I have to admit, I’m not too happy about it, but today we’re wrapping up our 2025 Dressed for My Day style series, Define Your Style…Refine Your Wardrobe. Not only have I thoroughly enjoyed researching, thinking through and writing this series of blog posts, but I’ve heard from so many readers who have told me how much it has benefited them. But I can’t delay the inevitable, so with a listing of the 46 Dressed for My Day Style Principles we’re going to bring it to a close.
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Actually, even as I type this blog post up, I’m thinking that maybe we will have just one more post in this series. But I’ll let you write it! So many of you have written in to tell me how much this series has impacted you. I’d love for you to get your thoughts together in just a few sentences (really, we’ll need to keep them short) and share something concrete you’ve learned in the Define Your Style…Refine Your Wardrobe style series. I’ll share whatever I receive here in a final wrap-up post.
I’ll also answer any final questions – pertaining to the style series – the best I can, once again keeping my answers short. Please only send me questions that may pertain to other readers, too. I’m not looking for questions about how you should dress for your class reunion or what your three style angles should be. But really I’m just trying to make sure I didn’t leave any bases uncovered. So help me out by letting me know if there’s something within our theme that you’re still wondering about.
That said, today I’m wrapping up with 46 style principles that I’ve introduced and covered throughout the series. You’ll undoubtedly recognize many these. You may remember that I actually started the first blog post, 5 Secrets the Most Stylish Women Know with, what I then called, the first of many Dressed for My Day Style Principles. I never again called them that as posted the next 12 blog posts, but we did indeed cover them. So today, I’m listing them out for you. Let’s see if these resonate with you!
(The photos shared throughout this blog post are some of my favorite outfits of the year, the ones I would consider to be my authentic personal style. I’ll link you back to the original blog post for additional information or shopping links, if items are still available.)
Style Principle #1 – We all have a personal style that communicates to others who we are and what we think of ourselves. Even if you have not personally tried to define your style or been conscientious about working it, you have one! Stylish women know that style is personal, and they’ve taken charge of their own personal style to make it reflect well on them, not poorly.
Style Principle #2 – First impressions matter and repeated impressions tell your story. People size us up in 7 seconds, and most of that evaluation is visual, so appearance matters.
Style Principle #3 – You can define your personal style to tell the story you want to tell about yourself authentically and consistently. Or you can default to a style that communicates a false narrative. Either way your appearance communicates something to the people who see you. But the beauty is that we can decide what they see.
Style Principle #4 – Defining your personal style helps you shop smarter, dress more authentically, build a more cohesive wardrobe, feel more confident and enjoy getting dressed for your day. Stylish women know the value of defining their personal style.
Style Principle #5 – A stylish woman is one who has intentionally and thoughtfully defined her own personal style and leans into it consistently, expertly and confidently. Fashions come and go, but good style is timeless. So no matter what your personal style is – as long as it evokes intentionality, thoughtfulness and confidence – you can be a stylish woman.
Style Principle #6 – Your personal style is the story you want to tell about yourself through the clothing and accessories you choose and the way you wear them. Creating your personal style takes time, thought and work. To define your personal style you must reflect on what brings you joy and learn to communicate that through your clothing.
Style Principle #7 – Your 3 personal style angles are descriptive words that say to you what you want to look like to other people. Your style angles only have to make sense to you, but they need to be memorable to you. Having three words – no more, no fewer – will help you stay within your own personally chosen parameters without becoming overly complicated or cumbersome. Your style angles have nothing to do with your body type, age, location, lifestyle or budget. But they have everything to do with your personality and how you relate to the world. For the best style angles that actually help you be and feel stylish, stay away from words of functionality (e.g. comfortable, affordable, washable, travel-worthy, durable) and formality (e.g. casual, dressy). And yes, your personal style angles can change anytime you want them to.
Style Principle #8 – To express your personal style consistently, you must identify the basics you’ll need in your wardrobe to create outfits on the daily. Your wardrobe essentials will be unique; don’t fall for the cookie cutter “wardrobe essentials list.” These are not the personality driven pieces, but the blank canvas upon which you can tell your story.
Style Principle #9 – To express your personal style consistently you do need some signature or personality driven pieces in your wardrobe to help tell your story. These could be basics, such as a specific style a jean, or more exciting pieces like jackets or accessories.
Style Principle #10 – To express your personal style consistently, you need accessories that align with your personal style. Accessories are more than the icing on the top of the cake; they’re also the icing between the layers, so to speak. They can pull an outfit together.
Style Principle #11 – A personal color palette is integral in expressing your personal style. It’s great to know the colors that look best on you. But you don’t have to wear all of those. Choose only the colors that tell your story beautifully.
Style Principle #12 – Personally chosen and perfected style hacks can help you create outfits that effectively express your personal style. For example, a front tuck (rather than a full tuck) will look effortless, relaxed, a little undone. But a full tuck with a belt could translate as preppy, classic, polished. Learning which style hacks work best for your style aesthetic and using them will help tell your story more completely.
Style Principle #13 – Creating, perfecting and using favorite style uniforms can make it easier to authentically express your personal style on a consistent basis. You don’t have to create new outfits every day when you know your personal style. Instead, you can perfect a few uniforms or style formulas that always work best and use them over and over.
Style Principle #14 – Most people dress for their real lifestyle, but many do not shop for or build a wardrobe for their true lifestyle, so they struggle to put together outfits on the daily.
Style Principle #15 – Stylish women build a wardrobe that accommodates their real lifestyle so they can dress stylishly every day, not just on the rare special days. In this blog post, How to Define Your Real Lifestyle I walk through the process of determining unique lifestyle wardrobe needs.
Style Principle #16 – There’s more to your real lifestyle than your work, but even when you work – with the rare exception – you can dress in a way that reflects your personal style.
Style Principle #17 – The stylish woman knows she doesn’t have to sacrifice good fashion for function or comfort, and invests accordingly.
Style Principle #18 – You can improve the style factor of any wardrobe by selecting clothing that fits well and looks fashionable, current. Even the most classic wardrobe needs to be comprised of well-fitted garments. And current, up-to-date items will make you look more “in the know.”
Style Principle #19 – No one needs to dress to impress, but the wise woman does dress to influence. We are all influential people, like it or not. Someone is watching you. And your appearance is an integral part of your influence.
Style Principle #20 – A woman’s wardrobe has a powerful impact on her work performance and attitude. Enclothed cognition teaches us that what we wear makes a notable difference both in how we present ourselves and how we interact with others based on our own perception of how we appear to them.
Style Principle #21 – A smart woman spends the majority of her wardrobe budget on clothes that reflect her true, usual lifestyle. A good rule of thumb is to spend 80% of your clothing budget on items you can wear on the daily and 20% or less on items you’ll wear rarely.
Style Principle #22 – A limited, selective color palette can help you curate a closet of clothes and outerwear that mix and match beautifully, multiplying the uses you get out of the pieces you’ve invested in. Some people shop for outfits and others shop for a wardrobe. Either way, a limited color palette can stretch your wardrobe so that it’s easier to put together multiple outfits out of each garment.
Style Principle #23 – While it’s smart to consider color associations – the messages colors sometimes communicate – they don’t have to be the deciding factor when determining the colors of your wardrobe. You will look more authentic and interact with others more freely if you wear colors you enjoy wearing.
Style Principle #24 – It’s smart to consider how colors make you feel when you wear them so you can approach your day the way you wan to.
Style Principle #25 – The stylish woman considers how different colors work within her style angles and learns to use them strategically to express her personal style more cohesively. For instance, if your style angles are feminine, sweet and simple, then black may prove to be difficult to wear. But you can learn to balance black with a feminine pink blouse or buy it in chiffon and ruffles.
Style Principle #26 – The “best” colors for you will light up your eyes, make your skin look healthy and simply put you in a favorable light, so wear these when you want to look your very best.
Style Principle #27 – Signature colors are the ones you choose to fill your wardrobe with and wear for a season. You can change these season to season.
Style Principle #28 – Even women who love to wear a lot of color need a good supply of a few neutrals in their closet because these serve as the canvas for those beautiful colors. Without some well-chosen neutrals (think white pants or black skirt) you won’t have the bases to wear with those vibrant or pastel colors.
Style Principle #29 – The most stylish women know when to say “yes” and when to say “no” to style choices. Styles are individual and personal. We can all choose to participate in some trends, style hacks, colors or style uniforms and not to wear others.
Style Principle #30 – Stylish women put their signature on their style and wear it boldly. Nothing is more stylish than confidence.
Style Principle #31 – Stylish women enjoy wearing what they like. There’s no need to compare or contrast when it comes to style. You get to write your own story and enjoy it.
Style Principle #32 – A stylish woman builds a wardrobe over time that works for her. This sounds elementary, but most of us know the struggle of standing in front of a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear. Building a cohesive wardrobe doesn’t just happen. It takes effort, a little skill, time and patience.
Style Principle #33 – A stylish woman wears the colors that make her look and feel her best…regardless of what is in. Really, colors don’t go out of style. There will always be a few colors that dominate each season, but you can wear any color that works best for you and still look current.
Style Principle #34 – A stylish woman knows, embraces and dresses her unique body shape. You can learn more about how to determine your body shape in this blog post.
Style Principle #35 – A stylish woman knows her unique body proportions and how to work with them optimally. You can discover your unique body proportions in the following video.
Style Principle #36 – A stylish woman knows her assets and draws attention to them appropriately and tastefully. Yes, everyone has assets. You do, too. Often we spend so much time trying to divert attention away from areas of our bodies that we forget the better strategy is to draw the focus to our best features.
Style Principle #37 – A stylish woman knows her influence and uses her style to accentuate it. You can use your style to inspire, to bring joy, to encourage others and even to calm.
Style Principle #38 – A stylish woman embraces her unique frame and uses it to take up the space she is due. Whether you are petite or large framed, you can learn to dress your body in a way that makes your presence known.
Style Principle #39 – Stylish women feel good in their clothes and it shows. As you build a wardrobe full of clothes that really resonate with you and that have the qualities you value, you’ll begin to enjoy wearing your wardrobe more and more.
Style Principle #40 – Before you can build a hard-working, versatile wardrobe, you may need to clean out your closet and start fresh. In our style series we talked about removing from our closets things like sentimental pieces, gimmes, worn out clothing, wrong colors, wrong styles and more.
Style Principle #41 – Stylish women don’t allow guilt to motivate them to keep things in their closet that don’t belong there. Really, guilt has no place in creating good style.
Style Principle #42 – Enforcing the Rule of 3 will help keep your wardrobe more functional. Every item must work with 3 other items in your closet, work for 3 different occasions or settings and work with 3 pairs of shoes. Certainly there are exceptions. But if you’ll use this rule when shopping, it will help you keep your wardrobe cohesive and within your 3 style angles, too.
Style Principle #43 – A full closet is not the same thing as a stylish wardrobe. Instead the clothes you have in your closet – however many that is – need to count as something. Wearability is important.
Style Principle #44 – When budgeting for clothing and purchasing new items, it’s smart to consider wearability, not just durability. Price per wear is a better indicator of an item’s value in your wardrobe than how many years it stays in your closet (if it’s worn rarely).
Style Principle #45 – When building a wardrobe you’ll love wearing it’s important to shop strategically. I shared some important strategies for shopping in store and online in this blog post.
Style Principle #46 – If you slowly build a special occasion capsule wardrobe you won’t have to buy a whole new outfit every time you go to a special event or party. A special occasion wardrobe could consist of a beautiful wrap, sparkly pumps or sandals, a gold or silver clutch and some elevated jewelry.
I pulled these style principles from the main points of the 13 other blog posts in this series. If you missed one, you’ll find them all here. For now you can find them in the top menu under 2024 Style Series, but in the new year they will be housed under the BLOG tab, under FASHION.
Remember, I’d love to hear from you today. You can email me at admin(at)dressedformyday.com or you could leave a comment below. But I’d love permission to share your responses to this style series along with just your first name or initials in a final follow-up post. And if you have questions or have thought of additional style principles I should have listed, let me know those, too. Thanks so much for reading along!
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Blessed for My Day
Hundreds of years before Jesus was born and laid in a manger, Isaiah announced that Immanuel would come. “God with us.” I love that name of Christ more than any other. It amazes me, humbles me. The fact that a holy God would leave heaven to live among sinful, woeful man, is staggering.
Today God is still with us. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to inhabit the hearts of all who have accepted the gift of salvation through Christ. That, dear sister, is even more amazing than Holy child lying in a manger. You think the manger was filthy? Consider how sinful our hearts are! But within we have the Spirit of God to guide, convict, teach, comfort and assure us. What an amazing gift!
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel. ~ Isaiah 7:14
I found that the 3 personal style angles were very helpful to clarify for me how I want to look. I ended up removing articles from my closet that didn’t follow my style angles. No wonder I wore them rarely!
You can use this comment.
I found this series very help. It caused me to take a close look at how I want to present myself as opposed to how I am presented by my clothes. I need to do a thorough and deep purge! Thank you Kay!
Kay I am so glad I found your blog two years ago when I retired at 65. It has made me think about how I present myself to the world and how I dress for myself instead of throwing on just any old thing; how I have much to offer still and to think about staying current. I always look forward to what you have to say. Thank you.
You can use my comments
You can use this comment. So many helpful aspects to this series. But I have been inspired to use style hacks to help convey my personal style & not just put clothes on.
I look at your post every day. You inspire me to dress nicely with my formula which is classic, elevated and ???. That third one seems to change with the event. Nevertheless, I love my clothes, and I am taking clothes out of my closet that do not give me joy!
This series has helped me not buy so many impulse items that I never wear. Though I have bought more quality items, it has made my wardrobe more cohesive, and it lets me be me. You can use this comment.
Style Principle #4 has helped me to understand what I really need and actually wear now that my husband and I are retired. Shopping is now easier and I’m saving money by remembering my real needs.
P.S. permission granted for use of comment and name
This series was so helpful to me. I’ve been retired for almost 10 years & I struggled with “good clothes” & “at-home” clothes. When I saw the quote about planning our wardrobe for how we live now versus how we want to live, I changed direction & purged my closet of the clothes that were not my style or that I didn’t feel comfortable in. I have built my style around all your principles & feel pretty confident in my clothes. Thank you, Kay. I trust your knowledge & try to follow it daily. You have made dressing for my day so much easier!
Thank you, Kay! It was hard work finding myself again! Trough your Style Principles 1 to 46 you returned to me not only the woman I had lost through the years but the joy of getting dressed each morning. Thank you too for introducing me to many remarkable new names in the fashion community. Have a blessed day!
I came in very late for your great series so I need to go back sometime and read all the post of this series. However, just from the post I read since I found your blog I really heard from you about staying true to my personal style. I still need to define it but I’m finding what I feel best in and not buying what I think looks good on others. I follow Cyndi Spivey, Jo-Lynne Shane and now you and not all you three wear should I buy nor looks good on me. I’m learning thus saving money. Thanks for this series and all your hard work doing it. I so enjoy the videos.
PS you have permission to use Kathy
Although all the style principles were valuable lessons and adaptable, the one I finally “got” was the 3 style angles. Once you said that the style angles need to be how we want others to perceive us, I zeroed right in on them. I had been struggling with what I thought I wanted to be, and had dozens of “could be” styles. As soon as I wrote down those 3 words of how I wanted to be seen, I knew that was IT! Thank you.
As I mentioned in a few posts previous your blog is new to me and really enjoying it.
I have lots of catching up to do and your Principles subject looks full of fab ideas.
Have a safe journey to Georgia enjoy the journey and as the saying goes
‘ Better to get there late than not at all’ God’s Speed
Pamela UK x
Thank you Kay for this wonderful Style Series. Taking me through these principles really encouraged and guided me to develop an authentic wardrobe for me! The 3 style angles provided a great guiding foundation as I analyzed what styles, colors and accessories are best for MY assets and petite body shape, while placing less emphasis on what is “having a moment”. Knowing what is best for me and my body allows me to effectively and confidently project my personality and who I am today. So appreciate your graceful encouragement to dress for each of my days!
Permission granted.
I loved the series as it pointed out that I need to identify my true personal self and dress accordingly. My three personal style angles are the same as yours. You can use my comments.
It seems the goal is a thoughtful, intentional, carefully curated wardrobe that truly reflects who we each are as individuals. All your points explain how to do this in a very comprehensive and helpful way.
You may use my comment, if you’d like. I just designated myself as the petite Carolyn, because I know you have another Carolyn who comments here. 🙂
Wonderful series, and I also enjoy all your other blog posts. A big challenge for me is finding clothes that work with my aging body – I tend to want the clothes that fit me decades ago – pleated pants with a belt, for example or shoes with heels – and which are no longer flattering or physically “workable”. Trying on clothes can be depressing when they look better on the hanger. So many of us thought we knew our style but now have to try to find a way forward that is not easy. Quality items that fit well are the answer but it can take quite a while to find the right things – always on the hunt, it seems…
I’ve love your blog and videos since I found them earlier this year. You have inspired me to think more about putting together outfits that fit my life and my style. But, the most fun recent gem was socks as underwear or accessories. I’ve started wearing fun socks that match but do t blend with my long fares and I’ve been amazed at the positive compliments. Suddenly socks are an extension of my outfit not jeans st black pants-black socks. Thanks for that little gem.
Thank you Kay for writing with great clarity the basic concepts in stylish dressing, that I know but didn’t think about, and in pointing out the reason why certain things just hang in the closet unworn. For me, I would buy things that are trending mixed with my more classic style but not really know how to put the trendy clothes outfits together. After your posts and style series, I can see with great clarity it’s because I like classic styles so the trendy items had nothing to go with them (i.e. moto style jackets or jeans with rips in them). I am much more conscious now of picking classic items and suddenly my closet works well together! You have a great gift with words and expressing them in such a way it becomes so clear once you explain it to us! Also, I love your Talbots blogs…I’ve been a Talbots gal a long time! Please feel free to use comments.
I’ve really enjoyed this style series. But, oh my, I think I need to revisit many of these as my memory isn’t as clear on the info in all of those points. I think I need to consolidate all of them and put examples for some of those for myself. Thanks for writing this series!
I have followed this series with great interest and have learned a lot. Style Principles #4 and #11 really resonate with me. I have enjoyed developing my personal style and refining my colour palette through much reflection, time, and effort. Recently, my elderly mother has come to live with me while she awaits Long Term Care placement. I have to dress for my day quickly and without a lot of thought. I can do this because I now have a cohesive wardrobe and I know some style formulas and style hacks. I can still enjoy dressing for my day even though her care has become a priority.
You may use my comment previously posted.
Being only 5 ft. tall and weighing only 80 lbs, (and my waist literally starting where my last rib ends! )the best part of this series was you teaching us about proportions and body types and how to dress for that. That was a game changer for me! And for someone who has health issues, just making me look forward to getting up every day and getting dressed was a blessing, just like you are Kay.