Wear clothes that flatter your shape.
The first thing to do to look effortlessly stylish is to make sure that you’re wearing clothes that you feel are good for your body type. Since effortless style is supposed to be subtle, you’ll need well fitting clothes in order to get the elegant, expensive, stylish look from your clothing. You may want garments that make you look thinner and the perfect height, with everything in proportion
Stick to classic cuts. Effortless style is mainly based around classic looks. Dressing for current trends just shows that you put way too much thought into that outfit and that you’ve been following fashion news like a broker watching stocks. Choose classic styles in classic cuts for a more effortless look that looks good for years.
- This means women should beware of floor length casual dresses in favor of knee-length, for example, while men should shy away from skinny-legged suit trousers in favor of something more loose-fitting.
Choose muted, neutral colors and bold accents. What colors are popular and what colors are considered absolutely hideous is very dependent on time and place. Just look at your mom’s clothes from the 1970s, for example. In order to look effortlessly stylish, you’re going to want a more timeless look, which means sticking to more muted and neutral colors. This can, however, be broken up with bold accent colors, especially on accessories.
- Muted colors include tan, black, white, denim/navy blue, and gray.
- Good accent colors include most shades of red, many shades of blue, plum/eggplant purple, golden yellow (like rubber ducks or tulips), and emerald green.
- Be careful of certain colors. Be wary of other greens and yellows, and generally avoid oranges, as these colors are very prone to going in and out of fashion, but, if you think they are stylish, go for it.
Avoid busy prints and textures. Busy prints and textures (like fuzzy/fluffy/feathered fabric) can quickly make an outfit look dated and unstylish, as these tend to be in fashion only for a season or a year at most. Next year it will be another pattern, so why bother? Look effortlessly stylish by keeping your clothes in style across decades, not months.
Buy strategically. To look really stylish, you want your clothes to look expensive. You can make cheap clothes look expensive but investing in some actually expensive items might be a good idea. A few choice pieces of hard-to-fake luxury items, such as a nice sweater or wool coat, can really take your wardrobe up a notch. Having a limited number of nicer items is preferable to having a large number of very cheap-looking items
Create an interchangeable collection. If you really want to put the effortless into effortless style, you’ll want a wardrobe where nearly all of the pieces match with each other. This will let you get dressed based on comfort, style preference, or weather conditions, instead of being limited by color or style combinations.
- Use a single clothing style (vintage, modern, etc.) and the use a single color palette (this should be helped if you followed our advice to use muted colors with limited bold accents).
Take care of your clothes. Looking stylish means your clothes are going to have to look well maintained. No stains, no holes, no loose threads, no wrinkles. If you want your clothes to look maintained, then the best way to do that is to maintain them! Keep your clothes clean, fold and store them correctly, and do other basic maintenance as the needs arise (e.g. sewing minor holes).
Get items tailored. What you probably don’t realize about models and famous people is that part of the reason they look so stylish is because their clothes fit their body perfectly. And how do you get clothes to fit perfectly? Get a tailor of course! Find a reliable tailor in your area to alter your clothes perfectly for your body. Even some department stores will do this for you.
- It’s not as expensive as it sounds. Tailoring a shirt often costs as little as $10-20, pants around $30-40.
- It may seem like a silly added expense, but tailor a nice clothes once and keep them maintained and you’ll look amazing for the next ten years. It’s an investment