cool. The sequins are not the only cool factor to this dress. It’s 100% modal.  You may have seen modal at Target since Merona has been using it in their mens underwear. Calvin Klein also uses it in his undergarment line. It’s rare to find 100% modal in a garment. This fiber is also a wood base fiber but from beech wood trees. Modal has become known as the“artificial silk”. But it wrinkles less than cotton and shrinks less as cotton as well. Don’t mistake that nickname. The fabric is good quality.

Banana Republic has a beautiful Georgette Dress for this season. Because its Spring, go with the yellow color if your skin tone can pull it off. It’s so classy and would flatter every figure. I also found a wonderful Vera Wang Chiffon Dress at Kohls for a great price. It comes in black or gray, I would pair with a colored pair of shoes and accessories.

My mother would roll in her grave to know it’s all coming back again. To accomplish the 2009 version of rolling up the cuff, simply take a pair of jeans, roll the cuff, but make sure it’s little loose on the bottom. You don’t want to do this with matchstick denim. Have fun with the style, but don’t look like you put on your guy’s jeans. Don’t pinch the jean either. Get a loose but slimming pair of jeans.

Victoria Secret took their Low Boyfriend Jean, it’s wide leg, rolled them at the cuffs and took a beautiful picture of a model in it. But in real life, the cuffs would be too big or require a pinch in them. If you look at both pictures of the link provided, the jean is form fitting at the waist even though it’s low and so it wouldn’t look right. Now look at Joe’s Jeans Cropped Ex-Lover. This is a loose fit jean but more slim in the leg. The cuff is a little more refined making it ladylike. Another great example is J.Crew’s Vintage Slim Jean.

The boyfriend denim can be accomplished with a pair of jeans already in your closet. With the boyfriend, a loose fit is best because it’s more casual – even if you pair it with heels.

Lady’s I think we’ve been rescued – for 2009 any way. The full swimsuits of the sixty’s are back, but with a flare. There are lots to choose from. Juicy Couture has a some great ones! For example there is this Sheared Pleated Swim Dress . I’m thin but a petite woman and I thought it would make me look really short. I don’t have much of a butt either and I have a little bit of a belly even with working out. I went to try it on, and made sure to stay in the dressing room, and to my surprise you couldn’t tell that I have a belly. The way the suit is cut and the material drapes with pleats it was very flattering to my body. I turned around and the bum…well it actually existed and the suit hid a lot of my bad spots. I was sold.

The bandeau is also in this season. After having kids I can’t hold up a bandeau top. I don’t have implants so I can’t sport one. Juicy also has a one piece that was awesome! I tried it on, I did the profile view and was flat as a pancake. It was a gorgeous suit and I’d recommend it to anyone with nice breasts. A few brands in the one pieces that are excellent are: La Blanca by Rod Beattie, ViX, Carmen Marco Valvo, and Ralph Lauren.

ViX cruise 2009 solid turquoise w/enameled 23k gold plated tube

For two pieces, I did pull a few from the racks for fun. If my tummy didn’t have stretch marks from babies, I’d love to wear them. It’s small price to pay for the two best kids in the world! After many bikini reviews, ViX is a winner in the two pieces. They have a wonderful variety of swimsuits. Beautiful bright colors, authentic patterns and the feel to the materials made me feel so sexy. The material was smooth and didn’t dig into my neck like some bikini tops. I water-ski and jet-ski a lot. The worst thing that happens when you fall is that you loose your top. So when I try on swimsuits, particularly bikini’s, I try to move around a lot. I jump up and down and stretch my limbs out. The sales people may think I’m nuts, but I don’t want to be in the middle of a lake and have to swim out to rescue my top ever again. To find the favorite ViX bikini look at their site www.vixswimwear.com they have a few different lines and then you can mix and match. The turquoise solid bikini from ViX was my favorite, I got home and saw that the cover model of the Oxygen magazine had the bright pink ViX bikini I tried on!

Don’t forget the sunscreen!

I learned how to speak Spanish real quickly! I hated practically every minute of being with my uncle but I enjoyed learning how to use all the machines, reading patterns and seeing how they went together. All the Spanish ladies helped me understand the ins and outs of the machines and the different threads. I learned how materials differed in their textures through thread and stitching.

After a few summers, of what I considered slave labor, I could sew my own clothes. I began following the fashion industry. I enjoy watching all the shows and reading the exciting new industry developments. But sometimes I am baffled by what is designed and what people pull together for everyday wear or special events. I am stunned by women who don’t take five minutes to pull together at least the bare minimum of a classic look of a pair of jeans with a casual shirt. I appreciate the artistry of the fashion aisle’s, however it’s only to inspire….not to put on! That’s how Common Sense Style was born. Fashion has changed so much over the last two decades as high-end labels have become more affordable.