A: Congratulations!  I applaud you for having the courage to do what you love, and taking the first step towards your dream of working in fashion publishing.  Just as transitioning from a professional environment to an academic one will allow you much more freedom in scheduling your day, it will also give you much more freedom in what you choose to wear.

That said, I’d recommend placing your suits and blouses in a good storage place, as journalism will also require professional clothes until you reach the heights of Anna Wintour or Carine Roitfield, when designers will be begging you to wear their clothes!  Fashion journalism is no exception, though you’ll get to mix things up a bit more.

As you prepare to enter the world of fashion, make sure you have your foundation pieces in place.  These 10 pieces will provide you a foundation from which to grow your wardrobe—and evolve your sense of style.  Since you’re going back to school, I’d add jeans to this foundation wardrobe as well.  In addition to your standard issue dark rinse blue jeans, try a pair of trouser jeans and a pair of grey jeans. 

Moving beyond the foundations, I encourage you to play with silhouettes and color.  Now is the time for experimentation. Layer!  Take what’s in your wardrobe and try to create new and interesting combinations. 

Once you’ve started to exhaust the possibilities with your current wardrobe, make a shopping trip to add pieces that you may not already have.  Things like layered tops, asymmetrical dresses, cute boots, and an oversized, slouchy bag (which should hold your school books nicely).  But don’t be too anxious to fill out your wardrobe too quickly. You’ll start to develop a more critical eye as you study fashion.  And you’ll no doubt be influenced by the designers you study—not to mention your fellow students. 

A: It’s an odd request, but it’s a valid one.  Looking more mature will not only reduce the "how old are you?" questioning, but it’ll also help you to be taken more seriously at work.  We have a few quick tricks to add age to your look:

Balance out your Round Face:  I’m guessing that the youthfulness in your face comes from a round shape; the rounder your face, the younger your look.  To counterbalance the roundness, look for geometric shaped earrings, pointed collars, and more angular clothing.

Wear Structured Clothes:  The more structure in your clothes, the more mature the look.  I’d recommend building your wardrobe around tailored garments and accessories - double breasted coats, belts, blazers, and other fitted items.

Drape Yourself in Jewel Tones:  Bright primary colors are youthful looking, but deeper jewel tones like emerald or turquoise are more refined.  Neutral colors will also add to the maturity of your outfits.

Wear Makeup:  The key here is to wear makeup that’s not too heavy.  Try makeup that’s sophisticated, like a soft smoky eye for evening.

Slip on a Pair of Heels:  Since you’re only 5 feet tall, you’ll also benefit from a couple of inches of extra height.  Height will help you add years to your look, especially if the shoe is in a sophisticated style.

1.  Start with a cheery skirt.  The pretty polka dot pattern on this pencil skirt got this outfit off to the right start.
2.  Add a patterned top for visual interest.  Bonus points for one that also features bright color.
3.  Bring in the color: a bright orange cardigan complements a spunky yellow peacoat (which in turn brings out the yellow on the graphic tee).  The crimson red handbag fills out the spectrum of warm brights.
4.  Finish off the outfit with a pair of grey slouchy boots.  Black would be too harsh against these brights, but grey does the trick.

Since you’re a bit broad shouldered, I would avoid thick horizontal stripes at your shoulder line.  The stripes will only visually widen your shoulders.  Since you love these horizontal striped shirts, you could try three things that will lessen the widening effect of horizontal stripes:

Thin Horizontal Stripes:  The widening effect is a lot less pronounced with thin, widely spaced stripes than it would be for thicker stripes.

Stripes with Low Contrast: Horizontal stripes are less likely to widen your figure if they’re in colors without a lot of contrast.  Instead of high-contrast black and white stripes, for instance, try lower-contrast grey and white stripes.

A: When you find what works for you, our best advice is to stick with it.  Since you find that scoopneck tops flatter your figure, we encourage you to wear them all year round.  Here’s how to wear this summer weather top during fall and winter.

Instead of summer’s plain cotton scoopnecks, look for winter varieties in thin, warm insulating fabrics.  We’d recommend against chunky, bulky fabrics, as the volume on these tops will erase the figure flattery gains you’re getting with the scoopneck shirts.  Instead opt for fabrics that are natural insulators, such as silk.

But of course, thin fabrics aren’t naturally as warm as thicker fabrics.  To get the warming effect of a thick fabric with the look off thinner fabrics, dress in layers.  You can layer two (or more) thin shirts together to get the warming power of a thicker shirt or sweater. When you wear two thin shirts, you get the warmth of each of the individual shirts, plus the heating power of the warm air trapped in between the shirts.  Two are really better than one, especially if your undershirt is made of silk.

If layered shirts are still not warm enough for you, add a cozy sweater or cardigan.  You don’t need bulk for warmth if you’re layering - merino wool and cashmere are warm without necessarily being bulky.

The other key way to manage your height is to choose garments with horizontal details.  The horizontal details draw the eye from side to side, which will help to visually shorten you.  Look for horizontal stripes, horizontal seamlines, and any other details that visually cut your body widthwise.

Layering is going to be your friend as you put your outfits together.  With your height (and your age), you have the opportunity to experiment more with layering.  Pictured is a simple fashion formula that you can play with: a drop waist coat, a long sweater that hits at the hip, a top with horizontal details, wide-leg jeans, and flats.  When the weather gets chillier, add a colorful scarf to the outfit for extra color and texture.

(2) Color coordination ties the outfit together.  The yellow patterned tank is surrounded by an adjacent hue, orange, both in the form of a hoodie sweater and a pair of standout shoes. A brown handbag picks up the brown in the tank as well. 

A: It’s common to be uncomfortable with pattern and color–it’s just so easy to fall back on the safety net of black or other monochromatic neutrals.  Though these neutrals are easy, they’re not always the most flattering.  Even neutrals can visually drain color from your face–and they leave you as a bit of a fashion wallflower. 

How to Choose a Pattern
Be sure the pattern is scale to your own proportions.  Petites should look for small patterns so as not to overwhelm the body.  Those with larger frames, however, would look frumpy in small, delicate prints. 

How to Choose Colors for your Patterns
Choose colors that enhance your own coloring.  How do you know what colors work for you?  Here’s a simple test: Hold two pieces of construction paper under your face: one orange the other pink.  Whichever color softens your features and lessens shadows on your face is the tone you should look for.  If orange works better for you, look for warm colors like reds and oranges.  If pink makes you look better, look for cool colors like greens and blues.

How to Wear Pattern
An easy way to ease pattern into your wardrobe is through accessories.  A scarf added to a solid dress or dark suit adds a pop of life.  Look also for patterned belts, tights, and handbags. Once comfortable with pattern on accessories, you can move on to blouses, skirts, and even dresses.

The easiest way to wear a pattern is to wear one single pattern against a backdrop of solid colors.  Pick a color from the pattern to wear as your primary solid color. For example, if your sweater is red, yellow, and pink, you can pair it with a skirt that’s red.  Note that the shade of red in the solid colored skirt doesn’t need to match the shade of red in the pattern.