Turn Hippy Dippy into Hip and Trendy

After two weeks of bashing Real Simple, it’s time to celebrate why I’m actually such an adoring fan. First off, I don’t know if they figured something out, but February’s edition doesn’t have any new uses for old things! But if you missed last month’s they had a great section on Restyling Your Style. It’s basically a quick primer on personality type, style and pushing your preferences. First up is what they call “Bohemian” and we call, Organic (NF).

“You love long, flowy skirts, ethnic jewelry, fringy bags, and chunky sandals. But sometimes too much of that sort of thing goes too far…out. Slip on a tailored blazer and a straightforward tee and your beloved hippie style fast-forwards to the 21st century, looking completely fresh and smart.”

As a proud and loud Organic with a definite hippie flair to her wardrobe, one of my favorite staples is this structured, retro jacket with a bright paisley print I got from J.Crew a couple of years ago. The paisley is funky like me, but the structure makes it totally suitable for business attire and looks fabulous with a swingy long skirt I have.

Now if you ask me, this photo looks more like something a Fun (SP) would wear. It doesn’t seem as much hippie as European and BRIGHT…or maybe it’s just that I don’t like the jacket. I haven’t been able to get into the whole boyfriend blazer thing having overdone it myself in the 80’s. It took years for me to re-embrace leggings and now you can’t get them off of me. So we can see how hard it is for personality types to push their preferences away from their comfort zones, but once you do…well, then we need to proselytize it up on the mountaintop!

So go ahead and buy something that goes against your type — something that you think your Classic (SJ) or Smart (NT) best friend would like for herself — and chances are it will be the one piece that takes your hippy dippy fashion sense into a hip new trend.