Women’s Essential Fashion Accessories

Having recently written a piece on Men’s Essential Accessories, I realize that the fairer sex is definitely more victimized by fashion than the former. While men tend to own the best clothes but don’t focus on accessories, with women the dilemma is more peculiar. Its a case of too much, hence too much confusion. What I intend to do therefore is to cut through the clutter, and present the top fashion accessories, that are essential to a lady’s wardrobe. So here goes…

LESS LOGIC, MORE HEART
There is one thing to be said at the outset. While men’s essentials are arrived upon by cold logic, the fairer sex, for it is fairer, deserves a little more leeway. For the ladies, it shouldn’t be as much about logic, as it should be about flair, heart & soul. For men a fashion accessory such as a pair of Sun Glasses or a Wrist Watch, is an indulgence, not an essential. The same can not be said when it comes to the ladies. And therefore, my list of top essential accessories to follow, will have a few products that may seem like they can be done without, which indeed they can; but I find that for women, they are of paramount importance!

THE HANDBAG
I personally know women who have dedicated hand-bag closets, with the number of bags easily in excess of a hundred! While that might be splendid and fashionable, what typically happens is either of the following scenarios. Either the basic bag-types are missing despite the extravagant numbers, or the basics just literally get relegated to the back of the closet, and are rarely seen or used!

Whatever the case may be, there are some basics to keep in mind when searching for essential hand-bags. Size is of paramount importance. Depending on your lifestyle (vocation, interests, compulsions), get a bag that fits the bill for you. Working women, needless to mention, ought to have larger bags that can accommodate all their belongings and then some more. Home makers might be able to get away with a slightly smaller type.

Second, as was the case with Men’s wallets/shoes/belts; first get the two basic colors. Black & Tan are must haves in terms of colors.

To supplement that (and since we’ve concluded that women’s essentials ca be greater in number than men’s), you ought to have one Silver and one Gold bag. Aside from everyday office use (where your brown & black bag will suffice), the combination of a silver & golden bag will ensure that you are never out of options when it comes to leisure/party-wear.

Lastly, as an extra indulgence, depending on the season/climate, you can get one type of weather & trend specific bag. For example, in the summer time, it might be a nice idea to get a fun light colored ‘beachy’ bag; in the winter, a ‘tweed’ bag can be just the right style accessory to liven up the dreary winter.

If you stick to these basic essentials, you’ve got it in the ‘bag’!

THE SHOE
Similarly, shoe types, even if you are the late Princess Diana kind (and have 5 gazillion pairs); it’d be wise to sort out the basics first. Here again, match your essential bags with the shoes.

You must have a smart pair of medium heel black & tan shoes.

These are great to look at, are versatile enough to be work to work as well as for leisure-wear with jeans etc, and will save you when you don’t have that purple or lilac pair of shoes to go with your bright top!

After that, follow the same chain as your hand-bags and invest in a slightly dressier/sexier pair of Golden & Silver footwear. This is out and out ‘going-out’ stuff so don’t be shy. Safe for the obviously ‘trampy’ type, get stilettos. They will spice up your outfits, make your legs look longer, add that extra bit of drama and fun, and make you stand tall alongside your boyfriends/husbands.

Lastly, and though there is absolutely no end to ladies’ shoes; get that pair of the ‘in-fashion’ colored shoes. That slightly quirky, bright and eccentric pair of neon green pumps for your girls’ luncheon! We’ll just call it an ‘essential indulgence’

THE DARKGLASSES
To reference my second paragraph – this is the fairer sex we’re talking about. Where, not terribly unlike themselves, logic must take a bit of a back-seat!

So it becomes essential to own a very sexy pair of sun-glasses, shades, if that’s more acceptable parlance!  Whatever you call them though, important they most certainly are. Remember I talked about leaving the wheels of your car tyre exposed (when you don’t put wheel caps)! Well when it comes to the ladies, a woman without a pair of sunglasses is like having a gorgeous sports car without alloy wheels!!

There is just something inexplicable about a striking pair of glasses, caressing long tresses as they rest atop a full head of female hair. Utterly useless in function maybe, be entirely tangible in their appeal. They just have to be there, and they are therefore an essential.

Careful though, because choosing the right eye-gear needs to be a careful and painstaking process. Ladies, don’t be swept away by style trends or colors. If you do not get a pair of shades that suits you, it’ll just be counter-productive. Of course, there are some standard parameters to keep in mind during the selection process – they shouldn’t be too large for your face, nor too small. They shouldn’t look like you borrowed grandma’s vintage pair when its gone out of style several decades earlier, or seem like you’ve suffered a bit of a crisis and stolen your teenage daughter’s blingy pair.

Most importantly though, you should just like the way they look on you! A great idea, since its hard to stay objective while doing this, is to go along with a friend, or two. Hopefully these lady friends will not saunter off to shop for themselves, and will keep you in check when you are going astray ga-ga over that delectable new pair of Armani’s when they just don’t suit you!!

So hopefully you’ve bought the right pair of shades and now you are all set! The essential accessories for the ladies… signed, sealed and delivered.

NO END TO ACCESSORIZING
Having put forth what I consider to be the essential accessories in a woman’s closet, it has to be said that this was a strictly bare basics listing. The multi-billion dollar world-wide fashion industry is telling testament that this space is without limits.

Some other great ladies accessories include Boots (a definite winter essential, if you are lucky enough to live in a winter town/city), Watches, and an entire world of jewelry (both precious and costume) that is just waiting to be grabbed by the bucket loads.

For now though, lets just say, the basics are a must and a great start. Sayonara (Bandra Linking Road), Lokahndwala Market, Just Phat (Bandra) are a few great places in Mumbai, that you can begin your search at!

Once your basics are sorted, the world is your oyster!

[Kartik Bajoria, a regular contributor, runs his own creative agency called BOLD & is also involved in Films & Music as a force of habit!]

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