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May 8, 2019May 15, 2019

How to prepare the perfect suitcase for your vacations

Vacation times, happy times, yeah?! No? But why is it so? Aah, the packing woes, right? Which clothes to choose from the many in your wardrobe? How to prepare the perfect suitcase for your vacations? Because wrong decisions can ruin the mood of the moment completely. Because you feel lost if you do not pack it all in. And that is not done, as simple as that. Besides, you cannot bring an outfit planner either! But wait, you can now. Download the Chicisimo outfit planner app onto your phone now, for IOS or Android (if you need information on how to start with the app, please check this previous post). The app acts as your virtual style guru.

But how does that happen, you might wonder? All you need to do is upload images of everything onto the app. And everything means all clothes, shoes, handbags and accessories. Once this is done, go onto sort these under different groups. After that, you can relax and let Chicisimo handle your wardrobe woes.

So, this being said, time to focus on your vacation packing, ladies! Also, below are some tips to help you pack perfectly for a vacation.

Easy to carry suitcase

First things first. A moderate-sized suitcase that is easy to carry along. And remember this is a vacation. You need not carry your entire wardrobe along. So, choose a size that will fit in your belongings and go by flight rules.

Decide by place

Of course, what goes in into your suitcase will be solely guided by destination/s. A beach holiday calls for light and breezy outfits. But a trek vacation needs suitable gear. And a winter destination again requires totally different clothes. Sometimes there can be a combination of varied destinations too. That’s why it is good to consult an outfit planner for feasible solutions.

List it

Best way to not miss out on essentials – list. Ideally begin to jot down after you have your plans ready. This way you can keep adding or managing the list over time. As you put things into your suitcase, keep ticking off things from the list.

Roll and fold

Some packers insist on rolling everything up. But others think folding is best. How about mixing up the two modes optimally? Using separators to organize your suitcase is actually a winner to prepare the perfect suitcase for your vacations. And it is also good to roll up socks in pairs, as well as undergarments. For example, outfits that go together like tees with a pair of jeans can also be rolled in together for better packing.

Rule of three

Footwear for vacations normally gets best sorted in 3s. Heels, flats and sneakers or sandals are a great combination to throw in. And remember to fill in your footwear with small items of need. Because that way the small spaces inside shoes get used. Also, the items themselves are better organized and easier to retrieve too.

Layer

Organize your suitcase well. Layering it up is a good idea. Think like an outfit planner in this case. Would you rummage through your closet to find a particular shoe? Or go directly to the shoe section? Similarly for your travel suitcase. Think of it as a mini wardrobe for a moment. Keep a layer for footwear, another for clothes, etc. You get the drift here, right?

Electronics and adapters

Keep easily retrievable space for electronic items, preferably in your cabin baggage. In these times, these can be multiple in numbers. Phones, charges, adapters, laptops, memory cards, cords and cables. A dedicated pocket for these in your suitcase would be wonderful. If your suitcase has zipped storage on the outside, that would be best.

Space for shopping

Come now, you will shop on vacation, right? All the time the outfit planner in you must be itching to pick stuff. Keep that in mind and do not pack your suitcase to the brim. New destinations bring so much into your horizon. There will be new accessories, fabrics and patterns galore. Make sure to allow space and weight for them.

Travel size liquids

You know there are restrictions on the amount of liquid you can carry. This immediately rules out big shampoo bottles and lotions. Take some time out and prepare small sachets of these. You can easily do this at home. Any DIY clip on YouTube will help you. This way you get to use them throughout the vacation. And keep getting lighter with each use.

Medicines

A fashion app like Chicisimo can guide you aptly on fashion. But there is need to carry certain medicines with you. Granted no one wants to be unwell on a vacation. But one never knows, right? It is always better to have basics covered. Why would you want to go around hunting for a store in a new place? Would you rather not spend the time relaxing? Or being the fashionista tourist? Keeping a small pouch of essential medicines is a practical idea.

Do not overpack

Just because your carrier allows for humongous size, don’t pack it fully. Remember there is a big price to pay for overweight. Airlines are very strict when it comes to going over the weight limit. In fact it is a good idea to throw in a weighing scale. You will know when to stop shopping too. Jokes aside this is an unnecessary waste. In conclusion, instead of paying the carrier, use it to further refurbish your wardrobe.

Make-up essentials

These items need to be present in the perfect suitcase for your vacations. And certainly, there is no need to upend your entire collection. Pick out a few basics: a neutral lipstick, essentially sun tan lotion, something for the eyes, a moisturizer, a hairbrush, and voila, you are done. In addition to apt clothes, ladies need a little help with makeup too. Look pretty as a picture the entire vacation with least effort.

In short, vacations are meant to be fun and relaxing. Make sure you are totally sorted on this front. Take help from your outfit planner if needed. Being real and practical while upping the style quotient is the secret here. Wearing a new outfit everyday is not the goal. Owning each look is what matters. And this can be done wisely with great planning and organized packing. Head out, the holiday beckons! We hope that this little guide on how to prepare the perfect suitcase for your vacations will be helpful.

May 3, 2019May 16, 2019

How to use a closet in the most effective manner?

Everyone can do it with an organized and neat closet. It becomes so much easier to pick up an outfit if you have everything in order. Here are some tips on ways to go about achieving this and use your closet in the most effective manner.

By category

One of the most efficient ways to organize your closet is by category. Pants, trousers, jeans in one section, tops and shirts in the next. Your jackets and heavy coats go in another place. Undergarments in separator drawers, accessories and jewellery in another area, and so on and so forth. Using separators in your drawers helps sort smaller clothes items. They are much easier to retrieve too, especially paired items like socks.

Use Chicisimo app

Ladies now have the advantage of a virtual closet organizer too. Chicisimo is an app that helps with outfit planning. It helps you to organize and use your closet in the most effective manner possible. You can now see all your clothes at the touch of your fingers. This app allows you many different options to sort your clothes by. You can sort by occasion, weather, number of times used, etc. Suggestions on how to arrange your belongings best are available here. There are also suggestions on outfit choices to suit a particular occasion. Constant availability helps you keep all your things in good order. Download the Chicisimo outfit planner app for IOS or Android. And if you need information on how to start with the app, please check this previous post.

use a closet in the most effective manner: with an outfit planner app

Use vertical storage

Space constraints trouble the best of the best. Using vertical storage is a good option to arrange the closet. Especially with shoes that tend to take up as much space as clothes, go vertical. Even a small width of your wardrobe can be designated for arranging shoes vertically. For example, you can let the shelf run the entire length of your wardrobe. Your shoes will keep well in these kinds of shelves. In addition, you will be able to retrieve them with ease. Find the best use of your space this way.

By use

You can arrange your wardrobe according to use. What would that mean for you? You choose outfits depending on how you will use them, right? Then, dedicate a section of your wardrobe to say, beachwear. And all items answering to that description can go in here. From your bathing costumes to sarongs, open sandals and floppy hats. Office wear will require your formals. Party wear will be something entirely different. Section them off according to use. As a consequence, you will find outfit planning that much easier. You would not need a closet organizer for this, just some common sense and patience.

Custom design by your needs

You may have a real or app-based closet organizer to help. Fact remains though that each of us has specific needs. We also have personalized items that might not fit into a formula. One’s look and outfit planning is also defined by their accessories. You might have a handbag fetish. You will need specific shelves to accommodate them. Maybe another section just for clutches. Depending upon what you own, it is best to redesign your wardrobe.

Hang delicates

Your wardrobe will surely contain pieces of delicate clothes that need to be organized separately. It is best to have a section dedicated to such. Hang them lightly on hangers. These may be lace outfits or sequined scarves. Pulling them out from a pile is not the right way to arrange them in your closet.

Weather needs

Your outfit planning depends hugely on the weather. Shouldn’t you follow the same rule when you organize the closet? Keep a designated shelf for stacking sweaters. A separate place in your wardrobe for the summer months will help. Make sure to also sort footwear accordingly.

Roll items

As mentioned earlier in #1, separators in drawers help to sort small items in your wardrobe. An effective way to go about this would be to roll up certain items. Socks, for example, get beautifully arranged when you roll them up in pairs. Similarly for tee shirts and undergarments. They take up much less space and are that much easier to retrieve. This tip will definitely help to use your closet in the most effective manner.

Colour code items

A wonderful way to arrange one’s wardrobe is to go by colour. Indeed an innovative and effective method, just give it a try! It might take time initially to achieve this. But once you are done, you will find outfit planning a breeze. All you have to do is to think up a certain outfit colour combination. And then go about searching in that particular section. This will make picking outfits much easier since you do not have to look all over.

use your closet in the most effective manner: organize it by color

Use lazy Susans

Any professional closet organizer will have some tips towards managing jewellery. Most of you might have gone through trauma trying to untangle different necklaces that you have put together in some box. You might not have enough space to keep them in separate boxes. And right when you need one, out come three more in a horrible jumble. Instead of becoming impatient and tearing them off, get a lazy Susan. This is the best way to arrange jewellery. Get to fix one upside down in your wardrobe. All you need to do now is affix multiple hooks all around it.

use a closet in the most effective manner: use lazu susans for accessories

So remember ladies, it is not only your clothes that make up your wardrobe. There are shoes, jewellery, hair brushes, handbags, and make up items as well. Following these tips will help you get organized. And once done, selecting an outfit is a breeze!

April 22, 2019May 16, 2019

What is a capsule wardrobe and why you should be interested?

Amidst all the terms floating around women’s lives and their daily closet problems is something called a capsule wardrobe. For those of you who are wondering what this means, here it goes. This is a term coined in the 1970s by Susie Faux, who is the owner of a boutique based in London called “Wardrobe”. Essentially it is “a collection of a few essential items of clothing that don’t go out of fashion, such as skirts, trousers, and coats, which can then be augmented with seasonal pieces”.

The name and the explanation suggest this as an essential part of your closet and indicate how you can become your own outfit planner with ease. You have at your disposal some fashion basics that can be mixed up and accessorized to give you rocking looks every time. The phrase “if looks could kill” achieved with ease, to encapsulate the essence of a capsule wardrobe.

Why would one require such a thing in the first place? And what essentials need to go into it so that you can think like an outfit planner?

What should go into a capsule wardrobe?

Selected items of clothing that define classic chic and are fashion evergreens need to find a place in your capsule wardrobe. When did an LBD go out of fashion, like ever? Or a monochrome? Or lace? You get the drift, right?

The optimum number of items in a capsule wardrobe as per established outfit planners and non-professionals alike is around 33. When you begin selecting from your chaotic closet it might initially seem a really small number. Select only the items that are most dear to you, irrespective of whether they are trending or not.

The ideal way to go about creating a capsule wardrobe would be to have around 4 of them to cater to different seasons. Understandably some items will be common to all which is quite expected. Make sure you include items encompassing jewellery, clothes, shoes and accessories. An app like Chicisimo can be of real help, enabling you to choose the right items.

Chicisimo outfit planner app to to create the perfect capsule wardrobe

Why would anyone need a capsule wardrobe?

There are real and virtual outfit planners if one cares to look and they are all out there to help sort out the chaos that is in your closet right now. Why you would require a capsule wardrobe in that case, you might wonder!

No decision fatigue. It is the decision making, the eternal question of ‘what to wear’ that wears out the best of the best. A big headache that you believe only an outfit planner can handle but that is so not right. With your own capsule wardrobe, you have your choices cut out and decision that much easier.
Select stuff that matter. In the run and scoot that life becomes for most of us, we forget to focus our attention on things that really matter. Cutting out clutter from all aspects of life will renew your focus on things that really do matter. A capsule wardrobe is only one aspect of life that will help you realize how less is more and less is relevant and less is doable. Go for it.
Get to love real things. Having the decision of dressing taken care of, you will be able to ponder more on what you love to do, what matters, etc.

How to go about building your capsule wardrobe?

Decision time again, ladies! What to keep, what to box away, and what to throw. It can get tedious for the best decision makers what with nothing to wear in the first place. However, this is a move that will really help with sorting out your closet like a professional outfit planner.

How about following these tips when creating your very own capsule wardrobe?

See it all. Take it all out and spread it on your bed. Everything means just that, everyyythingg. Each item of clothing, each accessory, shoes, bags, hats, bring it all out lady! This is the only way you can make any sense of the multiple things that your closet contains. There are many hidden and forgotten items that are sure to make an appearance during this exercise. Having it all spread out before your eyes not only gives you a lot of choice, but you also realize what an immense amount of stuff you already own. An app like Chicisimo in fact does it for you virtually. It lets you see everything in your closet at the touch of your fingers in one place.
Sort it out. Sort your stuff by sections. Firstly by apparel type, like jeans, tops, gowns, shoes, jewellery, etc. Then for each section, go for subsections of ‘love, maybe, throw, give away’. There are bound to be some things you will always love, no matter what. Then there will be other things you will never wear, no matter what. Similarly for other two categories as well. Now make sure each item on your bed is put into one of these categories. Here again Chicisimo is at hand to do this for you virtually.
Finalize your choice. Think like a professional outfit planner when you go about finalizing your choice and keeping it to the 33 pieces of closet essentials to constitute your capsule wardrobe. Go by each apparel or accessory type as mentioned in #2 above. Keep different styles for each of these sections, deciding based on minimalism.

You will see how stylish and classy your capsule wardrobe turns out after this exercise. Remember not to get down and out at the number of things that did not make it to this list. No list needs to be rigid and exhaustive. Above all, you need not throw away the rest. These are essentially fashion basics and must haves that you shortlisted. You can always work around these guidelines and add something here and remove something there in order to get your final look just right.

In short, let Chicisimo become your guide towards a more organized closet and function as your new and 24×7 outfit planner. You will see a more confident you straddling your worlds and making a real difference.

Download the Chicisimo outfit planner app for IOS or Android. And if you need information on how to start with the Chicisimo fashion app, please check this previous post.

April 5, 2019May 16, 2019

How to get started using the outfit planning app Chicisimo

“I installed Chicisimo. And now… what?” That’s awesome! Probably you were looking for a closet app or an outfit planning app… and you found the right one! You might like to know that Apple has featured Chicisimo as App of the Day in 140 countries!

First of all it’ll be useful to understand the app:

1.- The Basics:

Closet: It’s your virtual closet, a smart closet organizer where you can easily add all your clothes. In fact, this is the key piece of any outfit planning app, right?

Virtual closet in Chicisimo outfit planning app

Catalog: This clothes catalog will help you upload most of the clothes you have in your closet… in seconds! It’s a catalog of clothes that you’ll use to add your garments to your virtual closet. As it contains clothes similar to the ones you already own, it’s perfect to start creating your closet.

Catalog in Chicisimo outfit planning app

Ensemble: It’s a box with a set of clothes of your virtual closet, that you can wear together to create your outfit. As the app picks these outfits for you, with your own clothes.

Ensemble of clothes to create your outfit in Chicisimo outfit planning app

Outfit: It’s the picture that a fashionista shares in Chicisimo with her ‘head to toe’ outfit. And also includes items of your closet that you could wear to recreate it.

Outfit and recreation in Chicisimo outfit planning app

Recreation: It’s the set of your clothes that you can use to recreate any look in Chicisimo. And it will appear over the look when it’s tapped as a column of clothes. However it will be more or less complete depending on the amount of similar pieces that you added to your virtual closet. Check the picture above!

Tips for you: Tips that will help you to understand how clothes fit on you, and how to improve the final results of your outfits. Even though they are oriented to your body shape, you’ll receive also many general ones that will be pretty useful.

Album: It’s a set of looks to have the looks you love organized. You can create as many as you wish, and you can save unlimited looks on them, they will help you plan your outfits.

Fashionista: anyone using Chicisimo! That means, even you! Because you don’t need to upload your outfits to be considered a fashionista.

2.- Sections you need to be familiar with:

Today: Here you’ll find one tip for your body shape per day, also some suggestions of ensembles you could wear today and many inspiring ideas of outfits other fashionistas are wearing. It’s a source of inspiration everyone is loving. And as someone said: If you are out of outfit ideas, install this outfit planning app!

My closet: It’s your virtual closet organizer. So here you can add, edit and remove pieces of clothing, and also check how to wear them.

Search: Here you can search anything related to outfits by typing your search (using hashtags or separated terms) or by using any of our sections: clothes, colors, occasions, styles, seasons… So, think of this as a personal stylist who picks outfits for you.

Notis: Where you’ll receive all the notifications related to your activity, and also some editorial ones with interesting looks and albums.

Me: It’s your profile. So here you’ll have whatever you upload and save in your albums.

3.- Now it’s time to start!

First of all, you need to add your clothes to your virtual closet to get the most out of the app. To do that, we recommend to pick as many items from our catalog as possible. But please, don’t be special! Because we know that they are not exact to the ones you own, but if they are similar… you can change the picture later.

After that, it’s optional to personalize your profile, but it’s always better! Add a profile picture, and whatever.

Now you are all set to start having fun and discovering inspiration in Chicisimo! Download it now for iOS or for Android!