I think sometimes women really get hung up on a size. So many manufacturers such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Banana Republic, do what we call

The colors that I use on Kay are very often are olives and browns, because they just seem to work on her. She can wear many other colors as well. She looks wonderful in reds and blue, but she can really pull off the olives and

When it comes to jeans everybody has their favorite, 7 for All Mankind is certainly a big favorite with a lot of the actors on the show. Levi’s are a wonderful classic staple and then there are a number of fashion jeans such as Joe’s Jeans, and Rock & Republic. Jeans are so personal. I usually ask the actors what their favorite jeans are and most of them say “Oh, these fit me really well, but don’t buy me those…” so that’s really what I go by. White jeans are big right now & I love to use white! Unfortunately, I have to be careful just from a technical point of view, because white can sometimes be too bright for the cameras, but yes, I love to use white.

For photographing I think pure colors are best, much more so than muted colors. Sometimes lighting does strange things to muted colors. If you have a dusty rose it may look beautiful in one light and then look too grey in another light. Coral is a wonderful color in photos because it always reflects on the skin in a beautiful way. Both light skin and dark skin women look just wonderful in coral. Also, I always avoid any color that is too close to the skin tone. I use black sparingly because it absorbs so much light. If you have beautiful detail in your black outfit it may not show up in photos. It’s what we call the “black hole”!

Dusty colors are very hard on a lot of people, because they are mixed colors and not what I call “pure”. But, again there is no real rule. I think you get an instinct when you look in the mirror and you just feel like your skin isn’t looking right, or you feel “wrong”. A lot of blondes and fair skinned people get washed out in pale colors. For instance, I would never put Sheridan in beige or taupe, or even a very pale pink because she just washes out. She can wear any blue that you can come up with just magnificently, especially teal and turquoise. She also looks fabulous in red. In fact, she wore red for the Daytime Emmy Awards in a gown I designed specifically for her. In real life Mackenzie was 8 months pregnant so when I was thinking about designing her gown I thought, “Well we could go one of two ways. We can do something in black that will sort of camouflage how pregnant she is or we can celebrate it. Let’s just do something fabulously glamorous and bright that says, ‘I’m pregnant and I’m proud’.” So she is wore a red gown that is empire, off the shoulder, with silver beaded detail and she looked wonderful.

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For pant length my rule is generally that you don’t want to see a flash of ankle. The pant should pretty much come to the top of the vamp of the shoe. I know the look right now for jeans is to have them really <a href=”rumpled around the ankle, but I think somewhere halfway between having no break & having a puddle around the ankle seems to be right. I’ve always felt that the longest line you can get both on women and on men from hip to the end of the shoe is the most flattering. You don’t want to break…you don’t want to see a piece of ankle or a piece of sock, because that will break the length and the longer the legs looks, the more attractive.

I would say 99% of the time (other than things like t-shirts or sweaters) almost everything needs some fine tuning. You have to remember that when clothes are mass produced they are mass produced for the so called “average figure”. I think most people “under-use” a good alterations or tailor shop. People tend to shop and spend whatever they are going to spend, and then don’t want to spend another 10% or 25% to get alterations done. I really think that it’s a valuable thing to do. If you are petite and you are in a blazer and the sleeves completely cover your hand, a lot of people will just roll the sleeves and not look like they have any hands! I really feel like those details should be attended to. Certainly for the show a lot of times I will taper a jacket, so that it’s more body conscious…I don’t want it to look boxy. Also, a good way to update your wardrobe is to look at old pieces that are in need of updating. I actually had a bunch summer dresses that were bias cut and came to mid-calf and last summer I thought, “I’ve worn these dresses several summers, but they were still in beautiful condition,” so I had them re-hemmed to just around the knee and they had a whole new life.