Fashion tips. Looking good. Style advice. Here is a compilation of various fashion related how-tos, advice and tips.

Enjoy!

Spring has finally arrived in Melbourne! This year, throw out the shopping centre buys, and spoil yourself with a few specially tailored dresses that match the season’s colours and styles. The procedure is as simple as 1-2-3.

1. Choose a design and style!

Be prepared for the upcoming Spring Racing Carnival days, the evening dinner parties, and the warm summer beach holidays. Pick a pretty design for each occasion – the floral print dresses for races, metallic flavoured gowns for dinners, and bright-on-pastel shaded frocks for the beach.

2. Pick the right fabric!

Polyester creations are no longer the fashionable thing to wear; instead, all-natural silks, linens and cotton are the way to go. Find a store which sells completely natural fabrics. One recommendation is d’Italia, a fabric store located in Malvern, Victoria. It boasts a selection of designer fabric that is directly imported from Italy. Its range of silks, chiffons, georgettes, cotton and wool are completely natural and pure.

3. Accessorise!

Dresses and gowns are rarely made of just one type of material. The design is often interspersed with accessories like French beads, and layers of silk and lace. d’Italia has a range of pure French lace direct from Europe. Its beads are all hand-sewn by seamstresses who specialise in couture.

Tailored clothing, using the most natural fabrics, always lasts longer and feels better. So this spring and summer, look and feel your best with your customised wear.

Generally, the best rule is to follow the care instructions on the manufacturer’s label. If there is no label and/or you wish to wash a garment or fabric at home instead of dry clean, the properties of each fabric will help you determine the care of the fabric or garment.

Dry Cleaning:

Dry Cleaning is by definition, cleaning with solvents and little or no water. You, the consumer, can inform yourself when selecting a dry cleaner. Common sense will cover the basic questions such as the appearance of the dry cleaning store. Is it neat and clean or dirty and cluttered? Is the location convenient and are they open when you need to drop of or pick up your dry cleaning?

Wet Cleaning:

Wet Cleaning is described as a new process by some cleaning establishments. They advertise that their process will replace dry cleaning and the environmentally dangerous solvents they use. However, until this process is perfected and proven to effectively replace dry cleaning, caution should be used by the consumer. Wet cleaning is accomplished by using water based chemicals. Some cleaning establishments actually claim to have this service but just hand wash the garment and then professionally press the garment. This process works well with some fabrics which have manufacturers labels stating "hand wash". Garments with labels printed "dry clean only" may shrink, fade, or wrinkle so badly that pressing does not restore then original look of the fabric.

Do-It-Yourself:

Home Laundering is not only easier to control but can add life to your garments. Choosing a detergent for home laundering is a daunting task!

General purpose laundry detergents work well on most washable fabrics. Some detergents take more product for each wash as fillers are used by the detergent manufacture. Recently, detergent companies have started to reduce the amount of fillers in their products, thus the amount of detergent required per load of laundry is less. Read the label to determine various additives. Added bleach may gradually remove the dyes or color unless the garment is colorfast to bleach. Most all detergents have "surfactants" this is nothing new. Whiteners can be either bleach or bluing agents. More expensive is not always better.

by Sonia

• Choose darker colors as the basis of your wardrobe, such as navy, black, charcoal grey, olive green, chocolate brown.
• Use undergarment foundations, from all-in-one shapers to control-top pantyhose.
• Focus on playing up your best features - for example, showing off shapely legs with a knee-length skirt.
• Choose fabrics that don't cling, whilst avoiding stiff or bulky textures.
• Use accessories to draw attention to your face, such as scarves, earrings, etc.
• Avoid anything too tight or clingy.
• Make sure you scale your accessories - from your handbag to your earrings - to suit your size.
• Add small subtle shoulder pads to sweaters and other knit tops to make them hang better.
• Design clean-lined clothing without big embellishment or buttons.

Extra fashion tips:

• Prints should be scaled to your body - for example, no large prints if you are a fuller figure. In general, it's the space between prints that makes them unflattering, so look for prints that have overlapping images.
• Don't shy away from sleeveless garments, especially with evening wear when you can cover up with a shawl, sheer top or a jacket instead.
• Don't think that baggy clothes make you look slimmer. Body-conscious clothes that hint at your curves - without being clingy or tight - are the most flattering.

Women all over the world spend thousands of dollars every year on diets, weight-loss plans, and exercise programs. Up to 70% of the women in the world are not satisfied with their bodies, and the majority are desperate to shed kilos and look slimmer.

So why do millions of women want a body that less than 1% of the population can attain (and not without their fair share of starvation and exercise torture)? The answer is simple. Because that small minority of women who seem to have the “perfect figure” are models. Women who flaunt their bodies, wear the latest designer clothing, and show off millions of dollars worth of products as their career. Models simply look good because it is their job to do so. They are paid to be human clothes hangers.

For us ordinary women going about our daily grind in offices, homes and shops, looking good and feeling great should not be hard things to achieve. If models look good because of the clothes that they wear, then perhaps we should stop obsessing about that extra gram of fat, and start looking at how we can dress well, look good, and feel great.

Good clothing is made of fabric that is natural and comfortable against the skin. Good clothing consists of designs and styles that complement your body shape and your skin tone. Good clothing often needs to be tailored and not bought off the shelf.

The latest designs in the haute couture world can be copied and custom-made to suit your own looks and body shape. It is not necessary to spend thousands of dollars to purchase a piece of clothing that a model wore, just for the sake of trying to look like her. It is important for a woman to recognise the positive points of her own body, and tailor-make clothing that complements that.

d’Italia, a designer fabric store in Melbourne, recommends that women find designs that interest them, and then ask for advice on the best types of fabric that could utilise the style and complement her own body. d’Italia has in store a range of all-natural Italian silk and French lace that has been used by some of Australia’s best dressmakers, to create unique designs for women of all ages, sizes and shapes. The shop also offers an optional referral service to seamstresses.