I want to start by talking about the lipstick I wore with  my first look on last night's episode.  A few folks asked me during the live chat about what lipstick I was wearing.  My makeup artist Kawika starts by moisturing my lips.  Then he lines them wiith a brown liner.  Then he applies foto lip color from Mac to my top lip and then ravishing lip color also from Mac to the center of my bottom lip as a highlight.  Since I have substantial lips I often like to highlight right in the center of the bottom lip.  The Ravishing color from Mac is a great highlight.  Makeup as well as haircolor I think is all about dimensionality.  It's all about playing with light. 

The first dress I wore in last night's episode (pictured above) I love.  The recent 80's fashion revival has lead to the return of the peplum dress (Peplum: A short overskirt or ruffle attached at the waistline of a jacket, blouse, or dress).  This is great for my body type.  I found it at H&M.  The peplum is perfect for me because my shoulders are wider than my hips.  The peplum balances out my body and also makes my waist look smaller.  The great thing, too,  about this peplum dress  with a form fitting skirt is that I can have the flair to balance out my shoulders and also give a little booty,. eeeow!  ha! Make sure that if you want to rock a trend, it works for your body type. 

Something that I always talk about that hasn't made it to the show yet is F.F.P.S. (Fit, Fabric, Proportion, Silhouette).  I believe F.F.P.S. is the secret to chic dressing and understanding how to dress your body. 

Fit of course, our clothes should fit properly, not be too tight or loose. 

Fabric.  The fabric is so important in a garment, particularly when you're a discount shopper like me.  The wrong fabric can look really cheap and not flatter the body.  I love clothes and fabric with structure. Vertical seaming and boning in the bodice  are gorgeous and very slimming.

Proportion.  This is huge.  Proportion is how all the parts work in relationship to each other.  I am all about having my body appear balanced  Unless we are going for something extreme, the general idea is that we want to appear balanced.  For example, the proportion of my first look, the peplum dress, was about making my proportions look balanced which I already mentioned and  TnT (taller and thinner) Even at 5'11 the wrong proportion can make me look short and pudgey.  The high waiste and above the knee hemline make my legs look crazy long.  The peplum balances out my broad shoulders.( A note on peplums.  It's crucial that the hem of the  peplum hits you at the right place for your body and the overall proportion of the dress.  I have encountered many peplum dresses and skirts where the peplum is too long in relationship to the underskirt.  So be careful)

Silhouette.  This merely means the shape of the garment. This is crucial in relationship to proportion.  Learning what shapes flatter our bodies most is essential.  We don't want to wear the same silhouette all the time but when something works for us we can do variations of it.  Finding silhouettes that best flatter us can help us develop a signature style. 

I have also had a number of folks asking me about where they can find large size shoes that won't break the bank.  I guess my feet look really big on tv.  Well they are.  I wear a size 13 shoe.  It's extremely difficult to find shoes in my size that I actually like. Most designers don't make the cute shoes in my size.  I am very particular.  Frederick's of Hollywood sometimes has cute shoes in large sizes.  Beware though!  Frederick's veers towards the 'hooker heel", Zappos and Samanta.com as well as Payless.com  sometimes have  cute modern shoes in large sizes.  I feel they are all a crap shoot though.  Designers( particularly designers that already make large size shoes) can you start making the same cute shoes you make in smaller sizes in the larger ones.  Big feet girls want to wear the cute shoes too.

Thanks everyone for watching TRANSform Me. Check the site every Tuesday for my day after thoughts. 

Stay in the love,

Laverne