The site was looking a little cluttered after the addition of the store area on the right, so we fast-tracked a visual refresh that was already underway. Hopefully you’ll find that things flow a little better with the updated design.

We also used the opportunity to make a few changes to the forum. Most importantly, we added two new areas:

1. Your Body Type: This is a place to talk about your body type. How do you fit into the various classifications? Are there general rules you can follow when selecting items and putting together ensembles? Every body is unique, but there are also definitely shared attributes and lots of opportunities to share advice and experiences.
2. What You Wore Today: People were so excited by this topic that we thought we’d give it a home of its own. So if you don’t have your own site for posting your daily outfit (like Kasmira’s excellent blog), then you can do so here. Even if you do have your own site, feel free to post links on our forum. Please post each new outfit (or group of outfits) separately, and try to use a descriptive title.

We retired the poor old “Fashion Industry” area because it wasn’t getting much traffic, but all of its posts are still available under “Everything Else”. If you have any feedback, or problems that you would like to report, go ahead and use our brand new contact form.

The YLF forum is, as we say, going like a Boeing. A big thank you to existing forum members and a warm welcome to newbies. Your articulate, informative and passionate conversations increase the style quotient of this site.

Inspired by the growth in online shopping, we thought we’d try to make it easier for YLF readers to find good deals at our favorite online stores. You can find the new feature on the right hand side of the site. The red block at the top contains links to popular shopping destinations. The column below that has links to online sales, specials and promotions.

You are now one click away from a fabulous deal. Happy shopping!

Greg and I started YLF two years ago and the time has flown. We like to celebrate these anniversaries by reflecting on the activity of our readers. Below are the 10 posts that received the most comments over the last year. Crocs seem to be the shoe we love to hate – they came in at positions 1 and 10. Especially notable in this list are numbers 1 and 7, which were posted very recently and haven’t had much time to accumulate comments.

1. Crocs mean business
2. Do you love or loathe the new Trapeze jacket?
3. Preferred shopping categories
4. Katie’s new cut
5. The volume watershed
6. Vanity Sizing
7. High-waisted, wide-legged jeans
8. The body shape bible
9. An American holiday tradition?
10. To Croc or not to Croc

These are the top 10 categories. “Body Type” was at the top of the list again this year (last year’s positions are in parentheses).

1. Body Type (1)
2. What to Wear
3. Dresses
4. Wedding Wear (5)
5. Party Wear
6. Casual Wear (2)
7. Men’s Style (8)
8. European Style (7)
9. Dress Codes (10)
10. Celebrities

I have posted over 500 entries so it’s hard to come up with a list of my favourites. I enjoy writing all my posts but hold a special place in my heart for the pieces on:

• International style and fashion
• Upcoming trends
• The best and worst of a season
• Dressing for your body type
• Dress codes

The posts that generated the most controversy were “Dressing your age” and “Are you too sexy to fly?“.

A big thank you to all our subscribers, forum members, daily readers and occasional visitors for making our readership what it is today. Your valuable contribution is appreciated. Remember that if you enjoy the blog, you can vote for us in the Blogger’s Choice Awards (in the “Best Blog About Stuff” and “Best Blog Design” categories).

You may have noticed the “Bloggers Choice Awards” icon on the right hand side of our blog. We have submitted YLF for consideration. Unfortunately there isn’t a fashion or style category, so we are in the category “Best Blog About Stuff”. We’d appreciate your support if you feel that YLF is worthy of consideration. You have until the end of the year to form an opinion and cast your vote. For those of you that do vote for YLF, we thank you in advance!

One thing we often talk about behind the scenes at youlookfab is the quality of the comments – our passionate, knowledgeable and eloquent readers make a lot of thoughtful contributions that really add value to the blog. This makes it seem a pity that people don’t have more of an opportunity to start their own threads. It is true that many of the readers have their own blogs, but many don’t.

Another thing we noticed is that people often ask questions on the comment threads, and it is fantastic to see other people jumping in and helping their fellow readers. With the growth in youlookfab, the number of “Ask Angie” questions is starting to outstrip the number of hours in the day I have to respond. It would be brilliant if it was easier for people to turn to the youlookfab community.

So we decided to create the youlookfab forum. It is extremely simple – after signing up just once you will be able to post to one of four different areas: What to Wear, Where to Shop, The Industry and Everything Else.

You can also browse the forum (without signing up), or contribute to the conversations started by other people. From now on, “Ask Angie” questions will be posted in the forum, so you can also look at the latest questions and see whether there are opportunities for you to share your experiences or give advice. I will still be answering questions, but will now be doing so in the forum.

Like any new software thing, the forum is bound to have some teething problems. If you experience one of these, or if you have some feedback that might help us improve the forum, then please reply to this post.

Enjoy, and thanks for your support!

The New Year brings opportunity to start afresh and this year I have one style-related resolution. I tend to buy too many Summer sandals. In Seattle, our Springs are chilly and our Summers are short which makes my need for breezy open shoes minimal. I’m therefore putting the brakes on Summer sandal purchases this year.

Do you have any fashion and style resolutions for 2008 that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear them.

We at youlookfab wish you a happy, healthy and stylish New Year.

As it turns out, Christmas colours are all the rage right now. Red continues to hold its own and green is Spring 2008’s hottest new colour. We at youlookfab wish you happy holidays, or as they say where we come from, “compliments of the season”. Travel safely and enjoy the festivities.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States and here at youlookfab it is becoming a tradition to reflect on the things we enjoyed over the past year. This year I was thankful for the following trends:

• We saw an Autumn and Winter season full of colourful clothing that was not bohemian inspired.
• Dresses continued to be a fashion focus.
• Flats are just as fab as heels.
• Tunics and longer length knitted tops are all the rage.
• Skinny, straight, bootcut and wide-leg pants are equally trendy.
• Rises are rising.
• There is an abundance of wool-free warm handle knitwear available (I’m allergic to wool).
• The A-line silhouette is forever fashionable and generally flattering.

But most of all, I’m thankful for my youlookfab friends. It gives me great pleasure to work with my clients and occasionally help them to experience a wonderful “fashion moment” (when that foreign and unfamiliar item of clothing or footwear suddenly makes perfect sense). I’m grateful for the trust they put in me when it comes to their personal style. And then there is you – the youlookfab.com reader. I’m constantly impressed with the thoughtful comments you write on this blog. They really add to the value of our site, and they inspire me to continue.

Thank you youlookfab supporters and Happy Thanksgiving!

It is one thing to do a style transformation with the perfect dress, heels, make-up, haircut and a limitless budget of time and money. It’s much harder to maintain a sense of style daily when you’ve had 5 hours sleep and 15 minutes to get ready. Most of us need an assortment of affordable throw-it-on-in-2-minutes outfits that make us feel stylish, fabulous and comfortable.

This is where I come in, because I have the same needs as you. I’m a fashion stylist and every day I deal with real people with real bodies who lead real lives. I studied Psychology and Fashion Design and have 16 years of international mileage in the fashion industry. I love to use that experience to help people feel good about how they look and what they wear. I firmly believe that style is not a size, age or designer label. It’s about dressing well for the life, body and budget that you have with conviction and confidence.

Along with my style consulting business and my work at Dress for Success, youlookfab is big part of how I like to spread the word that looking fab is not hard to do. Like wardrobes, websites need updates too, so we’ve updated the design of our site and added a few new features to make it a more effective resource. Here are the changes in a nutshell:

• My blog: the formula stays the same, with a few tweaks that make the header more useful by giving quick access to the most sought after information. I’ll continue to blog daily on how we can all achieve and maintain a tangible sense of style affordably and practically.
• Other blogs: There are many great fashion and style blogs out there in the blogosphere – too many to list in the already-cramped sidebar. So we’re maintaining a selection of blogs on a seperate page. If you have a blog and would like to see it in this list, just hit the “Add Your Blog” button and fill out the form. If you fit one of the categories, we’ll link to you – no strings attached.
• Cheat sheets: Blog entries are our bread and butter, but from time to time I’ve wished that I could go into more detail, or cover a topic more comprehensively. Cheat Sheets will allow me to do this. Each one will help you to dress for a special occasion, put together a certain look, or adapt one of the new trends to your lifestyle and body type. I’ve made a start with the Summer Day Wedding and will grow the list over time. Help me to pick good topics by suggesting one or two with the “Topic Idea” form.

The designer/developer bloke behind the site assures me that things are ready for prime time, but no doubt we’ll experience a few hiccups after the transition. If you see something odd or broken, or if you just have a suggestion, please leave us a comment. Thanks for visiting our site and remember to keep those fashion feet moving… there isn’t a style or fashion challenge we can’t solve together!

Red, white and blue colour combinations are often viewed as American, yet I perceive this combination to be French (perhaps because I lived in France before coming to the United States). In fact, red, white and blue hues are also representative of the British, Dutch and Australian flags.

Sometimes the colour I associate with a country is the national colour. I’m Dutch by nationality, and although the flag is red, white and blue, orange is the Dutch national colour. The Netherlands is a monarchy that is governed by members of the House of Oranje-Nassau (where Oranje is Dutch for orange). Of course, the fact that Dutch national sports teams wear orange is probably what keeps the association alive.

Sometimes the country-colour association is a combination of these factors, or something else completely. I associate Kelly green with Ireland, antique pink with England, earth tones with Africa and red with China.

In honour of Independence Day, I‘ll be wearing a red, white and blue ensemble, feeling sporty and American instead of classic and French. Enjoy the holiday!