Capsule #3 / Outfit 17
Let’s chat about the styling choices with this outfit. Because the actual clothes I’m wearing could be considered sloppy — ripped jeans, ball cap, plain grey tank. But the outfit doesn’t look sloppy.
Why?
Because my hair, makeup, necklace, and bracelets finish it off in a thoughtful, feminine way. If I was wearing scrubby hair + no makeup + no accessories, this outfit would read like I’d just finished cleaning the garage. Which, okay, might impress my husband for a minute. :)
But by choosing these few strategic styling choices — that aren’t even articles of clothing — the outfit is elevated to street-style effortless.
So, when you pick an outfit in the morning, try to see the whole picture in your mind first — clothes, yes, but also hair, makeup, and accessories. I’m learning that the key to an effortless look is keeping your look part fancy and part unfancy.
Here’s my rule of thumb:
-If you’re grabbing fancier pieces, try wearing your hair natural (like spraying it with sea salt + letting it dry naturally) + wearing minimal makeup + keeping your accessories to one or none.
-If you’re grabbing casual pieces, try putting a little more love into fixing your hair (like curling it with a wand — this one from Target works well) + wearing little extra eyeliner + wearing a necklace that’s just a tiny bit nicer.
What do you think? Do you have any tips to get the right balance of fancy + unfancy in an outfit? I’d love to hear your thoughts! (And I’m sure everyone else would love to hear it, too!)
Top: Madewell
Bottoms: Gap
Shoes: J.Crew
Bag: Hobo
Necklace: Anthropologie
Bracelets: Madewell
Cap: 47 Brand
These tips are amazing! Thank you for sharing. I think your outfit is perfect and very effortless cool. When i want to dress part fancy and unfancy I pair simple black jeans with a t-shirt, black boots and jazz it up by adding a statement necklace and having my hair up in a messy ponytail. Best of both worlds. —Stephanie
Thanks for the tips! Also, I would add that in my opinion, ‘attitude’ is more important that make-up or accessories. Our gestures, way of walking, talking, our posture adds a lot to our outfit and can completely fancy it. Just imagine Audrey Hepburn on this outfit, without make up or hair properly done, she would without a doubt look as gorgeous and classy as always! If we fell great and proud of ourselves (or at least try to look as if we did) we will always look fancy!
Also, I have a few tips to give for the fancy/unfancy balance. I am French and as you may know, french girls/women are obsessed by getting this right balance and their worst fear is to look as if they had put too much effort in their outfit. That’s why we never do our hair or make up properly! The french ‘efortless’ rule is to never have an outfit in which everything perfectly match. Let’s say you are wearing a fancy dress, the obvious match would be high heels and blazer, that’s why french woman would choose instead an old perfecto and flat boots (or even baskets for the youngers). A blazer will go with jeans and converse; classy men shoes (like black derbies) with pale jeans and grey sweater; a feminine blouse with masculine trousers, etc. Which make me think: the balance between fancy and unfancy is also the right balance between feminine and masculine. Maybe you could write a paper and/or make an outfit around this theme, it’ll be great!
Hi Fanny! This is excellent stuff — thanks for sharing! You’re so right that so much of a “look” is the way we carry ourselves. I feel like I’m learning that these days. And the masculine-feminine mix — so good and so true. Thanks for sharing your wise words! xo Caroline
I really love combining contrasting elements in my style. Lace + Leather? Yes, please. Suit + Heels? Sign me up. Somehow, I haven’t considered mixing fancy clothes with unfancy in quite this way. Pinned your advice, think it’s really great to think about when getting dressed.
I think this aesthetic balance represents reality – in our worlds, nothing is ever perfectly polished, but hopefully nothing ever gets so bad as to be considered a disaster, either. And even so, we fluctuate between periods of calm and busy, creativity and drought, masculinity and femininity (like Fanny mentioned). It is in this state of flux, I think, that we really learn the most about ourselves — toward which direction do we naturally lean when presented with a choice?
I also love this concept because it reminds me of something my mother told me when I was young. I was getting ready to go to a boy-girl party in middle school where we would be playing basketball and doing all kinds of raucous kid activities, and so I dressed in jeans and an old t-shirt. My mom encouraged me to add my favorite heart-shaped mood necklace (hello, 90s) because “you always need something to let them know you are a girl.” I’ve carried this little piece of advice with me and it has added balance to my hybrid tomboy-vintage-edgy-minimalism-bohemian (say that five times fast!) style.
Thank you for putting such effort into your corner of the Internet. I am a new reader and have gone backwards in your journal to look at every outfit. I live in very cold Alberta, Canada – we need about seven different winter jackets between the months of October and April and as many pairs of boots for all weather, but I am tempted to try the capsule wardrobe method. I don’t have a huge closet – the challenge would be to keep the capsule small with the wide swath of weather we get and hence the diversity of outerwear that is required. In Calgary we can go from +15C down to -20C in one day!!
I am totally considering taking on the challenge for the fall and see how it goes. Even though you live in a much more temperate climate and you can do more casual wear most days than I could, I love how you put your outfits together and the ideas I am getting through some of your write-ups below the photos. Again, thank you for doing this as all your experience will make such an exercise easier for someone else.
Hi Caroline. I just want to thank you for all the styling tips. I love that you spell these things out for us–especially for those of us who are not as naturally or effortlessly stylish. Your blog is a daily read for me. Thank you so much!