Redefining Casual

Over the last few years dress codes have softened. It’s perfectly normal to see jeans in an office, out for dinner and even to the theatre.

How do you feel about this transition to comfortable, practical clothing?  I know that many women find it particularly difficult to feel good in their outfits when they aren’t ‘dressed up’.

Today, I want to try to reframe the casual dress code for you and share some ideas about how you might adapt it to feel better for your own lifestyle.

Firstly, casual doesn’t mean scruffy!

When you know your true style, you can work out your own best way of dressing casually.

Casual for Classics:

If you are very classic in your style, your casual outfits will be neutral in colour. You’ll enjoy well-cut quality pieces and you might find you need one piece of tailoring in your outfit, whether a blazer worn over jeans or a pair of tailored wool trousers worn with a sweater and leather trainers. 

As a classic you feel your best when you are dressed up, so this might feel like your most difficult way of dressing. 

Just remember, casual isn’t scruffy. You can still be well groomed and wear good quality clothes in being casual.

It’s important to feel like you. If you don’t feel smart enough in your casual outfit try adding another piece of jewellery.

Casual for Naturals:

If you enjoy a more natural, relaxed style, dressing casually is super easy. The big mistake (as I’ve already banged on about!) is confusing casual with scruffy.

Big no’s for casual:

• Dirty clothes
• Holes unless deliberately part of the style
• Shapeless, baggy pieces – unless deliberately so.

Instead try:

• Classic cuts in casual fabrics
• Sleeves pushed up 
• Layering tops (both at the neckline and waistband)
• Fabrics such as denim, suede, wool, cotton, linen

Casual clothes can be ‘good’ clothes:

Whether you are more classic or more natural (or one of the other styles), you’ll feel good when you are wearing clothes that are in colours that flatter your hair and skin tone. You’ll want to make sure you are wearing cuts and shapes that feel good on your body, (over-sized pieces can look great when they are part of a look rather than using them to try to hide your shape).

Downgrade your clothing categories:

Personally, I know I need to be at least slightly ‘done’ in order to feel good. Even on a dog walk.

To make this easier over the years, I’ve got into the habit of downgrading my categories of clothing.

When something is new I might reserve it for work or going out. Then after a season or two it’ll become part of my everyday wardrobe. Which means more often than not it’ll be worn in a casual way.

Eventually many of my old favourites will become dog walking clothes. If I ever did any gardening, they would work for that too. But that’s not me…

Take a look in your wardrobe:

I’d urge you to rethink your everyday casual outfits. Banish anything scruffy and think about what makes you feel good. Consider how you could incorporate last year’s favourite pieces into your every day life now. Get that cost per wear down as much as possible by wearing your clothes more often.

Let me know how you feel about casual style in the comments below and share your specific challenges and tips for us all to see.