As you all know I attended a style workshop inspired by our friends from the Nordic region. I have to say I picked up couple of few tips from Sofia Hedstrom and Trine Kjaer that I think anyone who loves to stay stylish and probably on budget would appreciate. We all have those days when we open our closets and we are over whelmed by the amount of options; we spend lots of time to pick an outfit and are still not happy with the result. After listening to these style pros, I think the Scandinavian women have found the solution to this problem. Here are their tips:

–          Invest in classic pieces

Investing in classic pieces like a great fitting white shirt or a great pant suit that can be worn together or separately. Scandinavian girls have fewer pieces in their wardrobe but because they are basic items, they can easily be mixed and matched. This is a great tip because if you are building a smaller and more functioning wardrobe with classic pieces, it means there might be room in your budget to buy higher quality pieces that would last longer.

–          Gender-bending with a feminine twist

Your favourite pair of boyfriend jeans and a great pair of heels are a perfect mix. Throwing an oversized sweater over a pair of skinny jeans and sneakers is another example of this tip.

–          Layers, layers and layers

Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden experience very similar weather to us up here in Canada and one of the ways to stay stylish and fight the natural elements is to wear lots of layers. White shirt, an oversized grey sweater, a black leather jacket and skinny jeans topped off with a big old wool jackets and chunky scarf is a very common look in this region during the cold seasons.

–          Colours

Trine Kjaer summed up the colours in a wardrobe down to: white, black, grey and denim for a pop of colour! Remember sticking with these colours avoids those frustrating moments in the morning when you are struggling to find matching colours.

–      Accessories

This is where the fun begins. Though the Scandinavian women are fans of minimum make-up and simple jewellery than us in North America, they bring the sense of fun and colour with their shoes and bags. An interesting point to make here is that most girls in this region are very passionate about their newest styles of runners and sneaker since they live in a bike friendly society and biking is one of the most common modes of transportation in this region.

I’m going to start following these tips to cut down on the amount of time I spend to get ready in the morning.

Solmaz