style motivation

Style Motivation – Motivational fashion stylist tips and inspiration to make your best impression

I hope you didn’t, but if you did: 5 ways to not fall off the New Year’s style resolutions wagon

Let's reflect to timeless advice on starting the New Year in YOUR best style. Liar, liar… my big, empty promise to myself and why New Year's style resolutions hardly ever work… It's the start of the new year, and where are you? In my over 20 years in the style business, I have never once thought that truly being stylish came from a check list at the start of the year. I don't bother with resolutions of any kind anymore. If I was really going to commit to a resolution, and meant to do it, I would without having the stress of "the" list. Simple as that. I've gotten a bunch of reader emails asking about making New Year's style resolutions to amp up your look. I say phooey

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Style Motivation Week! Lighten up. Have fun. It’s only fashion.

This week’s Summer Spotlight theme pulls from some of my favorite style motivation posts. I don't want you ever to take style or fashion too seriously because you lose the spontaneity that makes it all so interesting. And unique to you. Lighten and move forward... it's only fashion. - S.H. Ok, I was (sort of) eavesdropping. Here I was, out and about, having an espresso and couldn't help but listen the one-sided conversation of the girl across the coffee bar. You know the type. Clutching her cellphone and talking at a decibel level as if she were orating into a can with a string rather than the gold earbuds that she had plugged in. REALLY, we can ALL hear you. Clearly. Even above the

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Fashion Week Is Coming (Again), so why should you care about the runway?

Are we looking at fashion Week through rose colored glasses?
This week's FocusOnStyle's 15th anniversary online post tackles a question that we so often ask ourselves. In our busy lives and overstuffed budgets, what the heck does the fashion shown on the runway have to do with our everyday life? Well, read on to see how... I'm working on the production of my C'est Chic Crash Course  and have to say that I am very proud and pleased with the way it's shaping up... I know it will impact the way you see style in your life, without spending a fortune on a new wardrobe! Ok, I get it. You're busy. Really busy. Maybe even juggling a family, responsibilities, a wacky work load, and beau coup bills. So why should you

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When you ask how to be beautiful, it’s more that beauty is how YOU see yourself

Beauty is how you see yourself
Dearest Readers:  For this week's FocusOnStyle.com's 15 year online anniversary online post, I want to go even further back to when Focus on Style was my weekly newspaper column. This style motivation post from 1996 is still vital today. Either by a reader email or asked in one of my courses or one on one stylist sessions, so many of us question how to be beautiful in hopes of some secret elixir to instantly transform ourselves. But the truth is that beauty is how we see ourselves... that's the self-confidence that honestly makes us shine and what I try to convey with all my style advice. Enjoy this week's throwback post! - S.H Dear Sharon: I feel invisible, yet people tell me I am attractive. I just don't look the

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Ageless Style Week- Why dressing age-appropriate is usually bunch of malarky and looking ageless is genius

This week's Summer Spotlight is Ageless Style... I'll Have What She's Having: What the heck is dressing age-appropriate anyway when Ageless Glamour rocks it out of the house! Have you seen Sandra Bullock, Christie Brinkley, Raquel Welch lately? Really, they are hard to miss. Sandra Bullock is 49 and promoting Gravity, something she is surely defeating. Christie Brinkley is on the talk show circuit for "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: 50 Years of Beautiful." She is beautiful and 59. Heidi Klum (not too bad herself) wore the same leopard Dolce & Gabbana dress that Raquel Welch wore months ago, and  'who wore it better' tabloid posts are all over Raquel as the winner. Oh, yeah, she's 73. Ok, I'm probably going to get some

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How To Find Your Style…

The timeless man-tailored elegance from Ralph Lauren
For this week's 15th Anniversary online post, let's look back at this double-header style motivation post on FocusOnStyle from 1999 on how to find your style. If chic style is what you're after, I can help you redifine what chic is for you in my C'est Chic Crash Course. I hope you'll join me. How to find your style can be perplexing. But not if you simplify what you need to know to look great… Two-Up For Something New: Stymied For Style and Fashion Puzzle [dropcap]D[/dropcap]ear Sharon: I've just switched careers and aside from the obvious more casual dress code, I am having some daily doldrums regarding my appearance. Everything from makeup (or the lack thereof) to the horrific amount

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10 ways to know if it’s your signature style or time to get out of your style rut?

Today's BIG Question: Are you in a style rut or are you extremely confident about your signature style? Is every day the same for you when it comes to your style? Do you feel you need a way to snap out of the same old, same old style because you're boring yourself to death? Is it really a style rut after all? Or, merely a need to add some zing to what you already have and love. It's easy to have someone scream, you're in a style rut! Particularly, if it's a paid personal shopper or a segment on a TV show that's after the entertaining (not to mention demeaning) sound bite. When it comes to your everyday style, so

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Introducing the Daily StyleWORD: Motivational Style Tips, Fashion Quotes + Affirmations For Image Boosting Greatness!

How about a daily style tip, fashion quote, motivational boost of encouragement, or alluring affirmation to kick start your day? Pretty good, I say. With that, I present the Daily StyleWORD, and there's a hashtag for it too (#styleword). A collection of good morning boosts to rev you up, share on Pinterest, reTweet or Facebook like. You name it. Share it with those you think will benefit, or keep it to yourself. But act on it. Ponder it. Revel in it. You want more? Get your Daily Styleword sent right to your inbox by subscribing here. Start the #styleword collection right now, by knowing...

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What happened when I met my style icon Audrey Hepburn

Sharon Haver with her style icon Audrey Hepburn. Photo: Patrick McMullan
For this week's look back in celebration of the 15th Anniversary Year of FocusOnStyle online, I want to rewind a bit further to this very special post about how I met my style icon, Audrey Hepburn.  What a lovely moment and privilege... S.H. My evening with humanitarian and style icon Audrey Hepburn... Having someone to inspire your work is so important to manifest your own personal abundance. Finally, I found my misplaced 35 mm slide of Ms Hepburn and myself and had to share it with you. I don't know about you but I think almost every woman (and man) of a certain age has been mesmerized by the allure of Audrey Hepburn. yeGrowing up with first runs and reruns of  Audrey Hepburn

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Need some style motivation? Make your personal pavement your red carpet!

It's been a heady week around here. The Golden Globes started "awards season" and the men's fall 14 fashion collections had their runway week in Milan, and the start of fashion show season... I don't know about you, but I've been battling an annoying flu that had the audacity not to schedule itself when I had the time to lollygag at home. The nerve! Hacking and schvitizng from fever makes the idea of red carpets & runways pretty far off from my real world here with the sniffles. So why care about the runway? Why bother with the red carpet? Because without inspiration we become dull. Without aspiration we become stagnant. Everyone needs a little zing to get their blood

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How to be Stylish: 12 Steps to Style

In recognition of what will be the 15th Anniversary of FocusOnStyle online, (craaaaazy!) I will be spotlighting some of my favorite evergreen, timeless style posts for you take note. Let's start with this post from 2007 about how to be stylish. Check out the old-school art, EEK… at least its color is THE color of THIS year… Damning dowdy with fashion tips for a wardrobe makeover Hell has no fury than a woman who lost her fashion mojo. Learn the 12 steps to style, now! >> MORE: Favorite posts from the 15 Years Online Anniversary Celebration Dear Sharon: Help! I'm a 27 year old social worker who works at a private university. I already feel like I've started to become "frumpy" in terms

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Style inspiration beyond fashion

Salomé calling... Hubby & I did a little stroll around the Metroploitan Museum of Art the other night.  The Kid is getting older and he's not too keen to do every family outing. I walked passed Salomé by Henri Regnault (oil on canvas, 1870) and felt like I stumbled upon an old friend. You see, once upon a time, before my husband, before my son who lost interest in museum visits, I found a kindred spirit in the gypsy Boho allure of this painting. Back in that day, my apartment was rather electric with a Victorian/Gypsy/Textural vibe, kinda like Salomé. I felt a kinship to the old girl and was inspired by the style of the painting that suited me, at the time, just

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Mommy Chic: How to boost self-confidence + style? I’m a stay-at-home mom and my fashion sense is a wreck

Our latest reader question comes from a young mother of two who wants to know how to boost self-confidence + style… something, we all deal with. We've gone over similar territory before, but we know everyone needs a refresher or a nudge every so often. Let's dive in and help add some shine to her life and yours and harness her Mommy Chic  fashion potential.  I'm a 29 year-old stay-at-home mother of two. I have recently started struggling with my lack of fashion. I have a lot of clothes in my closet, but I really only wear a couple of things that I like. Most days I just wear jeans (that probably don't flatter me at all) and t-shirts that are stained and worn out. I

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