Girl threads

Drez

I'm trying to help my sister out...she keeps complaining about not meeting guys or whatever and I think she really needs a fashion overhaul. She's never really taken an interest in it and she looks kind of droopy sometimes. I'm certainly not in any position to suggest anything to or buy anything for her as I'm no fashion mogul but I do think she needs to pep up. I bought her a gift card to H&M for her birthday and she seems to like the outfit she got there and it's a step up from the PTA-like crap she usually wears.

So really I'm just looking for shopping suggestions for her - like places I can buy gift cards for her and where it'd be very hard for her to go wrong since I'm almost definitely not going to shop with her and she doesn't really have BFFs to help her out.

She's 24.

Any recommendations? The H&M thing was kind of random and lazy on my part, is that a good place? I dunno.

Fokkar

H&M is a pretty good bet... they have tons of trendy things... and easy to wear fashions.
Also, I'm a fan of American Eagle... it might be bit "tarty" for someone her age, but they have some good things there.
One more... Abercromie and Fitch... can't go wrong.

Centipeed

A picture of her in whatever outfits she wears now might help, so that myself and others can recommend "upgrades", as it were, rather than a wardrobe from scratch. What body type she is will probably factor into it a lot.

Drez

She's skinny - high metabolism - and like I dunno 5'5" I would estimate.

And she needs a wardrobe from scratch. I love her but...she needs a new wardrobe. And she needs to burn her current wardrobe.

Feral

Is there a Forever 21 in her area?
What about a Bebe?

Gnome-Interruptus

I think there were some fashion threads in D&D that you could check out for ideas.

For shopping, you really have to find a style first. Then go to stores that cater to that style.

For guys I would recommend, Old Navy and Moores and maybe International
Girl equivalents would be places like Winners, Old Navy again, and maybe somewhere that has more edgy clothing to pep up an outfit. (I never remember the names, I just go to the largest mall I can find and shop the shops)

FirstComradeStalin

Express

Forever 21

White House/Black Market (personally I find this store fucking bizarre, but women love it)

Anthropologie

Those are a few basics for places that sell clothes targeted more for 20-somethings rather than teenagers. WH/BM is probably the most formal, Express is really European and slim, Anthropologie is a little more laid back, and Forever 21 is kind of a mix.

Ryadic

Old Navy is my favorite store. Have a lot of nice stuff there.

CooterTKE

Ann Taylor is where my wife loves to shop. But express would be good as well.

Atom Bomb's Wife

I definitely agree with Express and would add Banana Republic for some higher-end, professional wear. For casual I would go with Old Navy, Gap, and Aeropostale. For kind of quirky casual I love Urban Outfitters (they have a great sale section w/good prices).

Does she wear mostly pants/jeans and oversized shirts that cover her figure? It would be great if she wanted to try some skirts or dresses to get a little more "girly" (that sounds awful, but it's the only word I could come up with!). It's awesome that you're helping her out!

Quoth

Anthropologie is pretty expensive, but Old Navy is a decent choice. Sometimes you can find good stuff at Target, even.

tsmvengy

H&M is a good idea, the quality of their clothes isn't always the best.

Ann Taylor Loft is good too (their store for younger women.)

cloudeagle

I'm bad at women's fashion so I can't cite examples, but your sister needs to be careful to pick items of clothing that flatter her particular body type. If she's skinny she doesn't want to wear something designed to emphasize a lot of curves, for instance.

Edit: not to mention picking clothing that goes with her general coloring... skin tone, hair, eye color, etc.

onceling

Old Navy, Target, Winners and the Gap - while they have excellently priced, trendy additions to a wardrobe are definitely places where your sister could go HORRIBLY WRONG.

Your gift card idea is really neat, I also suggest targeting the root cause of the problem though, which seems to be that she doesn't know how to buy trendy stuff?

This is a bit trickier but I'm wondering if a subscription to a fashion magazine or links to some of the good blogs for women's clothing on the web would help?

vonPoonBurGer

onceling wrote: »

I also suggest targeting the root cause of the problem though, which seems to be that she doesn't know how to buy trendy stuff?

This is a bit trickier but I'm wondering if a subscription to a fashion magazine or links to some of the good blogs for women's clothing on the web would help?

Maybe see if you can recruit some of her female friends who already have good style to go shopping with her? That's how I ended up changing my style a few years back, one of my sisters (who has good fashion sense) said "come on we're going to buy you some jeans that don't look nerdy." Anyway, she may just need someone in the know who can give her a little positive feedback when she tries on something that she wouldn't normally consider otherwise.

LondonBridge

What Not To Wear

http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/whatnottowear/whatnottowear.html

witch_ie

One thing that could also help is make-up. She can go into any nice department store (I like Macy's) and ask them to help her pick out some lipstick, eyeliner, base, and mascara to start. No matter how good looking she is, adding make-up will make her look more polished and like she's taking care of herself - which should help her meet guys.

vonPoonBurGer

witch_ie wrote: »

One thing that could also help is make-up. She can go into any nice department store (I like Macy's) and ask them to help her pick out some lipstick, eyeliner, base, and mascara to start. No matter how good looking she is, adding make-up will make her look more polished and like she's taking care of herself - which should help her meet guys.

This can be good advice. A friend of mine, when I first met his wife I was kind of surprise to see she was somewhat overweight. Not terribly so, but I distinctly remember thinking "huh, didn't expect that", because he's a real skinny guy. The second thing I noticed is that she had good style, tasteful and attractive makeup, and good self-confidence. So I distinctly remember my second thought being "ok, now I can see the attraction". The makeup is just one part of that. I don't even think it's all that important by itself, the real value is that it conveys a sense of "this person takes pride in their appearance". It's also a bit of self-reinforcing loop, where someone who takes the time to look nice tends to feel better, act more positively and display more self-confidence. If your sister can convey impression like "positive, outgoing, self-confident" instead of "droopy", I bet she'd get a lot more interest from potential dates.

Dread Pirate Arbuthnot

Target always has a lot of on-trend, tasteful and inexpensive pieces. Bluenotes is a favorite of mine.

Centipeed

Well, any of the stores recommended will sell both clothes that will work well and clothes that won't, so you probably need recommendations in the way of types of clothing to wear?

Jeans that fit, a tight top, and something loose to go over it, in safe colours (Blue, black, white). Simple, flat shoes.

You don't need to be extravagant. Looking around at what girls of a similar build are wearing on any ordinary day will give you some ideas.

Dr. TwoCents

What color is her hair and skin?

Dread Pirate Arbuthnot wrote: »

Target

Trowizilla

Seconding Target, especially if she just needs to experiment. I have some really cute clothes from there, and she'll get better value out of a gift card if she can spend, say, $75 and get five cute outfits rather than $75 and get maybe some pants.

Anyway, though, here's some basics that look good on everyone, with minor notes for her body type (skinny and medium height):

Dark blue mid-rise jeans with a slight boot-cut and a little bit of stretch to the fabric.
A few camisoles in different colors, preferably with a small interesting detail like a slight shine or a little lace. These are cheap and good for layering under things.
A cute button-up shirt, good for work or play depending on how you accesorize it.
A casual dress. It's the perfect time of year for them, and the easiness of wearing what feels like a long t-shirt might convince her to give dresses a try. Shirt dresses and wrap dresses look nice on everyone, plus they come in zillions of fabrics and colors and prints.
A non-casual dress, also known as the Little Black Dress. She'd probably look good in shift dresses with a bit of embellishment. If she's skinny, she's lucky enough to be able to wear clothes with a wide variety of waists. Things with seams on her natural waist will give her curves, while an empire waist will look elegant and a drop waist will look funky and fun.
Cute flats. This is a good chance to go wild, because flats are cheap, comfy, tremendously varied, and will look adorable with pretty much any casual outfit. Target has zillions of them for under $20.
A pair of nice going-out shoes, possibly heels.

Anyway, I know you don't want to go shopping with her, but there's some other things you can do to help her get interested in dressing herself well. Do you two spend time together regularly? What Not To Wear is an incredibly addictive show that does Clothing 101 pretty well; the "before" parts are generally hilarious and you can laugh together at people like White Girl With Dreads Dressing Like A Hobo Princess, and then the fashion stuff will seep in during the "fixing up" segments. Or, start casually mentioning outfits you think would look good on her, and compliment her when she's wearing something non-PTAish.

(Although I do think you should suck it up and go shopping with her.)