6+ Simple Style Rules That Make Every Dress-Up Super Fun

6 Simple Style Rules That Make Getting Dressed Super Fun

Rule 1: The Hero Item

Aside from my pajamas, I don’t think there’s a single outfit I wear that isn’t influenced by the hero rule. The hero item is the one piece of clothing you start with that acts as the anchor for your whole outfit.

I’m sure you’ve had the experience before of going to your wardrobe without any purpose or direction, pulling out five, six, ten items, then randomly and frantically trying all of them on, hoping some combination works. It is the epitome of a guessing game. It leads to frustration and confusion.

A better approach is to start with the end goal in mind. For example, what do you want your outfit to say, represent, highlight, or emphasize? Once you understand that, you can choose your hero item – your top, your pants, your skirt – that specifically achieves that goal. Then you build the rest of the outfit from there.

This removes the overthinking and intense indecision that comes with figuring out what items to pair together. It actually becomes a process of elimination of what won’t work because it will clash with the hero item. You significantly reduce your pool of options, making the selection process much, much easier.

Think of your hero piece like a beautiful piece of art. That piece of art is the star of the show, the main attraction. But there’s also a frame around that art. The frame acts as support to enhance, uplift, or complement the art itself. The frame never tries to compete or draw attention away from the art. The frame represents the supporting pieces of your outfit – the additional clothing items or accessories you add after you’ve selected your hero.

Rule 2: Color Theory

Using color theory is one of the greatest style hacks you will ever learn. It’s simply applying a century-old practice that artists, designers, and creatives have used to make their art look truly beautiful, intentional, cohesive, and magnetic. And it comes down to learning a few simple yet key color combinations based on the color wheel.

This will probably send you down nostalgia lane back to your art class from primary school. Understanding these few key principles of what works together naturally and what doesn’t, you’ll look at your wardrobe completely differently. You won’t see colors as a mystery anymore, but a clue for what goes with what.

Here are your four main color categories:

Analogous colors: These sit next to each other on the color wheel, like olive, khaki, and sage. They create a soft and harmonious look, often great for creating calm and elegant outfits.

Complementary colors: These sit opposite each other on the color wheel. Think navy and rust or green and pink. These create a bold but balanced contrast.

Monochrome: This is one color in different tones. Think beige, caramel, and cream. They tend to create clean and super cohesive outfits.

Triadic colors: These are three evenly spaced hues on the color wheel like red, yellow, and blue. These create outfits that feel high energy and playful. It’s a great approach when you’re trying to mix different bold colors together.

When you put your outfit together, you can refer to these color groupings to guide your item pairing. This is a foolproof method.

Rule 3: Personal Style Signatures

This rule is all about leaning away from trends and leaning more into your own personality. Trends do two unfortunate things. They blunt our style because we end up wearing what everyone is wearing all at the same time. Ironically, trending and stylish items end up making us not look or feel that trendy or stylish. When everyone we know or all we see on our feed is the same item or style, it doesn’t create anything memorable, unique, or distinct.

Secondly, they trap you into a wardrobe full of random items that have a lifespan of about one month. Not the most ideal way to build your wardrobe.

The better approach is to develop your style signature. This is essentially your visual signature, your own visual language. Elements that make your outfits unmistakably you. Others could repeat it, but because it’s your signature developed by you, it will never quite look the same on others because it’s your own personality, your imprint, your essence that truly brings it to life.

Rule 4: The Texture Rule

If you want to create an easy outfit within a few minutes, simply match or repeat the textures in that outfit. It is a simple and powerful way to make your whole outfit look more stylish, more cohesive, more balanced.

For example, matching your textured leather or faux leather shoes with a textured leather bag, or your ribbed top with a ribbed hat, canvas shoes with a canvas look bag. It’s these simple and subtle design choices that make your outfit look really stylish without being overdone. You know, when you want to look like you put in effort, but not like you’ve put in too much effort.

Texture creates something else that not many people are aware of in outfits, and that is rhythm. Rhythm is the equivalent to watching a beautiful flowing stream of water. It creates a peaceful and harmonious feel. There’s a natural flow and a natural visual linking to the whole outfit.

Here’s the pro tip: If you’re trying to rebuild your wardrobe right now or create some cohesion with what you already own, you don’t have to buy a whole bunch of new stuff. Instead, analyze your wardrobe and uncover what textures you already own. Maybe you have a lot of ribbed tops or pants, a lot of faux leather, or various styles of linen. Now you can buy one or two accessory items to match your existing textures. This will instantly create a few matching sets and outfits.

Rule 5: Play Dress Up

This is a really fun one because it goes deeper than just your outfit. We all have off days, sometimes even off weeks and months. In those times, life unfortunately doesn’t stop. We’re all still required to show up for work, for family commitments, and general life obligations.

The problem is when we don’t feel our best yet we still need to show up and be our best. Sometimes that internal struggle shines through more than we’d like it to, and that can ruin our presence, our energy, and how others end up perceiving us.

The energy you walk into the room with is often what makes an impression on other people within a matter of seconds. It’s not always fair, but it is human nature.

To help us make sure we get the opportunity to show up and present our best self, we can dress into the persona we want to embody. It’s called enclothed cognition, and scientists have proved that when you dress in certain ways, it can directly impact your thoughts, your mood, and your behavior. We can use it to our advantage.

For example, if you want to practice being more approachable and engaging in social settings but you feel kind of shy and reserved right now, then you can use the power of an outfit – something with vibrant colors, or something that’s nice and flowy, feels very welcoming, is soft and calming.

This basically helps you get out of the familiar pattern of being shy and reserved. It cues your brain to help you step into a more full version of yourself.

Rule 6: The Three Color Rule

As we already know, color is super important in creating easy, good-looking outfits. But it goes one step further. Instead of randomly adding a whole bunch of colors or getting stressed over color, we can pause and apply three colors max to your outfit.

What this does is create nice visual repetition and consistency and prevents your outfit from looking chaotic or messy.

It gives purpose and intention to your item choices and creates a decision-making framework for you. Once you’ve selected your one color, you simply have up to two more to add rather than thinking you have an endless scope of colors.

A small nuance with this is that neutrals are often referred to as half colors. Neutrals being white, black, gray, and can also include beige. So if you’re wearing black, red, white, and yellow, you’re wearing three colors because the black and white are considered neutral and they count as one color. But if you’re wearing purple, orange, and green, you’re wearing three solid colors – there are no neutrals there.

If your outfit’s starting to look chaotic or messy, go back to the three rule and figure out how many colors you’re actually wearing. Stand in front of the mirror and literally count the number of colors. A simple, easy rule that gives you a framework that just makes getting dressed easier.