What Style Mistakes are you making? Read on to discover the 5 most common style mistakes and how to avoid them !

No-one is perfect and let’s be honest -we all have outfits that we look back on and wonder how we could have let ourselves go out ‘like that!’.

We’ve probably all held on to outfits that are a little dated, worn clothes that are a bit too tight or too big, tried a new trend that really doesn’t suit us, copied a celebrity’s look for it to be a total flop, to name just a few of the possible style “minefields”.

Style Mistakes
Oh No! How could I wear that dress?

The problem with style mistakes is that they can

  • make you look dowdy or frumpy
  • make you look like you’re trying too hard
  • make you look shapeless and/or larger than your actual size
  • make you look older than you really are
  • make you look “like you’re not you!”

via GIPHY

However, the beauty of style mistakes is that we can learn from them so we can avoid these fashion “faux pas” in the future.

Below, you’ll find the 5 most common style mistakes that women make, and some tips for how to avoid them.

Style Mistakes

5 Common Style Mistakes and How to avoid them.

1 Shopping for someone else/ Copying a celebrity style

If you’ve ever spotted an outfit on a celebrity or even a friend and rushed out to buy something similar, only to find it doesn’t really suit you, then you are not alone!

Looking at a picture of a celebrity in an outfit and then thinking, “Oh, she looks amazing, I’ll buy that” is a surprisingly common mistake, and the reason it doesn’t work is :

  • they have a different body shape to us
  • they have different colouring to us
  • and even if, they have the same body shape and colouring, the chances that they have the same personality as well is seriously low!

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t get inspiration from celebrities/ friends/ colleagues or anyone else whose fashion sense you admire. In fact, one of my tips when trying to discover your style personality is to “pin” all the outfits you love! But, there is a difference between using this for ideas and inspiration and copying an outfit from ‘head to toe”

Focus on shopping for your own personality and body shape and you will discover that you will love your outfits so much more and that your clothes will be so much more flattering.

2 Not dressing for your body shape/ Body Image Issues 

It is not uncommon for women to struggle with body image issues, at all ages. As I mentioned in my previous style post, there are many circumstances that cause us to change body shape and lose our self-confidence.

For example, having a baby, changing jobs, experiencing a life trauma, divorce, illness….. to name but a few.

Whether it’s wanting to lose weight, having lost or put on weight, or the inability to lose weight, having trouble comparing the newest weight loss drugs – most of us have or have had a struggle somewhere in that department.

The solution that many of us adopt is covering all our ‘flaws’, and hiding behind baggy, shapeless clothing that doesn’t flatter us at all!

I can’t emphasise enough the importance of embracing your body shape : whether you are satisfied with your current figure or not, whether you are on a diet or a fitness program, you should always dress according to the figure you have NOW!

By dressing for the size and body shape you now have, you will highlight your assets and feel more confident and happy! 

All body types have positive and negative aspects, and the key rules to dressing for your body shape are:

  • Accentuate and draw attention to what you like
  • Camouflage what you don’t, and finally
  • Flaunt your assets (within reason!)

Also, don’t underestimate the importance of wearing the right underwear, as by getting the right framework on your body underneath your clothes, your outfits will look so much better.

3 Worrying about other people’s opinions

I firmly believe that the way you present yourself to the world and your external image have a huge impact on the way you feel inside, and that appearance plays a huge part in not only how we are perceived by others, but most importantly, how we perceive ourselves.

However, the key here is the effect on how we perceive “OURSELVES“, and by knowing the clothes, colours, accessories and styles that will enhance your outer self, you will feel more confident, positive and radiant and ready to take on all the challenges that life throws at you! 

These Style Mistakes manifest in two ways:  

i) the fear of not looking good enough , which leads us to buy expensive clothes, to buy “labels” to impress even if the clothes don’t suit our body shape or our personality and relentlessly following trends, even if they don’t flatter us!

via GIPHY

Treat catwalk trends as inspiration, rather than something to be followed to a ‘T’, and try to work one aspect of a trend into your existing wardrobe rather than going for head- to- toe trends. Have a look at the mannequins in stores, as they are often dressed to illustrate an accessible way to wear a particular trend.

ii) the fear people will think we’re trying too hard, which means we wear dull clothes that don’t draw attention to ourselves, or we hide between baggy and unflattering clothes.

via GIPHY

I believe that working on your (style) confidence is the key to overcoming concerns of trying too hard. Try to push yourself a little out of your comfort zone : if an entire outfit is too scary, then just wear one or two pieces that you feel might verge on “trying too hard.”

And remember to ‘Fake it ’til you make it’! So, wear items or outfits that make you feel just a little uncomfortable and pretend like you totally own the look! Tell yourself “I look FABULOUS in this!” and after a while you will start to believe it and all your fears about trying too hard will dissipate.

4 Putting ourselves last

This is particularly common with new Mums, or working Mums with young children, as well as with “carers”, who may be looking after an invalid or an elderly relative.

The problem here is that if you don’t take care of yourself and look after yourself, how are you going to take care of anyone else?

via GIPHY

I travel a lot, as you know, and the safety announcements always tell you to put on your own oxygen mask before helping anyone else – after all how can you help anyone else if you’ve collapsed from lack of oxygen?

Similarly, if you don’t take time for yourself (this can be meditating, taking a walk, reading, not just dressing stylishly), you are going to become frazzled and worn out and less able to care for others!

So, take a little “me” time and organise a pampering/ styling session. You will feel refreshed and better able to look after/ care for others.

5 Money Mentality 

Sometimes, we get a block about ‘Money’. Maybe we were raised to believe “money doesn’t grow on trees’ and so we feel guilty spending money on clothes, or maybe we are happy to spend money on our children/ other family members but we don’t want to spend money on ourselves.

Style Mistakes

Whatever the reason, a ‘money block’ often stands in the way of people’s style, and whilst it’s true you don’t need to spend a fortune to be stylish, you do need to invest a little time, effort and money in putting together a wardrobe.

My tips here would be to focus on quality over quantity, and invest in good basics that you can wear again and again and which can form the basis of a capsule wardrobe. Once you’ve built up a capsule wardrobe of good quality basics, you can play around with adding a few new pieces each season.

I hope this post has helped you identify any style mistakes you are making and how to act on them! But remember that it’s OK to fall/ fail.We are not perfect, we are human and life happens. So, don’t beat yourself up if you make a style mistake – just accept that it’s a normal part of life and carry on.

So, now we’ve uncovered the most common style mistakes every woman makes and learned how to avoid them, next week I’ll be delving a little deeper into Styling and giving you a few tips to dress like a French woman, as there are some faux pas that us mere mortals make which a French woman would never make!

I hope you enjoyed this feature about 5 Common Style Mistakes (and How to avoid them), have a look here for more of our style features, and you might also enjoy this post on How to look elegant and classy on a budget.