Fix Your Style: 5 MORE Tips to Level Up Your Wardrobe

Today let’s talk about 5 MORE tips to level up your wardrobe. If you want to see my first 10 tips, check out this post and then come straight back here to learn the rest.

These tips are sort of in order, so if you want to you can tackle them one by one. There are some heavy hitters here, but if you want some easy tips to start right now, subscribe to my YouTube channel or email list so that you don’t miss the next five simple, accessible tips to level up your wardrobe!

1

Think About How You Dress Rather than What You Wear

This tip is inspired by Style Thoughts by Rita. I just recently discovered her channel and she has created a framework for thinking about personal style that I have found really useful and inspiring. In Rita’s system, she divides personal style into four quadrants which are based on the logic that different women use when getting dressed.

The first distinction in Rita’s four quadrant system is your essence, which Rita categorizes as either Left or Right. The Left essence is characterized as sensual or sensory, enveloping, intriguing, and elemental. The Right essence is described as radiant, inspiring, dreamy, refined, and luminous.

The second distinction is your styling approach, which Rita categorizes as either Up or Down. The Up styling method is dramatic, glamorous, mysterious, and communicates effort. The Down styling method is delicate, intuitive, approachable, understated, personable, and communicates ease. She describes this “upness” or “downness” as a filter through which a person expresses their Left or Right essence.

Within each category, Left + Up, Left + Down, Right + Up, or Right + Down, Rita has created five style archetypes with celebrity examples which you can use as inspiration for cultivating your own personal style.
Not only is this an inspiring new way to think about style, Rita has a really fun personality and has a way of speaking about style that is really encouraging and inviting. I definitely recommend that you watch some of her videos to learn more about each quadrant and to gather some inspiration for developing your personal style. Check Rita’s essence system video, and be sure to give her lots of love and subscribe to her channel!

2

Find Your Kibbe Body Type

If you were asked to describe your body type, what would you say? Would you compare your shape to a fruit or an object? While I think all body typing systems can be useful, and none are perfect, the Kibbe body type system is definitely a step up from the simplistic Hourglass, Inverted Triangle, Apple, Pear, and Rectangle categories that many of us are familiar with.

The Kibbe system consists of 5 main categories which are broken down into 13 body types, each representing a unique mix of yin and yang essence. Yin describes feminine traits like soft, curvy, and short while yang describes masculine traits like angular, structured, and long. The five main types are dramatic, natural, classic, gamine, and romantic. In addition to the pure types, there are eight subtypes: soft dramatic, flamboyant natural, soft natural, dramatic classic, soft classic, flamboyant gamine, soft gamine, and theatrical romantic.

The goal of the Kibbe body type system is to help you dress in accordance with your natural silhouette, or “lines.” In simplest terms, Kibbe’s system will help you understand your body and identify items of clothing which enhance and harmonize with your unique beauty. If you’re interested in finding your Kibbe type, I suggest joining David Kibbe’s Strictly Kibbe Facebook group where David provides resources and guidance for women to type themselves. And comment down below if you’d like to see a series of capsule wardrobes for each Kibbe body type!

3

Go On a Pinning Spree

Pinterest is a great tool for developing your personal style. Get on Pinterest and create a Style Inspiration board. Start pinning outfits that you connect with and could see yourself wearing. And remember you’re not limited only to Pinterest search - you can also pin photos directly from your favorite blogs, brands, or Instagram.

Once you’ve accumulated several images, go through your board and edit it down to the ones you feel best represent your style. Now you can continually add to and look back on this board whenever you need direction or inspiration for your personal style. I have a running board called “Style Ideas” where I do this for myself. If you’re not sure where to start, you can follow me on Pinterest where I have boards for various style types, Kibbe body types, colors, and even some style keywords that might help you start to discover your personal style.

Now, I would recommend creating a second board where you can store more practical looks which contain at least one or two items that are similar to ones you already own. Start with your Style Inspiration board and pin all of the outfits you could see yourself wearing to your new board. It’s important that you only pin outfits that you can already create with your current wardrobe or ones that contain items that you are planning on adding to your wardrobe soon. Especially if you are just starting out on your personal style journey, you don’t want to be overwhelmed with looks that you can’t or won’t wear yet. You want this board to be full of outfit ideas that you can recreate whenever you feel like you have nothing to wear. Each week, I challenge you to pick one outfit from this board and recreate it with items you already own.

4

Build Outfits, Not Capsules (Or Vice Versa)

One thing that capsule wardrobes can lack by nature is distinct, head-to-toe looks. Because most capsule wardrobes are meant to be minimal, all of the pieces must mix and match together to create a maximum number of total outfits. However, this might make certain items or outfits feel less special or personal. If you have been using capsule wardrobes for a while, I challenge you to try an outfit-based approach next time you decide to add something new to your wardrobe. Use the inspirational pinterest board you created in the previous step to help you create one new head-to-toe look that fully expresses your style.

When you’re exploring this outfit-based approach, don’t worry about traditional capsule wardrobe rules. The pieces in this head-to-toe look don’t have to mix and match perfectly with all your other items. Just focus on creating a look that expresses your personal style and suits your lifestyle. Have fun with it and focus on the details down to the specific shoes, bag, jewelry, hairstyle, and makeup look to complete the outfit. This approach can really help you break out of a personal style rut and refocus the creative direction of your wardrobe. It also gives you practice with creating full looks that are expressive, creative, and special to you. And once you create that one new outfit that you love, so many new style possibilities will start to unfold for you.

And vice versa, if you have been building your wardrobe one individual outfit at a time, you might find it refreshing to build a capsule wardrobe around those outfits that you already love! Start with what you already own and begin by trying on all of your tops with all of your bottoms and recording which outfits work for you. Don’t worry about forcing absolutely everything to mix and match, and don’t get rid of your favorite outfits just because they don’t match with anything else you own. Just play around and see how many new outfits you can create. Then, start thinking about what you might be able to add to unify your wardrobe and expand the number of outfits you can mix and match. Maybe it’s some simple basics or maybe it’s more pieces in your core color palette so that you can create bold monochromatic looks with your statement pieces.

Thinking about your wardrobe both as a whole and as a collection of head-to-toe outfits will help you master the art of maximizing your wardrobe and your personal style at the same time.

5

Curate Your Accessories Capsule

And on the topic of creating head-to-toe looks, finding the right accessories for you is key. You can even think about your accessories as a capsule of its own - a selection of well-curated pieces that you love and cherish. This could include jewelry, scarves, hair accessories, handbags, or anything else you might want to add to your look that isn’t a part of your core outfit formulas (i.e. tops, bottoms, and usually shoes and jackets). Accessories make a huge impact on your overall look, so don’t neglect them! Check out my favorite place to buy pre-owned handbags and accessories and start curating your accessories capsule!