Do you need an online stylist?

More tips
• Take advantage of the free features on the sites mentioned above for apparel advice that will help you on your next shopping trip. You can narrow down the styles that best suit your body type and the colours that will best complement you.

• Regarding virtual dressing rooms, use these services more as a guide that shows you how different clothes may appear on the body. Narrow down your favourites and find them at the store to try on in person.

• Scan online fashion magazines for put-together outfits. Anthropologie (www.anthropologie.com) offers "Complete Looks," the New York Times' Style section (www.nytimes.com) often has slide shows of the hottest trends and Style.com (www.style.com) allows you to put together a "Look Book" of your favourite runway shots. Use these sites as inspiration when putting together your seasonal shopping list or to pull together a similar outfit from items you already own.

• Sometimes you forget what's in your closet. You may be able to pull out a vintage piece that's come back in style and pair it with something you just bought for the season.

• Print copies of your favourite looks and take them with you on your shopping expeditions.

Do-it-yourself
You can also take your own pictures and put them on your computer to mastermind your own outfits, without trying them on.

Take pictures
• Lay out your different tops and bottoms on a neutral surface -- like a white duvet.

• Snap digital photos of each piece.

• In your photo-editing program, crop each one so that the tops can be matched up to the bottoms. Make sure each image is the same size and taken from the same angle.

• Snap a few accessories, too.

• Save each image to your computer as a separate jpeg.

Pull outfits together
When you want to select an outfit, open a new 81/2- x 11-inch document in your photo-editing program and import each piece that you want to match. Use the object tools to drag and drop your clothes together to create complete outfits. Or with a stack of photo paper at hand, print out each garment and match tops and bottoms from your stack of pics. You could also just physically snap each outfit together, complete with accessories and shoes and keep them in a little album to consult during your time-crunched mornings.

Lastly, try selecting your outfits the night before. This is easier said than done, but can give you a few extra precious minutes of beauty sleep.

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