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Lynda asks if rubber boots are OK to wear with jeans. Lynda, let me first catch some up on the boots you are asking about. They really are rubber boots! They can come in vivid colors and designs. This trend started in New York City. They are worn with or without leggings in sunny or raining weather. This trend paired boots worn with scarves. The scarves caught on quickly. We immediately accepted the scarf trend in Tennessee. The rubber boot trend came later.
Yes Lynda, wear your boots with jeans making sure they are tapered or pencil style. These are best worn with a skirt or a long sweater.
Jessica wants to know, "If skirts are getting shorter, or what?" We had to laugh about this, Jessica, we would have thought this question might come from your Mom.
Absolutely shorter…scary shorter, Jessica. But even scarier are the longer sweaters that are posing as a top/skirt. They are even shorter than your skirts. The skirt styles are coming back longer. Is that a Halleluiah chorus I hear from the parents? The skirt length has gone as short as it could. It has to come back longer.
Harold says that he is "more than shocked" at the leggings his sister is wearing.
Way to go, Harold is looking after his younger sibling. We must agree with you. After visiting a major department store recently we were shocked. A woman in the cosmetic area was handing out perfume cards. I have to admit she was something to watch. She was wearing a cropped T-shirt with leggings and nothing more! It looked like she forgot her skirt and everything else. After my working in retail, it amazed me that she got past her boss or the management.
Harold, this is why your sister is trying to wear this style. Leggings have their place but not worn alone. Winter weather makes leggings a good choice on a cold day. But they should be under a skirt or a LONG sweater.
Kendra wants to wear hair pieces and asks," If she can wear them to school?"We are assuming you mean high school. Hair extensions are all over the runways and the Red Carpet.
You can have short hair this morning and long hair by afternoon. The pieces that you are asking about do not come cheap!
Why not visit a salon that has some hair pieces and ask them? Better yet, if you have a wig boutique somewhere close, go and try them on and see if you even like them or not. Sometimes they can overpower a small face. Better save your money for this trend. One thought on this idea for parents. It may be easier to add a small hair strand than to have her dye a blue streak in her real hair!
Deidra wants to find "some things that do not make her look fat." So many of you have asked this question. Start at the bottom, literally.
Dark jeans, dark pants, or dark A-Line skirts allow a visual slimming appearance on any body. Black is worn in the puppet studios to appear invisible behind the scenes.. Learn from them. Keeping one color head to toe gives an unbroken visual line. If you wear a skirt, add dark tights or leggings with a dark shoe. This works magic when trying to conceal. Fitted tops with a thin belt are also a trick to hide some pounds. Fitted wins every time over full tops. Add a jacket and watch the pounds go away. Remember,
"If you cannot see it, it is not there." Jackets are wonderful for hiding a tummy or hips.
Lisa asks, "Is there is a universal style in jeans?" Yes, Lisa, and it is the straight leg or the boot cut.
These styles flatter almost everyone. IF we have large hips and we wear pencil cut jeans, it only accentuates that area. If we wear the straight cut, it balances the hips. It is an instant slim look.
The pencil or tapered leg pant or jean has been here for a while. Look for this to be changed. In fall 2011, the designers are introducing a looser fit in the pant or jeans. In Tennessee we tend to be one of the last to give up a style …so you will still see the tapered trends here in the fall.
One last question from Mia. "What do you see in the shoe styles for 2011?" Shoes have become a real status symbol for those that have no budget. No longer are they to be the last accessory, but many times the shoes will make the outfit. You may have heard of the 12-inch heel height from Europe.
They began attracting the elite and costing mega bucks. They are catching lots of press for the rich and famous. You have no doubt seen the red color under the higher priced shoes. Oprah introduced the look on her television show. Just so you know, you sit and talk in this shoe. It is awkward to walk in these beauties.
You can walk in a higher heel if is it is a wedge style. Notice the runway models trying to walk in the newest styles. They had to learn to do the high stepping all over again. For the most of us, we will stay somewhere in the 3-4-inch height in a pump style. Boots have run the gamut between 3- and 6-inch heels. Look for chunky heeled shoes coming this spring.
Keep the questions coming…always a pleasure.Editor's Note: Judith Taylor, AICI, CIP may be reached by e-mailing her at firstname.lastname@example.com. Her website is www.stylemanagement4U.com. She is a monthly contributor to The Wilson Post.


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Local talent looks to bring laughter to Shaler library
A pastor, a funeral director and a widow walk into a library.
What sounds like the beginning of a joke is the lineup for the Shaler North Hills Library's Laugh Out Loud comedy night on Dec. 7 featuring three local comedians.
The Rev. Ingrid Kalchthaler, Frank Perman and Joanne Burroway will take the stage in the library's community room to entertain the audience with their stand-up routines for the event that raises money for the library's youth-services programming.
"The goal is to keep featuring our local talent and raise some visibility for the library and the comics, too," said Sharon McRae, library director. "We're so lucky because we have such great people who work here and people who love the library. There is something for everybody here. This (the comedy event) is one additional piece that we offer."
Shaler resident Kalchthaler, who also is the head of youth services at the library, started her stand-up comedy career after trying out for the Etna Talent Show. She enjoyed it enough that she then got involved in Gilda's Club Western Pennsylvania's annual benefit, "Laughing in the Face of Cancer," and advanced to the finals.
Kalchthaler's love of comedy and recognition of the talent in the Pittsburgh area encouraged her to help organize the Laugh Out Loud event at the library, and she is excited to perform alongside other local comedians.
"I am humbled by the talent and generosity of these men and women," Kalchthaler said. "Truly, Pittsburgh has the best comics out there — big-hearted and caring and incredibly funny. It is just incredible to me that these men and women would give of their time and talent for the library."
Kalchthaler describes her comedy as "evolving, mildly amusing and semi-entertaining."
The comics she has performed with, however, would say she just is being humble.
Burroway of Etna competed with Kalchthaler at the Gilda's Club fundraising event where they both made it to the finals. Burroway also performed with Perman, director of Perman Funeral Home, at the library's first Laugh Out Loud event.
"Even thought we have different lifestyles, we enjoy entertaining people, making them laugh and giving them something brighter to think about, and that's what it's all about," Burroway said.
Burroway works on prescription conflicts as a clerk at CVS Caremark and uses comedy as her creative outlet.
"I don't get paid for it. I just like making people laugh and forget their troubles for a minute," she said.
Burroway said comedy is "how I survive life death and somewhere in between." She relied on it in 2005 when her husband died, and it got her through her mother's lengthy illness and death in 2009.
"You don't stop laughing because you grow old you, grow old because you stop laughing," she said. "You have to see the humor in everyday things or it will drive you nuts."
Perman of Shaler said he is honored to perform alongside Kalchthaler and Burroway again. Perman's first experience in stand-up comedy was during the library's first Laugh Out Loud event, and then he went on to perform for the Gilda's Club event.
"I've performed twice, I don't know that I'd call that a career," Perman said. "Everything I've done has been fundraisers."
While some of his routine includes funeral-industry jokes, most of Perman's humor comes from what he calls "some observations from the sidelines of life."
While he has always had a string of wit, Perman said, the opportunity to help the library is what is really bringing him to the stage again in December.
"(The library) is such a neat resource in the community," he said. "When you give your time, you know what you're doing is making a little bit of a difference, and I hope I'm making a little bit of a difference."
Bethany Hofstetter is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-772-6364 or email@example.com.

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