Ash Pollard: How to survive a fashion fail

Ash Pollard is best known as one of Australia’s most gifted home cooks. But underneath those signature spiral blonde curls, the television personality and radio-host has a noggin full of knowledge that she’ll be sharing exclusively with Be.

Over the next 12 weeks she’ll be sharing her top tips on how to tackle life’s trickiest situations— from what to do during an awkward encounter with an ex, to surviving a dreaded social media slip-up.

This week, she’s telling us how to survive a fashion fail.

Fashion fails. We’ve all had them whether it’s major or minor they are inevitable. Let’s face it you can’t nail it all the time.

This one is a hard one though because your fashion fail could be anything from wearing an ill-fitting outfit, splitting a seam in your dress, ripping a hole in your pants, losing a heel and more. The list is endless.

Whatever your fashion fail, my biggest pearl of wisdom would simply be, OWN IT!

Looking back at old pictures I can safely say that 1/4 of all my fashion choices were failures. The other ¾ a success because my Mum had a quite a strong influence on what I would wear growing up. She knew a lot about what looked good and still does!

Nowadays I’m still not out of the woods when it comes to my fashion choices and I’ve certainly got more people willing to judge me on it.

But I reckon I have a better understanding of the shape of my body, what styles I can wear, what styles I should stay away from, how to wear things properly and pieces that really highlight my assets.

A fashion fail, to me, isn’t just splitting a seam, it’s much simpler than that. It is truly not knowing and utilising the shape of your body.

We’ve all got different body types. A dress that looks drop dead gorgeous on you might look horrific on me and vice versa.

Let’s run through body shapes and the types of clothing that will show off the very best assets of said body type to minimise any chances of a fashion fail!

Hourglass

Curvy, with a well-defined waist. Bust and hip measurements are roughly even.

This is actually the shape of my body so I’m an expert in this department!

My ultimate goal, most of the time, is to highlight my curves by emphasising my waist.

To do this I normally wear fitted garments, but not too tight. Dresses, pencil skirts with a blouse casually tucked in, wide legged pants and belted dresses.

Cinching in that waist is definitely the way to go.

Pear

You have slim arms, your waist is larger than your bust and you tend to have wider hips.

If you’re a delicious pear then you’d be doing well if you’ve been opting for all kinds of shirts: bell sleeves, cowl necks (although I’m not a fan sometimes – they need to be simple and classic), scoop neck and plunging V-necks. Jackets on top of a gorgeous shirt pant/skirt combo is also a winner.

Apple

So sweet! Perhaps not as curvy through your hips, although particularly well proportioned, you carry most of your weight through your bust and mid-section.

Apple shapes look hot when playing up your full bust, gorgeous legs and/or arms.

And as a general rule, silhouettes that don’t rely on a traditional structured waistline are your hardest working pieces.

Relaxed tee, V-neck anything, tunics, breezy A-line silhouettes – let those start you off then layer, adding jackets, coats, strapless dresses, maxi dresses with a lower neckline and more.

And, of course, don’t forget the classic skinny jeans and jeggings!

Rectangle

Your weight is reasonably evenly distributed throughout your body. Your shoulders and hip measurements are nearly the same and you’re not overly curvy.

A rectangular shape can also be known as an athletic physique too!

The key to dressing your shape is to balance your broad upper half by accentuating your lower half, legs and other curves.

Your number one rule should be to keep the volume UP on your top half OR bottom half. You shouldn’t do both at once.

So if you’re opting for an oversized shirt then you should keep the bottom skinny or structured. With a more fitted top you can choose a more oversized pant.

We’re all different and that’s what makes us awesome!

It’s all about trial and error when it comes to fashion and inevitably those “fashion fails” will happen every now and again. Just always try and own it!

Do your research and really try and take an interest in what makes your body sing!

No matter what, rock what you’ve got! But I hope this may help you steer clear of the infamous wardrobe malfunction and/or fashion slip up!

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