My 5 Favorite Style Hacks

Tina, here.

I'm a perpetual observer. I study people. I'm always trying to learn something new, from older women, especially. I think when I lost my mother at 15, I started looking for the secrets on how to be a lady, and I've been searching ever since. I feel like they know stuff I don't know about how to dress and how to wear lipstick and do your hair and what goes in your handbag or what you wear to a luncheon. I think this is why I love sharing what I learn with others. Because what if there is a sweet young thing out there who lost her mother and never knew you aren't supposed to mix primary colors with black?? So today I give you 5 good style hacks I've learned over the years.

You know that feeling, the one you get when an invitation arrives and you have no idea what to wear??!! Here's help.

1. Classically elegant women throughout the 20th century were often known for wearing solids. Think about Babe Paley, of whom Bill Blass said you never really noticed what she was wearing, but you knew it was right. Wear solid black head to toe or solid white head to toe if you need a fancy outfit and don't want to make a mistake buying the wrong outfit. I always suggest this for New Year's Eve, to wear all black with sparkly jewelry and heels. It works with all white in spring or summer. If you're afraid of white, don't be. I looove wearing white jeans in the summer for a cocktail event. You just have to know how. And you do if you're a Vault insider! Plenty of bootcut and skinny white jeans inside the Style Vault, and how to wear them. Also, be sure to visit the brand new section of the April Style Vault, Vault Notes, where you can shop looks from the blog! All new May Style Vault drops tomorrow, Friday May 1 at midnight! Fab exclusive savings just for Vault members. You can join today.

White on white. So I grabbed a white t-shirt (my all-time favorite one that over 400 Vault members bought!) and paired it with a white cotton pencil skirt I found at Couture for a Cause in Brentwood. Please read about this fabulous shopping philanthropy here.

Here you can see my accessories, again all white. I'm hopeless I know. So I grabbed all the bracelets I own in white and ivory and shoved them on the same wrist for impact, then a huge cocktail ring (faux as it can be) and a sweet lariat necklace from my friend Kelly, and some oooooold earrings I wear when I need to be fancy. And my fave ivory leather clutch from J. McLaughlin tops it all off with a nice touch.

Another view of the accessories and how they make the look. I could have added colorful, fun jewelry and a bright clutch for a different feel altogether. But you know me, I never met a white-on-white look I didn't like.

You can still try the all black look in spring and summer, too. In light-weight fabrics. Even all black cotton can look elegant.

Same exact look but this time a cotton v-neck t-shirt and a cotton black pencil skirt with fancy-shmancy accessories so I could totally wear this to a party.

A clear-cut way to looking pulled together, and a style hack in its own right, is to wear a matching set of cuffs. I found these acrylic ones with gorgeous starburst pins on them on eBay. I put in my very sparkly and large diamond hoops (faux) and to take it all up another notch, brought out my Chanel pale metallic gold WOC clutch. I love black with gold. And it's fine that I've mixed it in with silver jewelry.

2. You know how decorators often start building a room around a rug? I start building an outfit around my shoes. That's because what I'm doing and where I'm going that day determine what shoe I need to wear. And if it is raining or if it's cold, etc. The wrong shoe kills an outfit, so if you start here, and build up you won't ruin an otherwise great outfit. I figured this style hack out from years of walking hours on end on marble floors at the mall while pre-shopping and shopping for clients. I began choosing my outfits around the flats I could wear.

Here's the 3-step process I go through every day.

I always check the weather. Not by actually poking my head out the door, but a picture of me checking the weather on my smartphone would not have really captured the essence of what I'm illustrating, now would it?

Armed with important knowledge about what the weather holds for the day, I go to my closet and think through what I'm doing. Will I be walking a lot, in the rain? I wear black patent shoes or my tennies if it's raining, so I have to pick my outfit accordingly. If I'm speaking somewhere, I like to be in comfortable heels. Will I be going from a casual meeting to an important networking event? I may need 2 sets of shoes for the day.

Now it's finally time to pick out my outfit. If I'm walking a lot and wearing flats, but with clients, I'll wear a skirt; but if it's raining, it'll be an ankle pant with flats. If I'm going to a meeting and not doing much walking, it's a dress with a high heel. If I'm meeting with a client for the first time, I try not to look too stiff, so it's a wedge or a flat with a fun skirt. There's so much psychology to getting dressed! But trust me, if you follow this process: the shoes determine the outfit, you'll eliminate a lot of time choosing what to wear.

3. Blouses are a great wardrobe equalizer. They dress up jeans, and they simplify fussy skirts or dress pants. The way to look sexy without looking skanky or frumpy when wearing a blouse is hands down to adopt this style hack: cuff your sleeves (don't roll them) and unbutton one more button on the placket of your blouse when wearing a cami, and pop your collar (but only half-way). What this does is create a frame around key attraction sensors, drawing attention without revealing. If you don't have the perfect blouse, and think you can't wear blouses, you're looking in the wrong places. Check out the Style Vault's Ten Core Wardrobe Staples Every Woman Needs for the perfect blouse and the key to wearing them, with the perfect cami.

You hate blouses if you wear them with the sleeves rolled down like this. And no one else appreciates your wearing them like a man, either.

This is the way to rock a blouse. Let's have a short lesson on cuffing the sleeves.

Step 1. Turn up the sleeve's cuff so you have effectually cut it in half. Now push it up above your elbow.

Step 2. Roll just the very bottom of the sleeve at your elbow, the part under the actual cuff. This is what gives it grip and will hold the cuff in place so you're not constantly dealing with pushing those darn sleeves back up your arm.

Bonus points for turning up the collar at your neck, but this is the key: only pop it halfway, not all the way or you'll look like Elvira. Popping your collar halfway on the back of your neck frames your face beautifully because the front will stand slightly at attention, too.

4. Jeans too long for your shoes? Turn up just the back half of the hem. I do this with my cowboy boots all the time because they are a weird in-between heel height compared to my other shoes.

You can see how my jeans in this picture are dragging the pavement. Especially bad on a rainy day. And who wants to have 3 jeans for 3 types of shoes, flats, boots and heels? This style hack will change your life!

Flip up the seam of the back part of your jeans, just the back. Not the front. No more dragging jeans in the mud and rain.

Front view. You can see that the front hem is left alone so your jeans don't look too short; just turn up the back hem at the seam.

5. Stick to a 3-color palette wardrobe, 2 neutrals and your best color. When in doubt, and you don't know what to wear, grab something out of your closet in white or off-white (not black), and pair it with a piece in your favorite color. If you stick to a strict 3-color palette consisting of neutrals like ivory, black and camel, spiced with one accent color for your entire wardrobe (I have two, turquoise and coral), you'll have the starting advantage that everything in your closet coordinates with everything else, every time. You dears who love wearing pattern in a rainbow of colors, this method won't work for you, so what I propose is that you have a standby outfit on hand: a white or off-white top (not black) that goes with literally every colorful pant or skirt in your closet. Here are my go-to mix and match outfits that work every time. They may even look familiar to you, especially my Nashville friends who see me in these clothes all the stinkin' time.

My go-to outfit is a camel sheath. For a casual day I'll throw on black patent heels (great for when it rains, too) and a white denim jacket. Vault insiders, check the April Style Vault Notes (brand new section at the end of the issue) for deets on where to find similar items!

A denim jacket, especially in white, is a wardrobe multiplier. And black patent heels are a must-have to wear with jeans or dresses, to fancy parties and board meetings. Check the April Style Vault Notes for where to get yours.

And my go-to camel sheath all dressed up for a snazzy affair. I simply added a silk scarf and my blush satin shoes. Tones of blush and coral are some of the only colors you'll find in my wardrobe, aside from turquoise, so I know that everything I have goes with everything else. Including blush accents.

Here's a close-up of my blush satin heels that go with everything. Your wardrobe accent color may be red, and that's fine, but just know it will be harder to match with everything else in your closet. Blush goes with everything. SO I guess I am prescribing blush as your accent color, too. Was really trying not to be dogmatic on this one, dolls, but oh well. For a similar blush heel, check the all-new April Style Vault Notes.

Thanks for reading. You may have much more brilliant style hacks than these and I would love for you to share them with us! And have fun with these hacks - I hope they make getting dressed easier for you. Or you can just join the Vault and not have to worry about ever figuring out what to wear. You can also hire us for the full-service experience of cleaning out your closet, shopping with you and styling everything so you are the most stylish version of yourself all the time. It's pretty awesome. As Nashville wardrobe consultants, we're also pretty fun.

Join the Style Vault Now! New issue goes live tomorrow. All new exclusive discounts for Vault insiders. I'm in love with the May Vault. Invite a friend to join. And now, you can shop the blog looks inside the Vault, too!