Improvability Blog

Please, please, do yourself a big favour and find out what makes you look good first before you start slavishly following the latest fashion trends.

I was close to being ill the other day at the sight of a TV presenter wearing a butter yellow jacket and tan polo shirt underneath. 

This presenter has cool, blue-toned colouring and looks utterly wonderful in blues, navy and charcoal but, in warm colours, he looked as though he needed a swift airlift to the nearest hospital.

Needless to say, I didn’t listen to a word he said because I couldn’t take my eyes off his pallid face and bleary-looking eyes!

Are people listening to YOU or are they wondering whether you need a stiff brandy because you look rather poorly?

The Versace outfit on the right would be perfect for a cool-toned man…

If you like the LOOK of this outfit but you’ve got warm skin tones, try an ivory shirt with this same suit. It’s what you wear nearest your face that will make us listen to what you have to say - or not!

7 key themes and colour trends for men’s fashion Spring Summer 2010

1. Grudge: Deep colours
2. White & Black: the blackest black and the whitest white
3. Digital Era: a kaleidoscope of indefinable colour
4. Invasion: florals
5. EnTrenched: ivory, nudes, camels and butterscotch
6. Adonis: tonal colours
7. Giorgio Armani: perfectly coordinating tones

Fashion Trends Spring Summer 2010

• includes both womenswear and menswear
• 69 pages of insider information straight from the catwalks
• Over 300 images from the designer shows
• Researched and written by a top fashion journalist
• PowerPoint presentations
• Print-ready client handouts, or create your own!

Ready to download to your computer immediately.

Men! Those little darlings!

Men! Those wonderful, adorable, delightful creatures that bring so much joy into our lives!

I’m sat here waiting for you to explode, and perhaps add a few of your own adjectives. Well, you go right ahead and sound off. It will do you good. “Better out than in,” that’s what I say.

But, on a more practical level, I have been receiving a number of emails from men - and from ladies about the men in their lives - asking if we could add some information on the website specifically for men. Seems that they want to look good, too. Hallelujah!

Over the years, many ladies who have been very happy with their own results after a Colour / Style consultation have then asked me to sort out their husband/partner’s wardrobe. And it may interest you to know that men ask completely different questions from women. They have a very different perspective about the benefits of colour, style, image and grooming - all of which I find incredibly fascinating. My brother-in-law, for instance, who I have known for more years than I care to remember, never tires of asking me to explain AGAIN (and usually to the assembled crowd) why he is a Summer Romantic and which colours and styles suit him best. He’s obviously not backward at coming forward and, naturally, this goes rather comfortably with his style personality.

Understanding your partner’s colour direction can also help dilute those potential arguments over which colour(s) to use in your home. My other half is an Autumn and I am a Winter so you’d think that we’d struggle to decide over the muted shades of Fall and the jewel hues of Winter. Not a bit of it! We choose complementary colours from both palettes and find compromise quite easy - but, then, maybe this also has something to do with the fact that we actually talk to each other! But, there I go again, digressing onto personalities.

So, to return to the point, I shall be very happy to produce some information specifically for the chaps on the site. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

In the meantime, you may like to check out the new Men’s Colour Swatch wallets that have just been launched on improvability.co.uk. If you already know which Season your partner / father / brother / friend is, you can treat him to a slim-line wallet which is designed to fit in the inside pocket of a suit jacket (pocket diary size). Each has four distinct sections for:

• seasonal colours
• suit fabrics and colours
• shirt colours
• tie colours

From these, you (or your chap) will be able to select:

• Neutrals - suits, jackets, trousers, shoes, belts, coats
• Basics - sportswear, sweaters, ties, casual shirts, scarves
• Lights - business, dressy and casual shirts

Colour swatch wallets for ladies are available, too. You can choose between Seasonal and Tonal.

You may find a wallet of colour fabric swatches really useful, especially for shopping trips, either for yourself or the man in your life. The brain cannot retain shades, tones and tints of colours so having the wallet with you as a reminder will make shopping so much easier. Try using it while shopping for wallpaper or paint - it may stop you falling out when trying to remember what colour your sofa really is!