Holiday Dressing Do's and Don'ts

Ladies -  I don't know when it started happening.  When did we start wearing these humiliating terribly literal Christmas sweaters?  Santa in his sleigh and all 8 reindeer plastered on our chests? Not to mention the shape of the thing probably most resembles a box or a bubble.
It must have been the 80s....right?  What else would you still wear from that decade?  Nothing right?  Then why do the holiday sweaters linger?  Ahhhh!@  I could scream.  I know, I know, there are still a few stores that sell these awful items.  I saw a table of them just the other day and wished I was rich enough to purchase them all as a last ditch effort to save American women from making the tragic mistake. 

I understand that some of you may be urged to pile on the snowmen, santas, rudolphs and the like for the season but don't do it!  Why not?  Well, it's not sexy or flattering for one.  For two, I can assure you it doesn't entice your husband, or any other man for that reason.  Except for maybe Santa himself, and are you trying to seduce Santa?  If so, bravo, for you have done it.  It's certainly festive, but so are Christmas trees, and are you trying to look like you've been decorated like a Christmas tree, tinsle and all? Maybe you're going for the Christmas cookie look? Tell me you aren't trying to look like a ornament ball. 
Well, here's the bad news: you look like all of the above.  You certainly don't look like the attractive, sexy woman that you are!

So instead of reaching for your trusty santa sleigh sweater, take the colors and textures of the season and inject them into your wardobe in small, chic doses and in modern, flattering shapes.  Gold is gorgeous during the holidays, so is silver, so is silver AND gold! Wearing red or green is nice too of course but keep it chic and simple, the goal is to not look like a Christmas tree or a wrapped present.  Anything heavy wool or embroidered? I don't even need to see it - leave it at home. You are surely being committed to someone's memory for the next time they are invited to an "ugly Christmas sweater party".  Or maybe you just look like you need to be committed.

I see so many women this time of year completely forgetting that they could look like sexy, confident, festive women.  Instead, you can tell that they threw on their go-to Christmas sweater that they'll wear almost everyday until New Years.  Unacceptable.  I know I bring up French women a lot (I'm fascinated with the differences in our style culture) but do you think a French woman would be caught DEAD in a wool Christmas sweater with santas and snowmen on it?  Nope. 

Now that you know what NOT to wear this Christmas season, here are a few suggestions to help you on your way to figuring out what TO wear (it's probably already in your closet!):

Bows, metallics, red, green, gold, silver, ALL are fun ways to look festive and pretty during the holidays without sacrificing your self respect! And black is always chic with pretty, shiny jewelry and a nice lip color.

I hope this post gave you a little more insight into holidays dressing and I hope you are able to look at what I posted as examples and put something together that you already have in your own closet!

BEWARE the ugly Christmas sweater!!

(if you are thinking "Hey! I like my fun Christmas sweater!" then OK, but besides the fact that it has a party that young people host in order to make fun of them, it is also probably not very flattering to your figure, makes you look lumpy and a few sizes bigger than you are and in 5 years time you're going to see pictures of yourself and cringe. Convinced yet?)