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TheVogueCity takes New Year’s resolutions very seriously. That’s why we’ve put together a series of stories to help make your fashion-related goals a success for 2012. Today we’ll focus on how how tuning into your body, lifestyle and budget positively affects your fashion sense.

	Know Your Body One thing is for certain: The more confident and fabulous you feel in your own skin — and outfit — the more often you’ll earn compliments throughout the day. So, instead of focusing too much on what’s trending at the moment or what you should wear based on your body type, evaluate how you feel in an outfit when gazing into the mirror. If you feel beautiful, comfortable and fashion-forward, by all means, buy the garment and walk out the door a proud shopper. Finding clothes that make you feel that good are a great investment, too, as you’ll likely wear them often. It goes without saying, as well, that what you feel best in is probably flattering to your body.
	Know Your Lifestyle Though many women are tied together by their love of fashion, most lead dramatically different lives. Before dropping loads of cash on a new wardrobe, it’s important to understand your lifestyle. For example, those who visit low key restaurants and funky art galleries should dress according to the casual attire of those events. If you’re an elegant woman who frequents the opera and symphony, a collection of fine gowns and apparel will be worth your money. Socialites and party go-ers may want to stock their wardrobe with cocktail dresses and flattering blouses.
After assessing factors like your job and hobbies, fill your wardrobe with the necessities. You’ll want proper work wear, party wear, formal event wear, seasonal basics (e.g. hats, gloves, coat, parka, bathing suit) and the essentials (10-15 items you’ll wear often, like a white shirt for layering, a cashmere cardigan, a well-fitted jean, jacket, heels and flats).As for determining what appeals to you, fashion-wise, look to your favorite celebrities for inspiration.
	Budget Before you even enter a store (be it virtual or brick and mortar), make sure you have a budget. Set either a monthly, weekly or annual spending limit and then shop accordingly. Understand that bargain shopping will give you more bang for your buck, but don’t be afraid to splurge if your budget allows. The ultimate goal is to choose quality items that’ll last through the years. If you can find a flattering garment that’s well made and 80% off, by all means, snag it. If you fall in love with a piece that’s more than you’d typically pay, think about whether it’ll earn heavy rotation and make your decision from there.

By Mirela Gluck

Some of the most common New Years resolutions, according to USA.gov, are to cut back on the alcohol (say buh-buy to martinis), eat healthier (goodbye chocolate, hello apples) and to get in better shape. Another common resolution, especially in the fashion world, is to improve your style sense and give your wardrobe a makeover.

All those goals are worthy aspirations, no doubt, but they’re also pretty overwhelming. That’s why it’s no surprise to hear about friends or coworkers — who set lofty New Year’s goals — fall flat before January has even expired.

Perhaps if more individuals employed the business analogy of goals and objectives when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, they’d be far more successful in their endeavors. Basically, we should break down our goals into smaller, more obtainable goals. By making resolutions look more like quantifiable objectives instead of lofty, hard to reach goals, we cut the overwhelming factor by a ton and improve the likelihood of success.

For example, if your goal is to slim down, break it down by setting smaller goals: hit the gym three times a week, cook more low calorie meals at home, pack a healthy lunch instead of eating out, etc.

If your goal is to improve your style and wardrobe, we’re here to help ensure a fashion victory through 2012. This is the first installation of a series, which will cover the following steps to refining your fashion sense and enhancing your armoire. The steps include:

1. Know yourself: Understanding what works for your body, style, lifestyle and budget

2. Employ books and periodicals

3. Organize your closet

4. Devise a shopping strategy and make shopping more enjoyable

5. Hit the stores

By Mirela Gluck

The second annual BOFFO Building Fashion contest will begin on September 1st, 2011. BOFFO is an arts and culture non-profit based in New York City’s Tribeca district, with a mission to educate and inform the public through innovative exhibitions and events while at the same time providing exposure for up-and-coming artists and designers.

What exactly is Building Fashion, you might ask? In an attempt to sum it all up in a single sentence, it’s a celebration of cutting edge design that seeks to unite innovative architects with acclaimed fashion designers.

BOFFO has hand-picked fashion designers in order to showcase their work within a series of temporary retail installations, with the continued support of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. This initiative will give the designers a unique opportunity to work with architects and display their work “in their first free standing retail environment.”

Receiving support from founding partner Supima Cotton, BOFFO Building Fashion designers will produce limited edition pieces to be sold exclusively through BOFFO and on location.

It might not yet be clear to you where architecture comes into this. Well, be confused no more. Having started on May 20th and set to run through until July 4th, BOFFO is conducting a worldwide competition in partnership with Architizer in search of world-class architects to pair with their hand-picked selection of preeminent fashion designers.

Architects are asked to submit design proposals expressing their vision of a retail space for their fashion designer of choice. Winning architects are awarded $20,000 to build and realize their vision. So in a nutshell, the fashion designers create the top class clothes while the architects design a cutting edge retail space that embodies a message that both the designer and the architect want to get across in the work.

The retail location has been set for the 19th-Century cast-iron, landmarked building at 57 Walker Street in Tribeca. That’s reason enough to check out the event alone. Each architect’s collaboration will transform 57 Walker Street into an original retail environment, rotating every two weeks, to showcase designs on par with the caliber and prestige demonstrated by the supporting fashion designer.

The Building Fashion jury –  who will eventually decide who is worthy of the top prize – will include BOFFO, Architizer and industry leaders including DS&R’s Charles Renfro, Architectonic’s Winka Dubbledam, High Line Co-Founder Robert Hammond and other esteemed industry professionals.

Nicola Formichetti –  the newly appointed creative director for Mugler and fashion director to Lady Gaga – is scheduled to be the first designer to retail at Building Fashion this year. She will occupying 57 Walker Street between September 1st and 14th. We advise you not to miss out on this unique, boutique opportunity to purchase pieces from some of the fashion industry’s leading lights, and to view some stunning architectural projects while you shop. A full schedule for Building Fashion 2011 can be found below.

Building Fashion 2011 Schedule: 

• Nicola Formichetti  |  September 1-14
• Irene Neuwirth  |  September 22-October 5
• Patrik Ervell   |  October 13-26
• The Lake & Stars  |  November 3-16
• Ohne Titel  |  December 1-14

Image Credit: Richard Chai Pop Up Shop

We first came across the term “undecorate” in an article in London’s Independent earlier this week. When we spied the headline, the term itself conjured up images of minimalism and cold steel furnishings, a look we’re not particularly fond of. But apparently it’s not about that at all.

Undecorating is the latest trend in the world of interior design, and it isn’t about stripping your home’s decor down to the bare minimum, but in fact encourages you to let loose and imprint your own personality on your living space.

The popularity of undecorating has soared in response to the sterile designs that have been dominating mainstream home decor over recent years. For undecorating’s advocates, the dull tendency of many to copy what they see in magazines or decorate their house “like a showhome or a stylized photographic still” is seen as the root of all that is wrong with personal decor today.

In fact that’s just the problem, it isn’t seen as personal at all, it’s just generic and uninspired. Where as if you undecorate, you will get back to root of what design should be about – creating something that is truly personalized and individually significant.

Though we heard about it in a British newspaper, the undecorating trend started out in good old Soho, NYC. Shame on us for not hearing about it sooner! Textile designer Christiane Lemieux, founder and creative director of US home furnishings store DwellStudio, is at the head of the undecorating movement and her design ethos is one based around the rule that, in fact, there are no rules.

She has written that “undecorated is following your instinct, even when it’s telling you to do something a little crazy, a little different, something against the rules. It’s an approach that has nothing to do with trends and it has nothing to do with the rules. So you can have a period dining room adjacent to your modern kitchen, if that’s what you want, or wallpaper on the ceiling. Stranger things have been done.”

Many people might think that her call to go a little crazy with your decorating style is just an example of lazy, messy design, but she insists that it goes deeper than that. Crucially she says it isn’t “haphazard style; it’s not thought-free.”

Lemieux lives in a loft apartment in Soho with her husband and two children. The apartment is mainly white with big, squashy sofas and floorboards salvaged from an industrial building.

“I would call my home ‘evolving minimal’,” she says. “I have two kids and a dog – they are at different stages every couple of years and I just go with that.”

The experimental style of the undecorators is starting to gain a foothold in both the US and Britain. There are a number of examples of the style that have caught the public imagination, such as “a simple, elegant beach house in New York, a rambling old renovation project in Louisiana now stuffed with flea market, cottage-style finds, and an artist’s California house complete with a giant paper-mache bear watching over the sofa in the studio,” as the Independent reports.

If you have a family and feel like this is all going way over your head, undecorating has been applied to modern family homes too, where it has been said that “the presence of young children doesn’t prohibit laying down white carpets and the odd stain or two doesn’t matter.”

If you think undecorating is for you, or are just curious to learn more, check out the original article here.

Also watch out for the book Undecorate: The No Rules Approach to Interior Design by Christiane Lemieux, out now.

Image Credit: Crain’s New York Business