Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about “simple” dressing and how to look cool and effortless at the same time (and yes, I know that “effortless cool” is such a gag-inducing cliche). I know my outfits are sometimes over-the-top and crazy, and I see people at my school, on the street, or online who look amazing in casual, more basic outfits.
I’m not saying I’m going to start dressing boring all of a sudden – there’s a big difference between simple and boring. But I am going to take a look at this tendency of mine to pile everything on all at once. Like yesterday’s outfit, which started as a casual, loose-fitting summer dress and heels, and somehow morphed into a flower-child free-love party with Carmen Miranda as the guest of honor. Or today’s outfit, which was intended to be a basic cropped button-down and mom shorts, and ended up as a retro-awkward-geek/schoolgirl outfit that borders on costume. I feel like I’m criticizing myself too much here, and I don’t want to be such a Debbie Downer, but this is just getting to the point where I need to stop, take a step back and figure things out. (Wow, melodramatic much?)
Hmm so anyways, for the next couple of days (or however long it takes before I get bored of this phase), I’m going to try and follow that rule that Coco Chanel made up or whatever, about looking in the mirror and taking one thing off before you leave the house. I’m going to stick to sharp, strong silhouettes, basic fabrics, minimal jewelry, etc…and ask myself if adding that extra headband or necklace will really improve the outfit. Just to test the waters and see what it’s like to be effortlessly cool.
