The easiest way to look classy

...is to add a scarf. I learned this old trick down in New Zealand, where everyone dresses like fashionable hippies, which is pretty much my most coveted style. I'd see ladies strolling around, hiding behind huge sunglasses, with their skinny jeans and knee-high boots (in 2005, so ahead of us!) with long, loopy scarves, army jackets and sloppy buns, looking like they just might have paparazzi hiding behind bushes and buildings waiting for them.

Oh. How I envied them as I trotted to work in one of the three pairs of (boot cut. Gasp!) jeans I brought for my six month stay and Columbia jacket. ("Hey! I'm American! Hey! Just passin' though y'all. Don't mind little ol' me.")

One quick trip to a cheap-o boutique changed that and I was soon sporting a scarf  that was so horrendously tacky and cheap that it may have lost me friends along with the best of 'em. Whatever. At least I thought I looked good in the moment.

Luckily, my scarf-purchasing habits coincided with the rise of scarf popularity once I returned stateside (coincidence? Am I a trend setter? Ha!) and I have an easy repertoire of  go-to scarves that add at least 10 style points to any outfit, even if I don't brush my hair (or, in the case of my hopeful, stylish hippie look, I suppose especially if I don't brush my hair).

Sadly though, now that it's summer, most of my scarves are out of commission; but a few weeks ago at Market Day downtown, I found the perfect summer scarf.

Stansberry scarves are super light-weight and have awesome little rosettes that add super-fly-ness to any t-shirt. I was so sold I bought one for each of my (far more fashionable) sisters' birthdays. While they go for a more polished look (they both own actual Michael Kors things. They are, like, very classic.), I know these scarves will still work. That's the beauty of a good scarf - works for everyone, from the schleppiest among us to the most highly styled.

What's your one-step-to-fabulous trick?