Looking for tips on how to easily make your outfit more elegant and look chic every time you go out, without sacrificing a lot of your sleep in the mornings? Then this is the post for you.
I am aiming to abandon old bad habits and embrace this new decade with a more pro-forward glance into my future and the person I want to become when I grow up.
From how I take care of myself at home, to ultimately how I present myself to my societal peers, some things in my daily routine had to change asap.
This comprises many possible topics: from skincare to mindfulness, healthy habits and being more in control of my life.
For this post, I will write about styling your outfit and the small details that you should be paying attention to in case your end goal is also to become more elegant and more precise with how you present yourself now as an adult.
Below are 5 surefire tips that can make an outfit go from blah to flattering in a matter of seconds.
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Table of Contents
How to Make your Outfit More Elegant with 5 Easy Steps
1.Iron it Out
Let’s start with the basics (and honestly something I have been ignoring throughout my entire life): your clothes being ironed matters!
Repeat after me: your clothes being ironed matters!
In fact, it makes a HUGE difference!
Having unwrinkled, well kept, clean clothes is what differentiates us as powerful women, to that scruffy teens we used to be that hardly brushed our hair.
“Wrinkled clothes are a clear sign to the world that you dont really care about your look.” – from the book How To Get Dressed, by Alison Freer
I used to ”choose ignorance’ and hope no one would notice my unkempt blouse (or that they’d somehow assume that it got untidy on my way to work).
However, doing laundry is daunting enough and I HATE to iron my clothes (what a freaking waste of time, yo). So I actually remembered my mother had given me a clothes steamer that I had forgotten to try out and OMG, it was life-changing (seriously).
My clothes have never been so ironed. It is crazy how fast and easy it works (and a bit addictive to watch the wrinkles go away, especially with hard to smooth fabrics such as linen – my absolute favorite summer fabric).
2. Visit your Taylor
Time to say goodbye to those overly long pants that insist on getting dirty, or that ”loose waist + tight hip” combo. No no, it is time to make your clothes work in your favor.
This is a recent habit I picked up after watching endless fashion YouTubers who all recommended this same tip. Sometimes I believe we need something repeated to bus a few good times until we decide to believe it, or take any action for that matter.
After trying it out, even with not expensive clothes from Zara, it has made a HUGE difference in my life.
Now it looks all my clothes are high-end, and it differentiates me from other people who have purchased the exact same clothes as me from these stores. Moreover, I truly believe what differentiates expensive clothes from affordable (besides the obvious quality of the fabric, of course), is how well these high-end clothes fit people.
My entire life I thought that gig-end clothes were being made to suit someone better, but no. Turns out the people who buy high-end clothes also take them to the tailor.
So you make up your mind if it is worth it or not. But promise me you won’t cross it out until you tried it firsthand.
3. Don’t forget your jewelry (and be minimal)
Fashion changes every week. Last year it seemed everything was becoming so small they would soon disappear. Now, 2020 has barely started and I can already see some size exaggerations, be it from extra-big puffy shirts to the return of big sunglasses and bags.
It’s freaking hard to keep up!!
That is why I made the decision to be more minimal in 2020 with my life and my style in general.
That being said, I am noticing chunkier necklaces making a return, exactly when everyone was telling you to opt for minimal.
Whatever the trend is, one thing is certain about minimal jewelry: they are timeless and elegant, and no fashion trend will ever be able to turn our minds around it.
Having the crazy trends in mind, I would always recommend buying timeless jewelry. And that is where minimalism comes back in: you cam never go wrong buying delicate jewelry.
And don’t underestimate the power of minimal jewelry. When it comes to accessorize, what they say remains true: less is more!
Other things to add that will boost your overall style: a classic watch (try to leave digital watches for other occasions); small scarfs for your neck, or purse
RELATED: How to pair jewelry with outfits
4. When in doubt, opt for NEUTRALS
Ok, so I have been obsessing over neutrals since the years started , and considering the amount of compliments I have been getting (with the added-benefit of my life being much easier now), I don’t think this obsession is going anywhere.
I have written an entire post detailing why I decided to opt for a more minimal life, and I also go over my love for neutrals in that post. Read about it here.
Neutrals give you a more classic vibe, no doubt about that. Moreover, you don’t have to break the bank to look expensive in neutrals. When I started out, I bought a lot of my neutral items from fast fashion stores such as Zara and Massimo Dutti, which were great for my ”neutral phase initiation”.
Now that I learned to appreciate the art of neutrals, I am opting to buy at better quality stores, which brings me to my next point.
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5. Consider Quality Items
When it comes to dressing up more elegantly, it really is all about the details.
Some people mistakenly thing that dressing up in logos will make you look expensive, but this couldn’t be more far from reality.
So if you do take my tips on going for a more neutral vibe, then an important matter to take at hands is to think like the Italians: quality fabric matters!
In case you don’t know, Italians are a great example of classic, timeless style that looks darn good for centuries. There is a good reason Italians are so picky when it comes to fabric: these guys know what is good!
Cris comes from the land of cashmere and linen and it was a matter of time until this started having an effect on me. He would dress up in a basic black sweater, but the touch of it felt amazing and it made him look dapper AF.
When it comes to dressing elegantly, do it like the Italians:
- Less is more
- Quality fabric over quantity clothes
- And whatever you do, under any circumstances, you should never wear white socks!
RELATED: How to Dress Like An Italian Woman
6. Take Care of Yourself
Last, but certainly not least (and definitely something that makes it or breaks it whenever we decide to be more presentable).
Basically, none of the aforementioned items matter if you don’t pay attention to grooming. Have you ever heard the phrase ”it is all in the details”, well that certainly applies to grooming.
It won’t matter if you’re dressed head to toe in your recently steamed-out, neutral, linen shirt if your nails look chipped and your hair a hot mess full of split ends. Be sure to groom yourself before you leave the house.
This means take care that your nails looks clean and presentable, your teeth are brushed and fresh, your hair is combed (to say the least), etc.
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