Jan. 21, 2015

By Jordan Gittens

A new year is upon us and the time to take our resolutions seriously is now.

Each year, we tell ourselves, “I’ll lose weight this year.” or “I’ll pick up a healthy new hobby.” However, every single year, somewhere down the line a majority of us lose our steam and give up on the plan we had for our bodies. This year, we won’t do that.

This year we will finish our resolution – one that we all need. This year we will transform. We will become more fashion-forward and leave our old habits behind us when it comes to getting dressed each day. We will ditch the sweats for chinos or jeans and be proud of what we wear.

A majority of us have been dressing the same way since about sophomore year of high school, and that isn’t going to work anymore. We now need to look at every day as a business opportunity, where we may run into our future employer on the street. While you don’t need to be decked out head to toe, you do need to impress them and show that you care about what you look like.

When fashion powerhouse Karl Lagerfeld shed the pounds and was able to wear more of the clothes that he was designing the fashion world began to take him far more seriously. He wasn’t taken more seriously because of his weight loss, but because he began to dress the part of what every fashion powerhouse should look like. This elevated his status in a world where what you are dressed in and the clothing you produce is all that people care about.

When teen sensations Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen began their journey into the fashion world they were looked at two silly girls who wanted to play around with something that they knew nothing about. However, soon after debuting their personal boho-chic looks, the world began to take them seriously and they are now among New York’s fashion elite.

While you aren’t expected to embody Mary-Kate Olsen, there is an extremely simple way to transform yourself and step away from the crowd. The easiest way to transform your closet is to take a look at European fashion. Looking at fashion from places such as Milan and London puts you at least three months ahead of the American crowd. The simplest way for you to look at this fashion is to come away from stores such as American Eagle, Victoria Secret and Aerie. Instead, try looking at TopMan, TopShop, Zara and Asos.com. While you won’t be able to try on the clothes, both prices and sizes are translated to American fittings on the website, making your shopping experience 100 times easier.

It isn’t necessary to look boho-chic like the Olsen twins or dress like Lupita Nyong’o on the red carpet, but putting your best foot forward is important. In this cold weather, it’s simple to take a pair of riding boots, pair them with a pair of dark jeans and sweater and look like a million bucks. Pairing this with a light scarf and jacket combo will take you on step further. The thing about fashion is, you don’t want to look as if you’re trying too hard, but you want to make your outfits look effortless.

Fashion is ever changing; it never stops moving forward and takes items from the past and brings them to the future, making itself one of the ultimate time machines. Transforming yourself is extremely simple and takes only a little bit of effort to make yourself look completely different than the year before.