The 3 Principles of The Well-Dressed Woman

Ladies,

Your wardrobe is a support system. It supports your beauty, and it must carry you through a long hard day in comfort. But it needs to be more than loungewear to look appropriate and respectable for the day. Consider all of the ways that clothing must be tailored to work, physical needs, and sensibilities. Think with me about what you wear and why you wear it. The best wardrobe has all three of these categories checked: respectability, comfort, & beauty.

It is vital to wear what works for you when dressing classic or trendy for your best wardrobe!

What is supportive of someone else’s workday, may not work at all for your workday. What is comfortable to another, may feel uncomfortable to you. What styles one person finds beautiful may not be another person’s favorites. Therein lies the key to building your best wardrobe: what are your personal favorites in all three of those categories: respectability, comfort, & beauty?

The reason many women do not have an answer is because they have never been exposed to anything other than trends.

Your answers to these three categories need to be different than the trends. These answers need to be tailored to your personal preferences shaped by an exposure to different decades of style. You may have never formed strong opinions on what you like because you do rely on trends to tell you what to like. Do a dive down fashion history to see what you are drawn to and try to notice the themes or eras that you prefer.

Respectability

“Respectable apparel” can be discerned by two factors, the occasion and the modesty level of the garment.

Respectability toward the occasion is about what we wear as a means of respecting other people. Are we wearing the right clothing to the venue? In our overly casual society, people tend to dress up very little. What level of respect are we sending when we show up without the care to spiff up for the event? What we wear sends a message about how we feel about the occasion. Special events mean special clothing. Now days we would do well to be more afraid of looking too casual than afraid of looking too dressy for most places. It is always better to air on the side of overly respectful to an occasion than disrespectful toward it.

Respectability in modesty is about respecting that clothing is meant to cover the body not just reveal the body. When our taste is formed by pop culture, the sensitivity to modesty can get dulled because of the prevalence of seeing daily outfits that are revealing. Celebrities tend to shape women’s perceptions of what is acceptable to a large degree. Designers can push revealing clothing as normal. But what about the woman who is not trying to be sexy but is revealing a lot by simply not realizing that their everyday clothes are see-through, or show a lot when they move around? If people filmed themselves, they may be shocked at what they look like from all angles when bending over, in the wind, in the sunlight, etc. If fabrics are not opaque in certain light and if the cut of the clothing shifts with movement, then we are vulnerable to an unintentional loss of dignity.

Comfort

Everyone has different pet peeves that are unique to their own senses or body shapes. Consider the following common fashion issues that influence comfort and think through your own comfort issues and needs:

1. Bra straps falling down. Do you need a different style or size that stays put?
2. Fabric too tight. Often times women think of “fit” as things that are skintight. This comes from an era of stretch knits that can form to our bodies in a way that fudges what fits properly.
3. Shoes that hurt. Especially in the workforce women are expected to wear things like high heels, which can have things like pointy toes that make it hard on feet to stand and walk.
4. Fabric doesn’t feel good against your skin. Anything rough or that doesn’t allow airflow can feel uncomfortable especially when worn all day.
5. Clothes are see through. This is an emotional discomfort. When clothing is see-through you can feel embarrassed. See-through garments are commonplace now days because it costs more to sew them with full lining. Couple this with a generation of women who were never taught to wear slips or can’t wear slips because it is their pants/leggings that are see-through, not a dress.

Beauty

Find the shapes that look best on your figure. Find your best neckline shape. Find your best length of skirt and dress. Find your best sleeve. There are some shapes that will look best on you and some that will look worse on you. Stick to your best. This will be a formula that will help you go straight to your best clothes.

Then wear your best shapes in your best colors. Most likely, you will find your best shapes in a variety of colors, prints, and made out of good feeling fabrics.

Identify the Brands & Shops that Encompass the 3 Principles of Respectability, Comfort, & Beauty

A few brands or shops that consistently deliver classy, feminine styles can be your go-to shopping destination. Let them do the work for you and curate those fashions since that is the point of their brand, to sell to a demographic of women who want to wear those items. All you need is one or two favorite brands to shop in order to build your best wardrobe. Just one brand or shop will have a variety of new pieces per season to purchase. This way you can go straight to their catalog, website, or shop and find beautiful clothing time and time again.

Thrift the 3 Principles

You can glean quality styles for less at thrift shops. Although this is less consistent to find items in mint condition or in your size and the options can be hit and miss, you can thrift your best wardrobe. If you have the eye and the time to sift through secondhand shops and garage sales, you can build a wardrobe as if you were shopping the high-end brands.

Sew Your 3 Principles

If the stores and current styles do not offer what you know is your best, it may be time to learn to sew your own clothing. This is how many women get into sewing in the first place. If you simply cannot find your best looks or you cannot find clothing that fits correctly, it is time to enjoy the freedom of sewing exactly what you want for your own wardrobe.

Respectability, Comfort, & Beauty

Your best styles may shift during different seasons of your life. What works in your 20s may not work in your 40s. Then again, your fast favorites may age gracefully with you. Once you understand what matters most for you in these categories, the better you can build a wardrobe anytime in your life.