Hello beautiful lady, it’s Ada Deferrari here, style mentor, designer of ADA Collection belts, and creator of the Dress Your Shape Program.
And today I wanna talk about some of the common accessories that I’m finding in many women’s closets and I think it’s time to retire them because they age you and they’re just…out.
But first, a quick caveat. If you have any of these items in your closet, you love them, they make you feel great, they make you feel confident, they make you feel everything you wanna be feeling, then keep them, please!
These are just my personal opinions and I just don’t think they add a lot of value to your outfit. But again, if you feel they do then keep them.
Okay, the first item I think that it’s time to retire is an item that I just don’t think it’s very in, it kinds of puts your outfit down. And that is quilted bags and paisley handbags.
Now again, if you’re in your twenties and you’ve got a fantastic body, You’ve got an amazing modern style, then you can pull those off gorgeously. Even if you’re in your fifties and you’re wearing a super modern contemporary outfit, and then you have this paisley quilted handbag, you could also pull it off nicely. But for the most part, generally speaking, this is a style of handbag that just doesn’t trend very well.
In fact, the next accessory that doesn’t trend very well is this kind of this utilitarian handbag with all of these zippers on the outside.
It’s just very classic, it’s practical yes, but there’re other handbags out there that are also functional and practical but will elevate your style and will help you look more modern and contemporary.
And you can go with a designer brand like these…
You could go with a tote and they have these dividers where you can put inside your handbag if you want to have everything nicely organized. But in terms of the typical utility handbag, unless maybe you’re working in the field or you got like a sporty outfit on and you’re going hiking or whatever it might be, I mean, I’m sure if it’s for your job and it’ll make your life easier, go for it! But in general, a handbag and accessories, in general, show your personal style. They’re a way to really elevate your outfit and give it that kind of crisp upbeat polish and so a utility handbag is just not a piece that will help you do that.
However, speaking of utility, I have a belt bag, the Cassandra belt bag from ADA Collection.
I absolutely love this piece that in fact, I wear for hiking, I could fit my phone in there, my small water bottle, my chapstick. So that is I think a really cool elevated and more modern take on, belt bags or utility handbags in general.
The next accessory I feel like kind of dates you and doesn’t really help elevate and make your style look more modern are beaded necklaces.
Now I know this is kind of general, I’m putting up a couple of examples, but I don’t know, maybe it was like 10/15/20 years ago, there was like this matchy-matchy sets of the earrings and the necklace. And they’re pretty! But right now the trend is more about layering necklaces, more delicate pieces.
There’s a trend also with like a chunky necklace. However, kind of like this beaded look and the matching sets it’s just out and so, if you’re wearing it, it also dates you a little bit.
So, if you’re in a position at work as a manager or leading a team, it is important I think especially for many positions that you DO wear something modern, contemporary… Because that style shows kind of you’re thinking and your mentality in general. So, are you modern, you wanna move the company forward, you wanna move your team forward? Or you’re kind of dated and you’re still using fax machines? No offense if you are! But, you know what I mean? Your style represents how you think in general so, it is important to pay attention and kind of keep things modern on the curse.
So instead of maybe these beaded necklaces and matching sets, you could go with a layered look or even like a statement accessory such as this necklace:
Okay, the next items, it’s not an accessory but sort of… Shoes, comfort shoes. Now, first of all, there’re hundreds, millions, and thousands. There’re so many beautiful lines out there of shoes that there’s no reason to have not-so-good-looking comfort shoes.
Comfort shoes come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and there’re many beautiful and comfortable shoes out there that could fit your style. In fact, I lived in Europe for quite some time and people in Europe and even when I lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, people walk everywhere. So, of course, comfort is extremely important but I swear to you I didn’t see one woman wear a clunky shoes like these around town.
She’d always have these shoes… she’d have like the latest stylish beautiful shoes. I mean, at one point, I was like taking pictures of people’s shoes because they were so beautiful. But again, you can absolutely have stylish shoes and comfortable shoes at the same time.
Here are just a few options, you can go with ballet flats, of course, they can be nice and cushiony, you can go with even a sandal that’s a little bit more like a comfort-looking sandal but in cool, fresh colors and patterns.
So, there’re so many options out there! In fact, I think I’m gonna do a video on comfort shoes and name out some brands. Let me know in the comments below if you’d be interested in that because I swear, there’re so many gorgeous shoes out there and you should be wearing cool shoes!
Okay, and then the last accessory I wanted to mention, that I feel like dates you sometimes are choosing either the wrong color, the wrong print, and maybe the wrong tie in a scarf.
Now I know scarves for ladies in their fifties or sixties are like a go-to accessory, but sometimes if it’s the wrong color that doesn’t really suit your coloring, it’s not gonna add value to your outfit.
Also, certain colors, in general, do date you. So if it’s not like a modern, crisp color, more like maybe browns. Brown I feel like in color therapy is like a trustworthy color, it’s like the color of a tree trunk, it kinds of represents age but it doesn’t represent like modern and cool, and crisp, and contemporary. So, maybe stay away from browns in clothing or in accessories, such as a scarf.
Also, I feel like a lot of ladies do this tie kind of like they hang it around their neck and then just tight a knot and kind of let it down. There’re a lot of really cool ways to tie a scarf that could also make it more modern. You can tie a scarf around your handbag, you can tie up higher on your neck, you can tie a scarf in your hair… There’re so many ways to tie scarves, so just be kind of conscientious of it.
And I do have another follow-up video here you could watch about styles that age you if you’re interested. Again, these are all opinions, and wear whatever makes you feel good and makes you feel confident.
I also wanted to mention I do have a Free Style Class all about dressing for your body shape to help you look good and feel confident. If you wanna check that out I’ll leave a link for it here.
There you have it! Let me know what you thought about this video if you agree, disagree. Leave a comment for me below if you have any style questions or if you had some followed-up styled fashion from this video go ahead and leave me a comment below!
And, that’s all I got for you! So, I’ll see you next time on Ada Style Minute. Thanks for watching!
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