Mitigating Post-Pandemic Style Trends With A Timeless Aesthetic, Part 2
This week we cover how to evaluate garments for our timeless, flattering wardrobes. There is also an Outfit of the Week at the bottom of the Newsletter.
Hi, it’s Tatyana!
I hope you’re having a fantastic week. This week we complete the train of thought about what to do as we see trends come and go. When you structure your wardrobe to work for you rather the other way around, it’s actually an easy process.
Be sure to check out the Outfit of the Week section at the bottom of the page for tips and item ideas.
I’d love to hear specifically what your wardrobe needs are as I am updating style guides so I can create more content that suits your needs.
Enjoy today’s Newsletter!
Tatyana
Thank you for being one of nearly 3k subscribers to Light Loves Color, where I share timeless wardrobe strategies based on 4+ decades of collective research and 16,000+ color analysis sessions to help free people from clothing confusion and never-ending trends. Subscribers receive weekly publications full of wardrobe insights, tips, and inspirations.
Mitigating Post-Pandemic Style Trends With A Timeless Aesthetic, Part 2: Clothing is a Uniform
Clothes are 100% our uniform. There’s no way to get away form it. This isn’t because we always consciously put on things that fit a certain aesthetic. It’s more about the eye of the beholder. The human brain is wired so strongly for efficiency, most of us can’t help but sort people out as soon as we see them. This is why image consultants make such a racket about first impressions. It’s very much an uphill battle to change someone’s first impression if it was a negative one.
Sadly, people write others off pretty quickly, within a few seconds even. Most don’t mean to do it. However, clothes are intentional or unintentional signals we sent out about the group of peole/club/way of thinking to which we belong. I playfully call it the “who’s your daddy?” question about us.
My beef with trends is that it’s a story as old as time: we have the influencers and we have the masses. People blindly follow. Not to get on a soapbox, but doesn’t it seem that things are intentionally made so they can’t be worn for more than a year or two? Even when the influencers are millionaires or billionaires, the industry is such that pieces can’t be worn for more than a couple of years. Is it too much to ask for a garment to last 10, 20, 30 years?
Don’t you think it’s time to talk about sustainable, quality-centered, well-designed wardrobe strategies?
Last week I brought up the concept of core aesthetics.
Here were a few of them: Clean Girl Core, Cottagecore, Y2K Revival, Dark Academia, Light Academia, Gorpcore, Barbiecore, Techwear. Let’s see how many of these you can instantly identify.
I hope you got 100% A+ score! Weren’t some of those literally outlandish stereotypes? The signal to everyone is “I belong to this group of people,” or “This is how I identify.”
Our moods change, our tastes change, our needs change. OUR AGE CHANGES! Will any of these trends last the test of time? Can these outfits be used for even 5 years Where will all these articles of clothing end up when the wearers are bored of them (which will inevitably happen)? Should we just keep sending our junk into less wealthy countries “to help keep their peoples clothed”? We saw above how “helpful” that is.
I do know that my readers aren’t interested in any of these aesthetics or outlandish styles. But, this publication is also growing! It’s important for people to be empowered and to understand it’s not because we’re old-fashioned (or just old), boring, timid, uncreative, or lame that we care about this topic. Actually, it’s because most of us have been around a few years and have seen the trends come and go.
We’ve done the math and it doesn’t add up; it’s unsustainable. The emperor isn’t wearing any clothes. We aren’t buying it. We aren’t the village idiots who can’t see the obvious beauty. In fact, we’re more free when we simply know what to look for when shopping.
Always Know What To Buy and What Not To Buy
Color
Last week we ended on several rules for using color. We want to keep them in mind as we see trends come and go.
Use color strategically to draw the eye up so your face is the focal point.
Use contrasting colors next to your face to make your face pop.
Choose colors that are bright (but according to your undertone) and transfer the most light to your face so you look radiant and energetic.
Color can profoundly affect the way your face looks. Just like a certain shirt color can affect the color of your eyes, it can have that same subtle effect on your skin, only the consequence is much more serious, especially if you’re over 35. (Don’t worry about your eyes, they’re not the thing that ages us, it’s our skin!)
Some colors make us look healthy while others make us look unhealthy. Some colors can make us look radian while others can make us look pale and anemic.
The main objective is to protect your face from the negative consequences of shadows, uneven color, and a clashing color being reflected onto your face from the clothing directly next to it. People are often blown away by the radiance, color, and overall healthy look of their faces when they wear colors that radiate light onto their faces. Each individual’s facial structure, unique skin porosity, and luminosity affect the way light and color bounce off.
It’s ok to build your wardrobe with staples such as jackets, blazers, suits, pants, and dresses in the neutral colors (black, navy, grey, charcoal, white, etc.). Colorful shirts, sweaters, vests, and other garments can be mixed in to brighten up an outfit and create the needed effects as discussed in last week’s article. Casual pieces like jeans and t-shirts can complement your casual looks.
Do strategically add colors:
Don’t mix more than 2 main colors in one outfit because it can start to look too busy:
The bottom line about color and its role in creating a timeless aesthetic: when we choose colors that enhance our facial features and truly take years off our faces, we can know that we have found garments that are worth hanging on to for years.
Line
Pay attention to the silhouette and choose clothing that flatters your body shape. This means tailoring and using pieces that bring balanced proportions.
Women want to emulate a subtle hourglass shape, while men would do well to keep their shoulders square.
“Line” simply refers to using the principle of sculpting a desirable “shape”. This is a basic part of creating the overall effect. How we choose what we wear should be based on these technical, objective principles, not trends. The examples that are used to show trends above were all obviously size 0 and didn’t have to rebalance their proportions, however, we do need to be mindful of our bodies. When we pick garments that work with our bodies, we will treasure them and not send them to the dump anytime soon.
Accessories
This is the “she or he thought of everything” effect. People spend multiple millions of dollars on jewelry and accessories, but without a proper understanding of selecting the accessories that will make the right impact, we’re just buying overpriced trinkets.
The right jewelry and accessories help pull a look together. They can lighten up an overly-dark outfit (think a thick silver chain against a black shirt) and draw the eye to various places (earrings, for example). They can tell others our socioeconomic status, education level, and even how detail-oriented we are.
The importance of the right statement accessories in everyday attire should neither be overlooked nor minimized.
Style
The most globally recognized look of prestige and status is the “old-money” look. It’s not taught in schools or commonly seen in our day-to-day lives, but almost everyone recognizes it when they see it. It doesn’t advertise labels, isn’t showy or crass in any way; it’s a bit understated, ultra-sophisticated, elegant, polished, gender-specific, and expensive-looking.
For men, it means structured suits, jackets, and button-down shirts. For women, it means well-tailored, elegantly styled feminine outfits, depending on the occasion. It’s not overtly sexual.
Sustainability
Invest in well-made pieces that fit you perfectly. These items will last longer and can be styled in numerous ways, making them worth the investment. Less is more!
Remember: CLASS
COLOR
LINE
ACCESSORIES
STYLE
SUSTAINABILITY
When your clothes love you back, you can keep using them to put looks together for the next 20-30 years or even more. You can add a few trendy pieces and not-so-expensive basics out of the sheer reality that there aren’t that many choices for quality accent garments to offset some of the staples.
A Word About Jeans
It’s a good idea to keep a few quality pairs of jeans in different shapes/cuts/colors to put them together depending on mood, season, or trend. Jeans are hyper-trend sensitive and therefore, if you don’t want to run the risk of looking altogether outdated, stick with mid to high-rise jeans in lengths that go with your chosen footware in various shades you prefer, but not overly stylized. It’s ok to play with some trends, like the wide leg, bootcut, straight leg, etc. as they come and go as long as they create the desired silhouette.
“Fashion is what you’re offered four times a year by designers. And style is what you choose."
~Lauren Hutton
Mix in some designer-inspired pieces that put you into the “high value” and “detail-oriented person” club. Even in casual outfits, you can throw on chunky earrings and bracelets, a quality belt, and shoes. Essentially, you’re wearing the same clothes as others, but you have the formula of the right colors, use the science of "line” properly to create an attractive shape, and your accessories are in a higher league. You know what you’re doing, and you look clean and detail-oriented.
A mix of designer-inspired timeless accessories elevate this comfy and versatile weekend look. Chanel flats and belts can be replaced by dozens of affordable alternatives. As you can see, this long white shirt is tailored a bit on the waist. I recommend wearing it open with sleeves rolled up and collar styled to taste, the blue tank tucked in. (Also, tucking just partly is acceptable now - gasp!)
Note: For those who like “shoppable looks”, this picture is on my Pinterest and if you click on each item in the style, it will show you the exact or similar items for sale. It’s actually remarkably accurate and helpful. Have fun and let me know how you like this feature. It’s amazing how far technology has come in just a couple of years.
