How to put an outfit together
How to put an outfit together goes straight to the top of the list for my FAQs as a Personal Stylist based in London. It's the missing piece of the puzzle with personal style and something I believe to be hindered by a classic case of overthinking or preconceived ideas that we have acquired over the years with our style.
We all know when left to our own devices when putting outfits together our brains take us on a one-way trip to an outfit meltdown. Think of the stressful getting ready experiences before any brunch, lunch, or going out out. Or just every damn day… sound familiar?
With the preconceived ideas, we all have, so many people have developed really strict rules over time where they think something doesn't suit them because of one bad experience in a changing room or because of something we have heard passed down from our family (usually mums haha) or word of mouth. For example, ‘blue and green should never be seen’ I mean… someone tell me why exactly and who specifically told you that.
I remember my mum (sorry mum) telling me that high-waisted trousers were ‘so 80s and old fashioned’ and from that moment on I was so anti the high-waisted anything until I retrained to become a stylist in London back in 2017. Then when I learnt the magic of dressing for your body shape, lots of my own ‘style rules’ I followed went straight out the window.
Why do we find it so hard to get dressed?
Part of my role as a London Stylist is to break up negative thought processes which hold you back from being able to think clearly when you open up your wardrobe. We aren't ever taught how to build outfits, we have blinkers on that stop us from seeing outfits clearly and it's trial and error from the word go.
Getting dressed is very similar to writing your CV. We sit down with good intentions and then doubt creeps in and we suddenly go into, ‘I'm crap, I've achieved nothing, I'm never going to get a new job with this CV’ We forget all of the amazing achievements and incredible skills we have and generally feel crap. Along comes your bestie and they are rattling off the amazing things you have done and can finish your CV in under an hour for you.
Sound about right? We are too close to our CVs that something stops us from being able to see clearly. Switch the situation around now and it's you helping your friend get ready for a first date. You know exactly the outfit she looks insane in and can do it with your eyes shut… in fact, you could dress her or anyone else you know in seconds. You celebrate her style, you love her wardrobe and can't see why she thinks she has nothing to wear…
Our style should celebrate who we are, show the world our personalities and reflect how we feel. It shouldn't hinder us but because it's doing the same thing as our own CVs, we can't see the woods through the trees.
Why do we struggle to put outfits together?
Putting outfits together is emotional, and getting dressed is personal, that's why it's so hard. One way I help my clients is by teaching them their style foundations so that they can think logically about getting dressed each day. Making it logical and based on what suits you specifically and understanding why things suit you is the first step to nailing your outfit choices.
If you are unsure of what style foundations are, picture living in an unsafe house, you don't feel happy, confident or yourself. By understanding your style foundations which consist of what colours suit you through a process called colour analysis, how to dress for your own body shape (easily fixed with a body shape session tailored to you) and discovering your unique style personality. This is where you connect what you want to say with types of clothing you love, so you can begin to switch from emotionally dressing to logical style choices that still reflect who you are.
How to break up with your style rules
Breakups are hard, even if the situation is bad for us right? Again the same is with letting go of style rules we have used to protect us from feeling rubbish. For example, I tried a jumpsuit on once before I retrained to become a Personal stylist and I vetoed jumpsuits from what I thought I could wear to make sure I didn't feel crap again. Now I wear more jumpsuits than anything else because I understand what shapes suit me and where to shop for my body shape. I'm braver to try them because I understand my shape, style and the colours that suit me. If pieces don't work on me, I can then figure out why they don't work rather than immediately blaming myself.
Sometimes people also struggle with what to wear and when. An easy fix for this is to keep work and casual clothes separate from each other so you never feel like you're at work with your girls or that you aren't dressed appropriately for work. If you have a relaxed work then it's useful to decide on a point of difference when you wear the same outfit. It can be as simple as switching up accessories e.g. jewellery or shoes.
Once you understand your style foundations you can also create new healthy and positive habits for creating new outfits and when to wear them.
How to create healthy habits for building outfits together.
Create a clothing routine to follow. Design one for work and follow it even when WFH. Then create a casual clothing routine and finally a routine for when you want to dress up. See my example above for inspiration
Rotate your wardrobe so that you wear everything in it, if you keep skipping items you can probably remove them and resell or give to charity. Less is more, the less you have to choose from the fewer decisions you have to make when choosing your top for your skirt and a nice top day
Start a Pinterest Style board to keep you inspired and give you fresh ideas. You won't be able to recreate the looks exactly but can use it for colour shape and style inspo. Check my Pinterest account to get started.
I also suggest checking the weather before you leave the house to make sure you don't hate a certain dress because you think it's not very warm but actually, it was a cold day and you needed layers!
Start an album on your phone of outfits you loved wearing and flick through them when you need inspo
Remember the following things when leaving the house in your new outfit
People don't look at you and think I wonder what she went through to get that look.. They just like it and probs wish they'd thought of that
People don't look for faults or think negatively about your outfit.
People are more likely to be thinking about their outfit hahaha.
So in concussion… no one thinks badly of your look, they just want you to like theirs! You are in your own head!
My top tips for putting outfits together
I am not denying it's tricky putting outfits together. But if you follow a few simple formulas after you have sorted out what colours work for you, how to dress for your shape and what style personalities you have, the following tips will send you in the right direction
Research your fave ways to wear colour. I recommend downloading the ‘ Pocket Color wheel app and it shows you different ways of wearing combinations of colour.
I also recommend that you download my free ‘How to begin wearing colour Ebook’ for free. It explains the various ways of wearing colour in more detail. Once you know which way you like to wear colour the world is your oyster
If you hate colour wear metallics or neutrals - super chic and simple. They will go with literally ANYTHING.
When you are shopping take pics of the mannequins, and even try on the mannequin outfits as they are designed to be together.
If wearing black in your outfit, you need to balance it out with something else black in your outfit to avoid throwing off the balance of the outfit with one heavy black colour
If you have one thing loose on, balance it out with something more fitted on the other half of you.
When trying something on, don't just say no immediately, finish the look off with shoes and a jacket and bag… nothing ruins an outfit more than you standing in your odd socks having a crisis…
Necklines can make or break an outfit… check out my necklines blog here to find your best neckline. A general rule though is an open neckline like a Vneck is best for most of us.
Shoes are a tricky business, check out my shoe blog to point you in the right direction.
Tuck everything in NO MATTER WHAT
Popping a belt on usually fixes everything from hiding waist seams that look unfinished to giving you more shape.
Steaming your clothes makes everything look better. Get a handheld one and plug it in like you do with your hair dryer.
If you still struggle… get in touch to see how I can restyle your entire wardrobe for you and find solutions for the missing gaps!
I am aware that I haven't shown you real life examples of putting looks together just yet, but if I did that now the blog would be so long you'd want to stick pins in your eyes. So, have a go at my first step for putting looks together and I promise you as a London stylist, I'll deliver examples in my next blog. There's SO much to it as you can see, it's okay to find it hard.
Remember, style starts within, what you wear should reflect you and communicate who you are to the world. It's a tricky business putting outfits together... But don't worry, take it step by step and as we grow, our outfit choices will too
If you'd like some more inspo, drop me a line here,
Stylish wishes,
Sian x
Personal Stylist, London