Best Dressed The Born to Shop Lady's Secrets for Building a Wardrobe

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Your Personal Shopping Style We've all looked at a closet filled with clothes and moaned, "I haven't got a thing to wear." Why do we laugh, knowing it's all too possible? Because we don't shop as well as we dress. Unless you wear a uniform, or have such a highly evolved and distinctive style that 90 percent of the choices out there in stores and catalogs are automatically eliminated, you shop for your own clothes and you put them together to present yourself to the world. The more you like to shop, the greater the chances that you will be tempted to mix and match, to experiment and to create. The world's most fashion-forward women create their own styles before they become a style, taking a little of this and a little of that and putting it together in a unique manner. Somehow, it works and even evolves into a trend or style that others will imitate. These women are usually in the fashion business or an artistic field that allows, and encourages, these statements. But no one creates a look without the ammunition to do so--and the ammunition is provided by shopping trips, whether to flea markets, designer showrooms, or local shopping malls. I can spend hours trying on clothes at the beginning of a season or before a trip, mixing and matching pieces and seeing what works together. As my wardrobe expands each year, I have new pieces to mix with the old; my goal is always to give myself a current look with as few new pieces as possible. Your style as a shopper and collector of wardrobe bits has a lot to do with the basics of your personality, with learned behavior, and with budgetary constraints. All of these factors change and shift, so it's natural that your shopping style will evolve over a period of years, just as your wardrobe does. Shopping style does relate to personal style because you are what you buy, but trust me, the Helter-Skelter Shopper does not look like a mess. When you're up against it and set free in a store, what kind of shopper do you become? Take this little quiz and see if it helps to identify your shopping style. What Kind of Shopper Are You? 1. To me, shopping is: A) better than sex B) an occupation C) a necessary evil D) a creative endeavor 2. I go shopping: A) whenever I can B) when the new clothes get to the stores C) only if I need something D) if I can find the time 3. I prefer to shop: