Given her youth and relatively short body of work, Ginnifer Goodwin might still have some career lessons ahead of her. But when it comes to fashion, the actress — a recipient of the upcoming Women in Film MaxMara Face of the Future Award — has received a fast-track education. Lesson number one? Not all clothes that strike her fancy hold up to flashing bulbs and harsh lighting.

"I spend time photographing the things I want to wear to find out if it will look unflattering," she says of her strategy to avoid red-carpet misses. "I've definitely learned I can't wear certain things — bold stripes or certain colors don't look good with my skin when flashbulbs start going on."

Though Goodwin recently shot the Gap's fall 2008 advertising campaign, when it comes to her personal life, she unearths the majority of her vintage wardrobe — heavy on dresses — on flea market jaunts. "Most things in my closet are worth about five bucks and literally have no labels. They're not designer vintage like you'd buy in stores," says Goodwin, who takes a feminine but informal approach to dressing. "I go to flea markets, walk away with a trash bag full of dresses and go straight to the tailor."

Her favorite current designers include Peter Som, Marc Jacobs and more recently, of course, MaxMara. Of late, she's been "living in" her Marni and Miu Miu dresses. "I can hardly bear to wash them. I'll alternate based on what the person I'm meeting saw me in last," she laughs.

And Goodwin is happy to improvise, too: her favorite belt is in fact a ribbon from a Jimmy Choo shoebox — a tidbit that her stylist Penny Lovell confirms. "It's the perfect color of lavender. I don't know how it's held up after all this time, but it's great," she says.

The actress turns 30 in late May and has "big" birthday plans in the works: driving up the coast with six friends for a weekend of relaxation at a bed and breakfast. "We're renting a minivan and are going to be like soccer moms," she said. Though ostensibly, better dressed ones.