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Hello, and welcome to Nothing to Wear, the podcast that solves fashion problems and levels up your wardrobe. I'm Lee Campbell and every week I talk to an expert who helps us work out how to get more out of the clothes we already own and tells us exactly what is and what isn't worth adding to our wardrobe. We receive lots of questions from you, and one dressing room dilemma stood out as a real challenge. This listener felt like their wardrobe is old and tired and wants a refresh,
but without spending much money. So stylist Amelia Morris and I took on the challenge, coming up with some simple hacks so easy they just take one minute and they will transform your items or your entire wardrobe. From how to mix up outfits with your belts, the two by two rule for styling tips are matching colors, layering techniques, and the versatility of a crossbody bag, and even some regular old household items you need to add to your
fashion toolkits. So Amelia and I could not stop chatting, so let's jump into it. Wonderful, helpful, amazingly talented Amelia, welcome back to the show. Now, I'm not going to ask you some personal fashion questions because we've got a lot to cover and we've got a question from a nothing to Wear listener that we're going to help with lots of little tips, tricks and hacks. So the question is I wanted to refresh my wardrobe because everything is feeling old or tired or I'm bored of it, but
I don't know where to start. What do you suggest? Now, Look, we can't really answer that in one fell swoop because we don't know what she's got what she doesn't. So we've just got a whole bunch of little tips, tricks, styling, hacks, methods, approaches. So Amelia, I want your first hack slash tip slash method.
So I really love this Hacket's all about a sleeve garter.
Okay, a sleeve garter. I'm getting eighties flashbacks. Remind me My mum had like kind of like a tiny slinky that you've used. What are they?
Yeah, so you basically use them to gather the sleeves of your shirts or your blazers or whatever jacket you might have that's really bulky and has a lot of fabric. And it's just a really great way to not only get rid of all of that bulky fabric, but it can also help you elevate your outfits as well give you a little bit of definition.
How do you put it on so you can't see it? Do you kind of hide it in the fabric when you scrunch it up, or so you just.
Put it over your sleeves and then you just pull up put your sleeve and gather them around your elbow. And I wear lots of boxy blazers and it's just a lovely way to create a little bit more definition and shapes.
And I think that comes to the difference between wearing your clothes and styling your clothes, which is a lot of what we're about to talk about, the difference between getting dressed and then styling, and it's pretty much the same items. It's just those little shushes, right, Yes, Okay, I'm going to get a pair of those, because at the moment, I'm just constantly pushing mine up. My first one is to do with panty liners, and I've sort of shed this a little bit in the past, but
panty liners are the unsung hero of your wardrobe. So coming into spring, you might be wearing a lightweight trench or a blazer, or even a lightweight cardigan or a knit or whatever, but then you've got a tank underneath. You get a bit shitzy. You're running around and you don't want to wash those items all the time. So I just get a panty liner, and I use the sticky side and I stick it into the armpit of whatever that item is, and then it doesn't get shitzy.
You don't really need to launder it until maybe you spill something on it. It's just like a little protection for your armpit area of whatever that top is. And another panty liner trick that I taught myself last minute. The other night, I was wearing some cool sheer stockings. You knoww stockings are cool, but then I was wearing a pump and the slippery stockings in the pump, I couldn't hold the shoes on there were slip sliding all
over the place. So I stuck a panting liner into the inner sole of my shoes and no more slipping. And if the shoes are a little bit big, use a thicker pad.
Mind blown pad?
Two liners? Who line?
Was that versatile?
All right? What's your next one?
So this is more like a styling method to simplify.
I love a method, Yes, hit me.
I actually posted one of these formulas on my social media other day and it went off. So this one is called the two by two outfit formula, pairing two casual pieces and two dressier pieces together. So I think about your blazer being a dressy piece, some heels they're a dressy piece, and then a casual piece would be a white tea and then indigo blue denim.
Jets, yes, or even and this is a bit advance. But tracksuit pants, Like I'm loving tracksuit pants with a blazer and a sandal or a heel. So it's not stuff you'd necessarily think work, but because they're too dressy and then too casual kind of just could take you anywhere.
Yes, And it's really the definition of smart casual as well.
Yes, now that I host this podcast, I do that a lot more. But I used to think fancy top must be for fancy occasion, but now I'm like, hang on, how can I wear my things more? And it's putting a fancy top with super casual whatever or vice versa. Okay, my next one is weird, but stick with me. So a lot of us have cross body bags but might also have the little carry handles. I've got a few bags like this. Take your crossbody strap off. It depends on how thick your strap is, but I'm talking like
the general width of a regular belt. Take the strap off, and then you use it as a belt in your jeans or your pants. And the way you do that is you clip it first at the sort of side and then around and around until you clip it at the other side because it's usually going to be too long or you kind of tight, and belt it over a trench or a coat and it looks so cool. And then you've got a matching accessory, which is your bet that automatically matches your bag, whether it's a little
handlebag or a clutch. So it's a good way to turn your crossbody into a more dressy bag and then have a matching accessory out of one item.
I love this. I've never heard of that before, so I'm going to try that.
I'm going to have to show some of these on Instagram, I think, because I've got a few crossbody bags that that could work with. So I people are like, what does she mean? We'll have to show you. Or just if you've got, you know, a great red crossbody and you want a red belt, just take the handle off and use the belt phenius. I've done that with chain ones as well. But you've got a chain strap on your bag, whack it around your waist all make an accessory out of it, whack it around your neck.
Perfect.
Okay, what's yours next?
So this one's for all of my petit ladies out there. And when I say petite, I'm talking about anyone who is under say five four or five three, which is me. Somebody like me. I'm always looking to elongate my silhouette and look a tad taller than I usually end yep.
So one tip that I have is to create the illusion of height by wearing tonal dressing, so wearing something head to toe, so it could be beige and beige or black and black or whatever your color that you like to wear, and you can do monochrome base lanth, so you can add something over the top, so laser over a top and a pant because you've got the inner base. Okay, tonal is still going to give you that illusion of length.
Sometimes I've done that and it works, and then sometimes it looks like I'm trying to wear a set, but it's not obviously a matching set, Like do you think there needs to be I don't know if there's a method of like making sure that people don't think, oh, she put on the wrong gray top with those gray pants.
You can add different textures as well, and it doesn't have to be satin on satin for example.
Yes, I agree. And then it's more like you've got maybe like a little bouclet miniskirt and then a white tea and white sneakers or something. I love that and it just makes getting dressed so much easier. You're just looking for your white stuff or your beige stuff. Yeah, okay, this is another visual one, so stick with me while
I try and describe it. I'm loving high waisted skirts at the moment, I'm loving high waisted jeans, but there's a lot of tucking in and then sometimes depending on the length of your tea or your tank or whatever, there can be a lot of fabric. Also, I wee a lot, so then I am taking and tucking tuk tuk tuck. It's annoying. So I've got some longer T shirts that I actually want to wear as a crop or when I say crop, the appearance of it tucked
into a high waisted skirt or jeans or pants. So instead of actually tucking, get those little little hair elastics, like almost the ones you wore on your braces, or just a small thin hair elastic, and each side of the tee you tie it around to make a little bit of fabric. You then tuck it under and sort of flounce it over, and it looks like it's tucked into your jeans or your skirt, but it's not, so
it's not adding bulky fabric underneath your bottoms. And also then when you need to WII, you can just take your pants down or lift your skirt up and you're not trying to tuck everything back in again. And then on occasion a girlfriend's like, have you got hair elastic? And I'm like, well, I do holding up my top at the moment. But it's a great way to tuck things in or try a cropped or tucked look without having to buy a whole different bunch of tops that are different lengths.
Oh, I love that.
What else have you got for me? This is fun.
I like my wardrobe to work hard for me, so I like to think how else can I wear something? So this little hack is where I take my belts that I usually wear on save my pants, for example, but I will belt them around my blazer.
Yes. Else, I love this look. I always forget to do it, but it looks so stylish.
Yes, And it's just a great way to amper your outfit. So you could go literally desk in the office with a blazer and then unbuton it and and then add your belt in the evening over the top of your blazer, and then you've got a completely different look.
I love that. I got a pair. They're on sale of Camilla and Mark. Really cool jeans. They're like a foresty car key and the genes themselves came with a fabric little tie. And then I saw someone much cooler than me on Instagram wear the jeans that then put on a blazer and then use the tie from the jeans around the blazer again same color as the jeans I copied. You and I are both not really extremely tall, so this is a really clever little trick, particularly for
Maxi dresses. But also if your dress is just a bit of a weird length, check on your Maxi dress. It's too long, and what I normally do when I'm running around after my son is tucking it into my undies so I don't drip over, which is not that stylish. So you can use a shoelace, or you can also just use a length of elastic, which you can pick up from Spotlight for two bucks, tied around your waist.
It's very subtle, but you very subtly kind of pulled the fabric over the elastic and sort of flounce it out. You can't see it too much. It kind of just gives the illusion of almost a skirt and top set, and then you can kind of customize where that dress falls, whether it's a Maxi that's touching the floor or a Meati that's just an awkward length, or I do have a mini dress. I mean I never want my mini
dresses to be extra short. Anyway, it looks like it needs tailoring, but I'm like, eh, I'm not going to get a tailor. So I just tied a little bit of elastick flounced it over, depends on the fabric, but that one is actually sequenced and it still worked. And then it just kind of shortens it, and then you've still got the dress at the original length. Should you want to know, add a heel or wear it differently, But it's just a way to shorten things without sewing or tailoring.
Love that and being a fellow short person myself.
Yes, I'm constantly googling queer how do I make something shorter without cutting it? What else have you got?
Sticking with the theme of belts, is you know how sometimes you have a loose flap of your belt if it doesn't go all the way into.
The next loop. Yes, this drives me mad.
So I use double sided fashion tape.
Oh my gosh, that is the smartest thing I've ever heard of. I have tried bobby pins, but then they go flying off.
Yes, and I do this all the time.
I am just thinking of all the sad belts that I've cut and ruined that I could have just stuck it to itself, because then I've also tried to do that cool girl, loopy naughty thing, and then it just looks weird and flies out.
Well, sometimes the leather might be too stiff to do that. Yes, is a really good way just to stick it down.
I love that so much. Oh my god, you're blowing my mind. Okay, So layering necklaces is huge, and thankfully you can buy some molten layered necklaces. The work is done for you. There's just one class. When there's two or three or four chains hanging, that looks very cool. But a lot of us, me included, have some beautiful necklaces I love at home and would love to layer.
But they're all the same length. Put them both on one and then two, and then flip them around so both of the class are at the front, just so you can work without having to be a flip top head. Then undo them both and then relink each class to the link of the other necklace. Then if you turn them both back around and pull them down, they're going to be two different lengths. And also it kind of stops them from tangling because they're now joined to the other one, so it's not going to not up at
the back. Does that make sense.
Mind blown. Yes, I'm going to buy this one too.
I am going to try and work out how to add a third. It's a bit like juggling. Everyone can juggle to but when you chuck in a third. But it definitely makes two necklaces sit just that beautiful kind of distance from each other without having to go buy more accessories. What else you got?
I have got a tip for wearing oversized. So I call this a bit of a hat because there's a lot of oversized garments going around at the moment. The key to wearing oversize is to wear one piece oversized and one piece that is more fitted, just as balance your silhouette. Because I know have a lot of clients that come to me and they say they really want to wear a cheap oversized blazer, but it feels like there's just so much fabric and it wears.
Them because it comes down to proportions, doesn't it. Yes, I've fallen into this trap because I love oversized wide leg pants. Wide leg jeans are having a moment, so are oversized blazeres and oversized shirts. But sometimes I put it all on together and I look like a little girl wearing her dad's clothes. She's it best to be oversized on the top or the bottom, or it doesn't really matter as long as you're taking in proportions altogether.
Yeah, it's all about taking in proportions. So if you're going to wear palazzo wide leg kind of pants, you might want to wear something a little bit more fitted on the top. And fitted doesn't mean it has to be skin tight. It just could be like a tea for example, but tucked in.
Okay, my next one is one word, and I want to get better at it. Sunglasses. Honestly, if I'm wearing my daggiest leggings and sneakers and running around as soon as I put Sonny's on, it looks more intentional. It looks like I'm trying to be casual cool. I have thirty pairs of sunglasses. Really, is there a pair in my handbag or in my car? But if you have not had time to get ready and you're running out of the house, I mean, unless you're go to the movies,
grab a pair of Sonnies. It immediately just says that you put in a bit of effort. Even if from the neck down you didn't hide sleepless nights. I know you love sonnies and I love sunnies too, but I forget to wear them. How do you remember to wear them? And how do you incorporate sunglasses into your personal style?
I have sunglasses for every single kind of outfit.
But do you pack them? Do you remember to grab them?
I have a display shelf with all of my sunglasses so I can see what I have to work with it. Like any of your clothes, if they're packed away and you can't see them, they're kind of forgotten about.
And maybe do you have like a pair or two of classics in your everyday handbag or in your car, because that's it, Like, what are they doing up in my bedroom? If I've got a set that's in my car, I'm more likely to wear them that smart. It's such a simple one and very good for your eyes. We just need to remember to do it. What else have you got?
So I've got another hack for wearing cross body bags. So a lot of the time when you go and buy a cross body bag, the strap placement might be really, really long, and generally they're not being adjusted. So I see a lot of women and it's no fault of their own. Is wearing really long cross body bags hanging below the hip, and if you're a hippie person like myself, what it can do. It can add more volume and accentuate that area. Yes, So what you can do is slightly adjust the strap above your hip.
Yes, so it sits kind of in that curve.
Yeah, and it really will change up the proportions of your whole silhouette.
The other day, I was wearing one of my crossbodies and because I like to like swivel it around almost on my bum, because if I'm wearing a crossbody, I mean business, I'm walking, I'm using my arms, and it was just flap flat, flap flat flat. I spanking my balm this bag and I was like, oh, hooked it up a bit, and then it just didn't annoy me. But so often we forget that often a lot of things are adjustable in that way and we just accept it.
And if you're traveling as well and you want a little bit more security with your bag having it.
Oh big time. Yeah, you don't want it yet, and definitely wear it more to the front. Okay, onto the too long thing again, because I think you would wire in the same boat I have so many beautiful tanks or crops some addresses. Some are casual, but they're too long, or I don't like how they flow down the bottom, or they just don't work with the outfit, because again, we're wearing more high waisted things than ever before. So you've got a tank that's too long, or a singular
top that's too long. What I want you to do is you put it on and then you fold it all the way down so it's kind of inside out, and your straps are hanging down near where your pockets would be, so you've kind of got it on as a boob tube, but it's inside out. Stick with me. Then you're getting your strapless brah. You put strapless bra on over the fabric right, and then you reach down, pick up your straps and put it back on, and
it's now a cropped tank or a shorter tank. And depending on how much fabric you've got to play with, if it was way too long or if you're quite short, you can still get it to sit sort of at your waist or a little bit lower, and then wear it with jeans or skirts, and again you can weed better and easier, and you're not tucking it in and it just kind of turns a really long top that you might not have been wearing because of the length and what you wanted to style with into a shorter tank.
Love that, Love it.
It's just about getting more use out of the things you've already got right, exactly anything else.
We're still in sweater weather in Victoria. Yeah, but I've got to tip for if you want to wear a sweater or a cardigan and add a little bit more depth than interest to either of those, is wearing white underneath it. By adding like a white tea underneath your sweater, you're adding more contrasts.
Okay, it just looks so much visually, like if it's an undone button like a cardigan or a sheer of fabric.
You can see my cardigan here.
Yes, you're wearing a beautiful lemon yellow and it does look very vibrant.
Add a crew neck tea underneath. Peep out the top.
Oh I love that. Yeah, it says I put in effort because layerings what all the cool kids do.
Yeah.
And then also because we are in that transseasonal time, if it does get a little bit too warm, you can take it off and you're not sitting there in your bra Yes. Now before we got a bougie and budget one that has changed my life. I went to Bunning's. I bought a small clothing rackets timber. It's quite stylish
and it fits probably about ten things on it. And now I put on there the items that are from my ten percent that I wear ninety percent of the time that I love, that are kind of out of the house clothes or new things or things I want to wear soon. Because every morning I am dealing with a five year old, I'm trying to get out of the house. If I look at my whole wardrobe, it's too overwhelm and I probably just grabbed the same jeans
and T shirt, nothing wrong with that. But if I've got a little rack of like an edit, I go, okay, I'm going to pick something from here, and then you put on a smaller reddit of your favorite things or things you want to wear soon. That kind of all work together and you're choosing from a much smaller selection. It takes away the overwhelm of getting dressed in the morning.
And then what I do, if I'm well behaved, is every Sunday night I sort of rotate that there's jeans there's some classics there, but there might be my new top I'm looking forward to wearing, whereas if I put it in my wardrobe, I forget about it. I like that you can have all the clothes in the world, but if you don't have time or you're overwhelmed, you're not going to wear them.
No, and you're just overwhelmed when you've got a lot of choice in your wardrobe. So this really simplifies it.
It's very expensive. How wond are these okay bougie and budgets? So my friend to merely, are we going to bring some items that help sort of hack or elevate so they're kind of more functional, I would say, So let's start with your bougie, my friend, what do you got?
So, keeping in theme of what we spoke about, my bougie is quite bougie. It's a belt from Selene and it's eight hundred and ninety Oh.
My gosh, but of course it is. But you know what, Chuck that on with a paper bag and you look good.
But the reason why I've put it in here because it's a style that has been around for a very long time, so it's not going to date. Wear it for your trousers. You could wear it over your blazers. I feel like it would be an investment piece. I buy lots of speakers. I bought five pairs of speakers. If I didn't buy those sneakers, I could have bought them.
The belt, yes, totally. And you can wear the belt every day. You can't wear five pairs of sneakers at once.
Yeah.
What color is it?
Black?
And the buckle's pretty classic.
Yeah, it's just a gold hardware.
Oh and you know what even and if people don't know what it is, when you put that on, you immediately feel elevated.
It's very minimalistic, but it's elevated at the same time.
Yes, and sometimes jeans and a tea you chuck on a belt and it just changes the game.
Absolutely.
Okay, my Bougie is very functional and has changed my life. It's not that expensive, but it's sixty five dollars. It's a handheld or a travel steamer. I'm not an ironer. There is an iron in my home. Can't confirm I'm a steamer. So this steam is fantastic if you're traveling or you just want your clothes to look a bit
less disheveled. Back to my Sunday session. If there's a few things on that rack that I want to wear that week that I can't get away with the wrinkles in, and trust me, I'll try I steam them because Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning, I'm in a frenzy. If it's wrinkled, I'm not gonna use it. And this is very little. You fill it up with water, you plug it in, and off you go. So it's great for travel. Fits in
your suitcase. And I just have it basically sitting under that little rack that I have and I do a quick steam and then my linen pants or my satin or silk shirt or whatever I can't wear, I just give it once over. It's very very quick, and if you just kind of do those little things like that, you look more elevated. You're just wearing the basics or a simple slipskirt, but if you've taken the creases out, it just looks a bit more pulled together. What is your budget?
This is very budget friendly. So back to the double sided fashion tape. So I usually use one it's called the Hollywood Fashion tape, about twenty dollars and not only can you use it for your loose belt flaps. You can also use it to hide your brass straps as well.
I've used it before. If I've got like a gaping button hole across the chest, it fits right, but it kind of looks a bit too what's going on there. You just put a little bit of tape between the two buttons and it's so good. And also I've done it to him lightweight skirts and pants they wouldn't hold a jeene. But if you've got a really kind of lightweight cheese cloth or a limp and they're too long, the tapeholes.
Yeah, definitely does. It's so versatile. Every stylis.
Yeah, it's when you first think of it. For me, I think of it of like wearing a really low plunging top to lock your boobies in, but it's way more than that. Yeah, it's a sticky safety pin essentially.
Pretty much.
Okay, my budget is super budget and I cannot live without them. They're from Amazon. They're called the Mini Clothes Hangar, connector Hook, and they're this little sort of figure of eight black or you can get white. So say you've got a set also you're traveling, or you just want to pair an outfit together, you get the one hanger, then you loop this little thing over the hang bit and then it kind of creates a second layer where you can then hang the second item and then they
move together. So sit in your wardrobe together or on your little rack, or I take about twenty of these when I'm traveling, because you know, if you're unpacking at a hotel and you've got four hangers and your husband's like that name that Matt Blazer, and you're like, well, I want to hang my things. You can kind of double triple them and get sort of a row of clothes off the one hanger. They are game changer and they're fourteen ninety five and I think you get twenty
for that. And I've bought several several packs.
Oh I need to get that.
Or if I used to hang sort of a suit separately and then I'd put the blazer in the blazer section of the pants in the pants section, I could never find them. But now if there's something that's a set, I use these little guys to hang them as a set. Amelia, you are fabulous. I feel like we need to get together and have a play and try out all those little tips and tricks and hacks. Thank you so much for joining me, Thanks for having me, thank you for
listening to Nothing to Wear. Don't forget to sign up to our Nothing to Wear newsletter. There's a link in the show notes and of course it's free. And if you loved this episode, we've had Amelia on the show before, so you can listen to that by following the link in the show notes. See you next week. This episode was produced by Grace Roubray with audio production by Lou Hill. This podcast is powered by our subscribers, and a big, big, big thank you to all our current subscribers.