Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting a talented Ecuadorian designer Liz Cardenas. Liz is the sister of my close friend Susana, whose stylish outfits (many of them created by Liz) I’ve admired since the day I met her. Having been a fan of Liz’s work for years, I finally got a chance to meet her in person and chat to her about style and how to have more of it.

Liz is one of Latin America’s most recognised and respected contemporary fashion designers and currently lives in Egypt. The combination of these two very vibrant cultures creates a unique design vision. Liz creates colourful feminine clothes from luxurious natural fabrics such as handmade silk and cotton and makes beautiful jewellery from tagua nut (also known as ‘vegetable ivory’) and semi-precious stones.

So here are the tips I took away from my conversation with Liz:

1. Style is about expressing your personality, how you present yourself to the world. It has little to do with following the latest trends.
2. To create a stylish look you need to mix things up: wear a luxury designer piece with something from high street, mix a romantic look with rock chic elements, for example something in leather.
3. Colour is extremely important. Don’t be afraid to add colour to your outfit and to create your own colour combinations. Experiment. Sometimes the colours we think should not work, will work together beautifully.
4. Shoes and handbag can make or break an outfit.
5. So can a necklace! It can make or completely change your outfit. Accessories are very important ‘tools’ in style if you don’t overuse them.

   

6. It’s not only about your clothes and accessories. Hair and make up are very important too. Make sure your haircut, make up and outfit are age appropriate. Wear make up, but don’t over do it. A good haircut is essential, especially as we get older. Flat long hair, for example, can lengthen the face and make a woman look older.
7. Present the best version of yourself will make a difference to you and to others. It does no matter who you dress for (women, men, yourself…), the most important thing is to love your reflection in the mirror and be happy with how you look.

This conversation inspired me to get a new haircut with softer layers around the face (pictures coming soon), invest in a couple of statement necklaces and go through my collection of bags and shoes and get rid of the ones that do not make an outfit any more. I hope you find these inspiring too!

Liz’s jewellery will be available online in the UK in the near future. Watch this space for further news.